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John 1:6-8, 19-28 Sermon Commentary
Advent 3B
“Among you stands one you do not know.” Those were John the Baptist’s words as recorded in John 1:26. Of course, at that time it was literally true that a quiet carpenter’s son from the backwaters of the Roman Empire was rubbing shoulders with lots of people—including the crowds that jostled together at the banks…
Psalm 126 Sermon Commentary
Advent 3B
Psalm 126 is such a lyric song that it almost makes you forget that what it celebrates never actually quite happened. The first line is often translated as God’s having “restored the fortunes of Zion” but what it appears more literally to mean is when the Lord “brought back the captives to Zion,” which would…
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 Sermon Commentary
Advent 3B
Paul certainly had lofty ideals for the Christian Church. At the beginning of his first letter to Thessalonica’s Christians, he describes the Church as a community loved and chosen by God. That community, the apostle adds, draws its life from God and lives that life with faith, love and hope. When Paul concludes this letter…
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 Sermon Commentary
Advent 3B
What a great text for this Third Sunday of Advent! It is full of Good News, but there is still an air of mystery, a sense of “it’s not Christmas yet.” This poetic description of what God is about to do for his suffering people is among the most lovely and powerful in the Bible. …
Commentary posted on December 7, 2020
Advent 3B Sermon Commentary
The Advent 3B Sermon Starters include commentary and illustration ideas for John 1:6-8, 19-28 from the Lectionary Gospel; Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 from the Old Testament Lectionary; Psalm 126 from the Lectionary Psalms; and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 from the Lectionary Epistle.
Related Reformed confession: Lectionary Epistle: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 116 (Lord’s Day 45)