Bible Readings - Mar. 7, 2024

Reading 1

Jeremiah 7:23-28

Thus says the LORD:

This is what I commanded my people:

Listen to my voice;

then I will be your God and you shall be my people.

Walk in all the ways that I command you,

so that you may prosper.

But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.

They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts

and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.

From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day,

I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.

Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed;

they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.

When you speak all these words to them,

they will not listen to you either;

when you call to them, they will not answer you.

Say to them:

This is the nation that does not listen

to the voice of the LORD, its God,

or take correction.

Faithfulness has disappeared;

the word itself is banished from their speech.

Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9

(8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;

let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

Come, let us bow down in worship;

let us kneel before the LORD who made us.

For he is our God,

and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

"Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

as in the day of Massah in the desert,

Where your fathers tempted me;

they tested me though they had seen my works."

Joel 2:12-13

Even now, says the LORD,

return to me with your whole heart,

for I am gracious and merciful.

Gospel

Luke 11:14-23

Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,

and when the demon had gone out,

the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.

Some of them said, "By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,

he drives out demons."

Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.

But he knew their thoughts and said to them,

"Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste

and house will fall against house.

And if Satan is divided against himself,

how will his kingdom stand?

For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.

If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,

by whom do your own people drive them out?

Therefore they will be your judges.

But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,

then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.

When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,

his possessions are safe.

But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,

he takes away the armor on which he relied

and distributes the spoils.

Whoever is not with me is against me,

and whoever does not gather with me scatters."

Ephesians 4:2-6

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another

through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace;

one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;

one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

John 17:14-24

I gave them your word, and the world hated them,

because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world

but that you keep them from the evil one.

They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.

And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.

"I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me

through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you,

that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.

And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one,

as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection

as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even

as you loved me.

Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me,

that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me

before the foundation of the world.