Adoration of the Magi (central panel), Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1510, oil on wood at the Museo del Prado, Madrid

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, January 3 are for the Second Sunday after Christmas: Jeremiah 31:7-14; Psalm 84 or 84:1-8; Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a and Matthew 2:13-15,19-23 or Luke 2:41-52; Matthew 2:1-12. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Jeremiah 31:7-14

⁷ This is what the LORD says:

    “Sing with joy for Jacob;
         shout for the foremost of the nations.

    Make your praises heard, and say,
         ‘LORD, save your people,
         the remnant of Israel.’

   ⁸ See, I will bring them from the land of the north
         and gather them from the ends of the earth.

     Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers
         and women in labor;
         a great throng will return.

    ⁹ They will come with weeping;
         they will pray as I bring them back.

    I will lead them beside streams of water
         on a level path where they will not stumble,

    because I am Israel’s father,
         and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

    ¹⁰ “Hear the word of the LORD, you nations;
         proclaim it in distant coastlands:

    ‘He who scattered Israel will gather them
         and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’

    ¹¹ For the LORD will deliver Jacob
         and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.

    ¹² They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
         they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD—

     the grain, the new wine and the olive oil,
         the young of the flocks and herds.

     They will be like a well-watered garden,
         and they will sorrow no more.

    ¹³ Then young women will dance and be glad,
         young men and old as well.

     I will turn their mourning into gladness;
         I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

    ¹⁴ I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
         and my people will be filled with my bounty,”

declares the LORD.

Psalm 84 or 84:1-8

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty!
     ² My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD;
     my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

³ Even the sparrow has found a home,
     and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—
     a place near your altar, LORD Almighty,
     my King and my God.

⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
     they are ever praising you.

⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
     whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs;
     the autumn rains also cover it with pools.

⁷ They go from strength to strength,
     till each appears before God in Zion.

⁸ Hear my prayer, LORD God Almighty;
     listen to me, God of Jacob.

⁹ Look on our shield, O God;
     look with favor on your anointed one.

[¹⁰ Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere;
     I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
     than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

¹¹ For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
     the LORD bestows favor and honor;

no good thing does he withhold
     from those whose walk is blameless.

¹² LORD Almighty,
     blessed is the one who trusts in you.]

Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Matthew 2:13-15,19-23

¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” ¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” ²¹ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³ and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

or Luke 2:41-52

⁴¹ Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. ⁴³ After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” ⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he was saying to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

or Matthew 2:1-12

¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

    ⁶ “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
             are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
        for out of you will come a ruler
             who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” ⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.