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Gospel Reading:
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields,
and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain,
rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.
Some of the Pharisees asked,
“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”

Jesus answered them,
“Have you never read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry?
He entered the house of God,
and taking the consecrated bread,
he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat.
And he also gave some to his companions.” 
Then Jesus said to them,
“The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching,
and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law
were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus,
so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 
But Jesus knew what they were thinking
and said to the man with the shriveled hand,
“Get up and stand in front of everyone.” 
So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, 
“I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath:
to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

He looked around at them all,
and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” 
He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious
and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
(Luke 6:1-11).

* * *

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us:
He has given us of his Spirit.
(1 John 4:13 NIV)

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Gospel Reading:
Jesus Questioned About Fasting

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray,
and so do the disciples of the Pharisees,
but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Jesus answered,
“Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them;
in those days they will fast.”

He told them this parable:
“No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one.
Otherwise,
they will have torn the new garment,
and the patch from the new will not match the old.
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins;
the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say,
‘The old is better.’”
(Luke 5:33-39).

* * *

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us:
He has given us of his Spirit.
(1 John 4:13 NIV)