Abraham Pleading with Sarah on Behalf of Hagar, 1631, Willem Bartsius, oil on canvas in a Private Collection

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 a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are online here. The group disbanded but the readings below follow the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in Episcopal worship.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for June 21 - Fourth Sunday after Pentecost --Track 1: Genesis 21:8-21; Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17 Track 2: Jeremiah 20:7-13; Psalm 69: 8-11, (12-17), 18-20 for both: Romans 6:1b-11 and Matthew 10:24-39. The text is from Bible Study Tools -- New International Version. The Psalms are from the most recent print version of The Book of Common Prayer - 2016.

Track 1

Genesis 21:8-21

⁸ The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. ⁹ But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, ¹⁰ and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. ¹² But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. ¹³ I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” ¹⁴ Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she began to sob. ¹⁷ God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. ¹⁸ Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. ²¹ While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17

¹ Bow down your ear, O LORD, and answer me, *
    for I am poor and in misery.

² Keep watch over my life, for I am faithful; *
    save your servant who puts his trust in you.

³ Be merciful to me, O LORD, for you are my God; *
    I call upon you all the day long.

⁴ Gladden the soul of your servant, *
    for to you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.

⁵ For you, O LORD, are good and forgiving, *
    and great is your love toward all who call upon you.

⁶ Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer, *
    and attend to the voice of my supplications.

⁷ In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, *
    for you will answer me.

⁸ Among the gods there is none like you, O LORD, *
    nor anything like your works.

⁹ All the nations you have made will come and worship you, O LORD, *
    and glorify your Name.

¹⁰ For you are great;
    you do wondrous things; *
    and you alone are God.

¹⁶ Turn to me and have mercy upon me; *
    give your strength to your servant;
    and save the child of your handmaid.

¹⁷ Show me a sign of your favor,
    so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; *
    because you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

Track 2

Jeremiah 20:7-13

⁷ You deceived me, LORD,
     and I was deceived ;

you overpowered me
     and prevailed.

I am ridiculed all day long;
     everyone mocks me.

⁸ Whenever I speak, I cry out
     proclaiming violence and destruction.

So the word of the LORD
     has brought me insult and reproach all day long.

⁹ But if I say, “I will not mention his word
     or speak anymore in his name,”

his word is in my heart like a fire,
     a fire shut up in my bones.

I am weary of holding it in;
     indeed, I cannot.

¹⁰ I hear many whispering,
     “Terror on every side!

Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”
     All my friends
     are waiting for me to slip,

saying, “Perhaps he will be deceived;
     then we will prevail over him
     and take our revenge on him.”

¹¹ But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior;
     so my persecutors will stumble
     and not prevail.

They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;
     their dishonor will never be forgotten.

¹² LORD Almighty, you who examine the righteous
     and probe the heart and mind,

let me see your vengeance on them,
     for to you I have committed my cause.

¹³ Sing to the LORD!
     Give praise to the LORD!

He rescues the life of the needy
     from the hands of the wicked.

Psalm 69: 8-11, (12-17), 18-20

⁸ Surely, for your sake have I suffered reproach, *
    and shame has covered my face.

⁹ I have become a stranger to my own kindred, *
    an alien to my mother's children.

¹⁰ Zeal for your house has eaten me up; *
    the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me.

¹¹ I humbled myself with fasting, *
    but that was turned to my reproach.

[¹² I put on sack-cloth also, *
    and became a byword among them.

¹³ Those who sit at the gate murmur against me, *
    and the drunkards make songs about me.

¹⁴ But as for me, this is my prayer to you, *
    at the time you have set, O LORD:

¹⁵ "In your great mercy, O God, *
    answer me with your unfailing help.

¹⁶ Save me from the mire; do not let me sink; *
    let me be rescued from those who hate me
    and out of the deep waters.

¹⁷ Let not the torrent of waters wash over me,
    neither let the deep swallow me up; *
    do not let the Pit shut its mouth upon me.]

¹⁸ Answer me, O LORD, for your love is kind; *
    in your great compassion, turn to me."

¹⁹ "Hide not your face from your servant; *
    be swift and answer me, for I am in distress.

²⁰ Draw near to me and redeem me; *
    because of my enemies deliver me.

for both

Romans 6:1b-11

^1b Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 10:24-39

Jesus said the the twelve disciples, ²⁴ “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!

²⁶ “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. ²⁸ Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. ³⁰ And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

³² “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.

³⁴ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

    ³⁵ For I have come to turn “ ‘a man against his father,
       a daughter against her mother,
       a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
    ³⁶ a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools and the Online Book of Common Prayer for the text.