March 24

Matthew 28:1-10

The Resurrection

[1] Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. [2] And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. [3] His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. [4] And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. [5] But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. [6] He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. [7] Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” [8] So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. [9] And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. [10] Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Romans 15:14-33

Paul the Minister to the Gentiles

[14] I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. [15] But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God [16] to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. [17] In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. [18] For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, [19] by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; [20] and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, [21] but as it is written, 

    “Those who have never been told of him will see,

        and those who have never heard will understand.”

    Paul’s Plan to Visit Rome

[22] This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. [23] But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, [24] I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. [25] At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. [26] For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. [27] For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. [28] When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. [29] I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

[30] I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, [31] that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, [32] so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. [33] May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Psalm 70

O LORD, Do Not Delay

To the choirmaster. Of David, for the memorial offering.

    [1] Make haste, O God, to deliver me!

        O LORD, make haste to help me! 

    [2] Let them be put to shame and confusion

        who seek my life!

    Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor

        who delight in my hurt! 

    [3] Let them turn back because of their shame

        who say, “Aha, Aha!”

    [4] May all who seek you

        rejoice and be glad in you!

    May those who love your salvation

        say evermore, “God is great!” 

    [5] But I am poor and needy;

        hasten to me, O God!

    You are my help and my deliverer;

        O LORD, do not delay!

Deuteronomy 32

    [1] “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,

        and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. 

    [2] May my teaching drop as the rain,

        my speech distill as the dew,

    like gentle rain upon the tender grass,

        and like showers upon the herb. 

    [3] For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;

        ascribe greatness to our God!

    [4] “The Rock, his work is perfect,

        for all his ways are justice.

    A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,

        just and upright is he. 

    [5] They have dealt corruptly with him;

        they are no longer his children because they are blemished;

        they are a crooked and twisted generation. 

    [6] Do you thus repay the LORD,

        you foolish and senseless people?

    Is not he your father, who created you,

        who made you and established you? 

    [7] Remember the days of old;

        consider the years of many generations;

    ask your father, and he will show you,

        your elders, and they will tell you. 

    [8] When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,

        when he divided mankind,

    he fixed the borders of the peoples

        according to the number of the sons of God. 

    [9] But the LORD’s portion is his people,

        Jacob his allotted heritage.

    [10] “He found him in a desert land,

        and in the howling waste of the wilderness;

    he encircled him, he cared for him,

        he kept him as the apple of his eye. 

    [11] Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,

        that flutters over its young,

    spreading out its wings, catching them,

        bearing them on its pinions, 

    [12] the LORD alone guided him,

        no foreign god was with him. 

    [13] He made him ride on the high places of the land,

        and he ate the produce of the field,

    and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,

        and oil out of the flinty rock. 

    [14] Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,

        with fat of lambs,

    rams of Bashan and goats,

        with the very finest of the wheat—

        and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.

    [15] “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;

        you grew fat, stout, and sleek;

    then he forsook God who made him

        and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. 

    [16] They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;

        with abominations they provoked him to anger. 

    [17] They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,

        to gods they had never known,

    to new gods that had come recently,

        whom your fathers had never dreaded. 

    [18] You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,

        and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

    [19] “The LORD saw it and spurned them,

        because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. 

    [20] And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;

        I will see what their end will be,

    for they are a perverse generation,

        children in whom is no faithfulness. 

    [21] They have made me jealous with what is no god;

        they have provoked me to anger with their idols.

    So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;

        I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 

    [22] For a fire is kindled by my anger,

        and it burns to the depths of Sheol,

    devours the earth and its increase,

        and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

    [23] “‘And I will heap disasters upon them;

        I will spend my arrows on them; 

    [24] they shall be wasted with hunger,

        and devoured by plague

        and poisonous pestilence;

    I will send the teeth of beasts against them,

        with the venom of things that crawl in the dust. 

    [25] Outdoors the sword shall bereave,

        and indoors terror,

    for young man and woman alike,

        the nursing child with the man of gray hairs. 

    [26] I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;

        I will wipe them from human memory,” 

    [27] had I not feared provocation by the enemy,

        lest their adversaries should misunderstand,

    lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant,

        it was not the LORD who did all this.”’

    [28] “For they are a nation void of counsel,

        and there is no understanding in them. 

    [29] If they were wise, they would understand this;

        they would discern their latter end! 

    [30] How could one have chased a thousand,

        and two have put ten thousand to flight,

    unless their Rock had sold them,

        and the LORD had given them up? 

    [31] For their rock is not as our Rock;

        our enemies are by themselves. 

    [32] For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom

        and from the fields of Gomorrah;

    their grapes are grapes of poison;

        their clusters are bitter; 

    [33] their wine is the poison of serpents

        and the cruel venom of asps.

    [34] “‘Is not this laid up in store with me,

        sealed up in my treasuries? 

    [35] Vengeance is mine, and recompense,

        for the time when their foot shall slip;

    for the day of their calamity is at hand,

        and their doom comes swiftly.’ 

    [36] For the LORD will vindicate his people

        and have compassion on his servants,

    when he sees that their power is gone

        and there is none remaining, bond or free. 

    [37] Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,

        the rock in which they took refuge, 

    [38] who ate the fat of their sacrifices

        and drank the wine of their drink offering?

    Let them rise up and help you;

        let them be your protection!

    [39] “‘See now that I, even I, am he,

        and there is no god beside me;

    I kill and I make alive;

        I wound and I heal;

        and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. 

    [40] For I lift up my hand to heaven

        and swear, As I live forever, 

    [41] if I sharpen my flashing sword

        and my hand takes hold on judgment,

    I will take vengeance on my adversaries

        and will repay those who hate me. 

    [42] I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

        and my sword shall devour flesh—

    with the blood of the slain and the captives,

        from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’

    [43] “Rejoice with him, O heavens;

        bow down to him, all gods,

    for he avenges the blood of his children

        and takes vengeance on his adversaries.

    He repays those who hate him

        and cleanses his people’s land.”

    [44] Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. [45] And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, [46] he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. [47] For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Moses’ Death Foretold

[48] That very day the LORD spoke to Moses, [49] “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. [50] And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, [51] because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. [52] For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”