2 Corinthians 4.13-18
(Epistle)
13But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, “I believed, and therefore I spoke.” We also believe, and therefore we also speak,
14knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also through Jesus, and will present us with you.
15For all things are for your sakes, that the grace, being multiplied through the many, may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
16Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day.
17For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory,
18while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Matthew 24.27-33, 42-51
(Gospel)
27For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
28For wherever the carcass is, that is where the vultures gather together.
29“But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;
30and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
31He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
32“Now from the fig tree learn this parable: When its branch has now become tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near.
33Even so you also, when you see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors.
42Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.
43But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
44Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.
45“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season?
46Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes.
47Most certainly I tell you that he will set him over all that he has.
48But if that evil servant should say in his heart, ‘My lord is delaying his coming,’
49and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,
50the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it and in an hour when he doesn’t know it,
51and will cut him in pieces and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.