Reflecting on the Eighteenth
Sunday after Pentecost
Year C

Daily Readings for Wednesday
October 12, 2022

Prayer

In your love, O God of hosts, 

your people find healing. 

Grant that the pains of our journey may not obscure 

the presence of Christ among us, 

but that we may always give thanks for your healing power 

as we travel on the way to your kingdom. 

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Psalm 102:1-17

Like a lonely bird on a housetop

 

Hear my prayer, O Lord;

let my cry come to you.

Do not hide your face from me

in the day of my distress.

Incline your ear to me;

answer me speedily in the day when I call.

For my days pass away like smoke,

and my bones burn like a furnace.

My heart is stricken and withered like grass;

I am too wasted to eat my bread.

Because of my loud groaning

my bones cling to my skin.

I am like an owl of the wilderness,

like a little owl of the waste places.

I lie awake;

I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.

All day long my enemies taunt me;

those who deride me use my name for a curse.

For I eat ashes like bread,

and mingle tears with my drink,

because of your indignation and anger;

for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.

My days are like an evening shadow;

I wither away like grass.

But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;

your name endures to all generations.

You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,

for it is time to favor it;

the appointed time has come.

For your servants hold its stones dear,

and have pity on its dust.

The nations will fear the name of the Lord,

and all the kings of the earth your glory.

For the Lord will build up Zion;

he will appear in his glory.

He will regard the prayer of the destitute,

and will not despise their prayer.

 

Jeremiah 25:15-32

The cup of God’s wrath

 

For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and go out of their minds because of the sword that I am sending among them.

 

So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, an object of hissing and of cursing, as they are today; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people; all the mixed people; all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod; Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites; all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who have shaven temples; all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed peoples that live in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Sheshach shall drink.

 

Then you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, get drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.

 

And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink! See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name, and how can you possibly avoid punishment? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord of hosts.

 

You, therefore, shall prophesy against them all these words, and say to them:

 

The Lord will roar from on high,

and from his holy habitation utter his voice;

he will roar mightily against his fold,

and shout, like those who tread grapes,

against all the inhabitants of the earth.

The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth,

for the Lord has an indictment against the nations;

he is entering into judgment with all flesh,

and the guilty he will put to the sword,

says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord of hosts:

See, disaster is spreading

from nation to nation,

and a great tempest is stirring

from the farthest parts of the earth!

 

Matthew 10:5-15

Cure without payment

 

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”

 

 

Prayer

O God of compassion, 

through the witness of a captive maidservant 

you healed Naaman in the waters of the Jordan. 

Through Jesus you healed the lepers. 

Heal us so that we may follow Christ with joy, 

giving thanks with all our being. Amen.

 

Psalm 61

Prayer for a long life

 

Hear my cry, O God;

listen to my prayer.

From the end of the earth I call to you,

when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock

that is higher than I;

for you are my refuge,

a strong tower against the enemy.

Let me abide in your tent forever,

find refuge under the shelter of your wings.    Selah

For you, O God, have heard my vows;

you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

Prolong the life of the king;

may his years endure to all generations!

May he be enthroned forever before God;

appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!

So I will always sing praises to your name,

as I pay my vows day after day.

 

2 Kings 15:1-7

A leprous king lives in isolation

 

In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam of Israel King Azariah son of Amaziah of Judah began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. Nevertheless the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. The Lord struck the king, so that he was leprous to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the palace, governing the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? Azariah slept with his ancestors; they buried him with his ancestors in the city of David; his son Jotham succeeded him.

 

Matthew 10:5-15

Cure without payment

 

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”

 

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Prayer reprinted from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers, © 2002 Consultation on Common Texts. Reproduced by permission.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts admin. Augsburg Fortress. Reproduced by permission. No further reproduction allowed without the written permission of Augsburg Fortress.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


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