Home »
Mark 2:23-3:6 Sermon Commentary
Proper 4B
There is no joy or delight in any of life, including on the Sabbath, if rules eclipse all else. In Mark 2 and 3 Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees ends on a note of murder. Just about the last word in the whole story is “kill.” It’s only appropriate, of course, since the Pharisees had…
Psalm 81:1-10 Sermon Commentary
Proper 4B
I’ve chosen to write on the alternative Psalm reading for today, since I have written on Psalm 139 twice in the last year (see January 14, 2018 and July 23, 2017 in the Sermon Commentary Archives on this website). Rather than repeating what I’ve said before, I want to suggest that you take a different…
2 Corinthians 4:5-12 Sermon Commentary
Proper 4B
In her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion recounts what she thought about during the year following her husband’s sudden death. Near the end of December 2003, Didion and her husband were sitting down for dinner, having just come back from visiting their gravely ill daughter in the hospital. Her husband John was…
1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20) Sermon Commentary
Proper 4B
At first glance, “the word of the Lord” hardly seems as “rare” in many parts of Christ’s Church as it was in Samuel and Eli’s family’s day (1). After all, many who are reading this make at least part of our living proclaiming that word of the Lord. American cable television providers still broadcast numerous…
Commentary posted on May 28, 2018
Proper 4B Sermon Commentary
The Proper 4B Sermon Starters include commentary and illustration ideas for Mark 2:33 -3:6 from the Lectionary Gospel; 1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20) from the Old Testament Lectionary; Psalm 81 from the Lectionary Psalms; and 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 from the Lectionary Epistle.
Related Reformed confession: OT Lectionary: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 92 (Lord’s Day 34)