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…
Matthew 28:16-20 Sermon Commentary
Trinity Sunday A
Comments, Questions, and Observations The eleven finally make it to Galilee where Jesus told them to meet him. In the gospel of Matthew, there are no upper room stories, so this meeting on the mountain in Galilee is the first time that the disciples actually encounter the resurrected Jesus in the narrative. After all they…
2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Sermon Commentary
Trinity Sunday A
“Finally, brothers and sisters,” Paul tells his readers of all times and places in verse 11, “rejoice!” [chairete*]. In other words, the apostle basically finishes his second letter to the Corinthian Christians with a summons to be “cheerful” (The Message) or “joyful” (New Living Translation). So it’s as if he tells Jesus’ friends, “When it’s…
Genesis 1:1-2:4a Sermon Commentary
Trinity Sunday A
Pastoral Need In Sunday school, you’d be invited to make a little booklet with one page for each day, a drawing of dark and light, earth and sky, dry land and seas, sun and moon, etc. And that’s how God made the whole thing — out of nothing — one day at a time. In…
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b Sermon Commentary
Pentecost A
Would it ruin anyone’s Pentecost if the Revised Common Lectionary had allowed Psalm 104:35a to be a part of this lection rather than coyly skipping over its line about wishing that evil and wicked people would vanish from the earth? And by itself, is that desire so terrible? Maybe it’s a luxury for people in…
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.