I am She – Day 1

₄₁As Jesus sat near the temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money; ₄₂then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny. ₄₃He called his disciples together and said to them, “I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others. ₄₄For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had — she gave all she had to live on.”

_9-10One day, after they had finished their meal in the house of the LORD at Shiloh, Hannah got up. She was deeply distressed, and she cried bitterly as she prayed to the LORD. Meanwhile, Eli the priest was sitting in his place by the door. ₁₁Hannah made a solemn promise: “Almighty LORD, look at me, your servant! See my trouble and remember me! Don't forget me! If you give me a son, I promise that I will dedicate him to you for his whole life and that he will never have his hair cut.”

₁₂Hannah continued to pray to the LORD for a long time, and Eli watched her lips. ₁₃She was praying silently; her lips were moving, but she made no sound. So Eli thought that she was drunk, ₁₄and said to her, “Stop making a drunken show of yourself! Stop your drinking and sober up!”

₁₅“No, I'm not drunk, sir,” she answered. “I haven't been drinking! I am desperate, and I have been praying, pouring out my troubles to the LORD. ₁₆Don't think I am a worthless woman. I have been praying like this because I'm so miserable.”

₃₈As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him in her home. ₃₉She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching. ₄₀Martha was upset over all the work she had to do, so she came and said, “Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me!”

₄₁The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things, ₄₂but just one is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away from her.”

₂₆In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth. ₂₇He had a message for a young woman promised in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. Her name was Mary. ₂₈The angel came to her and said, “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!”

₂₉Mary was deeply troubled by the angel's message, and she wondered what his words meant. ₃₀The angel said to her, “Don't be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. ₃₁You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. ₃₂He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, ₃₃and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end!”

₃₄Mary said to the angel, “I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?”

₃₅The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God's power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God. ₃₆Remember your relative Elizabeth. It is said that she cannot have children, but she herself is now six months pregnant, even though she is very old. ₃₇For there is nothing that God cannot do.”

₃₈“I am the Lord's servant,” said Mary; “may it happen to me as you have said.” And the angel left her.

_36-37There was a very old prophet, a widow named Anna, daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She had been married for only seven years and was now 84 years old. She never left the Temple; day and night she worshipped God, fasting and praying.

₂₀The prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took her tambourine, and all the women followed her, playing tambourines and dancing. ₂₁Miriam sang for them:

₂₅There was a woman who had suffered terribly from severe bleeding for twelve years, ₂₆even though she had been treated by many doctors. She had spent all her money, but instead of getting better she got worse all the time. ₂₇She had heard about Jesus, so she came in the crowd behind him, ₂₈saying to herself, “If I just touch his clothes, I will get well.”

₂₉She touched his cloak, and her bleeding stopped at once; and she had the feeling inside herself that she was healed of her trouble. ₃₀At once Jesus knew that power had gone out of him, so he turned round in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

₃₁His disciples answered, “You see how the people are crowding you; why do you ask who touched you?”

₃₂But Jesus kept looking round to see who had done it. ₃₃The woman realized what had happened to her, so she came, trembling with fear, knelt at his feet, and told him the whole truth. ₃₄Jesus said to her, “My daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your trouble.”

₂₅“This is why I tell you not to be worried about the food and drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn't life worth more than food? And isn't the body worth more than clothes? ₂₆Look at the birds: they do not sow seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds? ₂₇Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?

₂₈“And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves. ₂₉But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. ₃₀It is God who clothes the wild grass — grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burnt up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? How little faith you have!

₃₁“So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’ ₃₂(These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. ₃₃Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things. ₃₄So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings.

₁Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the LORD God had made. The snake asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”

₂“We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden,” the woman answered, ₃“except the tree in the middle of it. God told us not to eat the fruit of that tree or even touch it; if we do, we will die.”

₄The snake replied, “That's not true; you will not die. ₅God said that, because he knows that when you eat it you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad.”

₆The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it. ₇As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding and realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves.

₈That evening they heard the LORD God walking in the garden, and they hid from him among the trees. ₉But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

₁₀He answered, “I heard you in the garden; I was afraid and hid from you, because I was naked.”

₁₁“Who told you that you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?”

₁₂The man answered, “The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

₁₃The LORD God asked the woman, “Why did you do this?”

She replied, “The snake tricked me into eating it.”

₂and so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Why don't you sleep with my slave? Perhaps she can have a child for me.” Abram agreed with what Sarai said. ₃So she gave Hagar to him to be his concubine. (This happened after Abram had lived in Canaan for ten years.) ₄Abram had intercourse with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she found out that she was pregnant, she became proud and despised Sarai.

₅Then Sarai said to Abram, “It's your fault that Hagar despises me. I myself gave her to you, and ever since she found out that she was pregnant, she has despised me. May the LORD judge which of us is right, you or me!”

₃₇In that town was a woman who lived a sinful life. She heard that Jesus was eating in the Pharisee's house, so she brought an alabaster jar full of perfume ₃₈and stood behind Jesus, by his feet, crying and wetting his feet with her tears. Then she dried his feet with her hair, kissed them, and poured the perfume on them. ₃₉When the Pharisee saw this, he said to himself, “If this man really were a prophet, he would know who this woman is who is touching him; he would know what kind of sinful life she lives!”

₄₀Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Yes, Teacher,” he said, “tell me.”

₄₁“There were two men who owed money to a moneylender,” Jesus began. “One owed him 500 silver coins, and the other owed him fifty. ₄₂Neither of them could pay him back, so he cancelled the debts of both. Which one, then, will love him more?”

₄₃“I suppose,” answered Simon, “that it would be the one who was forgiven more.”

“You are right,” said Jesus. ₄₄Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your home, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. ₄₅You did not welcome me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing my feet since I came. ₄₆You provided no olive oil for my head, but she has covered my feet with perfume. ₄₇I tell you, then, the great love she has shown proves that her many sins have been forgiven. But whoever has been forgiven little shows only a little love.”

₄₈Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

₂₀When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. ₂₁Martha said to Jesus, “If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! ₂₂But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask him for.”

₂₃“Your brother will rise to life,” Jesus told her.

₂₄“I know,” she replied, “that he will rise to life on the last day.”

₂₅Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; ₂₆and all those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

₂₇“Yes, Lord!” she answered. “I do believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”