Psalm 23 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4C
Not even an hour before I sat down to begin working on this sermon commentary on Psalm 23, one of my students preached an in-class sermon on Jesus’s Parable of the Lost Sheep from Luke 15. She reminded us in the course of the sermon that there are connections between that parable and the I…
John 10:22-30 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4C
After two weeks of post-resurrection Easter encounters, the lectionary always brings us back to pre-Easter events and to Jesus’s teachings about the new life he envisioned for his beloved. We start here at the Festival of Lights/Dedication or as it is more well-known today, Hannukah. It is a gift to return to these texts during…
Acts 9:36-43 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4C
Last week we heard the story of Saul’s conversion. Then, in the next part of the story (which the Lectionary omits) Saul travels to Jerusalem, with a stop in Damascus where, according to verse 20, “At once he began to preach…” Before moving on to Peter in this morning’s text, let’s spare a thought for…
Revelation 7:9-17 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4C
I will always remember the first time I preached on Revelation 9:9-17 in Washington DC’s King Emmanuel Baptist Church. Most of the members of that church were Christians who are African American. My dear friend Pastor Harold Hunter invited me to preach the word to a group of Jesus’ followers comprised of, on that Sunday,…
Psalm 30 Sermon Commentary
Easter 3C
A core tenet of the Christian faith is, to quote from the much-loved hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” “Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not, as Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.” The more fancy theological term for this is the Doctrine of Divine Immutability. Or we sometimes say God is the same…
Revelation 5:11-14 Sermon Commentary
Easter 3C
I sometimes wonder if the sheer volume of what John heard in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson threatened his hearing. After all, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association reports it isn’t safe to hear the noise created by a jackhammer, jet plane takeoff, siren or pneumatic drill for any period of time. What’s more, the report labels as…
John 21:1-19 Sermon Commentary
Easter 3C
The new life that Easter represents finds its expression this week in a call to discipleship. So much about this pair of scenes calls back the original call to disciples. The gospel writer tells us that this is the third time Jesus appears to the group, but even still, the awkwardness the disciples feel as…
Acts 9:1-20 Sermon Commentary
Easter 3C
The reliable Jewish world of the 1st century is showing unfamiliar cracks. It has always had a tenuous relationship with Rome and there were always pipsqueaks on a soapbox teaching this or that quirky take on the Torah. But the seismic activity rippling out from the teaching and death of Jesus has got the establishment…
Acts 5:27-32 Sermon Commentary
Easter 2C
Note:Reviewing old sermon notes, I realized I last preached this text for my congregation in Washington DC in 2019. Thereis a lot of contextualization having to do with Christians working as civil servants for the United States federal government. I am going to leave that in place since, six years later, it sadly seems all…
Sermon Commentary Library
Our weekly sermon commentaries are Lectionary-based, which across its three-year cycle, encompass a vast array of biblical texts. Filter the Sermon Commentary Library to search Scripture texts by book and chapter to find commentary, illustrations, and reflections to spark ideas.
Looking for something else? View our Heidelberg Catechism sermon resources and our Reformed Connections to the RCL section that traces Lectionary texts to specific parts of the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession.