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, June 22, 2025
Proper 7 (12)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
This Sunday represents a crossroads for the preacher. For the rest of this year, the Gospel lectionary returns to the Gospel of Luke but the attendant Old Testament and Psalm are split between two different tracks.
Option I walks through a mostly chronological series of Old Testament texts which are not thematically linked to the Gospel passage in any way.
Option II (which is sometimes listed as Option III) is the more traditional set of Old Testament (and some Apocryphal texts) which do thematically link up with the Gospel for the day.
A third option is to follow the Epistle readings, which also run along their own track, disconnected thematically from both sets of Old Testament readings and the Gospel.
The preacher should be prepared to commit to one of these options exclusively for the rest of the Christian year, since each is designed with its own arc in mind. This guide will follow the more venerable Option II, as the theological and typological connections therein will introduce the congregation to the Christological principle of the scriptures, which will aid in their Old Testament study going forward.
The story of the demoniac liberated from the "legion" of demons is a story of Jesus' power to defeat the darkest evils and restore those very far from God to adopted sonship. As in the other Synoptics, many of the story's details hold up the demoniac as the prime example of the oppression of the spiritual powers of the world. The story has a Gentile context, far from the sanctity of the Jewish people. He has no clothes—a frequent biblical symbol of enslavement—and no house, no possibility of living in sanity among people; the demons often drove him out into the wilderness. Moreover, he is among the tombs, and therefore ritually unclean. The portrait is almost inhuman. After Jesus is done with him though, he is clothed and in his right mind.
The point of documenting the deliverance is straightforwardly to show Jesus' power over evil and his ability to restore anyone in creation. The significance of the pigs could be either their ritual uncleanness—sending unclean spirits into unclean animals was appropriate—or that they were a symbol of Roman military power (the region the story takes place in happens to be nearby where a Roman legion was stationed). It is likely that the story works on both levels, showing the reader how Jesus has power over all temporal powers that oppress: spiritual, political, and otherwise. The point is that Jesus has the power to deliver all humankind from the powers that oppress them, and that no case is so far gone as to be beyond his ability to restore.
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Proper 8 (13)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
Luke's story about the rejection at Samaria is seen through the lens of God's saving work through Jesus. The text begins by mentioning Jesus' ascension and that the time is drawing near. This is not the headspace the disciples are in. They are stuck in 2 Kings 1:9-16 with Elijah calling down God's fire on his adversaries. But Jesus is not Elijah (John 1:21). His work is salvation, not death. In the same way, the church is to bear with those who reject her, not seeking their demise but their salvation and healing. The disciples eventually do understand and follow Jesus in the way of suffering and rejection by the very ones they were sent to save. The work of the modern church is no different and ought to bear with those who persecute them and reject them from society instead of rebuking them or desiring their ill.
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Proper 9 (14)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
Jesus sending out the seventy-two presages the church going into all the world. The preacher here has many levers to pull on in encouraging the congregation in their earthly mission.
Jesus' declaration that he is sending them out as lambs in the midst of wolves does not mean that he expects them to be torn to pieces, but a reminder that he, the Good Shepherd, goes with them. He sends them together, two by two, reminding us that we never go into the world by ourselves, but alongside our brothers and sisters in the church. The two-by-two sending also hearkens the animals entering the ark, helping us see that the kingdom promises salvation and safety to all those who hear. For those who do not, only the flood awaits, and shaking off the dust should not be read as a positive curse but as a testimony against them, showing the inevitable result of their rejection of God unless they repent. The messengers do not have time to be waylaid by such as these, but must press on to willing hearts and listening ears. Jesus sends them to work miracles and healings, predicting the sacraments of the church.
Sunday, July 13, 2025
Proper 10 (15)—Season after Pentecost, Year C
Summary
"And who is my neighbor?" is a fair question for a lawyer to ask. Jews, believing that the Law came directly from the mouth of God, paid scrupulous attention to each word, careful not to miss a nuance. The Law does not say "love everyone." Rather, it says "love your neighbor." There were three ways that "neighbor" could be construed according to the rabbis: someone who lives next to you, a blood relation or close friend, or else a member of your clan.
The hero of the parable: a Samaritan man on a journey, explodes all of those definitions and instead gives an expansive definition of neighbor—whoever is right around you at any given time. The added detail of the Priest and Levite avoiding the man on the road also has significance under the Levitical law. Touching a dead person would make a temple functionary ritually unclean. However, the man was not dead, only gravely wounded. The religious men, then, to avoid the burden of helping him (another serious command found in the Law!) crossed to a safe distance so that they could plausibly say that they assumed he was dead, using the Law as a cover for neglecting the one in need instead of following the spirit of the Law and rushing to help. By contrast, the Samaritan, despite being outside the covenant community, fulfills the commandment lavishly, displaying the heart of the Father for sufferers.
