John 15:1-8 Sermon Commentary
Easter 5B
Do you prefer to translate Jesus’s oft-repeated menō as “remain” or “abide”? Remain surely carries the tone of a command, but Jesus also uses the word descriptively, relating a mutual being together. Maybe it’s just me, but when I hear Jesus say, “Remain in me…” I picture him simultaneously reaching out his arm and gently…
Psalm 22:25-31 Sermon Commentary
Easter 5B
No, it’s not your imagination: the Year B Revised Common Lectionary has put Psalm 22 in front of us now three times in calendar year 2024. Almost this exact same lection was the reading for the Second Sunday in Lent and the entire Psalm was assigned for Good Friday. Now here it is again as…
1 John 4:7-21 Sermon Commentary
Easter 5B
The New Testament uses some form of the Greek word agape (“love”) more than 140 times to describe both God and humans’ actions. But in few places does the Spirit inspire its writers to link God’s love to God’s people’s love more closely than in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. God’s dearly beloved people can hardly…
Acts 8:26-40 Sermon Commentary
Easter 5B
This section of Acts is filled with characters who challenge and expand our notion of belonging, the church and how Jesus saves. So what do we know about the man in this morning’s text? We know he was important enough to God that the Spirit sent Philip literally chasing his through the desert. We know…
1 John 3:16-24 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4B
Reading this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson always seems to be a bit like trying to drink from a firehose. So many theological themes and images gush out of it that we may feel like we can swallow only a fraction of 1 John 3:16-24’s life-affirming truths. My colleagues Scott Hoezee and Stan Mast offer a wealth…
Acts 4:5-12 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4B
This Sunday’s text picks up in the middle of a story in which a man is healed in the name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. This becomes the platform for gospel proclamation in the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. “Salvation is found in no one…
Psalm 23 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4B
Across the years I have written sermon commentaries on Psalm 23 so often that I am fairly certain I have little new or creative to say that has not been conveyed in one way, shape, or form before! It also does not help that this may be the single most familiar psalm of them all. …
John 10:11-18 Sermon Commentary
Easter 4B
Jesus’s rich self-revelation as the Good Shepherd gives us a number of aspects to highlight in a message about God’s provisional care. Within his identity as the Good Shepherd, there’s a stark comparison to the “hired hands” we silly sheep get wrapped up in following—only to be abandoned to the hand’s selfish bravado. There’s the…
Psalm 4 Sermon Commentary
Easter 3B
Psalm 4 isn’t necessarily the cheeriest Hebrew poem to consider during the otherwise joyful season of Eastertide. Though it ends on an up-beat note, it is also a plea, a lament, a rebuke, and a challenge. But maybe we need to encounter such realities in the midst of this Eastertide season just as much as…
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.