Friday in Lent — Open Word

FIRST READING

Jonah 4:1-11

Verse 1. Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry. Verse 2. So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion — One who relents from sending disaster. Verse 3. And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” Verse 4. But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?” Verse 5. Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city. Verse 6. So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. Verse 7. When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. Verse 8. As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.” Verse 9. Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!” Verse 10. But the LORD said, “You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night. Verse 11. So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”

PSALM

Psalm 51

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

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

Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.

Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

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

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

Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You.

Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.

For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.

Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, in whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.

SECOND READING

Romans 1:8-17

Verse 8. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed all over the world. Verse 9. God, whom I serve with my spirit in preaching the gospel of His Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you Verse 10. in my prayers at all times, asking that now at last by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you. Verse 11. For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, Verse 12. that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. Verse 13. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, how often I planned to come to you (but have been prevented from visiting until now), in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. Verse 14. I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. Verse 15. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. Verse 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek. Verse 17. For the gospel reveals the righteousness of God that comes by faith from start to finish, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”