Scripture Readings

The Season After Pentecost
Proper 6 (11) in Year B
For the Sunday during 12 through 18 June

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)

     Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the LORD was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.
     The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”
     But Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.”
     The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”
     Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”
     Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
     When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”
     But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
     Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the LORD chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The LORD has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
     “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.”
     Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”
     So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features.
     Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.”
     So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.
—1 Samuel 15:34-16:13, NIV

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Psalm (Alternate One)

May the LORD answer you when you are in distress;
     may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
May he send you help from the sanctuary
     and grant you support from Zion.
May he remember all your sacrifices
     and accept your burnt offerings.
May he give you the desire of your heart
     and make all your plans succeed.
We will shout for joy when you are victorious
     and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the LORD grant all your requests.
     Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
     he answers him from his holy heaven
     with the saving power of his right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
     but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They are brought to their knees and fall,
     but we rise up and stand firm.
O LORD, save the king!
     Answer us when we call!
—Psalm 20, NIV

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Old Testament (Alternate Two)

“‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the field will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.
“‘I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.’”
—Ezekiel 17:22-24, NIV

It is good to praise the LORD
     and make music to your name, O Most High,
to proclaim your love in the morning
     and your faithfulness at night,
to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
     and the melody of the harp.
For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD;
     I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
     they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the LORD,
     they will flourish in the courts of our God.
They will still bear fruit in old age,
     they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, “The LORD is upright;
     he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
—Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15, NIV

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Epistle

     Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
     [Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.] For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
     So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
—2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17, NIV

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Gospel

     He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
     Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”
     With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
—Mark 4:26-34, NIV

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