March 17 (Numbers 16; Psalm 70; John 12)

A reading from the Book of Numbers.

Now Korah, the son of Isar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Daithin, and Abaira, the

sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Pileth, sons of Ruben, took men, and they rose up before

Moses with the number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation chosen from

the assembly, well-known men.

They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them,

you have gone too far, for all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord

is among them, why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?

When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he set to Korah in all his company.

In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near

to him, the one whom he chooses he will bring near to him.

Do this, take sensors, Korah in all his company, put fire in them, and put incense on them

before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one.

You have gone too far sons of Levi, and Moses said to Korah, here now you sons of Levi,

is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation

of Israel to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord,

to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him,

and all your brothers, the sons of Levi with you, and would you seek the priesthood also,

therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together.

What is Aaron that you grumble against him?

And Moses sent a call, Nathan, in a biarum, the sons of Eliah, and they said, we will

not come up, is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with

milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us.

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us

inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men, we will not come up.

And Moses was very angry, and said to the Lord, do not respect their offering.

I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.

And Moses said to Korah, be present, you and all your company before the Lord, you and they

and Aaron tomorrow, and let every one of you take his censor and put incense on it, and every one

of you bring before the Lord his censor, 250 censors, you also and Aaron each his censor.

So every man took his censor and put fire in them, and laid incense on them,

and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron, then Korah assembled all

the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord

appeared to all the congregation, and the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying,

separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment,

and they fell on their faces and said, oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh shall one man's

sin and will you be angry with all the congregation, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, say to the

congregation, get away from the dwelling of Korah, Nathan and Abiram. The Moses rose and went to

Nathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him, and he spoke to the congregation saying,

depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs,

lest you be swept away with all their sins. So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Nathan

and Abiram, and Nathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents,

together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. And Moses said,

hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been

of my own accord. If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind,

then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its

mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into sheol,

then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord. And as soon as he had finished

speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart, and the earth opened its mouth and

swallowed them up with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their

goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into sheol, and the earth closed

over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly, and all Israel who were around them

fled at their cry, for they said, lest the earth swallow us up, and fire came out from the Lord

and consumed the 250 men offering the incense. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying,

tell Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, to take up the sensors out of the blaze,

then scatter the fire far and wide for they have become holy, as for the sensors of these men who

have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for

the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. Thus they shall be assigned

to the people of Israel. So Eliezer, the priest, took the bronze sensors, which those who were burned

had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar to be a reminder to the people

of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn

incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah in his company, as the Lord said to him through

Moses. But on the next day, all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses,

and against Aaron saying, you have killed the people of the Lord, and when the congregation had

assembled against Moses, and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting and behold,

the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared, and Moses and Aaron came to the front

of the tent of meeting, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, get away from the midst of this congregation

that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces, and Moses said to Aaron,

take your sensor and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly

to the congregation, and make a tomeant for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord, the plague

has begun. So Aaron took it as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly, and behold,

the plague had already begun among the people, and he put on the incense and made a tomeant for the

people, and he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. Now those who

died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah, and Aaron returned

to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting when the plague was stopped. A reading from the book of

Psalms to the choir master of David for the memorial offering, make haste O God to deliver me,

O Lord, make haste to help me, let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life,

let them be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt, let them turn back because

of their shame who say, aha, aha, may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you, may those who love

your salvation say evermore, God is great, but I am poor and needy, hasten to me, O God, you are my

help and my deliverer, O Lord, do not delay. A reading from the gospel according to John.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany where Lazarus was,

whom Jesus had raised from the dead, so they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served,

and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. Mary therefore took a pound of

expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.

The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume, but Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples,

he who was about to betray him said, why was this ointment not so for 300 denari and given to the poor?

He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief,

and having charge of the money back he used to help himself to what was put into it.

Jesus said, leave her alone so that she may keep it for the day of my burial,

for the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.

When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came not only on account of him,

but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead, so the chief priests made plans to

put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away

and believing in Jesus. The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus

was coming to Jerusalem, so they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out,

Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel,

and Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it just as it is written, for you're not,

daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming sitting on a donkey's cold.

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified,

then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him,

the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the

dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he

had done this sign, so the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you are gaining nothing,

look the world has gone after him. Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some

Greeks, so these came to Philip, who was from Bethesda in Galilee and asked him,

sir we wish to see Jesus, Philip went and told Andrew, Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus

and Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified,

truly truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone,

but if it dies it bears much fruit, whoever loves his life loses it and whoever hates his life in

this world will keep it for eternal life, if anyone serves me he must follow me and where I am

there will my servant be also, if anyone serves me the father will honor him.

Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say, father save me from this hour, but for this purpose

I have come to this hour, father glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified

it and I will glorify it again, the crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered,

other said and angel has spoken to him, Jesus answered, this voice has come for your sake,

not mine, now is the judgment of this world, now will the ruler of this world be cast out and I

when I am lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself. He said this to show by

what kind of death he was going to die, so the crowd answered him, we have heard from the law

that the Christ remains forever, how can you say that the son of man must be lifted up,

who is this son of man? So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer,

walk while you have the light, less darkness overtake you, the one who walks in the darkness does

not know where he is going, while you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become

sons of light. When Jesus had set these things, he departed and hid himself from them,

though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,

so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. Lord, who has believed what he

heard from us, into whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed, therefore they could not believe,

for again Isaiah said, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart,

lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them.

Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him, nevertheless, many

even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it,

so that they would not be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the glory that comes from man,

more than the glory that comes from God. And Jesus cried out and said, whoever believes in me,

believes not in me, but in him who sent me and whoever sees me sees him who sent me,

I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge

the world but to save the world, the one who rejects me and does not receive my words,

it has a judge, the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a

commandment, what to say and what to speak, and I know that his commandment is eternal life,

what I say therefore, I say as the Father has told me.