Creationtide II
Liturgy of the Word
The Book of Proverbs (22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23)
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common:
the Lord is the maker of them all.
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
Do not rob the poor because they are poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate;
for the Lord pleads their cause
and despoils of life those who despoil them.
Psalm 125
1 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the LORD surrounds his people,
from this time on and forevermore.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous might not stretch out
their hands to do wrong.
4 Do good, O LORD, to those who are good,
and to those who are upright in their hearts.
5 But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways
the LORD will lead away with evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel!
A Reading from the Letter of James (2:1-17)
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe
in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in
fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes
also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and
say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say,
"Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions among
yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved
brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich
in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who
love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress
you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme
the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture,
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you show partiality, you
commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever
keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all
of it. For the one who said, "You shall not commit adultery," also said,
"You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you
murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as
those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be
without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over
judgment. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do
not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and
lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm
and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the
good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Mark 7:24-37
Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and
did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice,
but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately
heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the
woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast
the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed
first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."
But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the
children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go—the
demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on
the bed, and the demon gone.
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon
towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to
him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged
him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the
crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his
tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him,
8 "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And immediately his ears were opened,
his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to
tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they
proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has
done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to
speak."
