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Romans 7:15-25a
Proper 9A
This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s Paul simply can’t understand what he does. He repeatedly asserts that he knows what’s right and holy. Yet the apostle also just as persistently insists that he doesn’t do what he knows is right and holy. Throughout approximately the first quarter of his letter to the Romans, Paul talks a lot…
Romans 6:12-23
Proper 8A
This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s preachers might begin their message by saying something like, “Claims of mastery over any human being is despicable – except in one case.” That won’t just, after all, grab our hearers’ attention. Claiming that one form of slavery is beneficial is, in fact, also at the heart of Romans 6:12-23. While…
Romans 6:1b-11
Proper 7A
“The baptized Christian has, in an important sense, already died. The baptized Christian has already made her ‘final exit’ and has come through on the other side.” Fleming Rutledge makes that perhaps startling profession in her lovely sermon, “The Final Exit of the Baptized” (Not Ashamed of the Gospel, Eerdmans, 2007). The Spirit could use…
Romans 5:1-8
Proper 6A
In the space of just two verses (2b, 3a) Paul twice says that Christians “rejoice” (kauchometha). Few Christians are likely surprised by the first cause of our rejoicing that the apostle identifies in this text. Many of Jesus’ friends, however, may be startled by our rejoicing’s second cause. So those who proclaim not just this…
Romans 4:13-25
Proper 5A
This week’s Epistolary Lesson draws those who follow it back to the theme of, among other things, hope. It does so, however, not long after we contemplated it in an earlier commentary. While that may seem repetitive, any “reading” of 21st century culture suggests that hope remains in short supply. In fact, one might argue…
Romans 8:6-11
Lent 5A
Remote controlled vehicles, whether cars, boats or even airplanes, make wonderful toys. So wonderful, in fact, that children sometimes argue and even fight over who will control them. There’s something about completely controlling something’s movements that can prove to be almost irresistible. But you’ve ever watched two children grapple over the same “joystick” you’ve probably…
Romans 5:1-11
Lent 3A
Hope seems to be in far shorter supply than despair in the 21st century. In fact, were someone to post a list of endangered “virtue species,” hope might join Christian unity near or at the top of the list. In fact, divisions among Christians sometimes drains some of some of God’s dearly beloved people’s hope….
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
Lent 2A
Few things seem more deeply lodged within the human heart than the longing to belong to something bigger than ourselves. Few people articulated that longing more poignantly than the Irish poet John O’Donohue. In his book Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong (Harper Perennial, 2000) he wrote, “The hunger to belong is…
Romans 5:12-19
Lent 1A
Most of Jesus’ friends have a mental list of God’s attributes. We generally think of God as being loving and just, gracious and holy, patient and forgiving. But I’m not sure many Christians naturally include in their list of God’s attributes the quality of generosity. This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson provides a good antidote to that…
Romans 1:1-7
Advent 4A
Comments, Observations, and Questions Paul basically frames this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson with references to calling (1, 7a). What lies between those references forms the basis for those calls, both for the apostle and all of God’s dearly beloved people to whom the Spirit speaks through him. However, preachers who wish to talk about calling need…
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