The Readings for Sunday, July 26th, 2015, The 9th Sunday after Pentecost

First Reading: 2 Kings 4:42–44

⁴²A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, "Give it to the people and let them eat."  ⁴³But his servant said, "How can I set this before a hundred people?" So he repeated, "Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and have some left.'"  ⁴⁴He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.

The Word of the Lord

Psalm 145:10–19

⁰All your works praise you, O LORD,

and your faithful servants bless you.

¹¹They make known the glory of your kingdom

and speak of your power;

¹²that the peoples may know of your power

and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

¹³Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom;

your dominion endures throughout all ages.

¹⁴The LORD is faithful in all his words

and merciful in all his deeds.

¹⁵The LORD upholds all those who fall;

he lifts up those who are bowed down.

¹⁶The eyes of all wait upon you, O LORD,

and you give them their food in due season.

¹⁷You open wide your hand

and satisfy the needs of every living creature.

¹⁸The LORD is righteous in all his ways

and loving in all his works.

¹⁹The LORD is near to those who call upon him,

to all who call upon him faithfully.

Second Reading: Ephesians 3:14–21

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.  ¹⁶I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,  ¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.  ¹⁸I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,  ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

The Word of the Lord

Gospel: John 6:1–21

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.  ²A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.  ³Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.  ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.  ⁵When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?"  ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.  ⁷Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."  ⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him,  ⁹There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?  ¹⁰Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.  ¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.  ¹²When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost."  ¹³So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.  ¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world."

¹⁵When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,  ¹⁷got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.  ¹⁸The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.  ¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified.  ²⁰But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."  ²¹Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.