Year AEpiphanyBaptism of the Lord Matthew 3:13-17 Contextual Background: Jesus begins his public ministry not in glory but in the waters of John’s baptism. Standing in line with sinners, he submits to the waters of repentance. As he emerges, the heavens are […]
Year AChristmasSecond Sunday after Christmas DayJohn 1:(1-9), 10-18 Contextual Background: Matthew tells of Herod’s violence and the holy family’s flight into Egypt. Incarnation comes into a world where rulers cling to power with bloodshed. John echoes again the hymn of the Word […]
Year AChristmasFirst Sunday after Christmas DayMatthew 2:13-23 Contextual Background: The lectionary sometimes gives us Jesus at age twelve, found in the temple after days of anxious searching. This moment shows the tension of incarnation: Jesus is both ordinary child and bearer of […]
Year AChristmasNativity of the Lord – Proper I Luke 2:1-14, (15-20) Contextual Background: Luke sets the birth of Jesus against the backdrop of empire. Caesar Augustus decrees a census — a tool of taxation and control. Mary and Joseph, peasants under occupation, […]
Year AAdventFourth Sunday of Advent Matthew 1:18-25 Contextual Background: Mary sings a song of God’s justice as she bears the Christ child. Her Magnificat is not sentimental but revolutionary: the mighty are brought down, the humble lifted up, the hungry filled. This […]
Year AAdventThird Sunday of Advent Matthew 11:2-11 Contextual Background: The third Sunday of Advent pivots toward joy. Isaiah envisions deserts blooming, bodies healed, and captives singing on the road home. Joy is not a denial of suffering but a sign of God’s […]
Year AAdventSecond Sunday of Advent Matthew 3:1-12 Contextual Background: John the Baptist’s voice rang out in the wilderness, far from the centers of power. His call to repentance wasn’t about private guilt but about a collective realignment of life toward God’s justice. […]
Year A AdventFirst Sunday of AdventMatthew 24:36-44 Contextual Background: Advent opens with a call to stay awake. In first-century Judea, under Roman rule, people lived under the weight of fear and despair. The temptation was either to withdraw or to fight back […]
Season after PentecostReign of Christ – Proper 29 (34) Luke 23:33-43 Contextual Background: On the Sunday before Advent begins, the church proclaims Christ’s reign. But the gospel text takes us not to a throne or a palace, but to a hill outside […]
2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? Reflection This passage is typically interpreted to mean that Christians should not respect, relate to, […]