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Lectionary Reflections, Louisville, KY (2026)

09/28/2026

When God commands, the people try to obey; but it isn’t always easy. Listen for this theme through Sunday’s readings.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons
Oct. 4, 2026 (Pentecost 19A/Proper 22)

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
When God commands, the people try to obey; but it isn’t always easy. Listen for this theme through Sunday’s readings. In this first reading, the people in their wandering through the desert come to a significant encounter at Mount Sinai: Establishing their identity and their hope, they join with God in a lasting covenant. Through Moses they receive the ten commandments that will guide their lives and ensure their righteousness in relationship with God and others. Through the commandments God tests our faith, Moses warns them: “God has come to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 5:1-7
The Bible is filled with metaphors involving w**e, the fruit of the vine, and the vineyards from which w**e comes. In this poetic song from Isaiah, God plants a vineyard and cares for it with love. But the harvest yields “wild” grapes, a word that means stinking, worthless, or sour in the original Hebrew. These rogue vines symbolically stand for the people, who disappointed God by failing to be just and righteous. Now, Isaiah prophesies, God will trample down the vines, destroying the vineyard.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 19
God’s commandments are a wonderful gift, the Psalmist declares in this triumphant hymn as it begins with mighty praise for the beauty of all God’s creation. The commandments are a gift that shows God’s glory in such a shining light that all the heavens sing. All the skies reveal the work of God’s hand! Then the theme turns to God’s commandments, God’s law and teaching. True, just and righteous, God’s commandments stand even above the earthly creation that we have just celebrated, the Psalmist sings: They are sweeter than honey, more precious than gold.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 80:7-14
Surely the Psalmist had Isaiah’s book at hand while writing these poetic verses. In the first reading, Isaiah had warned that a disappointed, angry God, loathing the sour fruit, would demolish the vineyard, tearing down its wall and hedge and ordering a drought to lay it waste. Now these verses of Psalm 80 imagine a people who brought a vine out of Egypt, made it mighty, but then neglected it and let it wither. Now they beg a compassionate God to regard and restore the bountiful vines, in a suggestion of hope that was absent from Isaiah’s dark verses.

Second Reading: Philippians 3:4b-14
The verses just preceding this reading provide needed context: After Paul left Philippi, other Christians preaching a more rigid Jewish Christianity arrived and told the people of this Macedonian church that Paul’s teaching was wrong. They must strictly follow Jewish law. including purity laws and circumcision, in order to be Christians, these interlopers told this community of Gentile converts. Paul warned the Philippians to beware of these teachers, calling them “dogs … evil workers … those who mutilate the flesh!” Now Paul reminds them that he is a devout Jew himself, a Pharisee, observant and righteous. But now, he says, everything has changed: The old commandments mean nothing without Christ as the context in which to hear them.

Gospel: Matthew 21:33-46
Jesus, still arguing with the temple authorities, tells another challenging parable set in a vineyard: Its owner has gone to another country, hiring tenants to tend the vines for him. When he sends his slaves to get the produce, though, the tenants beat them up and kill them. They do the same to another group of slaves the owner sends after that. Then, incredibly, when the owner sends his own son, the tenants kill him, too! What, Jesus asks, should the owner do? Surely he will kill the evil tenants, the priests and Pharisees respond. But Jesus gives the parable yet another twist, declaring that those who work to produce the fruit will be the ones who inherit the Kingdom of God. Angered, the temple leaders start plotting to arrest Jesus.

When God commands, the people try to obey; but it isn’t always easy. Listen for this theme through Sunday’s readings.

09/21/2026

Jesus has come back to the temple, and the wary high priests try to trap him by asking with whose authority he teaches, heals and speaks. But Jesus traps them back with a trick question of his own.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons
Sept. 27, 2026 (Pentecost 18A/Proper 21)

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 17:1-7
The people in their journey through the desert remain difficult to satisfy. They quarrel with Moses, doubting whether God is really watching over them. In last Sunday’s reading from the previous chapter of Exodus, God responded to their hunger with daily rations of quail and manna. Now they have no water. Even if their whining seems to annoy Moses, it’s hard to blame them for grumbling as they suffer from thirst. God instructs Moses to take some of the elders and go ahead of the group to strike a rock, using the same rod that he had wielded to part the Red Sea’s waters. Moses complies, and when he hits the rock, water comes gushing out to slake everyone’s thirst.

First Reading (Track Two): Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
Three weeks ago we heard the Prophet Ezekiel warning the people that, although God does not desire to kill them, they surely must die if they do not repent and turn back from their wicked ways. Now we turn back a few chapters to hear a similar, longer exhortation. It’s another stern warning, but it contains a glimpse of hope. Ezekiel consistently sees repentance as the necessary response to a dangerous pattern of behavior: Fail in righteousness, refuse to be just, and you must die. But repent, turn away from wickedness, and enjoy life in the grace of God, who takes no pleasure in your death or that of your children. “Turn, then, and live.”

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16
Writing centuries after the ancestral story of the people’s exodus from Egypt and their journey through the wilderness to freedom, the Psalmist joyfully recalls that narrative with no hint of the quarrelsome, complaining times when the people forgot God’s blessings. In this hymn of praise that “declares the mysteries of ancient times,” these verses echo to future generations how God’s power and marvels opened the sea, led the people toward freedom, and, indeed, brought water gushing out of a cliff like a river.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 25:1-8
The five or six Psalms that follow immediately after the beloved 23rd Psalm also sing praise and gratitude to a loving God who cares for us and protects us from our enemies. When we sing this Psalm we echo the ideas that Ezekiel expressed: We remember that, though we may have sinned and transgressed God’s love and hopes for us, we nevertheless trust in God to remember us with compassion, protect us, and guide us toward right paths in spite of our errors.

Second Reading: Philippians 2:1-13
This week we continue in Paul’s beautiful letter written from his prison cell in Rome to his dear friends, the Philippians. Be encouraged and consoled by the life and love of Christ, he exhorts them. Be as humble and unselfish as Jesus, placing the needs of others before our own ambition; and in doing so, live as Jesus lived. Then Paul turns to the poetic phrases of one of the oldest hymns of the early church, proclaiming that Jesus – although made in the form of God – “emptied himself” in utter humility, taking instead the form of a slave, obediently accepting death by crucifixion; and in so doing became exalted as our anointed Lord and master.

Gospel: Matthew 21:23-32
We have skipped over several chapters and a great deal of activity since last week’s Gospel. Jesus and his disciples have reached Jerusalem, entered the city amid palm-waving, cheering crowds. Jesus has angrily thrown over the tables of the money changers in the temple. Now it is a new day, Jesus has come back to the temple, and the wary high priests try to trap him by asking with whose authority he teaches, heals and speaks. But Jesus traps them back with a question about John the Baptist that they can’t answer either way without getting into trouble. Then Jesus moves on to a parable that, as parables do, asks a thought-provoking question about a man who asked his two sons to work in his vineyard.

Jesus has come back to the temple, and the wary high priests try to trap him. asking by what authority he teaches, heals and speaks. Then Jesus traps them back.

09/14/2026

God showers us with abundant good, even when we have done nothing to deserve it: This is the gift of God’s amazing grace, and we hear about it throughout Sunday’s readings.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons
Sept. 20, 2026 (Pentecost 17A/Proper 20)

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 16:2-15
God showers us with abundant good, even when we have done nothing to deserve it: This is the gift of God’s amazing grace, and we hear about it throughout Sunday’s readings. In our first reading, the Israelites are in the wilderness. They may have been saved from the Egyptian army by God’s mighty hand at the Red Sea, but they are unhappy now, six weeks later, bitterly complaining because they have nothing to eat. They wish God had just killed them in Egypt, where at least they could eat their fill. But God provides, promising them meat in the evenings and bread in the mornings, which prove to be quail in the evenings and, in the mornings, the miraculous flaky manna that falls to the earth like dew.

First Reading (Track Two): Jonah 3:10-4:11
Last week we heard in Matthew’s Gospel about the parable of the king who forgave a slave’s debt – until that slave declined to forgive his debtor in turn. Now in the Hebrew Bible we find more insight into God’s desire to forgive. Jonah had fiercely resisted God’s call to prophesy to Israel’s ancient enemies in Nineveh until God sent him there, despite his refusal, via the famous giant fish. Arrived in the ancient capital of Israel’s Assyrian enemies, Jonah prophesied as ordered. Much to his surprise, the people of Nineveh changed their minds and gained God’s favor. Rather than being joyful, though, Jonah has an extended tantrum because God declined to destroy the city. “Just kill me now,” Jonah shouts. But God stands firm, choosing mercy and forgiveness over revenge on a city of 120,000 innocent people and all their animals.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
We read the first few verses of this same Psalm just three weeks ago. This Sunday, though, after the introductory praise to God’s holy name, we jump ahead to verses that remember Israel in the desert: The cloud and fire that led them; the quail and bread that fed them, and the water that flowed from the rock. All this is placed in the context of the covenant that God made with Moses and the people at Mount Sinai: God will give the people land and wealth. The people will follow God’s teaching and laws, living lives of righteousness and justice.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 145:1-8
Like a great symphony that ends with a mighty coda, the book of Psalms comes to a triumphant close with six joyous hymns of praise for God’s great glory. Psalm 145, which serves as a transition to that finale, reinforces the message that we heard in Jonah: The Psalmist exults in God’s righteousness, grace, generous mercy and steadfast love. We ponder the glorious splendor of God’s majesty and all God’s marvelous works, as the Psalmist exults in God’s righteousness, grace, generous mercy and steadfast love.

Second Reading: Philippians 1:21-30
After spending the past three months reading Paul’s letter to the Romans, we will now devote four Sundays to getting to know his letter to the people of Philippi. This was a Gentile community in Macedonia, Northern Greece, largely populated by the descendants of Roman soldiers. It was Paul’s first church in Europe, and his affection is apparent throughout the short letter. He is thought to have written this letter from prison in Rome, where his ex*****on was a real possibility; and this may have inspired his reflections on life and death. If he lives, he says, he will take joy in continuing to spread the Gospel; but he is just as willing to die, for he understands death as being with Christ forever.

Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16
The parable of the workers in the field makes us stop and think, as the parables of Jesus are supposed to do. How would we feel if we had worked all day for our pay, only to see some other people who came in late and worked for only an hour getting the same amount as we had? Unfair! If we had stood on a street corner in a day-labor market, though, waiting for someone to offer us work, we’d probably be overjoyed at the unexpected generosity of our wage. God’s ways, as we see so often in Scripture, are not our ways. We all earn God’s grace in equal measure, no matter who we are or what we have done. What God gives to others takes nothing away from God’s gifts to us. We should joyfully celebrate God’s abundance, not jealously grumble about it.

God showers us with abundant good, even when we have done nothing to deserve it: This is the gift of amazing grace, and we hear it through Sunday’s readings.

09/08/2026

Themes of hope and forgiveness resonate through Sunday’s Lectionary readings, from the Israelites escaping from Egypt to Jesus telling the apostles to forgive a wrong not just seven times but 77 times.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons
Sept. 13, 2026 (Pentecost 16A/Proper 19)

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 14:19-31
Themes of hope and forgiveness resonate through Sunday’s Lectionary readings. In this first reading, the Israelites are fleeing slavery in Egypt, hotly pursued by Pharaoh’s army, while a mysterious God-driven pillar of cloud and fire protects the fleeing people’s flank. Then, in a miraculous escape, Moses – with God’s help – parts the waters of the sea so the Israelites may cross on dry ground. When they reach safety, Moses orders the water back, and Pharaoh’s entire army is drowned. This ancient story may seem violent and warlike, as befits the culture and custom of its time. But the message for Israel goes deeper: God promised to bring the people out of Israel with a mighty hand, and now, freed, they move on toward Sinai, the Jordan, and the Promised Land.

First Reading (Track Two): Genesis 50:15-21
A thread of forgiveness stitches together the Track Two readings. We have recently seen Joseph’s brothers arrive in Egypt as refugees from famine back home, while terrified that their now-powerful brother might take revenge for the way they had treated him. Now it is many years later. Their father Jacob, renamed as Israel, has died. And now they are worried again. Without their father’s guarding hand, will Joseph turn on them? But Joseph, weeping, reassures them that just as God returns good for evil, so will Joseph forgive.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 114
The Psalmist looks back at the people’s escape from Egypt in the Exodus, and sings out in praise for God’s powerful actions to bring them to the Promised Land. God can make the sea flee and rivers turn back, the Psalmist sings. God makes mountains and hills skip like rams and lambs. Indeed, Earth itself trembles at the presence of God.

Alternate Psalm (Track One): Exodus 15:1b-11,20-21
This ancient song of victory follows immediately after the parting of the waters in Exodus. Imagined as a hymn of triumph sung by Moses and all the people, it praises and exalts God as a powerful military leader whose glorious strength shattered the enemy, whose threats of vengeance and destruction were drowned as quickly as lead sinks in water. In the closing verses, the prophet Miriam leads all the women in a triumphant dance of exultation with drums and tambourines.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 103:1-13
This selection from Psalm 103 reflects an idea of forgiveness consistent with Joseph’s response to his brothers: God forgives us, God heals us, God redeems us, God’s love and mercy for us are steadfast. As a mother loves her children even when they misbehave, so God loves us and forgives us. God offers us compassion, not the punishment that our bad behavior might seem to deserve.

Second Reading: Romans 14:1-12
Last week we heard Paul tell the Christians of Rome that Jesus’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves is the greatest commandment: It includes all the other commandments within it. Now, as we conclude three months of readings through Romans, we hear Paul teach that loving our neighbors obliges us to not judge our neighbors. Don’t be critical of our neighbors because they do things differently than we do, he exhorts his readers. Even if our neighbor makes us angry, he says, we are to forgive, standing together in giving glory to God, leaving judgement to God.

Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35
Peter, perhaps thinking about Jesus’s instructions in last week’s Gospel about working out disagreements in the church, has an important question for Jesus: If someone keeps bothering me, just how many times do I have to forgive that person? Not just seven times, but 77 times, Jesus says, and we can be pretty sure that “77” really means “don’t stop forgiving, period.” Then Jesus tells of a slave who, after being forgiven his own crushing debt, cruelly refuses to forgive another slave’s much smaller debt to him. The slave is punished, and we are left to remember how Jesus taught us to pray: “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Themes of hope and forgiveness resonate through Sunday’s Lectionary readings.

08/31/2026

God loves us. God is faithful to us. In times of turmoil and of fear, these simple ideas that we hear through Sunday’s readings offer reassurance.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons
Sept. 6, 2026 (Pentecost 15A/Proper 18)

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 12:1-14
God loves us. God is faithful to us. In times of turmoil and of fear, these simple ideas that we hear through Sunday’s readings offer reassurance. In the first reading, we see the origin of Passover: Having fought hard-hearted Pharaoh through a dozen plagues with God’s help, the people are now ready to escape from slavery in Egypt. But first they must be saved – literally by the blood of the lamb – from the bloody savagery that is about to strike the children and animals of Egypt and their pagan gods. The details of this gory sacrifice may belong to a different time and culture, but they reveal the grace through which God’s people march toward freedom.

First Reading (Track Two): Ezekiel 33:7-11
In this reading, we turn to the Prophet Ezekiel, who is identified in tradition as a priest who was exiled to Babylon six centuries before Jesus. During the wars that would eventually lead to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, Ezekiel warned the people that God would punish them for their wickedness by taking away the covenant that had given them the promised land. In these verses, the prophet hears God’s warning that God does not want to punish the people, but desires that they save their lives by turning back – repenting – from their evil ways.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 149
Psalm 149, like this week’s Exodus reading, celebrates warlike violence in language that reflects Bronze Age sensibility in the Ancient Near East. Yet we can hear its echoes all too well in the imagery of modern warfare, shock and awe. We sing to the Lord a new song, joyously dancing and shaking tambourines to celebrate God’s gift of victory in battle, while the enemy’s kings are bound in iron chains. Before we judge too harshly, recall that the Psalms, the Bible’s ancient hymnal, offer a full human range of emotion, from this warrior shout to the protective love of the Good Shepherd.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 119:33-40
Once more we sing a portion of Psalm 119, the longest of the Psalms, which turns up often in our Sunday readings. The entire Psalm celebrates Torah – God’s laws and teaching, the first five books of the Bible – as a glorious gift to humankind. Consistent with the theme of God’s love and protection that infuses this week’s readings, the Psalmist finds joy in knowing that the path of the commandments is the way of life.

Second Reading: Romans 13:8-14
The commandment to love one another incorporates all the commandments, Paul tells the Christians in Rome. Love, he says, in words that remind us of his beloved passage on love in 1 Corinthians, does no wrong to those around us. If we love our neighbors, we won’t hurt our neighbors. We won’t kill them, we won’t steal from them, we won’t be jealous of what they have. Love fulfills the law. Hoping that Christ would soon return – salvation grows nearer every day, he reminds them – Paul urges his flock to live honorably, not behaving badly or gratifying earthly desires, but by “putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20
This Gospel reminds us of Jesus’s promise that we remember with joy whenever we approach the Communion table: He will be there among us, conscious of our deepest wishes, whenever we gather in his name, in prayer and in the real presence of the Eucharist. We also get a glimpse of the way that early Christians tried to work out disagreements through small group conversations before taking the matter to the full church for resolution only as a last resort. We’re probably relieved that we don’t sort out one another’s sins this way anymore, but let’s take note of a deeper message: When we gather together, in celebration or in conflict, Jesus is with us and shows us the way.

God loves us. God is faithful to us. In times of turmoil and of fear, these simple ideas that we hear through Sunday’s readings offer reassurance.

08/24/2026

The people’s long journey from enslavement in Egypt toward freedom in the promised land now begins, as Moses encounters God in the form of a burning bush.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons
Aug. 30, 2026 (Pentecost 14A/Proper 17)

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 3:1-15
The Lectionary account of the people’s long journey from enslavement in Egypt toward freedom in the promised land now begins. Moses encounters God in the form of a burning bush on Mount Horeb. This is another name for Mount Sinai, where Moses will later return to receive the Ten Commandments and enter the people into covenant with God. The God of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, too powerful to view face to face, occupying holy ground, tells a somewhat reluctant Moses that he is to lead the people out of Egypt. Then Moses asks a curious question: What is God’s name? “I am who I am,” God replies. “Say to the Israelites, ‘I am’ has sent me to you.”

First Reading (Track Two): Jeremiah 15:15-21
The youthful prophet Jeremiah’s sometimes angry, frequently despondent prophecies have earned him the nickname “Weeping Prophet.” We hear a little of both emotions in Sunday’s Track Two first reading. Jeremiah confronts God and begs him to bring down retribution on those who are persecuting him. He spoke out on God’s behalf, Jeremiah declares, even though it was hard, but those ungrateful people only insulted him. “Why,” he wails, “is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed?” God responds with kindness, reassuring him: “they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you.”

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c
Echoing the theme of the first reading from Exodus, this Psalm of thanksgiving and praise remembers the people’s descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their sojourn as aliens and oppressed slaves in Egypt. When we sing praise for Moses’ service in protecting the people so they might observe God’s laws, we celebrate the survival of not just dry legislation but of Torah, God’s timeless teaching that guides the way we live.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 26:1-8
One might wonder if Jesus had Psalm 26 in mind when he made an example of a Pharisee who boasted loudly of his righteousness when he prayed. The Pharisee thanked God that he was not like the thieves, rogues, adulterers, and tax collectors he saw around him. It would be easy to read that kind of prideful piety into these verses, too. But listen to them instead with the perspective of Jeremiah’s call for God’s grace, and envision a God whose lovingkindness inspires us to worship with thanksgiving and songful procession, loving the place where God’s glory abides.

Second Reading: Romans 12:9-21
We have journeyed with Paul in his letter to the people of Rome on the Sundays after Pentecost since June. We have listened and learned as Paul worked out a new theology, discerning how we receive new life in God’s grace through Christ. Now we are approaching the end of this letter. During the next three weeks we will hear him conclude with a beautiful, poetic summary of his call to Rome’s Jewish and Gentile Christians to live together in love. “Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another,” he writes in this passage. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Gospel: Matthew 16:21-28
In last week’s Gospel we heard Jesus praise Peter, calling him the rock upon which he would build a church. Now, in the verses that immediately follow, Jesus tells the apostles that he will have to suffer, die and be raised again. Peter angrily objects, prompting Jesus to turn and declare Peter “Satan,” ordering him out of his sight. The evangelist we know as Matthew, perhaps reflecting evolving Christian theology a generation or two after the crucifixion, depicts a powerful image of Jesus as Messiah, predicting his own death and resurrection as necessary steps toward the universal justice that will come with God’s kingdom.

The people’s long journey from enslavement in Egypt toward freedom in the promised land now begins, as Moses encounters God in the form of a burning bush.

08/10/2026

Thoughts of generous mercy recur in Sunday’s readings as our lectionary narratives near the midpoint of the season after Pentecost.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons
Aug. 16, 2026 (Pentecost 12A/Proper 15)

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 45:1-15
Thoughts of generous mercy recur in Sunday’s readings as our lectionary narratives near the midpoint of the season after Pentecost. This first reading marks the last in the long series of ancestral stories we have heard about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. The Gospel finds Jesus and the apostles leaving Galilee for the last time as they begin their journey through the country of strangers, traveling toward Jerusalem and the cross. In the first reading, Joseph, whose jealous brothers had sold him into slavery in Egypt, has become Pharaoh’s chief governor. Now his brothers have come to Egypt fleeing famine in Israel. When they encounter their now powerful brother, they quite sensibly fear his revenge! But Joseph forgives them in a tearful reunion, and the ancestral line of the Bible’s patriarchs will live on as God had promised.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 56:1,6-8
In this first reading, we turn to the closing chapters of Isaiah’s long book of prophecy. The people have returned home to Jerusalem, and now they face the arduous task of rebuilding the city and the temple. Isaiah reminds the people that, just as they lost the land for their failure to be righteous and just, they may no longer keep the holy city for themselves alone, even if they “maintain justice and do what is right.” The covenant that God made with Moses now extends to all people, to all the nations, Isaiah prophesies. Even foreigners who hold fast to the covenant’s principles will be gathered in, welcomed in the temple, and made joyful.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 133
Showing exuberant joy that might remind us of Joseph’s ultimately happy reunion with his brothers, the Psalmist celebrates the blessed state of brothers and sisters abiding together in unity. Just as Joseph’s family came back together in love, and just as Paul in the second reading will urge the Jewish and Pagan Christian communities in Rome to rejoin in friendship, we hear how good and pleasant it is when families and friends live together in blessed unity.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 67
We hear Psalm 67 again, just three months after it was selected for use during Eastertide. It fits in neatly with Sunday’s readings: In its joyous call to all the nations of Earth to sing together in peace and praise, it reinforces what we heard in the Isaiah reading, and it foreshadows Paul’s words to the Romans. Let all the nations praise God and pray for God’s blessing, the Psalmist tells the people; for through God the Earth gives forth its bounty, and all the earth sings out its praise.

Second Reading: Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Paul continues his exhortation to Rome’s Jewish Christian and Gentile Christian communities, urging them to restore the unity that they enjoyed before the Jewish portion was sent away in exile. Paul declares his own Jewish heritage, placing himself in Abraham’s direct line as a descendant of Benjamin, the youngest of Joseph’s brothers, whom Joseph loved. Paul assures us that God’s promises to Israel and to the Gentiles are equally irrevocable, regardless of our disobedience: We all earn God’s love, regardless of our sins, regardless of our ancestry. God is merciful to all.

Gospel: Matthew 15:10-28
Sunday’s Gospel offers us two separate short stories. The first describes Jesus’s last encounter with the crowds that have been following him in Galilee. The next tells of his first healing in Gentile territory as he and the apostles begin their journey to Jerusalem. In the first event, Jesus mocks a group of Pharisees who had challenged his disciples for ignoring ritual traditions. He speaks a blunt and rather earthy criticism: Neglecting to wash our hands before eating doesn’t defile us, but the words that come out of our mouths may do so. In the next encounter, Jesus shocks us with a fiercely unkind insult, likening a Canaanite woman who sought help for her daughter to stray dogs scrounging for crumbs. But the words that emerge from the mother’s mouth clearly come from her heart. The meeting seems to change Jesus, as he praises her faith and heals her child.

Thoughts of generous mercy recur in Sunday’s readings as our lectionary narratives near the midpoint of the season after Pentecost.

Lectionary Reflections

09/28/2026

09/21/2026

09/14/2026

09/08/2026

08/31/2026

08/24/2026

08/10/2026

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