Sunday, February 7, 2021

Fourth Sunday after Theophany

Isaiah 63:18-64:12
Titus 1:1-11
John 7:37-52

Isaiah 63:18-64:12

[18] Thy holy people possessed thy sanctuary a little while;
our adversaries have trodden it down.
[19] We have become like those over whom thou hast never ruled,
like those who are not called by thy name.

Chapter 64
[1] O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains might quake at thy presence —
[2] as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil —
to make thy name known to thy adversaries,
and that the nations might tremble at thy presence!
[3] When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for,
thou camest down, the mountains quaked at thy presence.
[4] From of old no one has heard
or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides thee,
who works for those who wait for him.
[5] Thou meetest him that joyfully works righteousness,
those that remember thee in thy ways.
Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?
[6] We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
[7] There is no one that calls upon thy name,
that bestirs himself to take hold of thee;
for thou hast hid thy face from us,
and hast delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.
[8] Yet, O LORD, thou art our Father;
we are the clay, and thou art our potter;
we are all the work of thy hand.
[9] Be not exceedingly angry, O LORD,
and remember not iniquity for ever.
Behold, consider, we are all thy people.
[10] Thy holy cities have become a wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
[11] Our holy and beautiful house,
where our fathers praised thee,
has been burned by fire,
and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
[12] Wilt thou restrain thyself at these things, O LORD?
Wilt thou keep silent, and afflict us sorely?

Titus 1:1-11

[1] Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness,
[2] in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago
[3] and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by command of God our Savior;
[4] To Titus, my true child in a common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
[5] This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you,
[6] if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of being profligate or insubordinate.
[7] For a bishop, as God’s steward, must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,
[8] but hospitable, a lover of goodness, master of himself, upright, holy, and self-controlled;
[9] he must hold firm to the sure word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it.
[10] For there are many insubordinate men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially the circumcision party;
[11] they must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for base gain what they have no right to teach.

John 7:37-52

[37] On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink.
[38] He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, `Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”
[39] Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
[40] When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This is really the prophet.”
[41] Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
[42] Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
[43] So there was a division among the people over him.
[44] Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
[45] The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”
[46] The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”
[47] The Pharisees answered them, “Are you led astray, you also?
[48] Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him?
[49] But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed.”
[50] Nicode’mus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,
[51] “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
[52] They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.”

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is copyright © National Council of Churches of Christ in America