(~) Bible Readings for Wednesday in Holy Week

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Hebrews 9:11-15,24-28
John 13:21-35
 or Matthew 26:1-5,14-25


Old Testament           Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Lord GOD has given me
     the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
     the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens--
     wakens my ear
     to listen as those who are taught.
The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
     and I was not rebellious,
     I did not turn backward.
I gave my back to those who struck me,
     and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
     from insult and spitting.

 The Lord GOD helps me;
     therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
     and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
     he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
     Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
     Let them confront me.
It is the Lord GOD who helps me;
     who will declare me guilty?

The Epistle           Hebrews 9:11-15, 24-28

When Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then
through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of
this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the
blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal
redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of
the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that
their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify
our conscience from dead works to worship the living God! For this reason
he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may
receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred
that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant.
For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of
the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself again and
again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood
that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again
since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for
all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And
just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the
judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many,
will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are
eagerly waiting for him.

The Gospel           John 13:21-35

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared,
"Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked
at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples--
the one whom Jesus loved-- was reclining next to him; Simon Peter
therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while
reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered,
"It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in
the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas
son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered
into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do." Now no
one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because
Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for
the festival"; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after
receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified,
and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God
will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little
children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as
I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going, you cannot
come.' I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I
have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will
know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

or

The Gospel           Matthew 26:1-5, 14-25

Jesus said to his disciples, "You know that after two days the Passover is
coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."
Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace
of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and they conspired to arrest
Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, "Not during the festival, or
there may be a riot among the people."
Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief
priests and said, "What will you give me if I betray him to you?" They
paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he began to look
for an opportunity to betray him.
On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying,
"Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the
Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him,
`The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house
with my disciples.'" So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and
they prepared the Passover meal.
When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they
were eating, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me." And
they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another,
"Surely not I, Lord?" He answered, "The one who has dipped
his hand into
the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of
him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have
been better for that one not to have been born." Judas, who betrayed him,
said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" He replied, "You have said so."

Ninure Saunders aka Rainbow Christian

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