The Wayside Cross at St. Martin's Church

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,September 9 are from Lectionary Year B, Proper 18 Sunday closest to September 7: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 or Isaiah 35:4-7a; Psalm 125 or Psalm 146; James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17 and Mark 7:24-37. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

¹ A good name is more desirable than great riches;
     to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

² Rich and poor have this in common:
     The LORD is the Maker of them all.

⁸ Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity,
     and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.

⁹ The generous will themselves be blessed,
     for they share their food with the poor.

²² Do not exploit the poor because they are poor
     and do not crush the needy in court,

²³ for the LORD will take up their case
     and will exact life for life.

Psalm 125

¹ Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
     which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

² As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
     so the LORD surrounds his people
     both now and forevermore.

³ The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous,
     for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.

⁴ LORD, do good to those who are good,
     to those who are upright in heart.

⁵ But those who turn to crooked ways
     the LORD will banish with the evildoers.
     Peace be on Israel.

or Isaiah 35:4-7a

⁴ say to those with fearful hearts,
     “Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come,
     he will come with vengeance;

with divine retribution
     he will come to save you.”

⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
     and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

⁶ Then will the lame leap like a deer,
     and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness
     and streams in the desert.

⁷ The burning sand will become a pool,
     the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

Psalm 146

¹ Praise the LORD.
     Praise the LORD, my soul.
   ² I will praise the LORD all my life;
     I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

³ Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings,
     who cannot save.

⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
     on that very day their plans come to nothing.

⁵ Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
     whose hope is in the LORD their God.

⁶ He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
     the sea, and everything in them—
     he remains faithful forever.

⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed
     and gives food to the hungry.
     The LORD sets prisoners free,

⁸ the LORD gives sight to the blind,
     the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
     the LORD loves the righteous.

⁹ The LORD watches over the foreigner
     and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
     but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

¹⁰ The LORD reigns forever,
     your God, O Zion, for all generations.
     Praise the LORD.

James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17

¹ My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. ² Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. ³ If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

⁸ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. ⁹ But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹ For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. ¹² Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³ because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Mark 7:24-37

²⁴ Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵ In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶ The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” ²⁸ “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

³¹ Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. ³² There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. ³³ After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴ He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). ³⁵ At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. ³⁶ Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. ³⁷ People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.