Lessons                                                                       Bread of Life                                                                 5 June 2021

Genesis 3:8–15

         ₈They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ₉But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ₁₀And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ₁₁He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ₁₂The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ₁₃Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

         ₁₄The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

         cursed are you above all livestock

         and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,

         and dust you shall eat

         all the days of your life.

₁₅I will put enmity between you

and the woman,

         and between your offspring

         and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

         and you shall bruise his heel.”

Psalm 130

₁Out | of the depths*

   I cry to you, | O Lord!

₂O Lord, | hear my voice!*

Let your ears be attentive

    to the voice of my pleas for | mercy!

₃If you, O Lord,

should mark in- | iquities,*

    O Lord, | who could stand?

₄But with you there is for- | giveness,*

    that you | may be feared.

₅I wait for the Lord, my | soul waits,*

    and in his | word I hope;

₆my soul waits for the Lord

    more than watchmen for the | morning,*

    more than watchmen for the | morning.

₇O Israel, hope in the Lord!

    For with the Lord there is |

    steadfast love,*

    and with him is plentiful re- | demption.

₈And he will redeem | Israel*

    from all his in- | iquities.

2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1

         ₁₃Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ₁₄knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ₁₅For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

         ₁₆So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. ₁₇For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ₁₈as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

         ₁For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Mark 3:20–35

         ₂₀Then [Jesus] went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. ₂₁And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

         ₂₂And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ₂₃And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ₂₄If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ₂₅And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ₂₆And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ₂₇But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

         ₂₈“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ₂₉but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ₃₀for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

         ₁And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ₃₂And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” ₃₃And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ₃₄And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ₃₅Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”