The Readings for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 3 June 3rd. 2018

First Reading: Deuteronomy 5:12-15

12Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 14But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. 15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

Psalm: Psalm 81:1-10

1 For the leader; “upon the gittith.” Of Asaph.

I

2 Sing joyfully to God our strength;
    raise loud shouts to the God of Jacob!
3 Take up a melody, sound the timbrel,
    the pleasant lyre with a harp.
4 Blow the shofar at the new moon,
    at the full moon, on our solemn feast.
5 For this is a law for Israel,
    an edict of the God of Jacob,
6 He made it a decree for Joseph
    when he came out of the land of Egypt.

II

7 I heard a tongue I did not know:
    “I removed his shoulder from the burden;
    his hands moved away from the basket.
8 In distress you called and I rescued you;
    I answered you in secret with thunder;
At the waters of Meribah I tested you: 9 ‘Listen, my people, I will testify against you
Selah
    If only you will listen to me, Israel!
10 There shall be no foreign god among you;
    you shall not bow down to an alien god.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

5We do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

  7But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 8We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. 12So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Gospel: Mark 2:23--3:6

23One sabbath [Jesus] was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” 27Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

 3:1Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” 4Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.