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John 21:1-19 Sermon Commentary
The new life that Easter represents finds its expression this week in a call to discipleship. So much about this pair of scenes calls back the original call to disciples. The gospel writer tells us that this is the third time Jesus appears to the group, but even still, the awkwardness the disciples feel as…
Acts 9:1-20 Sermon Commentary
The reliable Jewish world of the 1st century is showing unfamiliar cracks. It has always had a tenuous relationship with Rome and there were always pipsqueaks on a soapbox teaching this or that quirky take on the Torah. But the seismic activity rippling out from the teaching and death of Jesus has got the establishment…
Psalm 30 Sermon Commentary
A core tenet of the Christian faith is, to quote from the much-loved hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” “Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not, as Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.” The more fancy theological term for this is the Doctrine of Divine Immutability. Or we sometimes say God is the same…
Revelation 5:11-14 Sermon Commentary
I sometimes wonder if the sheer volume of what John heard in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson threatened his hearing. After all, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association reports it isn’t safe to hear the noise created by a jackhammer, jet plane takeoff, siren or pneumatic drill for any period of time. What’s more, the report labels as…
Sermon Commentary From Other Lectionary Cycles
John 21:1-19 Sermon Commentary
Easter 3C
Mark rings down the curtain on his Gospel before a single human being has as yet shared the news of the resurrection. That was sufficiently frustrating to some in church history that they tacked on a few more verses both to try to spice things up a bit and round the Gospel of Mark off…
John 21:1-19 Sermon Commentary
Easter 3C
In a recent interview with Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, Union Seminary President Serene Jones makes it plain that she does not believe Jesus physically rose again from the dead. She claimed this in part because “the gospels are all over the place” about the resurrection and she cited the fact that Mark…
Psalm 30 Sermon Commentary
Easter 3C
In this Easter season, the lectionary readings call the church to explore and live into and celebrate the impact of Easter. With its imagery of death and resurrection, Psalm 30 is a perfect post-Easter Psalm. Its purpose is to keep the memory of our deliverance from death alive by voicing the deliverance again and adding…
Sermon Commentary for Sunday
This Week's Commentary
Easter 3C
The Easter 3C Sermon Commentaries include reflection and illustration ideas for John 21:1-19 from the Lectionary Gospel; Acts 9:1-20 from the Old Testament Lectionary; Psalm 30 from the Lectionary Psalms; and Revelation 5:11-14 from the Lectionary Epistle.
Related Reformed confession: Lectionary Epistle: Heidelberg Catechism: Q&A 54 (Lord’s Day 21)