Hebrews 12.25-26, 13.22-25
(Epistle)
25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
26whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.”
22But I exhort you, brothers, endure the word of exhortation, for I have written to you in few words.
23Know that our brother Timothy has been freed, with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you.
24Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. The Italians greet you.
25Grace be with you all. Amen.
1 Corinthians 4.9-16
(Epistle, Forefeast of Theophany)
9For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men.
10We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor.
11Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.
12We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure.
13Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.
14I don’t write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
15For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, you don’t have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News.
16I beg you therefore, be imitators of me.
Luke 14.25-35
(Gospel)
25Now great multitudes were going with him. He turned and said to them,
26“If anyone comes to me, and doesn’t disregard his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he can’t be my disciple.
27Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross and come after me, can’t be my disciple.
28For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?
29Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation and isn’t able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him,
30saying, ‘This man began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy and asks for conditions of peace.
33So therefore, whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple.
34“Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
35It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
John 1.18-28
(Gospel, Forefeast of Theophany)
18No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
19This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”
21They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”
22They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees.
25They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”
26John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know.
27He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.”
28These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.