01/29/24

First Reading: Isaiah 40:21-31

 21Have you not known? Have you not heard?

  Has it not been told you from the beginning?

  Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

 22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

  and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

 who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

  and spreads them like a tent to live in;

 23who brings princes to naught,

  and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

 24Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

  scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

 when he blows upon them, and they wither,

  and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

 25To whom then will you compare me,

  or who is my equal? says the Holy One.

 26Lift up your eyes on high and see:

  Who created these?

 He who brings out their host and numbers them,

  calling them all by name;

 because he is great in strength,

  mighty in power,

  not one is missing.

 27Why do you say, O Jacob,

  and speak, O Israel,

 “My way is hidden from the Lord,

  and my right is disregarded by my God”?

 28Have you not known? Have you not heard?

 The Lord is the everlasting God,

  the Creator of the ends of the earth.

 He does not faint or grow weary;

  his understanding is unsearchable.

 29He gives power to the faint,

  and strengthens the powerless.

 30Even youths will faint and be weary,

  and the young will fall exhausted;

 31but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

  they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

 they shall run and not be weary,

  they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm: Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

1Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God!

 How pleasant it is to honor God with praise!

2The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem,

 and gathers the exiles of Israel.

3The Lord heals the brokenhearted

 and binds up their wounds.

4The Lord counts the number of the stars

 and calls them all by their names. 

5Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

 there is no limit to God’s wisdom.

6The Lord lifts up the lowly,

 but casts the wicked to the ground.

7Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;

 make music upon the harp to our God,

8who covers the heavens with clouds

 and prepares rain for the earth, making grass to grow upon the mountains. 

9God provides food for the cattle

 and for the young ravens when they cry.

10God is not impressed by the might of a horse,

 and has no pleasure in the speed of a runner,

11but finds pleasure in those who fear the Lord,

 in those who await God’s steadfast love. 

20c Hallelujah! 

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

16If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

 19For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. 22To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

Gospel:Mark 1:29-39

29As soon as [Jesus and the disciples] left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

 32That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

 35In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.