Jeremiah’s Call and First Visions

 5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.
      Before you were born I set you apart
      and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

 6 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young !”

 7 The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. 8 And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” 9 Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said,

   “Look, I have put my words in your mouth!
 10 Today I appoint you to stand up
      against nations and kingdoms.
   Some you must uproot and tear down,
      destroy and overthrow.
   Others you must build up
      and plant.”

Psalm 71

 1 O Lord, I have come to you for protection ;
      don’t let me be disgraced.
 2 Save me and rescue me,
      for you do what is right.
   Turn your ear to listen to me,
      and set me free.
 3 Be my rock of safety
      where I can always hide.
   Give the order to save me,
      for you are my rock and my fortress.
 4 My God, rescue me from the power of the wicked ,
      from the clutches of cruel oppressors.
 5 O Lord, you alone are my hope.
      I’ve trusted you, O Lord, from childhood.
 6 Yes, you have been with me from birth;
      from my mother’s womb you have cared for me.
      No wonder I am always praising you!

21 Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

 22 Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

 23 Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ 24 But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.

 25 “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

 28 When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious . 29 Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, 30 but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

1 Corinthians 13

Love Is the Greatest

 4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

 8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.

 11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.  All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

 13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.