Sunday, March 17, 2019

The Daily Lectionary for MONDAY, March 18, 2019

Abraham Justified by Faith
Romans 4:1-12

The Daily Lectionary
MONDAY, March 18, 2019
(Revised Common Lectionary Year C)

Psalm 105:1-15 [16-41] 42
1  Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
     make known among the nations what he has done.
2  Sing to him, sing praise to him;
     tell of all his wonderful acts.
3  Glory in his holy name;
     let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4  Look to the Lord and his strength;
     seek his face always.

5  Remember the wonders he has done,
     his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
6  you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
     his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
7  He is the Lord our God;
     his judgments are in all the earth.

8  He remembers his covenant forever,
     the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
9  the covenant he made with Abraham,
     the oath he swore to Isaac.
10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,
     to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
11 “To you I will give the land of Canaan
     as the portion you will inherit.”

12 When they were but few in number,
     few indeed, and strangers in it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
     from one kingdom to another.
14 He allowed no one to oppress them;
     for their sake he rebuked kings:
15 “Do not touch my anointed ones;
     do my prophets no harm.”

[16 He called down famine on the land
     and destroyed all their supplies of food;
17 and he sent a man before them—
     Joseph, sold as a slave.
18 They bruised his feet with shackles,
     his neck was put in irons,
19 till what he foretold came to pass,
     till the word of the Lord proved him true.
20 The king sent and released him,
     the ruler of peoples set him free.
21 He made him master of his household,
     ruler over all he possessed,
22 to instruct his princes as he pleased
     and teach his elders wisdom.

23 Then Israel entered Egypt;
     Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord made his people very fruitful;
     he made them too numerous for their foes,
25 whose hearts he turned to hate his people,
     to conspire against his servants.
26 He sent Moses his servant,
     and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them,
     his wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and made the land dark—
     for had they not rebelled against his words?
29 He turned their waters into blood,
     causing their fish to die.
30 Their land teemed with frogs,
     which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
     and gnats throughout their country.
32 He turned their rain into hail,
     with lightning throughout their land;
33 he struck down their vines and fig trees
     and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
     grasshoppers without number;
35 they ate up every green thing in their land,
     ate up the produce of their soil.
36 Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land,
     the firstfruits of all their manhood.
37 He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,
     and from among their tribes no one faltered.
38 Egypt was glad when they left,
     because dread of Israel had fallen on them.

39 He spread out a cloud as a covering,
     and a fire to give light at night.
40 They asked, and he brought them quail;
     he fed them well with the bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
     it flowed like a river in the desert.]

42 For he remembered his holy promise
     given to his servant Abraham.

Exodus 33:1-6
33:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”

4 When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’” 6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.

Romans 4:1-12
Abraham Justified by Faith
4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

7  “Blessed are those
     whose transgressions are forgiven,
     whose sins are covered.
8  Blessed is the one
     whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Optional parts of the readings are set off in [square brackets.]

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the Holy Bible,  New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Daily Lectionary is a three year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year C. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2019, we will be in Year A. The year which ended at Advent 2018 was Year B. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest on what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
“Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

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