Zacchaeus by Willem Isaacsz van Swanenburg, 1611, etching at the British 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 Readings for Sunday, November 3 are from Lectionary Year C, Proper 25: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Psalm 119:137-144 or Isaiah 1:10-18; Psalm 32:1-8; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 and Luke 19:1-10. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

¹ The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

² How long, LORD, must I call for help,
     but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
     but you do not save?

³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
     Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me;
     there is strife, and conflict abounds.

⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
     and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous,
     so that justice is perverted.

¹ I will stand at my watch
     and station myself on the ramparts;

I will look to see what he will say to me,
     and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

² Then the LORD replied:

“Write down the revelation
     and make it plain on tablets
     so that a herald may run with it.

³ For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
     it speaks of the end and will not prove false.

Though it linger, wait for it;
     it will certainly come and will not delay.

⁴ “See, the enemy is puffed up;
     his desires are not upright—
     but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness

Psalm 119:137-144

¹³⁷ You are righteous, LORD,
     and your laws are right.

¹³⁸ The statutes you have laid down are righteous;
     they are fully trustworthy.

¹³⁹ My zeal wears me out,
     for my enemies ignore your words.

¹⁴⁰ Your promises have been thoroughly tested,
     and your servant loves them.

¹⁴¹ Though I am lowly and despised,
     I do not forget your precepts.

¹⁴² Your righteousness is everlasting
     and your law is true.

¹⁴³ Trouble and distress have come upon me,
     but your commands give me delight.

¹⁴⁴ Your statutes are always righteous;
     give me understanding that I may live.

or Isaiah 1:10-18

¹⁰ Hear the word of the LORD,
     you rulers of Sodom;

listen to the instruction of our God,
     you people of Gomorrah!

¹¹ “The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?”
     says the LORD.

“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
     of rams and the fat of fattened animals;

I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls
     and lambs and goats.

¹² When you come to appear before me,
     who has asked this of you,
     this trampling of my courts?

¹³ Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
     Your incense is detestable to me.

New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
     I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.

¹⁴ Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals
     I hate with all my being.

They have become a burden to me;
     I am weary of bearing them.

¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer,
     I hide my eyes from you;

even when you offer many prayers,
     I am not listening.
     Your hands are full of blood!

¹⁶ Wash and make yourselves clean.
     Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
     stop doing wrong.

¹⁷ Learn to do right;

seek justice.
     Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;
     plead the case of the widow.

¹⁸ “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
     says the LORD.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,
     they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,
     they shall be like wool.

Psalm 32:1-8

¹ Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven,
      whose sins are covered.

² Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them
     and in whose spirit is no deceit.

³ When I kept silent, my bones wasted away
     through my groaning all day long.

⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy on me;
     my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

⁵ Then I acknowledged my sin to you
     and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.”
     And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

⁶ Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found;
     surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them.

⁷ You are my hiding place;
     you will protect me from trouble
     and surround me with songs of deliverance.

2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

¹ Paul, Silas and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

² Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³ We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. ⁴ Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

¹¹ With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. ¹² We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 19:1-10

¹ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. ⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. ⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” ⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.