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.

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Mark 13:24-37 Sermon Commentary

Advent 1B

Advent comes in with an apocalyptic bang! This series of verses has come to be known as Mark’s “Little Apocalypse,” a snapshot of the turning point that ends this world and begins the new. I must confess that I can easily get lost in the devastating or destructive depictions in apocalyptic literature to the point…

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Mark 13:1-8 Sermon Commentary

Proper 28B

Between this week and last, we’ve gotten the benefits of a very pensive Jesus. Last week, Jesus sat and watched the Treasury system. This week he takes a seat on the Mount of Olives; from there he can see the entire site of the Temple, and he shares some of his reflections on what this…

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Mark 13:24-37 Sermon Commentary

Advent 1B

Maybe nearing the end of 2020 it is not at all difficult to bend people’s thoughts to all things apocalyptic.  Most years when the Lectionary reading for the First Sunday in Advent directs us to the Olivet Discourse and Jesus’ words about the end of the world, it can be a stretch to do the…

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Mark 13:1-8 Sermon Commentary

Proper 28B

Digging into the Text: We have just gone through a tumultuous election campaign in which one of the candidates banked on the theme of fear. He wanted us to see that our country is going to hell in a handbasket, and he was the one who will save us. Most of us have had enough…

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Mark 13:24-37 Sermon Commentary

Advent 1B

Long about the time most people are switching all of their Christmas lights on to celebrate the holiday, the Gospel reading for the first Sunday in Advent brings us straight to a text that points forward to a great and coming day when all the lights will go . . . out. Try turning this…

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Mark 13:1-8 Sermon Commentary

Proper 28B

Comments and Observations We don’t mean to do it.  But sometimes out of sheer distraction, we do it anyway.  Your own precious child comes up to you and is excited to show you something and . . . you brush the child aside.  “Not now please” or “Can you just be quiet for a bit?”…

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Mark 13:24-37 Sermon Commentary

Advent 1B

Comments and Observations: Long about the time most people are switching all of their Christmas lights on to celebrate the holiday in 2014, the Gospel reading for the first Sunday in Advent brings us straight to a text that points forward to a great and coming day when all the lights will go . ….

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