Sunday<\/p>\n
Matthew 21:33-42: \u00a0Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.34Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.35And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.36Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.37Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, \u2018They will respect my son.\u201938But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, \u2018This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.\u201939So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.40Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?\u201d41They said to Him, \u201cHe will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.\u201d42Jesus said to them, \u201cHave you never read in the Scriptures: \u2018The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD\u2019s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes\u2019?<\/p>\n
OSB Commentary:<\/p>\n
In this parable, the man represents God the Father, and the vineyard refers to God\u2019s people. The vinedressers are the leaders of the Jews entrusted to care for the people. Each servant (vv. 10\u2013 12) sent by the owner stands for an OT prophet who comes to call people back to God, while the beloved son (v. 13) refers to Christ Himself. When the Son is cast out of the vineyard (v. 15) to be killed, this is understood on two levels: (1) that Jesus was killed outside Jerusalem; and (2) that Jesus was crucified by foreign soldiers, not by those of His own vineyard. The others (v. 16) who later receive the vineyard are the Gentiles brought into the Church.<\/p>\n
Monday<\/p>\n
1 Cornithinans 12:<\/p>\n
<\/span> 11\u00a0<\/sup>But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.\u00a0<\/span>12\u00a0<\/sup>For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is<\/i> Christ. <\/span> 13\u00a0<\/sup>For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body\u2014whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free\u2014and have all been made to drink into[c<\/a>]<\/sup> one Spirit. <\/span> 14\u00a0<\/sup>For in fact the body is not one member but many.<\/span><\/p>\n 15\u00a0<\/sup>If the foot should say, \u201cBecause I am not a hand, I am not of the body,\u201d is it therefore not of the body? <\/span> 16\u00a0<\/sup>And if the ear should say, \u201cBecause I am not an eye, I am not of the body,\u201d is it therefore not of the body? <\/span> 17\u00a0<\/sup>If the whole body were<\/i> an eye, where would be<\/i> the hearing? If the whole were<\/i> hearing, where would be<\/i> the smelling? <\/span> 18\u00a0<\/sup>But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. <\/span> 19\u00a0<\/sup>And if they were all one member, where would<\/i> the body be?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n 20\u00a0<\/sup>But now indeed there are<\/i> many members, yet one body. <\/span> 21\u00a0<\/sup>And the eye cannot say to the hand, \u201cI have no need of you\u201d; nor again the head to the feet, \u201cI have no need of you.\u201d <\/span> 22\u00a0<\/sup>No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. <\/span> 23\u00a0<\/sup>And those members<\/i> of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts<\/i> have greater modesty, <\/span> 24\u00a0<\/sup>but our presentable parts<\/i> have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part<\/i> which lacks it, <\/span> 25\u00a0<\/sup>that there should be no schism in the body, but that<\/i> the members should have the same care for one another. <\/span> 26\u00a0<\/sup>And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it;<\/i> or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n 27\u00a0<\/sup>Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. <\/span> 28\u00a0<\/sup>And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. <\/span> 29\u00a0<\/sup>Are<\/i> all apostles? Are<\/i> all prophets? Are<\/i> all teachers? Are<\/i> all workers of miracles? <\/span> 30\u00a0<\/sup>Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? <\/span> 31\u00a0<\/sup>But earnestly desire the best[d<\/a>]<\/sup> gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.<\/span><\/p>\n Tuesday<\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 13: \u00a0Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. <\/span> 2\u00a0<\/sup>And though I have the gift of<\/i> prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. <\/span> 3\u00a0<\/sup>And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,<\/i> and though I give my body to be burned,[a<\/a>]<\/sup> but have not love, it profits me nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n 4\u00a0<\/sup>Love suffers long and<\/i> is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; <\/span> 5\u00a0<\/sup>does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; <\/span> 6\u00a0<\/sup>does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; <\/span> 7\u00a0<\/sup>bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.<\/span><\/p>\n 8\u00a0<\/sup>Love never fails. But whether there are<\/i> prophecies, they will fail; whether there are<\/i> tongues, they will cease; whether there is<\/i> knowledge, it will vanish away. <\/span> 9\u00a0<\/sup>For we know in part and we prophesy in part. <\/span> 10\u00a0<\/sup>But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.<\/span><\/p>\n 11\u00a0<\/sup>When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. <\/span> 12\u00a0<\/sup>For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.<\/span><\/p>\n 13\u00a0<\/sup>And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is<\/i> love.<\/span><\/p>\n Wednesday<\/p>\n 1 Corinthians 15:<\/p>\n Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, <\/span> 2\u00a0<\/sup>by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you\u2014unless you believed in vain.<\/span><\/p>\n 3\u00a0<\/sup>For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, <\/span> 4\u00a0<\/sup>and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, <\/span> 5\u00a0<\/sup>and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. <\/span> 6\u00a0<\/sup>After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. <\/span> 7\u00a0<\/sup>After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. <\/span> 8\u00a0<\/sup>Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.<\/span><\/p>\n 9\u00a0<\/sup>For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. <\/span> 10\u00a0<\/sup>But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was<\/i> with me. <\/span> 11\u00a0<\/sup>Therefore, whether it was<\/i> I or they, so we preach and so you believed.<\/span><\/p>\n 12\u00a0<\/sup>Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? <\/span> 13\u00a0<\/sup>But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. <\/span> 14\u00a0<\/sup>And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is<\/i> empty and your faith is<\/i> also empty. <\/span> 15\u00a0<\/sup>Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up\u2014if in fact the dead do not rise. <\/span> 16\u00a0<\/sup>For if the<\/i> dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. <\/span> 17\u00a0<\/sup>And if Christ is not risen, your faith is<\/i> futile; you are still in your sins! <\/span> 18\u00a0<\/sup>Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. <\/span> 19\u00a0<\/sup>If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.<\/span><\/p>\n Thursday<\/p>\n 20\u00a0<\/sup>But now Christ is risen from the dead, and<\/i> has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. <\/span> 21\u00a0<\/sup>For since by man came<\/i> death, by Man also came<\/i> the resurrection of the dead. <\/span> 22\u00a0<\/sup>For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. <\/span> 23\u00a0<\/sup>But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are<\/i> Christ\u2019s at His coming. <\/span> 24\u00a0<\/sup>Then comes<\/i> the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. <\/span> 25\u00a0<\/sup>For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. <\/span> 26\u00a0<\/sup>The last enemy that<\/i> will be destroyed is<\/i> death. <\/span> 27\u00a0<\/sup>For \u201cHe has put all things under His feet.\u201d<\/span>[a<\/a>]<\/sup> But when He says \u201call things are put under Him,<\/i>\u201d it is<\/i> evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted. <\/span> 28\u00a0<\/sup>Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.<\/span><\/p>\n 29\u00a0<\/sup>Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? <\/span> 30\u00a0<\/sup>And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? <\/span> 31\u00a0<\/sup>I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. <\/span> 32\u00a0<\/sup>If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it<\/i> to me? If the<\/i> dead do not rise, \u201cLet us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!\u201d<\/span>[b<\/a>]<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n 33\u00a0<\/sup>Do not be deceived: \u201cEvil company corrupts good habits.\u201d <\/span> 34\u00a0<\/sup>Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this<\/i> to your shame.<\/span><\/p>\n Friday<\/p>\n 35\u00a0<\/sup>But someone will say, \u201cHow are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?\u201d <\/span> 36\u00a0<\/sup>Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. <\/span> 37\u00a0<\/sup>And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain\u2014perhaps wheat or some other grain.<\/i> <\/span> 38\u00a0<\/sup>But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.<\/span><\/p>\n 39\u00a0<\/sup>All flesh is<\/i> not the same flesh, but there is<\/i> one kind of<\/i> flesh[c<\/a>]<\/sup> of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and<\/i> another of birds.<\/span><\/p>\n 40\u00a0<\/sup>There are<\/i> also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is<\/i> one, and the glory<\/i> of the terrestrial is<\/i> another. <\/span> 41\u00a0<\/sup>There is<\/i> one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one<\/i> star differs from another<\/i> star in glory.<\/span><\/p>\n 42\u00a0<\/sup>So also is<\/i> the resurrection of the dead. The body<\/i> is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. <\/span> 43\u00a0<\/sup>It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. <\/span> 44\u00a0<\/sup>It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. <\/span> 45\u00a0<\/sup>And so it is written, \u201cThe first man Adam became a living being.\u201d<\/span>[d<\/a>]<\/sup> The last Adam became<\/i> a life-giving spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n 46\u00a0<\/sup>However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. <\/span> 47\u00a0<\/sup>The first man was<\/i> of the earth, made<\/i> of dust; the second Man is<\/i> the Lord[e<\/a>]<\/sup> from heaven. <\/span> 48\u00a0<\/sup>As was<\/i> the