Jesus Casts out Demons, Giovane il Palma

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 7 are for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany: Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-12, 21c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 and Mark 1:29-39. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New Revised Standard Version.

Isaiah 40:21-31

²¹ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
     Has it not been told you from the beginning?
     Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
     and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
     and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

²³ who brings princes to nought,
     and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

²⁴ Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
     scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

when he blows upon them, and they wither,
     and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵ To whom then will you compare me,
     that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high and see:
     who created these?

He who brings out their host by number,
     calling them all by name;

by the greatness of his might,
     and because he is strong in power
     not one is missing.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob,
     and speak, O Israel,

"My way is hid from the LORD,
     and my right is disregarded by my God"?

²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God,
     the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary,
     his understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
     and to him who has no might he increases strength.

³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
     and young men shall fall exhausted;

³¹ but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
     they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,
     they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 147:1-12, 21c

¹ Praise the LORD!
     For it is good to sing praises to our God;
     for he is gracious, and a song of praise is seemly.

² The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
     he gathers the outcasts of Israel.

³ He heals the brokenhearted,
     and binds up their wounds.

⁴ He determines the number of the stars,
     he gives to all of them their names.

⁵ Great is our LORD, and abundant in power;
     his understanding is beyond measure.

⁶ The LORD lifts up the downtrodden,
     he casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
     make melody to our God upon the lyre!

⁸ He covers the heavens with clouds,
     he prepares rain for the earth,
     he makes grass grow upon the hills.

⁹ He gives to the beasts their food,
     and to the young ravens which cry.

¹⁰ His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
     nor his pleasure in the legs of a man;

¹¹ but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
     in those who hope in his steadfast love.

²¹ Praise the LORD

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷ For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? Just this: that in my preaching I may make the gospel free of charge, not making full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹ For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews; to those under the law I became as one under the law--though not being myself under the law--that I might win those under the law. ²¹ To those outside the law I became as one outside the law--not being without law toward God but under the law of Christ--that I might win those outside the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Mark 1:29-39

²⁹ And immediately he left the synagogue, and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰ Now Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever, and immediately they told him of her. ³¹ And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served them.

³² That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³ And the whole city was gathered together about the door. ³⁴ And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. ³⁵ And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed. ³⁶ And Simon and those who were with him pursued him, ³⁷ and they found him and said to him, "Every one is searching for you." ³⁸ And he said to them, "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out." ³⁹ And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.