Morning Devotion

¹ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
³ And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
⁴ and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’
⁵ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.
⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
⁸ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’
⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.
¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.
¹¹ And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house,
¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
¹³ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?
¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’
¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first last.” (ESV)

Old Testament Reading

¹ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
³ to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
⁴ They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
⁵ Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
⁶ but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast.
⁷ Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have everlasting joy.
⁸ For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹ Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.
¹⁰ I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹ For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations. (ESV)

New Testament Reading

⁵⁷ Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.
⁵⁸ And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
⁵⁹ And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father,
⁶⁰ but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.”
⁶¹ And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.”
⁶² And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called.
⁶³ And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered.
⁶⁴ And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.
⁶⁵ And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea,
⁶⁶ and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
⁶⁷ And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people
⁶⁹ and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
⁷⁰ as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
⁷¹ that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
⁷² to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,
⁷³ the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
⁷⁴ that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,
⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
⁷⁶ And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
⁷⁷ to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,
⁷⁸ because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. (ESV)