Lectionary Readings
(from the Revised Common Lectionary)
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This lectionary covers the next thirty days. For full lists, see the seasons and years below.
Sunday, August 31, 2025
Proper 17 (22)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
In Luke 14, the eschatalogical banquet of the kingdom of God is compared with the ordinary meals that people share with each other. The latter ought to reflect the former, and the repayment for generosity in this life is to be found in the life to come.
Here is an opportunity for the preacher to explain the New Testament's vision of charity to the poor. The act displays total reliance on God for repayment. Nothing we have in this life: either money, material goods, or time, is completely frivolous. All of it represents sustenance, enjoyment, or social capital, in short, the stuff of life itself and the things that make it worth living. People recoil from giving because they rightly perceive that they are giving away parts of their life—the only one they've got. Jesus, again, does not repudiate the activity of providing for oneself, but rather recommends wise investment. Eternal repayment awaits those who give to the least fortunate precisely because there is no worldly repayment. Charity is an act of faith in God, and the life to come. Only those who have shown that they believe enough to give toward that life are counted worthy to enter it.
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Proper 18 (23)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
A misunderstanding of the word "hate" here has caused much confusion. A Hebraicism, it means the opposite of "prefer." Jesus is not prohibiting love of family or holding possessions (v. 33) but demanding that he be put first in people's lives. The disciple must be ready to renounce family, wealth, and anything if it comes between him and Jesus.
The idea may seem afar off to many modern Christians, but the reality is coming on quickly. It seems likely that there will be a very near future in the West which the Christian's adherence to the moral vision of the New Testament will disqualify them for employment and social status and put them at variance with those closest to them, and whom they depend on (indeed, in many places this regime has already arrived). In these cases, Christians must soberly take account of the cost of the Way to which they have been called, not so that they may decide whether it is worth it, but so that they may steel themselves for the journey.
This is why Jesus warns against the sin of apostasy: a Christian who sets out and then stalls halfway presents a unique conundrum: if one has let go of the lifeline, then what else is there to grab hold of? We see many jaded, lapsed, former Christians today whose very history in the church inoculates them to taking hold again of grace. Jesus' command is stark here, but believers who pass these tests may rejoice in the confirmation that they have proven themselves true disciples.
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Proper 19 (24)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
These parables have been unfortunately segmented off from the parable of the Prodigal Son, which they play the prelude to. Here, Jesus responds to the offense given by his attention to the dishonorable by two parables, each with the same message but aimed at a male and female audience.
The lost sheep has been often made into a sweet picture of God's willingness to leave the great flock to go after "just one" but this gets the intent totally wrong. Sheep for a shepherd of the ancient world were about as valuable as a used car. That a shepherd would leave his flock to go after the one would have been blatantly obvious to anyone in the biz.
Next, Jesus turns to the ladies and asks which of them would not sweep their house to find a lost silver coin (worth about a month's wages). The answer would have been the same as the first parable.
This sets the stage for the prodigal Son by moving from the lesser material things, to the more valuable human being, lost to sin, but found by God. Given the difficulty posed by the protracted pericope, the preacher may choose to simply emphasize that people are valuable to God, and so their welfare and eternal destiny ought to be as valuable to us.
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Proper 20 (25)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
Those inexperienced in accounting fraud may have a hard time understanding the self-preservation strategy of the unrighteous steward. More puzzling still may be why Jesus makes a sinner the hero of the story. The message is deeply valuable and engaging, so it is worth explaining in detail.
The steward runs a classic fleecing scam, however instead of taking money for himself he accepts favors instead. He can be compared to the manager of a clothing franchise. When a customer comes to the register with a $100 dress, the manager may say "I control the cash register, so let's just say it costs $50 and we split the difference: so you give me $25 and I make your bill come out to only $75." However, this steward understands that his predicament is graver than that. So instead, he doesn't ask for the difference. Instead, he will take a favor: when he is cast out into the streets, the ones whom he benefited may return the favor by taking him in.
Jesus uses this picaresque fable to demonstrate how his disciples ought to use their worldly goods: not to defraud their managers, but to give to the poor. This is not the only place where Jesus suggests that the recommendation of the poor is needed for the entry ticket into heaven. However, verse 13 is the key, lest one think Jesus is saying that charitable works by themselves merit eternal joys. The same spiritual principle is at play here as in 12:34, that how one uses their money discloses one's true allegiance far more reliably than words.
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Proper 21 (26)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
Jesus tells another dark parable against the rich who do not care for the poor. First of all, the rich man's sin is one of omission. He fails to help Lazarus (who is named in the parable to indicate that he is written in the book of life; the rich man, on the other hand, is given no identity) and lets him die in squalor while enjoying his own life. There is no indication that the rich man actively oppressed Lazarus in any way or has behaved especially cruelly. The image is one of separateness: the rich man in his "high castle" while the poor suffers from his poverty (Prov. 10:15) and this distance is recapitulated after death as the very gulf separating the rich man from Abraham. The very fact that the poor man was beneath his notice is what condemned the rich man. The point of the parable is that ignorance is no defense, since Scripture is abundantly clear on the matter of care for the poor (cf. Deut. 15 and countless other mentions in the Prophets).
This is a frequent Lucan theme in both his Gospel and Acts, whereby the same Holy Spirit that Jesus breathes out in his life and ministry has already spoken throughout the Old Testament. This continuity is expressed in a dark way in verses 30-31, which hints at how Jesus' miracles, even his Resurrection, does not by itself cause repentance. That must come from a changed heart, and those who are callous toward the Law and the Prophets will not be softened by even so great a sign as this. Wealthy Christians today have even less reason to plead ignorance for failing to help the poor, since we also have the pointed witness of the New Testament added to the Old. The message should not be sugarcoated: care and involvement with the poor is an essential feature of the saved person and those with means must take special care that they share them with the less fortunate as a constant discipline.
