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.

Home » Sermon Commentary » Sermon Commentary Library

Psalm 22:23-31 Sermon Commentary

Lent 2B

Considering that a portion of Psalm 22 is assigned to the Second Sunday in Lent, it seems odd that the Revised Common Lectionary would select for us not the first two-thirds of the psalm that is a whopping lament but instead the sunny-side-up concluding verses.  Psalm 22 almost seems like it’s two separate poems.  We…

Explore Commentary

Psalm 22:19-28 Sermon Commentary

Proper 7C

Ordinary Time is just beginning yet the Lectionary directs us to a sometimes difficult psalm.  Yes, we are being asked to consider only the hope-filled, praise-filled conclusion to this poem but it’s not as though we can forget its terrible opening set of verses.  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” brings us…

Explore Commentary

Psalm 22:25-31 Sermon Commentary

Easter 5B

Let’s try a little thought experiment: imagine running across a long-ish narrative poem that began with something like, “The one I love torments me day and night, insults me in private and in public.  She has made me out to be a villain, and I rue the day I ever met her at times.  Who…

Explore Commentary

Psalm 22:23-31 Sermon Commentary

Lent 2B

In this week’s Gospel sermon article here on the CEP website I noted the dramatic experience of Peter in Mark 8 when he falls about as far as a person can fall within the span of minutes.  Peter goes from being blessed to the heavens by Jesus to being cursed to the depths of hell…

Explore Commentary

Psalm 22:19-28 Sermon Commentary

Proper 7C

Ordinary Time is just beginning in the early summertime of 2019 yet the Lectionary directs us to a sometimes difficult psalm.  Yes, we are being asked to consider only the hope-filled, praise-filled conclusion to this poem but it’s not as though we can forget its terrible opening set of verses.  “My God, my God, why…

Explore Commentary

Psalm 22:1-15 Sermon Commentary

Proper 23B

It seems odd that Psalm 22 should crop up in the lectionary at this time of year. We tend to associate it with Lent and Holy Week, not the middle of autumn. Lots of you will probably turn to another of the lections for your text for that reason alone. But hold it. Psalm 22…

Explore Commentary

Psalm 22:25-31 Sermon Commentary

Easter 5B

The Lectionary can be a hard taskmaster, especially when it assigns the same reading twice in two months during entirely different seasons of the liturgical year.  That is the case with this reading from the last verses of Psalm 22.  It was our assignment two months ago during Lent and is now our reading for…

Explore Commentary

Psalm 22:23-31 Sermon Commentary

Lent 2B

Psalm 22 is the quintessential Lenten Psalm.  Most obviously, Jesus quoted verse 1 on the cross and many scholars think that he quoted the rest of the Psalm throughout that dark time of God-forsakenness.  Certainly, the Psalm has lines that perfectly fit other moments of his crucifixion.  And the first Christians used this Psalm more…

Explore Commentary

Psalm 22:19-28 Sermon Commentary

Proper 7C

I can easily imagine a 21st century psychologist reading this Psalm for the first time and calling it “The Bi-Polar Psalm,” because of its sudden wild swings of mood. The Psalmist seems to have two totally different minds here. Are these the words of a person driven to mental instability by the clash between his…

Explore Commentary