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 […]
Year C Season after Pentecost All Saints Day Luke 6:20-31 What I Am Learning Jesus looks at his disciples and says: “Blessed are you who are poor… who are hungry now… who weep now… Blessed are you when people hate you on […]
Year C Season after Pentecost Proper 26 (31) Luke 19:1-10 What I Am Learning Jesus is passing through Jericho when he sees Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, who has climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of him. Tax collectors were […]
Year C Season after Pentecost Proper 25 (30) Luke 18:9-14 What I Am Learning Jesus tells a parable to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” Two men go up to the temple to pray. […]
Year C Season after Pentecost Proper 24 (29) Luke 18:1-8 What I Am Learning Jesus tells a parable about a widow who keeps coming to a judge, demanding justice. The judge neither fears God nor respects people, but he eventually gives in—not […]