Friday, June 23, 2023
Liturgical Season: 

Heb 11:1-7

Faith of the Ancients. 1Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence* of things not seen.a 2Because of it the ancients were well attested. 3b By faith we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God,* so that what is visible came into being through the invisible. 4* By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice greater than Cain’s. Through this he was attested to be righteous, God bearing witness to his gifts, and through this, though dead, he still speaks.c 5By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and “he was found no more because God had taken him.” Before he was taken up, he was attested to have pleased God.d 6* But without faith it is impossible to please him,e for anyone who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7By faith Noah, warned about what was not yet seen, with reverence built an ark for the salvation of his household. Through this he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes through faith.f

Jn 7:14-24

The First Dialogue.* 14When the feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple area and began to teach. 15* f The Jews were amazed and said, “How does he know scripture without having studied?” 16Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not my own but is from the one who sent me. 17Whoever chooses to do his will* shall know whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own.g 18Whoever speaks on his own seeks his own glory, but whoever seeks the glory of the one who sent him is truthful, and there is no wrong in him. 19Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”h 20The crowd answered, “You are possessed!* Who is trying to kill you?”i 21Jesus answered and said to them, “I performed one work* and all of you are amazedj 22because of it. Moses gave you circumcision—not that it came from Moses but rather from the patriarchs—and you circumcise a man on the sabbath.k 23If a man can receive circumcision on a sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole person well on a sabbath?l 24Stop judging by appearances, but judge justly.”m