Scripture Readings

The Season After Pentecost
Proper 17 (22) in Year C
For the Sunday during 28 August through 3 September

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.

The Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.

Alternate One:
Old Testament
Psalm

Alternate Two:
Old Testament
Psalm

Epistle Reading
Gospel Reading

Old Testament (Alternate One)

Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob,
     all you clans of the house of Israel.
     This is what the LORD says:
“What fault did your fathers find in me,
     that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
     and became worthless themselves.
They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD,
     who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
     through a land of deserts and rifts,
a land of drought and darkness,
     a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
I brought you into a fertile land
     to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land
     and made my inheritance detestable.
The priests did not ask,
     ‘Where is the LORD?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me;
     the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
     following worthless idols.
“Therefore I bring charges against you again,”
     declares the LORD.
“And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
Cross over to the coasts of Kittim and look,
     send to Kedar and observe closely;
     see if there has ever been anything like this:
Has a nation ever changed its gods?
     (Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their Glory
     for worthless idols.
Be appalled at this, O heavens,
     and shudder with great horror,”
     declares the LORD.
“My people have committed two sins:
     They have forsaken me,
     the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
     broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
—Jeremiah 2:4-13, NIV

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Psalm (Alternate One)

Sing for joy to God our strength;
     shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
I am the LORD your God,
     who brought you up out of Egypt.
     Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
“But my people would not listen to me;
     Israel would not submit to me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts
     to follow their own devices.
“If my people would but listen to me,
     if Israel would follow my ways,
how quickly would I subdue their enemies
     and turn my hand against their foes!
Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
     and their punishment would last forever.
But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
     with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
—Psalm 81:1, 10-16, NIV

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Old Testament (Alternate Two)

The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord;
     the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.
For the beginning of pride is sin,
     and the one who clings to it pours out abominations.
Therefore the Lord brings upon them unheard-of calamities,
     and destroys them completely.
The Lord overthrows the thrones of rulers,
     and enthrones the lowly in their place.
The Lord plucks up the roots of the nations,
     and plants the humble in their place.
The Lord lays waste the lands of the nations,
     and destroys them to the foundations of the earth.
He removes some of them and destroys them,
     and erases the memory of them from the earth.
Pride was not created for human beings,
     or violent anger for those born of women.
—Sirach 10:12-18, NRSV

—OR—

Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence
     or stand in the place of the great;
for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”
     than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
—Proverbs 25:6-7, NIV

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Psalm (Alternate Two)

Praise the LORD.
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
     who finds great delight in his commands.
His children will be mighty in the land;
     the generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches are in his house,
     and his righteousness endures forever.
Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
     for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
     who conducts his affairs with justice.
Surely he will never be shaken;
     a righteous man will be remembered forever.
He will have no fear of bad news;
     his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
     in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.
He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
     his righteousness endures forever;
     his horn will be lifted high in honor.
The wicked man will see and be vexed,
     he will gnash his teeth and waste away;
     the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.
—Psalm 112, NIV

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Epistle

     Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
     Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
     never will I forsake you.”
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
     What can man do to me?”
     Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
     Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
—Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, NIV

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Gospel

     One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away.
     Then he asked them, “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?” And they had nothing to say.
     When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
     Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
—Luke 14:1, 7-14, NIV

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