Psalm 46 Sermon Commentary
Proper 29C
Many of us are old enough to remember that whatever preachers around the world and particularly in the United States had planned to preach on for Sunday September 16, 2001, all that changed after that fateful Tuesday now referred to by the shorthand of 9/11. And so very many of us who preach switched to…
Colossians 1:11-20 Sermon Commentary
Proper 29C
The contrast between the images of the Son of God presented by this Sunday’s Epistolary and Gospel lessons could hardly seem starker. Preachers might find fertile homiletical ground in that space – perhaps especially on this Christ the King Sunday that falls so close to the beginning of the Christmas season. Preachers might follow the…
Luke 23:33-43 Sermon Commentary
Proper 29C
On this the last Sunday of the year, we remember Christ as the one who reigns, or, Christ the King. In the upside-down kingdom of the gospel of Luke, it seems so fitting for us to be here at the cross of death, even as the hope of Advent is about to begin. At every…
Jeremiah 23:1-6 Sermon Commentary
Proper 29C
Commentary: This text thrives on a couple of significant contrasts: negligence vs. diligence and shepherd vs. king. Negligence and Diligence The first image this text offers us is of a shepherd who has become derelict in his responsibilities. Some texts translate the Hebrew to say he destroyed the flock. Robert Alter is content with a…
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Sermon Commentary
Proper 28C
“Doing what is good [kalopoiountes*]” (13) can be very hard work. It can be “tiring” [enkakesete]. Doing good can, in fact, be downright exhausting. Especially when the Scriptures appear to summon Jesus’ friends to do things those Scriptures call “good” but seem to us to be at least somewhat harmful. Preachers prompted by the Holy…
Isaiah 65:17-25 Sermon Commentary
Proper 28C
Heaven is a Place on Earth A lot of ink has been spilled in scholarly spaces debating the nature of the New Jerusalem that Isaiah celebrates here in this passage. Some say the New Jerusalem will be an eternal heavenly reality after this earth is destroyed, first by human hands until, finally, (as though mercifully)…
Luke 21:5-19 Sermon Commentary
Proper 28C
When Luke wrote this passage of Scripture, including Jesus saying, “But not a hair of your head will perish,” people following Jesus had already been arrested, persecuted, handed over to synagogues and prisons, brought before kings and governors because of the name of Jesus—people like James and Stephen. The witness of the martyrs had already…
Psalm 98 Sermon Commentary
Proper 28C
I come from an ecclesiastical tradition that for a long time shunned the singing of anything but settings of the 150 psalms in worship. Despite a burst of hymnody in the post-Reformation church world—think of names like Isaac Watt or the Wesleys—singing any text that was not straight out of the Psalter was verboten. Ironically…
Luke 20:27-38 Sermon Commentary
Proper 27C
This exchange is less about the topic and more about motive. The Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection so their question is not in good faith, but is actually an attempt to prove how unrealistic the whole concept is. Underlying the Sadducees’ subject choice are two interconnected things: their love of Scripture and the way…
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