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…
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Sermon Commentary
Lent 1C
Deuteronomy is a beautiful and unique book of the Pentateuch. Whereas the preceding four books can be read as a kind of biography of the people of God, Deuteronomy is fashioned more like the people’s memoir. No biography is complete, of course. Certain elements are left out or glossed over but, by and large, you…
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 Sermon Commentary
Lent 1C
At first blush Psalm 91 seems an odd choice for the Year C First Sunday in Lent. After all, Psalm 91 is one of those psalms that makes lavish promises as to the constant well-being and prospering of anyone who makes God their refuge and strength. If you are on God’s side, God is constantly…
Luke 4:1-13 Sermon Commentary
Lent 1C
For many of us in more evangelical traditions, we think of retreats as pleasant and uplifting spaces where we can reconnect with God, be refreshed, and maybe even have a “mountaintop” spiritual experience. Retreats are hard to make space and time for, so it really isn’t surprising to me that most of us modern Christians…
Exodus 34:29-35 Sermon Commentary
Transfiguration Sunday C
Commentary: It’s instructive that the season of Epiphany, which begins with a bright star in the East, leading the Magi to worship the Christ-child concludes with Transfiguration Sunday, in which glory and shining, brilliance and light are, again, prominent themes. This imagery would have been at home in the Ancient Near Eastern imagination as, according…
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.