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Matthew 9:9-13,18-26
Proper 5A
Notice who is willing to utilize the doctor in their midst. First of all, even a tax collector becomes a disciple! That tax collector is joined by others, sinners and cheats every one, at dinner with Jesus. The waiting room is full! And though some of the Pharisees complain about this practice, there is one…
Romans 4:13-25
Proper 5A
In his May 21. 2026 blog on the Yale University Press blog, the philosopher James K.A. Smith wrote: “We are awash in knowledge and overwhelmed by a flood of information … Yet because our society is organized as an information economy, we are also vexed by mis- and dis-information. “In an age of AI slop…
Matthew 28:16-20
Trinity Sunday A
Comments, Questions, and Observations The eleven finally make it to Galilee where Jesus told them to meet him. In the gospel of Matthew, there are no upper room stories, so this meeting on the mountain in Galilee is the first time that the disciples actually encounter the resurrected Jesus in the narrative. After all they…
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Trinity Sunday A
“Finally, brothers and sisters,” Paul tells his readers of all times and places in verse 11, “rejoice!” [chairete*]. In other words, the apostle basically finishes his second letter to the Corinthian Christians with a summons to be “cheerful” (The Message) or “joyful” (New Living Translation). So it’s as if he tells Jesus’ friends, “When it’s…
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
Pentecost A
Christians sometimes rightly think of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church. Since birthdays are often occasions for gift-giving, it seems appropriate for preachers to join Paul in considering and celebrating the gifts [charismaton*] the Holy Spirit gives to the members of the Body of Christ that is the Church. Few texts open themselves to…
Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost A
Trouble in the Text In the ancient Mediterranean world when Jesus was born, you could count on the fact that everyone spoke Greek as, if not a first, then a second or third language. It had something like the linguistic power of English in the world today. You could travel the world safely knowing you…
John 7:37-39
Pentecost A
The setting is the end of the Festival of Booths (or Tabernacles). The Festival remembers the way that God provided for the Israelites in their desert wanderings and is when they ask for God to send rain for the year’s crops. The people also looked to the future hope promised in passages like Ezekiel 47,…
John 17:1-11
Easter 7A
Jesus speaks the heart of the Trinity out loud in prayer for the disciples to hear. He speaks in the third person about himself at the beginning, but very quickly moves more passionately, intimately, and emphatically into the first person. This only deepens the significance of the words’ revelation about the heart of God. And…
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Easter 7A
It can be tempting to reduce discipleship to a kind of spiritual formula. “If we just do this and that good thing,” Jesus’ friends sometimes seem to assume, “then God will do that good thing.” This, however, reverses the biblical equation. More often, because God does this good thing, the Spirit equips us to do…
Acts 1:6-14
Easter 7A
It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday After the miracle of Christ’s ascension, it took a little while for folks to move on. A bit like Peter who wanted to build shelters on the Mount of Transfiguration, now the apostles’ feet are frozen on the Mount of Olives. So much so, that it took…
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