The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1515, Sanzio Raffaello, Tempura on paper mounted on canvas at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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 Lectionary Readings for Sunday, February 6 are for Year C Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany: Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13]; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and Luke 5:1-11. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New Revised Standard Version.

Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13]

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. ² Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³ And one called to another and said:

    "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
         the whole earth is full of his glory."

⁴ The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!"

⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷ The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: "Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out." ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!" [⁹ And he said, "Go and say to this people:

     "Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
      keep looking, but do not understand.'
   ¹⁰ Make the mind of this people dull,
          and stop their ears,
          and shut their eyes,
      so that they may not look with their eyes,
          and listen with their ears,
      and comprehend with their minds,
          and turn and be healed."

¹¹ Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said:

     "Until cities lie waste
          without inhabitant,
      and houses without people,
          and the land is utterly desolate;
   ¹² until the Lord sends everyone far away,
          and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.
   ¹³ Even if a tenth part remain in it,
          it will be burned again,
      like a terebinth or an oak
          whose stump remains standing
          when it is felled."
      The holy seed is its stump.]

Psalm 138

¹ I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
     before the gods I sing your praise;

² I bow down toward your holy temple
     and give thanks to your name
     for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;

for you have exalted your name
     and your word above everything.

³ On the day I called, you answered me,
     you increased my strength of soul.

⁴ All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
     for they have heard the words of your mouth.

⁵ They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
     for great is the glory of the Lord.

⁶ For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
     but the haughty he perceives from far away.

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me
     against the wrath of my enemies;
     you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me.

⁸ The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
     your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
     Do not forsake the work of your hands.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

¹ Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, ² through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.

³ For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, ⁴ and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Luke 5:1-11

¹ Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ² he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." ⁵ Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." ⁶ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" ⁹ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." ¹¹ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.