Tuesday, August 16, 2022

The Daily Lectionary for Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Jesus Cleanses the Temple
Luke 19:45-48

The Daily Lectionary
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
 Psalm 74; Isaiah 27:1-13; Luke 19:45-48
(Revised Common Lectionary Year C)
(Semi-continuous Reading Plan)

Psalm 74
Plea for Help in Time of National Humiliation
A Maskil of Asaph.
1  O God, why do you cast us off forever?
     Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
2  Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
     which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
     Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.
3  Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
     the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.

4  Your foes have roared within your holy place;
     they set up their emblems there.
5  At the upper entrance they hacked
     the wooden trellis with axes.
6  And then, with hatchets and hammers,
     they smashed all its carved work.
7  They set your sanctuary on fire;
     they desecrated the dwelling place of your name,
     bringing it to the ground.
8  They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
     they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

9  We do not see our emblems;
     there is no longer any prophet,
     and there is no one among us who knows how long.
10 How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
     Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand;
     why do you keep your hand in your bosom?

12 Yet God my King is from of old,
     working salvation in the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your might;
     you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
     you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You cut openings for springs and torrents;
     you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
     you established the luminaries and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
     you made summer and winter.

18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
     and an impious people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
     do not forget the life of your poor forever.

20 Have regard for your covenant,
     for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.
21 Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
     let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
     remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
     the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.

Isaiah 27:1-13
Israel’s Redemption
27:1 On that day the Lord with his cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

2  On that day:
   A pleasant vineyard, sing about it!
3   I, the Lord, am its keeper;
     every moment I water it.
   I guard it night and day
    so that no one can harm it;
4   I have no wrath.
   If it gives me thorns and briers,
     I will march to battle against it.
     I will burn it up.
5  Or else let it cling to me for protection,
     let it make peace with me,
     let it make peace with me.

6  In days to come Jacob shall take root,
     Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots,
     and fill the whole world with fruit.

7  Has he struck them down as he struck down those who struck them?
     Or have they been killed as their killers were killed?
8  By expulsion, by exile you struggled against them;
     with his fierce blast he removed them in the day of the east wind.
9  Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be expiated,
     and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
   when he makes all the stones of the altars
     like chalkstones crushed to pieces,
     no sacred poles or incense altars will remain standing.
10 For the fortified city is solitary,
     a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;
   the calves graze there,
     there they lie down, and strip its branches.
11 When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
     women come and make a fire of them.
   For this is a people without understanding;
     therefore he that made them will not have compassion on them,
     he that formed them will show them no favor.

12 On that day the Lord will thresh from the channel of the Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered one by one, O people of Israel. 13 And on that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Luke 19:45-48
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
19:45 Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; 46 and he said, “It is written,

   ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’;
     but you have made it a den of robbers.”

47 Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.

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 New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

The Daily Lectionary is a three year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year C. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2022, we will be in Year A. The year which ended at Advent 2021 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
“... ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”

The Morning Prayer for Wednesday, August 17, 2022

 


The Morning Prayer
Wednesday, August 17, 2022


Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 14:27 (NIV)

Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for holding open the way into our hearts and for bringing us the peace of Jesus Christ. Help us to keep this way open. Grant us peace in this tempest-torn world. Grant us peace when many struggles and uncertainties try to occupy our hearts. We have no strength in ourselves, only in him who is standing at our side and who will never forsake us, who lives and gives strength. His light will always break in anew among us. His light will shine on many people and lead them to the promised day, the day that will bring all our hopes to fulfillment. Amen.

Verse of the Day for Wednesday, August 17, 2022

 


Verse of the Day
Wednesday, August 17, 2022


2 Corinthians 10:17-18
But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
Those who brag about their accomplishments pridefully call attention to themselves—which has absolutely no value. Rather, we should rejoice in what Christ has done for us and give Him all the glory, honor, and praise (Jer. 9:24). Because only He is able to save us, transform our lives, and empower our ministries.

Read all of 2 Corinthians Chapter 10

Listen to 2 Corinthians Chapter 10


Scripture from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.