The religious authorities tried to arrest Jesus, but he escaped.
FIRST READING
(Jeremiah 20.7, 10-13)
In distress Jeremiah raised his voice to the Lord.
7 O Lord, you have enticed me, and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.
10 For I hear many whispering:
“Terror is all around!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
All my close friends are watching for me to stumble.
“Perhaps he can be enticed,
and we can prevail against him,
and take our revenge on him.”
11 But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonour will never be forgotten.
12 O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous,
you see the heart and the mind;
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
13 Sing to the Lord;
praise the Lord!
For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
(Psalm 18.1-2ab, 2c-3, 4-5, 6)
(R. see 6)
Response: In my distress I called upon the Lord,
and he heard my voice.
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock,
my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge. R.
The Lord is my shield,
and the source of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
so I shall be saved from my enemies. R.
4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of perdition assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me. R.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears. R.
GOSPEL
(John 10.31-42)
31 The Jews took up stones to stone him.
32 Jesus replied,
“I have shown you many good works from the Father.
For which of these are you going to stone me?”
33 The Jews answered,
“It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you,
but for blasphemy,
because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered,
“Is it not written in your law,
‘I said, you are gods’?
35 If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’
—and the scripture cannot be annulled—
36 can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified
and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said,
‘I am God’s Son’?
37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me.
38 But if I do them,
even though you do not believe me,
believe the works,
so that you may know and understand;
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39 Then they tried to arrest Jesus again,
but he escaped from their hands.
40 He went away again across the Jordan
to the place where John had been baptizing earlier,
and he remained there.
41 Many came to Jesus, and they were saying,
“John performed no sign,
but everything that John said about this man was true.”
42 And many believed in him there.
