Forefeast of Nativity

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. ⁸For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days are coming”, says the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; ⁹not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they didn’t continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them,” says the Lord. ¹⁰“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put my laws into their mind; I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ¹¹They will not teach every man his fellow citizen and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest. ¹²For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. I will remember their sins and lawless deeds no more.”

¹³In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first obsolete. But that which is becoming obsolete and grows aged is near to vanishing away.

They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road. ⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹Jesus stood still and said, “Call him.” They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!”

⁵⁰He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

⁵¹Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.”

⁵²Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the way.