The Resurrection of Christ, by Tintoretto, 1579-81, Oil on canvas at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice

Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was to have a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are still online here. The group disbanded but the readings below are being kept up to date.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, April 21 are from Lectionary Year C, Easter Sunday: Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 65:17-25; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18 or Luke 24:1-12. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Acts 10:34-43

³⁴ Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵ but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. ³⁶ You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. ³⁷ You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— ³⁸ how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. ³⁹ “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, ⁴⁰ but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹ He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴² He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

or Isaiah 65:17-25

¹⁷ “See, I will create new heavens
     and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered,
     nor will they come to mind.

¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
     in what I will create,

for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
     and its people a joy.

¹⁹ I will rejoice over Jerusalem
     and take delight in my people;

the sound of weeping and of crying
     will be heard in it no more.

²⁰ “Never again will there be in it
     an infant who lives but a few days,
     or an old man who does not live out his years;

the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child;
     the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

²¹ They will build houses and dwell in them;
     they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

²² No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
     or plant and others eat.

For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people;
     my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.

²³ They will not labor in vain,
     nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;

for they will be a people blessed by the LORD,
     they and their descendants with them.

²⁴ Before they call I will answer;
     while they are still speaking I will hear.

²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
     and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
     and dust will be the serpent’s food.

They will neither harm nor destroy
     on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

¹ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
     his love endures forever.

² Let Israel say:
     “His love endures forever.”

¹⁴ The LORD is my strength and my defense ;
     he has become my salvation.

¹⁵ Shouts of joy and victory resound
     in the tents of the righteous:

“The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!
     ¹⁶ The LORD’s right hand is lifted high;
        the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!”

¹⁷ I will not die but live,
     and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

¹⁸ The LORD has chastened me severely,
     but he has not given me over to death.

¹⁹ Open for me the gates of the righteous;
     I will enter
     and give thanks to the LORD.

²⁰ This is the gate of the LORD
     through which the righteous may enter.

²¹ I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
     you have become my salvation.

²² The stone the builders rejected
     has become the cornerstone;

²³ the LORD has done this,
     and it is marvelous in our eyes.

²⁴ The LORD has done it this very day;
     let us rejoice today and be glad.

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

John 20:1-18

¹ Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ² So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” ³ So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴ Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷ as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸ Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹ (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹ Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹² and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. ¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). ¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

or Luke 24:1-12

¹ On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” ⁸ Then they remembered his words. ⁹ When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰ It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹ But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. ¹² Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.