The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

June 1, 2024

May 31, 2024 June 2, 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.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-17

91Nevertheless, as I pondered all this in my heart, I wanted to make all this clear—that the righteous, the wise, and their works are in God's hand. Will there be love or hate? No one knows anything that is ahead of him. 2Everything turns out the same for everyone. One destination waits for the righteous and the wicked, and the good,[] the ceremonially clean and the unclean, the one who brings sacrifices and the one who does not. As it will be for the good, so it will be for the sinner. As it will be for the one who swears an oath, so it will be for the one who is afraid to take an oath.
3This is an evil that infects everything done under the sun. Yes, they all share one fate. What's more, people's hearts are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts as long as they live. After that they go to the dead.
4Now, whoever is still joined to all the living has hope, because a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5At least the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because all memory of them is forgotten. 6Their love, their hate, and their envy have already perished, and they will never again take part in anything done under the sun.
7Go ahead, eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God is already pleased with what you do. 8Wear white clothing all the time. Always put lotion on your head.
9Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your life that vanishes like vapor, the life which God has given you under the sun, all the days that vanish like vapor,[] for that is your portion in life and your reward from all the hard work at which you worked so hard under the sun.
10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your strength, for there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave, where you are heading.
11I looked again and saw that under the sun the race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the strong. Food is not given to the wise, nor is wealth given to those who have good judgment, nor is success given to those who have knowledge, because time and chance come upon all of them.
12Certainly, no man knows his time. Like fish caught in a deadly net and like birds caught in a trap, people are trapped at an evil time which falls on them suddenly.
Wisdom Has Some Value
13I also saw this example of wisdom under the sun, and it impressed me.[] 14There was a small city that had few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built great siege works against it. 15A poor man who was wise was found in it, and he saved the city by his wisdom, but no one remembered that poor man. 16So I said, “Wisdom is better than might, but the wisdom of the poor man gets despised, and his words are not heeded.”
17Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heeded more than the rant of a ruler among fools.

John 9:24-41

24So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind. They told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25He answered, “I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”
26Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27He answered, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don't want to become his disciples too, do you?”
28They ridiculed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we do not know where he comes from.”
30“That's amazing!” the man answered. “You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners. But he does listen to anyone who worships God and does his will. 32From the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of someone born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34They answered him, “You were entirely born in sinfulness! Yet you presume to teach us?” And they threw him out.
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. When he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”[]
36“Who is he, sir,” the man replied, “that I may believe in him?”
37Jesus answered, “You have seen him, and he is the very one who is speaking with you.”
38Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” and he knelt down and worshipped him.
39Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.”
40Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked, “We are not blind too, are we?”
41Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not hold on to sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”