SUNDAY 9 November-Third Sunday before Advent

FIRST READING Job 19.23–27a

A reading from the book of Job.

Job said to his companions:

‘O that my words were written down!

O that they were inscribed in a book!

O that with an iron pen and with lead

they were engraved on a rock for ever!

For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;

and after my skin has been thus destroyed,

then in my flesh I shall see God,

whom I shall see on my side,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another.’

PSALM Psalm 17.1–9

R Show me, O Lord, your loving-kindness.

1 Hear my plea of innocence, O Lord;

give heed to my cry;

listen to my prayer,

which does not come from lying lips.

2 Let my vindication come forth from your presence;

let your eyes be fixed on justice.

3 Weigh my heart, summon me by night,

melt me down; you will find no impurity in me. R

4 I give no offence with my mouth as others do;

I have heeded the words of your lips.

5 My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law;

in your paths my feet shall not stumble.

6 I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me;

incline your ear to me and hear my words. R

7 Show me your marvellous loving-kindness,

O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand

from those who rise up against them.

8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;

hide me under the shadow of your wings,

9 From the wicked who assault me,

from my deadly enemies who surround me. R

SECOND READING 2 Thessalonians 2.1–5, 13–17

A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Thessalonians.

As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

and our being gathered together to him,

we beg you, brothers and sisters,

not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed,

either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us,

to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here.

Let no one deceive you in any way;

for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first

and the lawless one is revealed,

the one destined for destruction.

He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god

or object of worship,

so that he takes his seat in the temple of God,

declaring himself to be God.

Do you not remember that I told you these things

when I was still with you?

But we must always give thanks to God for you,

brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord,

because God chose you as the first fruits

for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit

and through belief in the truth.

For this purpose he called you

through our proclamation of the good news,

so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, brothers and sisters,

stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself

and God our Father, who loved us

and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope,

comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

GOSPEL Luke 20.27–38

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection,

came to Jesus, and asked him a question,

‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies,

leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow

and raise up children for his brother.

Now there were seven brothers;

the first married, and died childless;

then the second and the third married her,

and so in the same way all seven died childless.

Finally the woman also died.

In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?

For the seven had married her.’

Jesus said to them,

‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage;

but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age

and in the resurrection from the dead

neither marry nor are given in marriage.

Indeed they cannot die any more,

because they are like angels and are children of God,

being children of the resurrection.

And the fact that the dead are raised

Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush,

where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living;

for to him all of them are alive.’