Gospel commentary index Lectionary Year A
On this page, you can find an index to all the commentary articles on the gospel lectionary readings for the whole of Year A, together with links to the video discussions between Ian and James. The articles will be reposted with updates during the year—but they are listed here for convenience and planning ahead.
Growing as Living Stones in 1 Peter 2 video discussion
The lectionary readings for Easter 5 are 1 Peter 2.2-10 and John 14.1-14.
In 1 Peter 2, we jump back to before last week’s reading (!) in order to line up with discussion about places to abide in John 14. This well-known passage is saturated with OT references, both implicit and explicit, which we need to note.
And it is also full of vivid images—though we have to understand their paradoxical nature to appreciate both their theology and their implications.
The article about the description of Jesus in Revelation 1 is here.
The video discussion of John 14 is here…
…and the written commentary is here.
Donald Trump’s Bible Reading and the Blessing of God
Yesterday, US President Donald Trump took part in ‘America Reads the Bible,’ a week-long event where the whole Bible is read in public, including by well-known politicians and church leaders. The aim of this movement seems laudable enough:
Just as Ezra read the Word aloud to the people of Israel (Nehemiah 8:1–3), awakening revival and repentance, inspiring them to rebuild the temple, and working with Nehemiah to mobilize the people to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, America Reads the Bible is a sacred opportunity to call our nation back to its spiritual foundations. Through a public, continuous reading of the entire Bible in our nation’s capital by our national leaders from all spheres of influence, we believe God can spark revival in individual hearts and inspire Americans to carry the Word forward in their lives and communities into the next 250 years of our national story.
And I think if, in the UK, ‘national leaders from all spheres of influence’ committed to a public reading of Scripture here, I would be very excited!
It appeared to be no accident that Donald Trump was asked to read a passage from 2 Chronicles (probably not the best-known book of the Bible) which included this verse:
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chron 7:14)
(You can watch him read the passage here.) This verse has been central for those wanting to see America rediscover itself as a ‘Christian nation’.
What is marriage for?
In our church we have a Spanish-speaking congregation, who join in on Sundays (where we have songs and readings in different languages and simultaneous translation) but who also have their…
Jesus is our good shepherd in John 10
The lectionary gospel readers for the Fourth Sunday of Easter take the three parts of John 10 in turn; being in Year A, we are reading the first ten verses….
Enduring suffering like Jesus in 1 Peter 2 video discussion
The lectionary epistle for Easter 4 is 1 Peter 2.19–end. Peter sees out a challenge call for us to endure suffering following the example of Jesus. But to make proper…
What can we learn from Herod Antipas?
John Hudghton writes: Jesus and the Rat King I am sometimes shocked at how little knowledge there is amongst clergy and congregations of the geopolitical context of Jesus’ ministry. Maybe…
Meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24
The lectionary readings for the Third Sunday in Easter ignore the particular gospel for the year, and instead cycle round Luke 24 and John 21: in Year B we have…
The impartiality of God’s love in 1 Peter 1 video discussion
The lectionary epistle for Easter 3 in Year A is 1 Peter 1.17–23. In this section, Peter begins by reflecting on the significant of the impartiality of God’s love—he is…
The gender of Jesus in the Book of Revelation
At the Society of Biblical Literature annual conference in Atlanta in 2015, I attended several papers on the Book of Revelation. The one that I have continued to think about—and…
Truth, history, the Church Commissioners, and reparative justice
Professor Richard Dale writes: KICKING IN THE CATHEDRAL DOOR How the Church Commissioners relied on bogus history to denounce their predecessors and vilify their own Church It is over three…
Having our doubts about Thomas in John 20
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for the Second Sunday in Easter is John 20.19–31, which includes Jesus’ encounter with so-called ‘doubting Thomas’. It is the set reading for this week…
