Home »
Matthew 21:23-32 Sermon Commentary
Proper 21A
A while back I heard an old Jewish witticism in which someone asks his rabbi, “Why do rabbis always answer a question with another question?” to which the rabbi replied, “Why shouldn’t a rabbi answer a question with another question?” So also in Matthew 21: Jesus side-steps the question of the Pharisees as to the…
Psalm 25:1-9 Sermon Commentary
Proper 21A
Samuel Johnson is reported to having once said something to the effect that we need more often to be reminded than instructed. Intuitively probably most of us have a pretty solid sense of what he meant. It’s not that I don’t know the basics of knife safety when I am slicing and dicing vegetables in…
Philippians 2:1-13 Sermon Commentary
Proper 21A
We sometimes think of tensions within the Church, between churches or among Christians as new phenomena. Christians sometimes assume that, for example, the veritable plethora of denominations and congregations is a somehow recent development. This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson, however, suggests that tension within and among churches is ancient. After all, tensions in the Philippian church…
Exodus 17:1-7 Sermon Commentary
Proper 21A
Israel is wandering in territory that is all too familiar to us—in the great wilderness of In Between, between release from bondage and possession of the Promised Land. As the New Interpreters Bible puts it, this passage is “a paradigm for the crisis of faith that occurs between bondage and well-being.” Thus it is relevant…
Commentary posted on September 21, 2020
Proper 21A Sermon Commentary
The Proper 21A Sermon Starters include commentary and illustration ideas for Matthew 21:23-32 from the Lectionary Gospel; Exodus 17:1-7 from the Old Testament Lectionary; Psalm 25:1-9 from the Lectionary Psalms; and Philippians 2:1-13 from the Lectionary Epistle.
Related Reformed confession: Old Testament Lectionary: Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 14 (Lord’s Day 5)