Daily Lectionary

April 29, 2024

April 28, 2024 April 30, 2024

These daily readings from the EHV follow the one-year daily lectionary provided in Christian Worship: Hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book, and the Treasury of Daily Prayer. In this lectionary, two readings of 15-25 verses each are provided for each day. Under this plan, nearly all of the New Testament and approximately one-third of the Old Testament are read each year. These readings fit well within the daily offices of Matins, Vespers, or Compline as daily family devotions.

Leviticus 21:1-24

Protecting the Holiness of the Priests

21¹The Lord told Moses to speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and tell them this:

No one shall make himself unclean for a dead person among his people, ²except for his closest relatives. He may do it for his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, or his brother, ³and also for his virgin sister, who is close to him because she does not have a husband—for her he may make himself unclean. ⁴But he shall not make himself unclean for his relatives by marriage and so defile himself.

⁵The priests shall not cut a bald patch on to their heads or cut off the edges of their beards or gash their bodies. ⁶They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not defile the name of their God. Because they present offerings made by fire,^[] the food of their God, they are to be set apart as holy.

⁷They shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or is defiled. Neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for each priest is holy to his God. ⁸So you shall treat him as holy. Since he presents the food of your God, he shall be holy to you, for I, the Lord, who sets you apart as holy, am holy.

⁹When the daughter of a man who is a priest defiles herself through prostitution, she is defiling her father. She shall be burned in fire.

¹⁰The high priest, who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the holy garments, shall not dishevel his hair nor tear his garments. ¹¹He shall not enter any place where there is a dead person. He shall not make himself unclean even for his father or his mother. ¹²He shall not leave the sanctuary, so that he will not defile the sanctuary of his God, for the mark of consecration with the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am the Lord.

¹³The high priest shall marry a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴A widow or a divorcee or a woman defiled because of prostitution—these he shall not marry. Instead, he shall take a virgin from his own people as a wife, ¹⁵so that he does not defile his offspring among his people, for I am the Lord, who sets him apart as holy.

Physical Disqualification From Priestly Service

¹⁶The Lord told Moses ¹⁷to tell Aaron this:

Any man from your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may not approach to present the food of his God. ¹⁸Indeed, any man who has a defect shall not approach—a man who is blind or lame, or who has a limb that is too short or too long, ¹⁹or a man who has a crippled foot or a crippled hand, ²⁰or who is deformed or abnormally small, or who has a growth in his eye, or a festering boil, or some other disfiguring skin condition, or a damaged testicle. ²¹Any man among the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall not draw near to present the gifts of the Lord. He has a defect, so he shall not draw near to present the food of his God.

²²But he may eat the food of his God from the most holy things and from the holy things. ²³Nevertheless, he shall not go in front of the veil and shall not approach the altar because he has a defect, so that he does not defile my holy things, for I am the Lord, who sets them apart as holy.

²⁴So Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Luke 12:1-12

Warning Against Hypocrisy

12¹Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands gathered together so that they were trampling on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ²There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be made known. ³So then, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

Fear God, Not People

(Matthew 10:28-31)

⁴“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that are not able to do any more. ⁵But I will show you the one you should fear. Fear him who, after he has killed the body, has authority to throw it into hell.^[] Yes, I tell you, fear him!

⁶“Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins?^[] And not one of them is forgotten in God's sight. ⁷Why, even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So stop being afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.

Confess Christ

(Matthew 10:32-33; 12:32; 10:19-20)

⁸“I tell you, whoever confesses me before other people, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God. ⁹But whoever denies me in the presence of other people will be denied in the presence of the angels of God. ¹⁰Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. ¹¹When they bring you before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourself, or what you will say, ¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you should say.”