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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…
Romans 13:8-14
Proper 18A
In this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson Paul continues his extended discourse on God’s call to love not just God above all, but also our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. In fact, while Romans 13:1-7’s treatise on Christians’ relationships with earthly authorities may seem to interrupt that discourse, it’s actually an integral part of it….
Matthew 18:15-20
Proper 18A
These are tricky times, full of cancel culture, rejection of woke culture, scandals and “rehabs” leading to readmittances—well at least for some. In times like these, how do we make sure we’re living the spirit of this passage rather than the literal letter of the procedure Jesus describes here? Looking at the textual clues around…
Matthew 16:21-28
Proper 17A
From the highest of highs in their relationship with one another to a new low point, Peter goes from identifying and worshipping Jesus as the true Messiah to Jesus calling out Peter’s collusion with the devil. Jesus looks right at Peter as he tells to the evil one to shove off and quit trying to…
Romans 12:9-21
Proper 17A
Most Christians find it reasonably easy to love people who love and like us. It can be harder to genuinely love people who don’t like us. It may feel almost impossible to love people who have harmed us or shown they wish to harm us. Yet this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson strongly implies Jesus’ friends’ “sincere”…
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