The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1625, oil on panel and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

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, March 18 are from Lectionary Year B, Fifth Sunday in Lent: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-13 or Psalm 119:9-16; Hebrews 5:5-10 and John 12:20-33. The text is from the New International Version

Jeremiah 31:31-34

³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. ³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, ” declares the LORD. ³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Psalm 51:1-13

¹ Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
     according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

² Wash away all my iniquity
     and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions,
     and my sin is always before me.

⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
     and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict
     and justified when you judge.

⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth,
     sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

⁶ Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
     you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
     wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
     let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

⁹ Hide your face from my sins
     and blot out all my iniquity.

¹⁰ Create in me a pure heart, O God,
     and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹ Do not cast me from your presence
     or take your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation
     and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

or Psalm 119:9-16

⁹ How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
     By living according to your word.

¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
     do not let me stray from your commands.

¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
     that I might not sin against you.

¹² Praise be to you, LORD;
     teach me your decrees.

¹³ With my lips I recount
     all the laws that come from your mouth.

¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes
     as one rejoices in great riches.

¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts
     and consider your ways.

¹⁶ I delight in your decrees;
     I will not neglect your word.

Hebrews 5:5-10

⁵ In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,

    “You are my Son;
         today I have become your Father.”

⁶ And he says in another place,

    “You are a priest forever,
         in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁷ During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him ¹⁰ and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

John 12:20-33

²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. ²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. ³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. ³² And I, when I am lifted upfrom the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.