Lenten Reading Saturday February 20th

Reading Guide for Lent

Each day read the Gospel passage for the day and the Psalm passage for the day (you can read them all at once or do one reading in the morning and one in the evening) and use the reflection questions to help process the passage.

The 10th day of Lent

Saturday February 20th

Gospel Reading:  Luke 10

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10      After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. ²He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. ³Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

⁵“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ ⁶If the head of the house loves peace, your peace will rest on that house; if not, it will return to you. ⁷Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for workers deserve their wages. Do not move around from house to house.

⁸“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. ⁹Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ¹¹‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹²I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

¹³“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. ¹⁵And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.

¹⁶“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

¹⁷The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

¹⁸He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. ²⁰However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

²¹At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

²²“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. ²⁴For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁸“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³²So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

At the Home of Martha and Mary

³⁸As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴²but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

The Holy Bible : Today's New International Version. 2005. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Reflection Questions:

1. What is the purpose of the 72 who were sent out?
2. When they returned what was their attitude? (see vs. 17)
3. In the story of the Samaritan what did Jesus want the expert in the law to learn?  What does it mean to have mercy on others?
4. How is Mary a good example to us?
5. What is the reward for sitting at the feet of Jesus?

Psalm Reading:  Psalm 139

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹You have searched me, Lord,

and you know me.

²You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴Before a word is on my tongue

you, Lord, know it completely.

⁵You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.

⁷Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,”

¹²even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

¹³For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

¹⁴I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶     your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be.

¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand—

when I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹If only you, God, would slay the wicked!

Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

²⁰They speak of you with evil intent;

your adversaries misuse your name.

²¹Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,

and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

²²I have nothing but hatred for them;

I count them my enemies.

²³Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Reflection Questions:

1. How deeply does God know us?
2. How does that make you feel?
3. How did it make the Psalmist feel?
4. Read vs. 23-24.  Why should we ask God to search us?
5. Pray these verses as your own.