3rd Sunday of the Cross – 6th of Elijah

Deuteronomy 9:13-22

13 “Furthermore the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people; ¹⁴ let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ ¹⁵ So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶ And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸ Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin which you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. ¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure which the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lordlistened to me that time also. ²⁰ And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him; and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. ²¹ Then I took the sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mountain.

22 “At Taberah also, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, you provoked the Lord to wrath.

 

Isaiah 26:1-19

Judah’s Song of Praise to God

26 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

he sets up salvation

as walls and bulwarks.

² Open the gates,

that the righteous nation which keeps faith

may enter in.

³ You keep him in perfect peace,

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

⁴ Trust in the Lord for ever,

for the Lord God

is an everlasting rock.

⁵ For he has brought low

the inhabitants of the height,

the lofty city.

He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,

casts it to the dust.

⁶ The foot tramples it,

the feet of the poor,

the steps of the needy.”

⁷ The way of the righteous is level;

you make smooth the path of the righteous.

⁸ In the path of your judgments,

O Lord, we wait for you;

your memorial name

is the desire of our soul.

⁹ My soul yearns for you in the night,

my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

For when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

¹⁰ If favor is shown to the wicked,

he does not learn righteousness;

in the land of uprightness he deals perversely

and does not see the majesty of the Lord.

¹¹ O Lord, your hand is lifted up,

but they see it not.

Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.

Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.

¹² O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,

you have wrought for us all our works.

¹³ O Lord our God,

other lords besides you have ruled over us,

but your name alone we acknowledge.

¹⁴ They are dead, they will not live;

they are shades, they will not arise;

to that end you have visited them with destruction

and wiped out all remembrance of them.

¹⁵ But you have increased the nation, O Lord,

you have increased the nation; you are glorified;

you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

¹⁶ O Lord, in distress they sought you,

they poured out a prayer

when your chastening was upon them.

¹⁷ Like a woman with child,

who writhes and cries out in her pangs,

when she is near her time,

so were we because of you, O Lord;

¹⁸    we were with child, we writhed,

but we gave birth only to wind.

We have wrought no deliverance in the earth,

and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.

¹⁹ Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise.

O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!

For your dew is a dew of light,

and on the land of the shades you will let it fall.

 

Philippians 4:4-23

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵ Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. ⁶Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you.

Acknowledgment of the Philippians’ Gifts

10 I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me; you were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. ¹¹ Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. ¹² I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. ¹³ I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

14 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. ¹⁵ And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only; ¹⁶ for even in Thessalonica you sent me help once and again. ¹⁷ Not that I seek the gift; but I seek the fruit which increases to your credit. ¹⁸ I have received full payment, and more; I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. ¹⁹ And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings and Benediction

21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. ²² All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household.

23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

 

Matthew 15:21-38

The Canaanite Woman’s Faith

21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ And he answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Jesus Heals Many People

29 And Jesus went on from there and passed along the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain, and sat down there. ³⁰ And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, ³¹ so that the throng wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

Feeding the Four Thousand

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” ³³ And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵ And commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. ³⁸ Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.