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, November 2, 2025
Proper 26 (31)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
It will aid the preacher to point out that the story of Zaccheus comes on the heels of the rich young ruler. That dignified, rich man went away sad because he could not part with his possessions, leading Jesus to comment on how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven but that "what is impossible with man is possible with God" (18:27).
Zaccheus' conversion fulfills Jesus's words. Given the Lucan themes of justice to the poor, Zaccheus ought to be singled out as a chief villain since he has made his money by defrauding the poor. Instead, he becomes the hero, repenting and restoring money to his victims. He even goes beyond both Jewish and Roman law by taking the initiative to repay fourfold anyone he has shaken down.
Jesus' pronouncement of salvation is tied to this act. Repentance is an active thing, turning away from wrongdoing means restoring those we have wronged and pledging to sin no more. Not mere intellectual assent to Jesus' lordship (there is no mention of that here), receiving the gift of salvation means taking action.
Sunday, November 9, 2025
Proper 27 (32)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
On All Saints' Sunday, the texts focus on the fundamental problem of humanity, and God's answer to it: death and eternal life.
The first reading comes from perhaps the oldest biblical text, long before any tradition of resurrection and final judgment had formed in Jewish consciousness. The arresting words of Job the sufferer that somehow, in some way, God would "awaken" him, even from beyond the grave, and that he would behold his defender with his own eyes.
The Sadducees in Jesus' time were textual rigorists, counting as canon only the Pentateuch, which makes no mention of life beyond the grave. This is why Jesus' reply comes from Moses: that God cannot be called both the God of the patriarchs and also "the God of the living" unless those who die "live in him." So, the communion of saints consists not only of the presently alive, but those who have died and are alive in God. Hence, it has been traditional to pray for the dead along with the living.
Unlike most social justice movements today, this passage shows how Luke's moral vision is grounded in supernatural reality. The life beyond the grave and the investment in that life is the basis for charity, and Jesus' moral exhortations cannot be excised from that context.
Sunday, November 16, 2025
Proper 28 (33)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
Jesus' prophecy is "bifocal." In the near term, he is predicting the destruction of the Temple at the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 (verse 21's prophetic import has been confirmed by historical records that Christians indeed fled the city to the neighboring mountains when the Romans besieged it). On the long view, this is also a foreshadowing of the end of the world. The one prophecy is nested inside the other. In the midst of such world-shaking events, Jesus instructs his disciples, and us, of our conduct. Christians are hated and unjustly blamed for disasters. In those days, Christians must be upright and rely totally on God's intervention.
This is not exactly the banner advertisement for becoming a Christian nowadays, especially in the West. The idea that one may be required to suffer or die without resisting is a hard pill to swallow for modern people. But, nearing the end of Luke, the people should understand that faith is not a mild thing and God's power is not far from the weak and downtrodden.
Sunday, November 23, 2025
Christ the King (Reign of Christ)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
On the final Sunday of the church year, Christ's reign from the Cross is brought to the fore. The Cross shows the final Lucan irony: Jesus, executed as a common criminal is nevertheless labeled, properly, as a king.
Christ's kingship comes from his passion. Though apparently his humiliation, the Cross is in fact Jesus' coronation. Conquering death through laying down his life, Jesus stretches out his arms in love and restores humanity through this saving embrace. No one is beyond this salvation, not even the thief next to him who recognized his lordship as head of the kingdom.
In the Cross, God is revealed to be truly a king who can identify with the poor in their weakness, and yet his final humiliation in death opens the way to everlasting glory and life. Christ the King calls all of his subjects to shoulder their cross in the form of good works on behalf of the poor, humility before others, and meekness in suffering, and so reign with him, both now and in the age to come.
