The prophet Zechariah receives a series of night visions from God concerning the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple after the Babylonian exile. In the immediately preceding vision, Zechariah sees Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord while Satan accuses him. The Angel rebukes Satan and commands that Joshua's filthy garments be removed and replaced with clean, rich clothing, symbolizing the removal of Israel's iniquity. A clean turban is placed on Joshua's head, signifying his restoration to priestly service. The Angel then solemnly charges Joshua with conditions for his ministry and promises him access to God's presence if he walks in obedience and keeps God's charge, while also introducing the prophetic figure of "the Branch" who will remove the land's iniquity in a single day.
[7] “Thus says the Lord of hosts:
‘If you will walk in My ways,
And if you will keep My command,
Then you shall also judge My house,
And likewise have charge of My courts;
I will give you places to walk
Among these who stand here.
[8] ‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest,
You and your companions who sit before you,
For they are a wondrous sign;
For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.
[9] For behold, the stone
That I have laid before Joshua:
Upon the stone are seven eyes.
Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’
Says the Lord of hosts,
‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
[10] In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts,
‘Everyone will invite his neighbor
Under his vine and under his fig tree.’ ”
[1] Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. [2] And he said to me, “What do you see?”
So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. [3] Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” [4] So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”
[5] Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?”
And I said, “No, my lord.”
[6] So he answered and said to me:
“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the Lord of hosts.
[7] ‘Who are you, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!
And he shall bring forth the capstone
With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ”
[8] Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
[9] “The hands of Zerubbabel
Have laid the foundation of this temple;
His hands shall also finish it.
Then you will know
That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.
St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians 12:28-13:3
Paul has been addressing divisions in the Corinthian church and correcting their misunderstandings about spiritual gifts. He emphasizes that the Holy Spirit distributes various gifts to believers for the common good of the church body, using the metaphor of the human body to illustrate how all members are essential and interdependent. He has just explained that God has arranged each part of the body as He desired, and that members should have equal concern for one another without division. Paul then lists various roles God has appointed in the church, including apostles, prophets, and teachers, before transitioning to discuss the supremacy of love as the most excellent way to exercise spiritual gifts.
[28] And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. [29] Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? [30] Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? [31] But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
[1] Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. [2] And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. [3] And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
The religious leaders have just heard Jesus pronounce seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees, condemning their hypocrisy, spiritual blindness, and outward righteousness that masks inner corruption. Jesus has systematically exposed their failures as teachers and leaders of God's people, accusing them of shutting the kingdom of heaven to others, making converts twice the sons of hell, straining out gnats while swallowing camels, and being like whitewashed tombs full of dead bones. He has charged them with being descendants of those who murdered the prophets, asking how they will escape the judgment of hell. The confrontation has reached its climax as Jesus prepares to pronounce judgment on Jerusalem itself for its pattern of rejecting and killing God's messengers throughout history. Jesus is addressing the scribes and Pharisees.
[34] Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, [35] that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. [36] Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
[37] “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! [38] See! Your house is left to you desolate; [39] for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord !’ ”