Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year B)
First Reading - 2 Chronicles 36.14-23
A reading from the Second Book of Chronicles. The priests, and the people, became unfaithful. They followed the evil ways of other nations, even in the house of the Lord, in Jerusalem. But the Lord God, the God of their ancestors, had compassion upon them, and repeatedly sent messengers amongst them. But the people mocked and rejected the prophets and messengers of God, despising their words. Finally, the displeasure of the Lord was so great, that the Lord brought up against them the army of the king of Babylon. The invading army killed their young men with the sword, even in the temple, and had no compassion, even on the old and the weak. Both the temple and the palace were burned to the ground, and their treasures were taken away to Babylon; and the city walls were broken down. Those who escaped from the sword were taken away as prisoners, to Babylon, and were made servants of the king of Babylon. Then Jerusalem lay desolate for seventy years, fulfilling all the sabbaths it had missed, in fulfilment of the word of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah; until, in the first year of the new kingdom of Persia, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, the king of Persia, to make this declaration: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has appointed me to build, for the Lord, a temple at Jerusalem; so let all the Lord’s people return to Jerusalem, and may the Lord your God be with you.’ This is the word of the Lord.Second Reading - Ephesians 2.1-10
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians. When we lived by the rules of this present world, filled with the spirit of disobedience, following the desires only of the body and the senses, we were dead in trespass and sin.But in great love, and mercy,
God raised us up
to new life,
with Christ, and in Christ,
and to heaven itself;
so that all may see,
now and for all time,
the infinite riches
of God’s grace towards us
in Jesus Christ.
For it is by God’s grace
that we have been saved,
through faith.
Our salvation is not our own doing,
as if it were some achievement,
of which we might boast.
No, our salvation is the gift of God, who has
re-made us,
in Christ Jesus,
for the good works
that have been prepared for us.
This is the word of the Lord.