18 The Confession of Saint Peter the Apostle
19 Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester 1095
20 Fabian, Bishop and Martyr of Rome, 250 was the Bishop of Rome from 10 January 236 to his death in 250,[1] succeeding Anterus. He is famous for the miraculous nature of his election, in which a dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit's unexpected choice to become the next pope. He was succeeded by Cornelius.
21 Agnes, Martyr at Rome, 304 is a virgin–martyr, venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism. She is one of seven women, who along with the Blessed Virgin, are commemorated by name in the Canon of the Mass. She is the patron saint of chastity, gardeners, girls, engaged couples, rape victims, and virgins
22 Vincent, Deacon of Saragossa, and Martyr, 304
23 Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, 1893
24 Ordination of Florence Li Tim-Oi, First Woman Priest in the Anglican Communion, 1944
25 The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle



OLD TESTAMENT:  1 Samuel 3: 1 - 10 (11 - 20)   (RCL)
                                    1 Samuel 3: 3b - 10, 19   (Roman Catholic)

1Sam 3:1 (NRSV) Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under E'li. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
2 At that time E'li, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am!" 5 and ran to E'li, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down. 6 The LORD called again, "Samuel!" Samuel got up and went to E'li, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again." 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to E'li, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then E'li perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 Therefore E'li said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, "Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." 11 Then the LORD said to Samuel, "See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against E'li all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of E'li that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever."
15 Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to E'li. 16 But E'li called Samuel and said, "Samuel, my son." He said, "Here I am." 17 E'li said, "What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you." 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, "It is the LORD; let him do what seems good to him."
19 As Samuel grew up, the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Be'er-she'ba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the LORD.


PSALM 139: 1 - 6, 13 - 18  (RCL)

Psal 139:1 (NRSV) O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
O LORD, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.

13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 I try to count them--they are more than the sand;
I come to the end --I am still with you.

Note: Verse numbering in your Psalter may be different from the above.


139   Domine, probasti      (ECUSA BCP)

1      Lord, you have searched me out and known me; *
     you know my sitting down and my rising up;
     you discern my thoughts from afar.

2      You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
     and are acquainted with all my ways.

3      Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
     but you, O Lord, know it altogether.

4      You press upon me behind and before *
     and lay your hand upon me.

5      Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *
     it is so high that I cannot attain to it.

12      For you yourself created my inmost parts; *
     you knit me together in my mother's womb.

13      I will thank you because I am marvelously made; *
     your works are wonderful, and I know it well.

14      My body was not hidden from you, *
     while I was being made in secret
     and woven in the depths of the earth.

15      Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb;
all of them were written in your book; *
     they were fashioned day by day,
     when as yet there was none of them.

16      How deep I find your thoughts, O God! *
     how great is the sum of them!

17      If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; *
     to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.


Psalm 40: 1, 3, 6 - 9  (Roman Catholic)

Psal 40:1 (NRSV) I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.

3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.

6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering
you have not required.
7 Then I said, "Here I am;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart."
9 I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
see, I have not restrained my lips,
as you know, O LORD.

Note: Verse numbering in Roman Catholic bibles is one higher than the above.


NEW TESTAMENT:  1 Corinthians 6: 12 - 20  (RCL)
                                     1 Corinthians 6: 13c - 15a, 17 - 20  (Roman Catholic)

1Cor 6:12 (NRSV)   "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food," and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, "The two shall be one flesh." 17 But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

h/t Montreal Anglican

In Paul’s day, Corinth was known for licentiousness. He is concerned that some Christians have gone beyond liberty, that their ways are destroying the community. He quotes a slogan from his opponents: “All things are lawful for me”. (They are saying I can do anything I like.) He does not disagree – for Christian living does not depend on observing a set of rules, but on God who accepts even those who break his laws – but he adds a qualification: some things may not be “beneficial” for the person or in the community. He adds a second qualification: that he will not become enslaved to any indulgence. Christian liberty is not license. V. 13a is a quotation from his opponents which Paul appears to accept (Christians are not subject to Jewish food laws), but he adds a rider: “and one day God will put an end to both” (Revised English Bible): both are transitory. But, on the other hand, Paul says, realizing the Corinthian corollary to the quotation (that desires of the body can be satisfied in any way we wish), the physical and spiritual “body” (meaning the whole person and how he lives) is not meant for self-indulgence, because of the relationship between Christ and each person: our bodies are clearly important to God because, as he has raised Christ, so he will raise us. So his opponents are wrong in their analogy between “stomach” and “body”. The body is intended for the service of the Lord.

He continues (v. 15): surely you are aware of this relationship. In v. 16, he quotes Genesis 2:24: “... a man ... clings to his wife, and they become one flesh”. You must be aware that you are “members of Christ” (v. 15), each of you united to him, and so are his. So how can I possibly unite you with a prostitute, for union occurs in sexual intercourse. Immorality cannot be compartmentalized, for it involves the whole person. So, “shun fornication!” (v. 18) Again v. 18b (“Every sin ...”) is a quotation, suggesting that the actions of the flesh have no relationship to the spirit (“body”). Paul rejects this view. Surely, he says in v. 19, you know that your “body” (spiritual and physical) is sacred and belongs to Christ (“you are not your own”). For Christ “bought” (v. 20) you with his blood, ransomed you as a slave or prisoner is ransomed. So pay homage to God by living in a godly way, using the body for its intended purpose sexually, but also to serve others.
Revelation 5: 1 - 10  (C of E)

 Paul has just written (in vv. 9-10): “Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers – none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.” This brings him back to the problem dealt with in 5:1-8: “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father's wife. ... you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. ... Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. ...” [ NJBC]

Verses 12-19: The proper stance of the community toward moral responsibility is not a matter of individual behaviour (“All things are lawful for me”), but must be based on an awareness of the new community as the body of Christ, which is the new “temple” (v. 19) where God has chosen to dwell. In light of this, quarrelling over dietary laws is of no consequence, but abstinence from sexual misdeeds is a serious issue. The Lord is concerned about bodily behaviour, because all members of the community share as “members” (v. 15) in the [risen] body “of Christ”. Since creation (see Genesis 2:24) sexual activity has involved bodily union, so it is essential for members of the community to avoid sexual activity that is contrary to the law, and thus to preserve the purity of the bodily “temple of the Holy Spirit” (v. 19), and thereby to “glorify God” (v. 20). [ CAB]

Verse 12: For some “things” destroying, rather than building up, the community, see also Galatians 4:9. [ NJBC]

Verse 13a: This Corinthian slogan was designed to prove that physical actions have no moral value. [ NJBC]

Verse 13b: “The body ...”: The libertines argued that satisfying sexual desire was like taking food to satisfy one’s hunger. Paul rejects this analogy. [ NOAB] The Greek word, soma, always means physical body. [ NJBC]

Verse 15: “Christ”: As in 12:12, “Christ” means the Christian community, the physical presence of him in the world. [ NJBC]

Verse 16: Immorality involves the whole “body”, which for Paul means one’s entire personal life: see also Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5; Ephesians 5:31. [ NOAB] Transitory pleasure without real communication denies the full union which is the Creator’s intention for the physical act in Genesis 2:24. [ NJBC]

Verse 17: Paul appeals to those in the Corinthian community who especially value the “spirit”. Spirit-people thought that themselves superior to others: an aberration in faith. [ NJBC]

Verse 19: “your body”: i.e. the body of each Christian. However, note 3:16 where the “temple” is the community. (There “your” is plural.) [ NOAB]

Verse 19: “temple of the Holy Spirit”: The holiness of the community (see 3:16-17) must be reflected in the comportment of each member. [ NJBC]

Verse 20: See also 7:23. [ NOAB]

Verse 20: “you were bought”: As was a slave or prisoner. In Galatians 5:1, Paul writes: “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery”. [ NJBC]

Verse 20: “glorify God”: Galatians 5:13 says “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” [ NJBC]


GOSPEL:  John 1: 43 - 51  (RCL)

John 1:43 (NRSV) The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsa'ida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathan'ael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." 46 Nathan'ael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 When Jesus saw Nathan'ael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathan'ael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." 49 Nathan'ael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." 51 And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."


On the previous day, Andrew and Peter, both disciples of John the Baptist, have become Jesus’ disciples. The Baptist has said to them: “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” (v. 36) They have asked Jesus: “Where are you staying?” (v. 38, where do you dwell?); he has answered “Come and see” (v. 39): a command that means, in this gospel, come and believe. It was Andrew who found Peter. Philip finds Nathanael (probably Bartholomew of the other gospels), and tells him that the three have found the one to whom the Old Testament points, i.e. Jesus, the Messiah (v. 45). Nathanael’s response (v. 46) is probably a local proverb: the people of Nazareth were despised. Philip says “Come and see”, as Jesus did to Andrew and Peter. An “Israelite” (v. 47) invoked the law and the prophets; Nathanael is a “truly an Israelite” because, unlike other Jews, he accepts Christ. Jacob, the father of the nation, practised deceit before meeting God, but in Nathanael “there is no deceit”. In v. 49, Nathanael acknowledges Christ for who he is – in Jewish terms, because of the minor miracle of Jesus observing him under a fig tree on a previous occasion, before they met. Jesus tells him that he will see a much greater miracle: like the one Jacob saw in his dream at Bethel (Genesis 28:10-17), but with the Son of Man, Jesus, being the vehicle of communication. In today’s psalm, God knows our doings; here Jesus knows Nathanael.

Verse 43: “Follow me”: Jesus’ call to discipleship here is the call recorded in the Synoptic gospels: see Matthew 9:9 (Jesus calls Matthew); Mark 2:14 (he calls Levi); Luke 5:27. [ NJBC]

Verse 45: “Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote”: Moses was thought to be the author of the first five books of the Bible. In Jesus’ day, the Old Testament consisted of the law and the prophets. Later the writings were also included in the canon. In Luke 24:27 (part of a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus), we read: “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures”.

Verse 47: “truly an Israelite”: Others who invoke the Law and the prophets reject Jesus, but not Nathanael: see 7:15 (“‘How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught?’”), 27, 41; 9:29. [ NJBC]

Verse 47: “no deceit”: For Jacob’s deceitful practices before being named Israel, see Genesis 27:35 (Isaac blesses Jacob rather than Esau). Jacob is named Israel in Genesis 32:28. [ NOAB] In the Old Testament, the Greek word translated “deceit” ( dolos) has negative religious overtones (e.g. Psalms 17:1; 43:1; Proverbs 12:6); in the prophetic books it can imply unfaithfulness to God: see Jeremiah 9:5 and Zephaniah 3:13. In the fourth Servant Song, it is said of the servant that “there was no deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:9). [ NJBC]

Verses 48-49: Whether the “fig tree” is significant is not known. We do know that, per a later tradition, rabbis studied the Law under a fig tree: see Midrash Rabba Ecclesiastes 5:11. [ NJBC]

Verse 49: “Son of God ... King of Israel”: In the Old Testament (e.g. 2 Samuel 7:14; Psalms 89:27; 2:6-7) the king is referred to as “son of God”. Pilate’s inscription “King of the Jews” on the cross (e.g. 19:19) may have led to the early Christian portrayal of Jesus as Messiah/King. This gospel returns later to the theme of Jesus’ kingship in the trial before Pilate. [ NJBC]

Verse 51: “Very truly”: The Greek is amen, amen. This and the shift from “you” singular in v. 50 to “you” plural here suggests that an editor added this verse later. 3:12-15 makes a similar move from earthly to heavenly things by allusion to the Son of Man. 3:13 is particularly close to this verse (quoted below). Note the Johannine christology: no one could have seen God except the Son. So Jacob’s vision is here transformed into a future vision promised to believers in which Jesus is the medium of communication between the Father and humans. Note that the farewell discourses in this gospel never apply “Son of Man” to the expectation of Jesus’ return. In this gospel, no mention is made of the Son of Man suffering; the emphasis is on his pre-existence, descent and ascent. [ NJBC]

Verse 51: What Jacob saw in a vision (see Genesis 28:12) is now a reality in Jesus. [ NOAB] Jesus is the founder of the new Israel. [ CAB]

Verse 51: “Son of Man”: In 3:13, Jesus tells Nicodemus “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man” so “the Son of Man” is a messenger from heaven to make God known. “The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son ... he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man” ( 5:22, 27). [ NOAB] In a vision, Daniel sees “one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven”. The Aramaic original translated in the NRSV as “human being” is son of man. [ CAB]