Preparing for the Fifth
Sunday after the Epiphany

Year B

Prayer

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

The Lord heals the brokenhearted

 

Praise the Lord!

How good it is to sing praises to our God;

for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.

The Lord builds up Jerusalem;

he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted,

and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars;

he gives to all of them their names.

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;

his understanding is beyond measure.

The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;

he casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;

make melody to our God on the lyre.

He covers the heavens with clouds,

prepares rain for the earth,

makes grass grow on the hills.

He gives to the animals their food,

and to the young ravens when they cry.

His delight is not in the strength of the horse,

nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;

but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,

in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Praise the Lord!

 

Job 36:1-23

God’s goodness is exalted

 

Elihu continued and said:

 

“Bear with me a little, and I will show you,

for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.

I will bring my knowledge from far away,

and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

For truly my words are not false;

one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

“Surely God is mighty and does not despise any;

he is mighty in strength of understanding.

He does not keep the wicked alive,

but gives the afflicted their right.

He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,

but with kings on the throne

he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

And if they are bound in fetters

and caught in the cords of affliction,

then he declares to them their work

and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.

He opens their ears to instruction,

and commands that they return from iniquity.

If they listen, and serve him,

they complete their days in prosperity,

and their years in pleasantness.

But if they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword,

and die without knowledge.

“The godless in heart cherish anger;

they do not cry for help when he binds them.

They die in their youth,

and their life ends in shame.

He delivers the afflicted by their affliction,

and opens their ear by adversity.

He also allured you out of distress

into a broad place where there was no constraint,

and what was set on your table was full of fatness.

“But you are obsessed with the case of the wicked;

judgment and justice seize you.

Beware that wrath does not entice you into scoffing,

and do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.

Will your cry avail to keep you from distress,

or will all the force of your strength?

Do not long for the night,

when peoples are cut off in their place.

Beware! Do not turn to iniquity;

because of that you have been tried by affliction.

See, God is exalted in his power;

who is a teacher like him?

Who has prescribed for him his way,

or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?”

 

1 Corinthians 9:1-16

An apostle’s life

 

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

 

This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?

 

Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law also say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop. If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more?

 

Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

 

But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing this so that they may be applied in my case. Indeed, I would rather die than that—no one will deprive me of my ground for boasting! If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!