Readings for Sunday, Sept 13, 2026

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The 1st reading is from Genesis 50: 15-21

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15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”

 

16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died:

 

17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

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18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.

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19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

 

20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

 

21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

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The 2nd Reading is from Romans 14: 1-12​​​​​​​

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1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.

 

2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

 

3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.

 

4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

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5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.

 

6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

 

7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.

 

8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

 

9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

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10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.

 

11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

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12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.