Sunday between 4 and 7 March
[plus Sunday 3 March in a leap year]
(if before Ash Wednesday)
or Sunday between 29 May and 4 June
(if after Trinity Sunday)
Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
First Reading - Deuteronomy 5.12-15
A reading from the book of Deuteronomy.
Observe the sabbath day
and keep it holy,
as the Lord your God
commanded you.
For six days
you shall labour,
and do all your work;
but the seventh day
is a sabbath
to the Lord your God.
All shall rest
on the sabbath day:
you,
your sons and daughters,
your servants;
the foreigners living in your towns;
even your livestock.
Remember that you were slaves
in the land of Egypt,
and the Lord your God
brought you out from there
with a mighty hand
and an outstretched arm;
therefore
the Lord your God
commanded you
to honour the sabbath day.
This is the word of the Lord.
Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 4.8-12
A reading from the second letter of Paul
to the Corinthians.
We face many challenges,
but we are not driven to despair.
We are struck down,
but we are not destroyed.
We are afflicted in every way,
but we are not crushed.
We are persecuted,
but we know that we are not forsaken.
We risk death, continually, in Jesus’ service -
so that,
through our fragile, mortal bodies,
the power
of the life of Jesus
might be seen in us
and made known to you.
This is the word of the Lord.
Gospel - Mark 2.23 - 3.6
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
according to Mark.
Jesus was walking through a field of corn
on the sabbath day.
As they walked along, his disciples picked
some heads of grain.
The Pharisees said to Jesus, ‘What they are doing
is not lawful
on the sabbath.’
Jesus said to the Pharisees, ‘Surely
you have read
what David did,
when he and his companions
were hungry, and in need;
David entered
the house of God,
and ate
the sacred bread,
which by law
is reserved
for the priests;
and he gave some
to his companions.’
And Jesus said to them, ‘The sabbath
was made for the people -
not the people
for the sabbath;
so the Son of Man
is Lord
even of the sabbath.’
When Jesus entered the synagogue,
there was a man who had
a paralysed hand.
The Pharisees watched closely,
to see whether Jesus
would cure him
on the sabbath.
Jesus called the man forward;
then said to the Pharisees,
‘Which
is lawful
on the Sabbath:
to do good, or to do evil?
To save life, or to destroy it?’
The Pharisees
gave no reply.
Jesus looked around at them
in anger, grieved
at their hardness of heart.
Jesus said
to the man, ‘Hold out your hand.’
The man held out his hand,
and it was healed.
And the Pharisees went out, and
began immediately
to conspire
with the Herodians,
against Jesus,
about how
they might destroy him.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.