Isaiah 55:1-9 Sermon Commentary
Lent 3C
Illustration “It’s not always going to be like this” You know that feeling of early friendship or love? When that other person — the object of your affection — knows you perfectly? Laughs at all your jokes? Finds you endlessly fascinating or attractive? Or maybe it’s the first time you hold that baby — a…
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Sermon Commentary
Lent 3C
In my experience, few verses of Scripture are more often misquoted than 1 Corinthians 10:13. Countless faithful Christians have paraphrased it as “God never gives us more than we can handle.” Yet while that’s largely true, it’s not what Paul and Sosthenes actually write to Corinth’s Christians in verse 13. They, instead, insist God “will…
Psalm 63:1-8 Sermon Commentary
Lent 3C
Even in the middle of the Season of Lent, the Lectionary would just as soon as have us turn a blind eye to anything having to do with punishments for sin and evil. That has to be why they lop off the final few verses of Psalm 63. True, there may be some due hesitation…
Luke 13:1-9 Sermon Commentary
Lent 3C
On the surface, this exchange about suffering as punishment for sins seems simple enough to understand, but there is a lot more to reckon with. To be sure, the need for everyone to repent—and soon—is the clear point Jesus is making. Not only does his parable make the point that time is short, but he…
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Sermon Commentary
Lent 2C
A Tribal Leader without a Tribe This text invites us to enter into Abram’s story between promise and fulfillment. Genesis 12 lays out God’s plan: to take Abram and make a great nation and a great name by which all people will be blessed. However, a lot of life has been lived between chapter 12…
Luke 13:31-35 Sermon Commentary
Lent 2C
There is an undercurrent throughout these lenten gospel texts. Flowing through most of the accounts is some emphasis or use of time or timing. For instance, last week, along with the length of Jesus’s time in the desert, there was the way Satan tried to tempt Jesus with early (false) glory. And next week, Jesus…
Psalm 27 Sermon Commentary
Lent 2C
At Calvin Theological Seminary for the past two decades we have used as a kind of homiletical template Paul Scott Wilson’s “The Four Pages of the Sermon” format. As some of you reading this may know, Wilson uses what he calls Trouble and Grace as the two primary components of a sermon. Page One (or…
Philippians 3:17-4:1 Sermon Commentary
Lent 2C
Some biblical truths resonate with me more deeply than not just other truths, but also more than those truths did even a few years ago. Among them is this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s Paul and Timothy’s assertion that we “eagerly await [apekdechometha*]” the return of our Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20). For me that eagerness is…
Romans 10:8b-13 Sermon Commentary
Lent 1C
In the United States across the last decade or so, partisan political divides have been more evident in society than has been true in a very long time. But it’s not just society. Christian congregations have been riven over such issues too. A recent study showed that during and after the COVID pandemic, many congregations…
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.