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Matthew 22:1-14
Proper 23A
This is the third in a series of parables targeting the temple leaders. It all started as they confronted Jesus about his authority because of the way he disrupted their domain. Jesus first challenged them to consider their obedience to God, then he challenged them to consider the way they were abusing God’s gifts to…
Philippians 4:1-9
Proper 23A
Paul devotes much of his letter to Philippi’s Christians talking literally about their minds. As we’ve already noted, he summons them to a faithful and obedient reception of God’s grace. However, the apostle also speaks to them at some length about their attitude or mindset. So while preachers might, with the Spirit’s guidance, organize our…
Matthew 21:33-46
Proper 22A
Jesus continues speaking to the temple leaders who have confronted him about his authority. He has refused to answer them directly and has instead told them a parable that compares the leaders to people who say yes when their father asks them to do something but then don’t do it. Their disobedience is akin to…
Philippians 3:4b-14
Proper 22A
In this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson, Paul speaks extensively of “gain” [kerde*] and “loss” [zemian]. While the terms are largely financial, to Paul they refer to something far more important than money and assets. He employs these financial concepts to refer to the impact of God’s amazing grace on his whole person. The apostle is talking…
Matthew 21:23-32
Proper 21A
On the heels of cleansing the temple and cursing the fig tree, Jesus re-enters the holy place and is interrupted by temple leaders while he is teaching. It is a bit more intense than the librarian coming over and asking you to stop talking on your phone in the shared space; these guys want to…
Philippians 2:1-13
Proper 21A
The proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ always aims to be theocentric. Preachers’ primary goal is, in other words, not to tell worshipers what to do, but to point to the God who graciously adopted us as God’s dearly beloved children. This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson is thoroughly theocentric. While it’s full of Paul’s summonses…
Philippians 1:21-30
Proper 20A
Earlier this summer I was summoned to the hospital room of a Christian whom doctors had recently told was dying. Penny and Andy (not their real names) were trying to wrap their heads around the news that doctors could do little more for her than try to keep her relatively comfortable. This news provoked in…
Matthew 20:1-16
Proper 20A
Right before Jesus tells this parable, he talks with his disciples about the rewards for following him. Peter, seemingly filled with awe, says, “Look, we’ve left everything and followed you! What then will we have?” (19:27) The reward Jesus describes to him is stellar, even if it is given to “everyone who has left houses…
Romans 14:1-12
Proper 19A
For millennia, Christians have professed Christ “will come again to judge the living and the dead.” But some of Jesus’ friends have struggled to reconcile that assertion with our profession of God’s saving grace. How and why, some of us wonder, will God judge those whom God has already graciously rescued? Earlier commentaries (https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2017-09-11/romans-141-12/ and…
Matthew 18:21-35
Proper 19A
As we discussed last week, Peter’s question about forgiveness escalates as it personalizes the conversation about wrongs done against one another. Whereas last week intentionally sets accountability front and centre, this week forgiveness takes center stage. The two belong together. We might understand the parable as describing internal accountability: we have been forgiven and therefore…
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