3rd Sunday of Matthew

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: ²May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

³Beloved, while I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. ⁴For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.

⁵Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn’t believe. ⁶Angels who didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day. ⁷Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, having in the same way as these given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire. ⁸Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings. ⁹But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰But these speak evil of whatever things they don’t know. They are destroyed in these things that they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason. ¹¹Woe to them! For they went in the way of Cain, and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in Korah’s rebellion. ¹²These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; ¹³wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever. ¹⁴About these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, ¹⁵to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” ¹⁶These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain advantage.

¹⁷But you, beloved, remember the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸They said to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, walking after their own ungodly lusts.” ¹⁹These are those who cause divisions and are sensual, not having the Spirit.

²⁰But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. ²¹Keep yourselves in God’s love, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. ²²On some have compassion, making a distinction, ²³and some save, snatching them out of the fire with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.

²⁴Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy, ²⁵to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. ²³But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

²⁴“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon. ²⁵Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?

²⁷“Which of you by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan? ²⁸Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, ²⁹yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?

³¹“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But seek first God’s Kingdom and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.