Lectionary 32, Year B
Proper 27 The Sunday between November 6 and November 12 Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, the year of Mark Green
Next read on . Most ELCA congregations keep All Saints Sunday that day instead.
The Gospel: Mark 12:38–44
Jesus warns against scribes who seek honor, then points out a poor widow who gives two small coins, all she had to live on.
What is going on
In the temple, Jesus warns about teachers of the law who like long robes, the best seats and public greetings, while they take the houses of widows.
Then he sits near the offering box and watches people put in money. Many rich people put in large amounts.
A poor widow puts in two small copper coins, worth almost nothing. Jesus tells his disciples she has given more than all the others, because she gave everything she had to live on.
Mark 12:38-44
Most churches stand for the Gospel, and sing or say a short response before and after it.
The passage
38 In his teaching he said to them, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces, 39 and the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts: 40 those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.” 41 Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. 42 A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin. 43 He called his disciples to himself, and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, 44 for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
The other readings
In the order they are read on Sunday, before the Gospel.
1 Kings 17:8-16
Elijah asks a starving widow in Zarephath to feed him first, and her jar of flour and jug of oil do not run out, as God promised.
Read it here
8 The LORD’s word came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 She said, “As the LORD your God lives, I don’t have a cake, but a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son. 14 For the LORD, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.’ ” 15 She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate many days. 16 The jar of meal didn’t run out, and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to the LORD’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Psalm 146
A song of praise for the LORD, who made all things, feeds the hungry, frees prisoners, and cares for strangers, orphans, and widows.
Read it here
1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, my soul. 2 While I live, I will praise the LORD. I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist. 3 Don’t put your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help. 4 His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish. 5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD, his God: 6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever; 7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners. 8 The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD raises up those who are bowed down. The LORD loves the righteous. 9 The LORD preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but he turns the way of the wicked upside down. 10 The LORD will reign forever; your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Hebrews 9:24-28
The letter to the Hebrews says Christ offered himself once to take away sin, and will appear a second time to save those who wait for him.
Read it here
24 For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place year by year with blood not his own, 26 or else he must have suffered often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages, he has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who are eagerly waiting for him for salvation.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Some congregations follow the RCL’s other track this Sunday, which reads an Old Testament book straight through over several weeks: Ruth 3:1–5; 4:13–17 and Psalm 127 in place of the first reading and psalm above.
A question to carry into the week
Jesus noticed the gift no one else counted. Whose quiet faithfulness have you seen lately?
For your newsletter or sermon notes
These readings are told as stories on our sister site, Free Scripture, one scene at a time in plain words. The lines below are ready to paste. The next eight Sundays, and every story.
Lectionary 32 (Proper 27) · Revised Common Lectionary, Year B · the same Sunday at the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. Scripture text: World English Bible, public domain.
Revised Common Lectionary copyright © 1992 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org Used by permission.