Readings for
Sunday, September 26, 1998
Twenty Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

(From the Revised Standard Version English Bible
unless otherwise indicated)

First Reading

25: "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
26: When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die for it; for the iniquity which he has committed he shall die.
27: Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is lawful and right, he shall save his life.
28: Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

4: Make me to know thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
5: Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation; for thee I wait all the day long.
6: Be mindful of thy mercy, O LORD, and of thy steadfast love, for they have been from of old.
7: Remember not the sins of my youth, or my transgressions; according to thy steadfast love remember me, for thy goodness' sake, O LORD!
8: Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9: He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

1: So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
2: complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3: Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.
4: Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8: And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
9: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
10: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11: and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

28: "What do you think? A man had two sons; and he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'
29: And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he repented and went.
30: And he went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go.
31: Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
32: For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.