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Matthew 16:13-20
Proper 16A
Comments, Questions, and Observations We continue in the borderlands of the north this week, but this time we’re a little more firmly located in Israel in the district of Caesarea-Philippi. Both Matthew and Mark (8.27-30) highlight the location of this famous conversation, whereas Luke (9.18-20) helps us understand its heavenly prompt. In all three synoptics,…
Romans 12:1-8
Proper 16A
The Spirit’s work doesn’t just change Jesus’ followers’ view of God. It also transforms the way God’s dearly beloved people think of our neighbor. The Spirit transforms Christians from those who seek only our own interests into people who the Spirit equips to also seek the well-being of the people around us. Quite simply, the…
Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
Proper 15A
By going to the region of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus enters a borderland—where the people of Israel give way to a more Canaanite population. Considering closely what the woman says throughout this pericope, it’s clear that she knows some things about Judaism, and she’s come to believe some things about Jesus. This borderland, this place…
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Proper 15A
God’s “mercy” (eleos) is the shining center and beating heart of this Sunday’s (strangely) divided Epistolary Lesson. After all, while Paul uses the word only in this text’s second part, it’s also actually one of the unstated themes of its first half. In that way, God’s mercy serves as a kind of bridge between Romans…
Romans 10:5-15
Proper 14A
Few passages of Scripture hit me harder and closer to home than this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. In fact, its verses 14-15a leave me figuratively squirming as I try to open myself to the Spirit’s prompting toward writing something meaningful about them. Eugene Peterson’s The Message’s paraphrases verse 13 as Paul’s profession that “Everyone who calls,…
Matthew 14:22-33
Proper 14A
Jesus’s literal declaration, “I am” (translated as “it is I”) is the very center of this story. Literally: in his commentary on the miracles of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, Birger Gerhardsson counted the Greek words and noted that these two, egō eimi, are the exact middle of this story. Because Jesus is the…
Romans 9:1-5
Proper 13A
It’s sometimes easy to forget that the Spirit did not inspire the Scriptures’ authors like Paul to insert periods, commas, semi-colons, paragraph breaks or chapter headings into what they wrote. Biblical punctuation is the product of the work of editors, not the Holy Spirit. Just before this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson opens, the apostle makes a…
Matthew 14:13-21
Proper 13A
Our text begins with “Now when Jesus heard this…” What Jesus heard was not good news. What Jesus heard was that John the Baptist had been executed. Upon hearing such sad news, Jesus withdrew by himself, presumably to grieve and to pray. Wanting to be alone is a common reaction when someone you care about…
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Proper 12A
The lectionary has gathered for us here the rest of the parables about the Kingdom in Matthew 13. God’s Kingdom is like a mustard seed, yeast, a treasure that can be buried, and a pearl—all small things that have the potential to lead to big changes. The Kingdom of heaven is also like a net…
Romans 8:26-39
Proper 12A
Few biblical passages offer a greater wealth of preaching material than Romans 8:26-39. Several earlier commentaries on this site examined some of its most glittering treasures – in 2017, Scott Hoezee’s, and in 2020, mine. However, preachers whom the Spirit leads toward one of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s other glorious themes might focus on verses…
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