Fourth Sunday of Moses
October 26, 2008
First Reading: Deuteronomy
12:29-14:2
"When the LORD your God cuts
off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and
you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take heed that
you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been
destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about
their gods, saying, `How did these nations serve their gods?
-- that I also may do likewise.' You shall not do so to the
LORD your God; for every abominable thing which the LORD
hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn
their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
"Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do;
you shall not add to it or take from it. "If a prophet
arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a
sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder which he tells you
comes to pass, and if he says, `Let us go after other gods,'
which you have not known, `and let us serve them,' you shall
not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer
of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you, to know
whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God
and fear him, and keep his commandments and obey his voice,
and you shall serve him and cleave to him.
But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to
death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed
you out of the house of bondage, to make you leave the way
in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you
shall purge the evil from the midst of you. "If your
brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your
daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is
as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, `Let us go
and serve other gods,' which neither you nor your fathers
have known, some of the gods of the peoples that are round
about you, whether near you or far off from you, from the
one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to
him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall
you spare him, nor shall you conceal him; but you shall kill
him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to
death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. You shall
stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw
you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all Israel
shall hear, and fear, and never again do any such wickedness
as this among you.
"If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God
gives you to dwell there, that certain base fellows have
gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of
the city, saying, `Let us go and serve other gods,' which
you have not known, then you shall inquire and make search
and ask diligently; and behold, if it be true and certain
that such an abominable thing has been done among you, you
shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword,
destroying it utterly, all who are in it and its cattle,
with the edge of the sword. You shall gather all its spoil
into the midst of its open square, and burn the city and all
its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the LORD
your God; it shall be a heap for ever, it shall not be built
again. None of the devoted things shall cleave to your hand;
that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and
show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply
you, as he swore to your fathers, if you obey the voice of
the LORD your God, keeping all his commandments which I
command you this day, and doing what is right in the sight
of the LORD your God. "You are the sons of the LORD your
God; you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on
your foreheads for the dead. For you are a people holy to
the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a
people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that
are on the face of the earth.
__________________
Second
Reading: Isaiah 41:21-42
Set forth your
case, says the LORD;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
Let them bring them, and tell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.
Behold, you are nothing,
and your work is nought;
an abomination is he who chooses you.
I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun, and he shall call on my
name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforetime, that we might say, "He is right"?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
I first have declared it to Zion,
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good tidings.
But when I look there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their molten images are empty wind.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him,
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not fail or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread forth the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
"I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the LORD, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to graven images.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them." |
Sing to the
LORD a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth!
Let the sea roar and all that fills it,
the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
the villages that Kedar inhabits;
let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy,
let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Let them give glory to the LORD,
and declare his praise in the coastlands.
The LORD goes forth like a mighty man,
like a man of war he stirs up his fury;
he cries out, he shouts aloud,
he shows himself mighty against his foes.
For a long time I have held my peace,
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in travail,
I will gasp and pant.
I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbage;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
And I will lead the blind
in a way that they know not,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will do,
and I will not forsake them.
They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in graven images,
who say to molten images,
"You are our gods."
Hear, you deaf;
and look, you blind, that you may see!
Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,
or blind as the servant of the LORD?
He sees many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.
The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
But this is a people robbed and plundered,
they are all of them trapped in holes
and hidden in prisons;
they have become a prey with none to rescue,
a spoil with none to say, "Restore!"
Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler,
and Israel to the robbers?
Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
So he poured upon him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire round about, but he did not
understand;
it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.
|
_____________________
Epistle: 1
Timothy 5:1-16
Do not rebuke an older man but
exhort him as you would a father; treat younger men like
brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like sisters,
in all purity. Honor widows who are real widows. If a widow has
children or grandchildren, let them first learn their religious
duty to their own family and make some return to their parents;
for this is acceptable in the sight of God. She who is a real
widow, and is left all alone, has set her hope on God and
continues in supplications and prayers night and day; whereas
she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. Command
this, so that they may be without reproach. If any one does not
provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he
has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Let a
widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age,
having been the wife of one husband; and she must be well
attested for her good deeds, as one who has brought up children,
shown hospitality, washed the feet of the saints, relieved the
afflicted, and devoted herself to doing good in every way. But
refuse to enroll younger widows; for when they grow wanton
against Christ they desire to marry, and so they incur
condemnation for having violated their first pledge. Besides
that, they learn to be idlers, gadding about from house to
house, and not only idlers but gossips and busybodies, saying
what they should not. So I would have younger widows marry, bear
children, rule their households, and give the enemy no occasion
to revile us. For some have already strayed after Satan. If any
believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her assist
them; let the church not be burdened, so that it may assist
those who are real widows.
_____________________
Gospel: Matthew 12:22-37
Then a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to him, and he healed
him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw. And all the people were
amazed, and said, "Can this be the Son of David?" But when the
Pharisees heard it they said, "It is only by Be-el'zebul, the
prince of demons, that this man casts out demons." Knowing their
thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself
is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will
stand; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against
himself; how then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out
demons by Be-el'zebul, by whom do your sons cast them out?
Therefore they shall be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit
of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come
upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder
his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he
may plunder his house. He who is not with me is against me, and
he who does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you,
every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy
against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word
against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks
against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age
or in the age to come. "Either make the tree good, and its fruit
good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is
known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! how can you speak good,
when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth
good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth
evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account
for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will
be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
Copyright ©2002-2007 |
