Scripture Readings

The Season After Pentecost
Proper 21 (26) in Year A
For the Sunday during 25 September through 1 October

Scripture readings are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV® ©1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

Alternate One:
Old Testament
Psalm

Alternate Two:
Old Testament
Psalm

Epistle Reading
Gospel Reading

Old Testament (Alternate One)

     The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
     Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?”
     But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
     Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
     The LORD answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
—Exodus 17:1-7, NIV

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Psalm (Alternate One)

O my people, hear my teaching;
     listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in parables,
     I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
what we have heard and known,
     what our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children;
     we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
     his power, and the wonders he has done.
He did miracles in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt,
     in the region of Zoan.
He divided the sea and led them through;
     he made the water stand firm like a wall.
He guided them with the cloud by day
     and with light from the fire all night.
He split the rocks in the desert
     and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
he brought streams out of a rocky crag
     and made water flow down like rivers.
—Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16, NIV

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Old Testament (Alternate Two)

O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old—what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.
He did miracles in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall. He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas; he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.
—Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32, NIV

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Psalm (Alternate Two)

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
     in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame,
     nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame,
     but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.
Show me your ways, O LORD,
     teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
     for you are God my Savior,
     and my hope is in you all day long.
Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love,
     for they are from of old.
Remember not the sins of my youth
     and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
     for you are good, O LORD.
Good and upright is the LORD;
     therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
     and teaches them his way.
—Psalm 25:1-9, NIV

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Epistle

      If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
     Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
     Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
—Philippians 2:1-13, NIV

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Gospel

      Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”
     Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?”
     They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
     So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
     Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
     “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
     “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
     “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
     “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
     “The first,” they answered.
     Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
—Matthew 21:23-32, NIV

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