Romans 5:1-8 Sermon Commentary
Proper 6A
At the beginning of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson Paul carries forward the theme with which he ended last Sunday’s Lesson: Jesus’ followers’ “justification” (4:23). In verses 1-2a the apostle writes, “Since we have been justified [dikaiothentes*] through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access [prosagogen]…
Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7) Sermon Commentary
Proper 6A
(Commentator’s Note: A lot happens between Genesis 12 and Genesis 21 but we only have 1 Sunday in the Lectionary to tell the whole story. This commentary intends to tell the whole story, with stops in Genesis 18 and 21. Pastoral Need God’s Word has plenty to say about waiting. The letters of Paul and…
Psalm 100 Sermon Commentary
Proper 6A
Recently when the Lectionary featured Psalm 23 as the Year A lection, I took note of the fact that for all its fame as a psalm, the 23rd psalm is actually very short, quite compact. This week we are led to Psalm 100 and it also is among the better-known songs in the Hebrew Psalter. …
Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23) Sermon Commentary
Proper 6A
Our passage this week begins with Jesus feeling significant compassion for the crowds surrounding him. He was meeting a lot of them, going with his disciples from city to village and at every turn he encounters need after need. Matthew describes him as continuously proclaiming the good news and curing every disease and every sickness:…
Psalm 50:7-15 Sermon Commentary
Proper 5A
The Lectionary has carved out the exact middle section of Psalm 50 for this Ordinary Time Sunday in Year A. It would have us skip the first half-dozen verses that summon Israel to gather before God and then the final verses that are all about a scolding of the wicked. Instead we focus on God’s…
Genesis 12:1-9 Sermon Commentary
Proper 5A
Sacrifice We ordinarily approach this text as a promise, the start of God’s covenant with Israel. It is not a promise without sharp edges and a demand for sacrifice, even. Jewish scholar, Rashi, notes this with careful comparison between this text (Genesis 12) and a later, obviously sacrificial text (Genesis 22). In Genesis 22, it…
Matthew 9:9-13,18-26 Sermon Commentary
Proper 5A
Notice who is willing to utilize the doctor in their midst. First of all, even a tax collector becomes a disciple! That tax collector is joined by others, sinners and cheats every one, at dinner with Jesus. The waiting room is full! And though some of the Pharisees complain about this practice, there is one…
Romans 4:13-25 Sermon Commentary
Proper 5A
In his May 21. 2026 blog on the Yale University Press blog, the philosopher James K.A. Smith wrote: “We are awash in knowledge and overwhelmed by a flood of information … Yet because our society is organized as an information economy, we are also vexed by mis- and dis-information. “In an age of AI slop…
Psalm 8 Sermon Commentary
Trinity Sunday A
Probably we don’t know enough about angels to know exactly what it means for the psalmist to suggest that we human being have been made “a little lower” than the angels. We have the sense in Scripture that angels are powerful in their own way. They do the will of God. They are messengers for…
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.
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