2 Corinthians 2.3-15
(Epistle)
3And I wrote this very thing to you, so that when I came, I wouldn’t have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be shared by all of you.
4For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.
5But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all.
6This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one;
7so that, on the contrary, you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.
8Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him.
9For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.
10Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
11that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
12Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,
13I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.
14Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.
15For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who perish:
Colossians 1.12-18
(Epistle, Image)
12giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,
13who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love,
14in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.
17He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.
18He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Matthew 23.13-22
(Gospel)
13“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
14“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.
15Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves.
16“Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’
17You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
18And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated.’
19You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
20He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it.
21He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who has been living in it.
22He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it.
Luke 9.51-56, 10.22-24
(Gospel, Image)
51It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem
52and sent messengers before his face. They went and entered into a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for him.
53They didn’t receive him, because he was traveling with his face set toward Jerusalem.
54When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky and destroy them, just as Elijah did?”
55But he turned and rebuked them, “You don’t know of what kind of spirit you are.
56For the Son of Man didn’t come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” They went to another village.
22Turning to the disciples, he said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.”
23Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see,
24for I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.”