Third Sunday in Lent

1Verse 1. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost! 2Verse 2. Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods. 3Verse 3. Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant — My loving devotion promised to David. 4Verse 4. Behold, I have made him a witness to the nations, a leader and commander of the peoples. 5Verse 5. Surely you will summon a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you. For the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed glory on you.” 6Verse 6. Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. 7Verse 7. Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. 8Verse 8. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” 9Verse 9. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

1Verse 1. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea. 2Verse 2. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3Verse 3. They all ate the same spiritual food 4Verse 4. and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5Verse 5. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness. 6Verse 6. These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did. 7Verse 7. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” 8Verse 8. We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9Verse 9. We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes. 10Verse 10. And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. 11Verse 11. Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12Verse 12. So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall. 13Verse 13. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

1Verse 1. At that time some of those present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Verse 2. To this He replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this way? 3Verse 3. No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Verse 4. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5Verse 5. No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” 6Verse 6. Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7Verse 7. So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, ‘Look, for the past three years I have come to search for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8Verse 8. ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone again this year, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9Verse 9. If it bears fruit next year, fine. But if not, you can cut it down.’”