The following are the readings for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13), July 31, according to the Revised Common (RCL), Episcopal (ECUSA), Roman Catholic, Canadian BAS, and the Church of England (Common Worship) lectionaries. All readings are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible. Unless noted otherwise, the ECUSA, Canadian and C of E lectionaries are identical to the RCL for this day. Throughout Pentecost the alternate RCL Psalm would normally be used with the alternate RCL O. T. reading. Note also that the Canadian RCL does not have the alternative readings.

The readings are posted on our web site: http://satucket.com/lectionary, in RTF format, which can be read by all word processors.


OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis 32: 22 - 31 (RCL)

Gene 32:22 (NRSV) The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jab'bok. 23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. 24 Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." 27 So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." 28 Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." 29 Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the place Peni'el, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved." 31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penu'el, limping because of his hip.


Isaiah 55: 1 - 5 (alt. for RCL)
Isaiah 55: 1 - 3 (Roman Catholic)

Isai 55:1 (NRSV) Ho, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
listen, so that you may live.
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 See, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.


PSALM 17: 1 - 7, 15 (RCL)

Psal 17:1 (NRSV) Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
2 From you let my vindication come;
let your eyes see the right.
3 If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,
if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;
my mouth does not transgress.
4 As for what others do, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
5 My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me, hear my words.
7 Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.
15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.

Note: Verse numbering in your Psalter may differ from the above

17 Exaudi, Domine (ECUSA BCP)

1 Hear my plea of innocence, O LORD;
give heed to my cry; *
listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.

2 Let my vindication come forth from your presence; *
let your eyes be fixed on justice.

3 Weigh my heart, summon me by night, *
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.

4 I give no offense with my mouth as others do; *
I have heeded the words of your lips.

5 My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law; *
in your paths my feet shall not stumble.

6 I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; *
incline your ear to me and hear my words.

7 Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, *
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.


16 But at my vindication I shall see your face; *
when I awake, I shall be satisfied, beholding
your likeness.


Psalm 145: 8 - 9, 14 - 21 (alt. for RCL)
Psalm 145: 8 - 9, 15 - 18 (Roman Catholic)

Psal 145:8 (NRSV) The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The LORD is good to all,
and his compassion is over all that he has made.
14 The LORD upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
16 You open your hand,
satisfying the desire of every living thing.
17 The LORD is just in all his ways,
and kind in all his doings.
18 The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;
he also hears their cry, and saves them.
20 The LORD watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD,
and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.

Note: Verse numbering in your Psalter may differ from the above


145 Exaltabo te, Deus (ECUSA BCP)

8 The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, *
slow to anger and of great kindness.

9 The LORD is loving to everyone *
and his compassion is over all his works.

14 The LORD is faithful in all his words *
and merciful in all his deeds.

15 The LORD upholds all those who fall; *
he lifts up those who are bowed down.

16 The eyes of all wait upon you, O LORD, *
and you give them their food in due season.

17 You open wide your hand *
and satisfy the needs of every living creature.

18 The LORD is righteous in all his ways *
and loving in all his works.

19 The LORD is near to those who call upon him, *
to all who call upon him faithfully.

20 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; *
he hears their cry and helps them.

21 The LORD preserves all those who love him, *
but he destroys all the wicked.

22 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD; *
let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever.


NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 9: 1 - 5 (RCL)

Roma 9:1 (NRSV) I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit-- 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5 to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

h/t montreal Anglican

Paul has written of the new way of being we have in Christ, in the love of God, aided by the Holy Spirit, with the certain hope of eternal life – while others continually alienate themselves from God and face the finality of physical death. We are adopted children of God, and so will attain complete oneness with him, sharing in his power (glory).
Now he confronts a worrying question: why have most Jews rejected the good news? This causes Paul, as a follower of Christ, great pain. Perhaps some thought him insensitive to the plight of his fellow Jews, but the “Holy Spirit”, within him, “confirms” that he really cares. He would even be willing to be “cut off from Christ” (v. 3), be condemned to damnation, for the sake of bringing his fellow Jews to Christ. They are “Israelites” (v. 4) – a title given to them by God. They have seven gifts from God:
• “adoption”, being chosen as children of God;
• “glory”, God’s presence in the desert and in the Temple;
• the “covenants” of God with the patriarchs;
• “the giving of the law”, the expression of God’s will at Sinai;
• temple “worship”;
• “the promises” to Adam, Noah, Moses and David; and
• a heritage still in effect, of worshipping the God of their fathers, “the patriarchs” (v. 5, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).
There is an eighth gift, the greatest: Jesus, who was born a Jew. But they fail to recognize him for who he is: the “Messiah”, the Christ. Paul’s basic answer is in vv. 6-18: God, not humans, choses through whom he works to bring about his plan of salvation, as the Old Testament shows. God decided that the lineage of Israel, his people, would be through Isaac and Jacob, not through Ishmael and Esau.


The problem of Israel’s unbelief. [NOAB]
Verse 1: “confirms it”: or bears witness in. [BlkRom]
Verse 3: Paul echoes Moses’ prayer for the unruly Israelites in Exodus 32:32 [NJBC]. There Moses asks God that if he will not “forgive their sin” he may be blotted “out of the book that you have written”.
Verse 3: “accursed”: The Greek word is anathema, meaning banned. It also occurs in 1 Corinthians 16:22 and Galatians 1:8-9. [BlkRom]
Verse 4: “Israelites”: The title Israel is given to Jacob, and hence to his descendants, as God's people, in Genesis 32:28. In 2 Corinthians 11:22, Paul says: “Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I”. [NJBC]
Verse 4: “adoption”: For the adoption of Israel as the “son of God” see Exodus 4:22; Deuteronomy 14:1; Jeremiah 3:19; Hosea 11:1. For the adoption of Christians, see Romans 8:15, 23. Because adoption was not common in Israel, the Greek word for it is not found in the Septuagint translation. Paul borrowed the term from contemporary legal language. [NJBC]
Verse 4: “glory”: See Exodus 16:10-11 (God appears in a cloud); 24:16-17; 33:18 (Moses); 40:34-35 (the tabernacle); Leviticus 9:6, 23; Numbers 14:10 (at the tent of meeting), 21 (all the earth shall see it); 16:19; 1 Kings 8:10-11 (“the house of the LORD”). For the glory to which Christians will be admitted, see Romans 2:7; 5:2. [NJBC]
Verse 4: “covenants”: See Genesis 6:18 (Noah); 9:9; 15:17-21 (Abraham); 17:2 (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), 7, 9; 21:27; 26:28; Exodus 2:24; 19:5; 2 Samuel 7:5-6; 23:5 (David); Sirach 44:12, 18. BlkRom considers it more likely that Paul, with other Jewish writers, is referring to the three covenants in the great covenant of Exodus: at Horeb (Deuteronomy 29:1), in the plains of Moab, and at mounts Gerizim and Ebal. NJBC notes that while the plural form (covenants) is found in many manuscripts, some important manuscripts read the singular; in this case, Paul refers to the pact of Sinai.
Verse 4: “the giving of the law”: The giving of the Ten Commandments is found in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-33. [NOAB]
Verse 4: “the promises”: See Genesis 12:2; 21:12 (to Abraham); Deuteronomy 18:18-19 (to Moses); 2 Samuel 7 (to David). It is possible that Paul is speaking of messianic promises. [BlkRom] [NJBC]
Verse 5: “the patriarchs”: i.e. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob plus possibly the sons of Jacob and David. [CAB] In 11:28, they are named as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Verse 5 “according to the flesh”: i.e. by physical descent.
Verse 5: “Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever”: In a footnote the NRSV offers two other translations:
• “Messiah, who is God over all, blessed forever” and
• “Messiah. May he who is God over all be blessed forever”.
Whether Christ is called God here depends on the punctuation one inserts. [CAB]
Verses 6-7: God chose Isaac not Ishmael: see Genesis 21:12. Paul uses the same argument in Galatians 4:21-31.
Verse 9: God chose Sarah, not Hagar: see Genesis 18:10, 14. [NOAB]
Verses 10-12: See Genesis 25:21, 23. [NJBC]
Verse 13: The quotation is from Malachi 1:2-3. [NOAB]
Verse 15: The quotation is Exodus 33:19. [NOAB]
Verse 17: The quotation is based on Exodus 9:16.
Verse 18: Israel’s election, like God’s justification of the ungodly, rests in the sovereign will of God and in God’s freedom towards his creation.
Verse 18: “hardens the heart”: At times, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is ascribed at times to God (see Exodus 4:21; 7:3; 9:12) and at times to Pharaoh himself (see Exodus 7:14; 8:15, 19, 32). [NJBC]



GOSPEL: Matthew 14: 13 - 21 (all)

Matt 14:13 (NRSV) Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves." 16 Jesus said to them, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." 17 They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." 18 And he said, "Bring them here to me." 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

h/t montreal Anglican

Matthew has told us of the beheading of John the Baptist – killed because he denounced Herod Antipas’ marriage to his brother Philip’s wife when Philip was still alive (a violation of Jewish law).
This is a story of a miracle, but which miracle? The obvious answer is the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, but there is perhaps another miracle here. Matthew places this story in a section of the gospel about training the disciples for their mission, so perhaps Jesus is teaching them about what they can do. (A peasant in Palestine, then and now, travelled with food.) Jesus says to his disciples “you give them something to eat” (v. 16). He is saying: you have the resources to solve this problem! Take the initiative! Be leaders!
In v. 19, we have a reminder of the Last Supper, the eucharistic feast, and of the messianic feast at the end of time. Jesus takes bread, recognizes it as the Father's gift (“looked up to heaven”), blesses it, breaks it, and gives it, distributes it. Then, in v. 20, we see another level to the story. The disciples get everyone to work together to a common purpose. All are “filled” and much is left over: a basket for each disciple. Each of them has a mission to perform, one of telling the good news of the infinite abundance of God's love, which all can eat.
Verse 13: “this”: Clearly John’s death, not Herod’s misunderstanding of whom Jesus is – as is shown by the Marcan parallel.
Verse 14: “cured their sick”: In Mark, Jesus’ compassion leads to teaching, not healing. [NJBC]
Verse 15: “deserted place”: The Greek word, eremos, is translated as desolate by BlkMt. It is rendered as wilderness in11:7 and as desert place in 24:26. Such translations make the Feedings of the Five Thousand even more dramatic.
Verse 19: “blessed ... broke ... gave”: The ritual of the daily Jewish meal, but also points forward to the Last Supper. [NJBC]
Verse 19: “the disciples gave them to the crowds”: The disciples mediate between Jesus and the crowds. [NJBC]
Verse 20: The crowds represent all Israel. The “twelve baskets” represent the twelve tribes of Israel under the twelve disciples. [NJBC] In 19:28, Jesus says “‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’”
Verse 21: The men, and women and children, sat separately, per tradition.
The feeding stories echo Exodus 16 and Numbers 11 (manna and quail), as well as 2 Kings 4:1-7, 42-44 (Elisha multiplying oil and bread for the widow). [NJBC]