Let me now sing of my friend,/ my friend’s song concerning his vineyard./ My friend had a vineyard/ on a fertile hillside;/ he spaded it, cleared it of stones,/ and planted the choicest vines;/ within it he built a watchtower,/ and hewed out a wine press./ Then he looked for the crop of grapes,/ but what it yielded was wild grapes.
The seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing and said to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.
I know that you can do all things,/ and that no purpose of yours can be hindered./ I have dealt with great things that I do not understand;/ things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know./ I had heard of you by word of mouth,/ but now my eye has seen you./ Therefore I disown what I have said,/ and repent in dust and ashes.
The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning/ and shown the dawn its place/ For taking hold of the ends of the earth,/ till the wicked are shaken from its surface?/ The earth is changed as is clay by the seal,/ and dyed as though it were a garment;/ But from the wicked the light is withheld,/ and the arm of pride is shattered.
Thus says the Lord: “See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.
Jesus appointed seventy-two other disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.
