Lectionary 31, Year C
Proper 26 The Sunday between October 30 and November 5 Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, the year of Luke Green
Next read on . Most ELCA congregations keep All Saints Sunday that day instead.
The Gospel: Luke 19:1–10
In Jericho, the tax collector Zacchaeus climbs a tree to see Jesus, who stays at his house; Zacchaeus promises to give to the poor and repay fourfold.
Luke 19:1-10
Most churches stand for the Gospel, and sing or say a short response before and after it.
The passage
1 He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. 4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. 7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
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.
Isaiah 1:10-18
Through Isaiah, the LORD rejects the people’s empty sacrifices and prayers, tells them to seek justice and defend the weak, and offers to wash their sins white.
Read it here
10 Hear the LORD’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 “What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says the LORD. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to trample my courts? 13 Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can’t stand evil assemblies. 14 My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. 17 Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.” 18 “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says the LORD: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
Psalm 32:1-7
A song of joy at being forgiven after confessing sin to the LORD, who becomes a hiding place from trouble.
Read it here
1 Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD doesn’t impute iniquity, in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was sapped in the heat of summer. 5 I acknowledged my sin to you. I didn’t hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. 6 For this, let everyone who is godly pray to you in a time when you may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach to him. 7 You are my hiding place. You will preserve me from trouble. You will surround me with songs of deliverance.
World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy thank God for the Thessalonians’ growing faith and love amid persecution, and pray that Jesus’ name be honored in them.
Read it here
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you toward one another abounds, 4 so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your perseverance and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.
11 To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith with power, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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: Habakkuk 1:1–4, 2:1–4 and Psalm 119:137–144 in place of the first reading and psalm above.
A question to carry into the week
What is one thing Jesus says or does in this Gospel that you want to remember this week?
For your newsletter or sermon notes
This reading is told as a story 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 31 (Proper 26) · Revised Common Lectionary, Year C · 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.