<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;Learn this parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

<t /><p class="bodytext">During the reign<n id="1" /> of Herod<n id="2" /> king of Judea, there lived a priest named Zechariah who belonged to<n id="3" /> the priestly division of Abijah,<n id="4" /> and he had a wife named Elizabeth,<n id="5" /> who was a descendant of Aaron.<n id="6" />

<p class="bodytext">Zechariah<n id="1" /> said to the angel, &#8220;How can I be sure of this?<n id="2" /> For I am an old man, and my wife is old as well.&#8221;<n id="3" />

When<n id="1" /> Elizabeth heard Mary&#8217;s greeting, the baby leaped<n id="2" /> in her<n id="3" /> womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.<n id="4" />

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth<n id="1" /> and laid him in a manger,<n id="2" /> because there was no place for them in the inn.<n id="3" />p>

Then<n id="1" /> he went down with them and came to Nazareth,<n id="2" /> and was obedient<n id="3" /> to them. But<n id="4" /> his mother kept all these things<n id="5" /> in her heart.<n id="6" />p>

<p class="bodytext">After Jesus left<n id="1" /> the synagogue, he entered Simon&#8217;s house. Now Simon&#8217;s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus<n id="2" /> to help her.<n id="3" />

As<n id="1" /> she stood<n id="2" /> behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. She<n id="3" /> wiped them with her hair,<n id="4" /> kissed<n id="5" /> them,<n id="6" /> and anointed<n id="7" /> them with the perfumed oil.

They will be divided,<n id="1" /> father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.&#8221;p>

For they all offered their gifts out of their wealth.<n id="1" /> But she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had to live on.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now at that very moment his disciples came back.<n id="1" /> They were shocked<n id="2" /> because he was speaking<n id="3" /> with a woman. However, no one said, &#8220;What do you want?&#8221;<n id="4" /> or &#8220;Why are you speaking with her?&#8221;

When Jesus heard this, he said, &#8220;This sickness will not lead to death,<n id="1" /> but to God&#8217;s glory,<n id="2" /> so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.&#8221;<n id="3" />

Then the people<n id="1" /> who were with Mary<n id="2" /> in the house consoling her saw her<n id="3" /> get up quickly and go out. They followed her, because they thought she was going to the tomb to weep<n id="4" /> there.p>

Then Mary took three quarters of a pound<n id="1" /> of expensive aromatic oil from pure nard<n id="2" /> and anointed the feet of Jesus. She<n id="3" /> then wiped his feet dry with her hair. (Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfumed oil.)<n id="4" />

When a woman gives birth, she has distress<n id="1" /> because her time<n id="2" /> has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being<n id="3" /> has been born into the world.<n id="4" />

At once<n id="1" /> she collapsed at his feet and died. So when the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

So<n id="1" /> he got up<n id="2" /> and went. There<n id="3" /> he met<n id="4" /> an Ethiopian eunuch,<n id="5" /> a court official of Candace,<n id="6" /> queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasury. He<n id="7" /> had come to Jerusalem to worship,<n id="8" />

But Peter sent them all outside,<n id="1" /> knelt down,<n id="2" /> and prayed. Turning<n id="3" /> to the body, he said, &#8220;Tabitha, get up.&#8221; Then she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.<n id="4" />

The God of this people Israel<n id="1" /> chose our ancestors<n id="2" /> and made the people great<n id="3" /> during their stay as foreigners<n id="4" /> in the country<n id="5" /> of Egypt, and with uplifted arm<n id="6" /> he led them out of it.

After she and her household were baptized, she urged us,<n id="1" /> &#8220;If<n id="2" /> you consider me to be a believer in the Lord,<n id="3" /> come and stay in my house.&#8221; And she persuaded<n id="4" /> us.p>