Home »
Matthew 2:13-23 Sermon Commentary
Christmas 1A
Comments, Questions, and Observations This story is the Magi’s quick appearance in Year A—they are the ones who have just left in verse 13. Our little family is at the center of an evil maelstrom, plucked out by Joseph’s willingness to continue to be obedient to the Lord’s messenger angel. The journey the angel commands…
Hebrews 2:10-18 Sermon Commentary
Christmas 1A
If Jesus had been born not in some kind of livestock shelter but a hospital, how would anyone have been able to pick him out of the other babies in the nursery? Would he have been the baby who, as we sing at Christmas, made no crying? If Jesus’ friends had been choosing sides for…
Isaiah 63:7-9 Sermon Commentary
Christmas 1A
We have all seen this on the walls of someone’s house. Perhaps it is done in counted-cross-stitch. Perhaps it is done in calligraphy. But we have seen these framed squares or rectangles hanging in a living room and containing a Bible verse shorn of its context. Most of the time this works fine—the verse functions…
Psalm 148 Sermon Commentary
Christmas 1A
Some years back at a worship service we used St. Francis of Assisi’s poem “Canticle of the Sun” as part of a responsive reading. There was, alas, a slight typo in the bulletin that made it sound at one point as though we were worshiping Mother Earth. This led a rather conservative member of my…
Commentary posted on December 26, 2022
Christmas 1A Sermon Commentary
The Christmas 1A Sermon Commentaries include reflection and illustration ideas for Matthew 2:13-23 from the Lectionary Gospel; Isaiah 63:7-9 from the Old Testament Lectionary; Psalm 148 from the Lectionary Psalms; and Hebrews 2:10-18 from the Lectionary Epistle.
Related Reformed confession: Lectionary Epistle: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 16 (Lord’s Day 6)