John 16:12-15 Sermon Commentary
Trinity Sunday C
Even on the best of days, if ever anything counted as information that we “cannot bear,” the nature of the Trinity is one of them. The nature of the three persons and their union will forever be out of our reach, but at least we know that we will have some inklings about it because…
John 17:20-26 Sermon Commentary
Easter 7C
This section of Jesus’s lengthy prayer in John 17 is a good summary of the whole: it reveals the heart and intent behind the prayer, as well as what’s at stake. Given the fact that along with pastoring I’m currently working on a PhD in the History of Christianity, I consider myself someone a little…
John 14:23-29 Sermon Commentary
Easter 6C
“I do not give to you as the world gives.” – Jesus Our lectionary passage this week is Jesus’s response to a disciples’ question. Jesus has been talking about the coming Holy Spirit and how he will reveal himself to his disciples even though he is no longer with them. And one of them basically…
John 13:31-35 Sermon Commentary
Easter 5C
How confusing this all must have been for the disciples. During the supper that they’ve just shared, Jesus has taken on the role of a servant and washed their feet—an act he tells them should be part of what they do for one another (verses 1-17). Then Jesus starts to speak of belonging to him…
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…
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…
John 20:19-31 Sermon Commentary
Easter 2C
Suffering is the feeling, the fear, the bedrock that fills the space of the story without really ever being its focus. Even when Thomas is touching the wounds in Jesus’s side and hands, suffering is the note played, but not the song sung. Being held captive by fear is most definitely a kind of suffering….
John 12:1-8 Sermon Commentary
Lent 5C
The little family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus are the prime example of disciples who were not the disciples (the twelve). They are front and center of some of Jesus’s most intimate moments as well as perhaps his most spectacular miracle. And though this scene is one of many positive encounters Jesus has with women,…
John 2:1-11 Sermon Commentary
Epiphany 2C
Every time the lectionary brings us back to this story, I appreciate the symbolic nature of Jesus’s miracle more and more. Perhaps it’s because I’ve lived another three years and had all the more time to experience the goodness of the Lord—that is, if I was curious enough to wonder where the good times came…
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.