Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Aug. 23, 2026 (Pentecost 13A/Proper 16)

Christ’s Charge to Peter (1515-1516), painting in tempera and charcoal on paper by Raphael (1483-1520). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 1:8-2:10

Ideas of resistance in the face of dominant systems run like a bright thread through Sunday’s readings: the quiet, life-saving act of midwives disobeying Pharaoh, Rome’s infant Christian community joining its diverse gifts, and Peter boldly confessing that Jesus, not Caesar, is the Son of God. In this first reading, Pharaoh, fearing Egypt’s Israelite community because it has grown to threatening numbers over the years, decides to kill all the Hebrew baby boys. But two God-fearing midwives ignore the order. The baby Moses escapes in a floating basket, and Moses will eventually go on to become the next great figure in the Bible’s ancestral legends, leading the people out of Egypt on a long trek toward the Promised Land.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 51:1-6

Using a metaphor that might remind us of Jesus’s response to Peter in Sunday’s Gospel, Isaiah tells the people that they were hewn from rock and dug from a quarry in their descent from Abraham and Sarah. God promised to bless Abraham and make his offspring as numerous as the stars, and that promise has been fulfilled. Although they must remain in exile now, God will deliver them eventually. God’s justice will be a light to the people, and their deliverance will come soon, Isaiah foretells: Earth may eventually wear out like a used garment and the heavens will vanish like smoke, but God’s deliverance and salvation will last forever.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 124

The Psalmist recalls the people’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt in this hymn of thanksgiving to the God who carried them through the frightening exodus from Pharaoh’s wrath. The short psalm’s verses celebrate the people’s safe passage through the Red Sea’s raging waters. And then, in striking poetic imagery, the Psalm likens the people to a bird pursued by a hunter, escaping from a broken snare, before concluding with joyous thanksgiving: “Our help is in the name of the Lord.”

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 138

Echoing the hope for return from exile and eventual salvation that we heard in the Isaiah reading, Psalm 138 extols God’s love and faithfulness. When we called, the Psalmist sings, God answered us and gave us strength. The litany of praise goes on: Although God is on high, God cares for the lowly; God keeps us safe when we walk in the midst of trouble. The love of the Lord endures forever and will not abandon the works of God’s hands.

Second Reading: Romans 12:1-8

Having made his case to the Christians of Rome to live and worship together in love, Paul now enters the closing chapters of this, the last of his letters. He urges the people to present their minds and bodies as a living sacrifice in spiritual worship. Do not live according to the customs of this world but discern and follow what is good in the will of God, he tells the Romans. Working out a beautiful metaphor that we also hear in 1 Corinthians, he imagines the church – like our bodies – as an organism made of many parts. Every part has its purpose, and they all must function well together to make the body work. Some lead, some teach, some give, some learn, some listen; some offer compassion. All together we make up one body in Christ.

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

It is surely no coincidence that Matthew places this Gospel passage at Caesarea Philippi, then a new city built as a monument to Caesar’s divine authority, with shiny temples dedicated to pagan gods and imperial worship. When Jesus asks his disciples who they say that he is – a key Gospel passage that also appears in similar form in Mark and Luke – it marks a key turning point, the moment in which Jesus first acknowledges that he is the Messiah, the son of the living God. Perhaps the disciples were already wondering about this. We are told that they worshipped him after he walked on the water and stilled the storm. But now, as Jesus and his followers begin their journey toward Jerusalem, Jesus for the first time responds affirmatively to Peter’s assertion that God has revealed him as the Messiah. Jesus then declares Peter “the rock” upon which he will build the church. But still he sternly commands the disciples not to tell anyone about this. His time has not yet come.

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Aug. 16, 2026 (Pentecost 12A/Proper 15)

Christ and the Canaanite woman (1645-1650), oil painting on panel by Willem van Oordt (active c.1635-c.1655). Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, Netherlands. (Click image to enlarge.)

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.

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Aug. 9, 2026 (Pentecost 11A’Proper 14)

Christ walking on the waters (late 19th century), oil painting on canvas by Virgilio Mattoni de la Fuente (1842-1923). Iglesia de San Pedro, Seville, Spain. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28

Faith can be a source of strength in the face of fear. Listen for this reassurance in Sunday’s readings, first about Joseph and then about Peter. Our first reading continues our journey with the Bible’s dysfunctional first family into the fourth generation: Israel, previously called Jacob, loved his son Joseph more than he loved any of his other children. This, unsurprisingly, makes Joseph’s brothers jealous. They briefly consider murdering Joseph, but decide to sell him into slavery instead. Once again, as it so often does, scripture reminds us that even the patriarchs weren’t noble people but flawed, broken, sometimes downright bad individuals. Yet still God loved them, as God loves us, and Joseph will eventually forgive his brothers, as God forgives us.

First Reading (Track Two): 1 Kings 19:9-18

In this first reading, the Prophet Elijah is fleeing for his life from an angry Queen Jezebel. He feels all alone and deeply afraid. No one else is on his side. He despairs. But then he hears the wish of the Holy One – through an angel, a messenger – inviting him to go stand on a mountain to meet God. Soon a great wind shakes his world. Then an earthquake and finally a fire shatter the scene. But God is not in any of those. It is only in the silence that follows the cataclysms that God’s voice is finally heard. God reassures Elijah, promising that he will go on to appoint Israel’s kings and prophets.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45b

Holding up Joseph as an example that God remains faithful even in hard times, these verses from Psalm 105 recall Joseph’s life as a slave in Egypt. His feet were bruised in fetters and his neck was choked in a heavy iron collar, but God remained faithful to him. From a beginning as a foreigner and a slave, Joseph gained the Egyptian king’s trust and eventually rose to a place of power in Pharaoh’s court. God has done marvelous things for the people, the Psalmist exults. Sing praises! Glory in God’s holy name!

Psalm (TrackTwo): Psalm 85:8-13

This beautiful Psalm portion echoes the reassurance that we hear God giving to Elijah amid his lonely fear in the first reading: God has forgiven our iniquity and blotted out our sins, the Psalmist assures us in beautiful poetry: Heaven and earth meet in truth and righteousness; righteousness and peace share a tender kiss. God grants prosperity and a fruitful harvest, and all shall be well.

Second Reading: Romans 10:5-15

In this week’s selection from Paul’s letter to the Romans, he continues addressing Rome’s reunited Christian community: Its Gentile converts and its Jewish Christians who have recently returned from exile. Paul urges them all to live in harmony and love one another. Salvation is for all through Jesus, Paul writes, emphasizing that there is no distinction between those of Jewish and Gentile Greek heritage: God is God of all, and is generous to all who recognize Jesus as Lord and call upon God’s name. Don’t judge our neighbors, Paul says, but proclaim the good news of the Gospel so that all may be saved.

Gospel: Matthew 14:22-33

The striking image of Jesus walking on the stormy waters of the Sea of Galilee makes this one of the most familiar Gospel stories. Jesus had sent the apostles ahead to cross the sea without him so he could take some time to pray alone. His grief at the beheading of his cousin John by Herod had been interrupted by the huge crowd that had to be fed with a few baskets of loaves and fishes, and now he sought solitude again. Meanwhile, the apostles, alone on the boat, are terrified by the wind and waves. Suddenly Jesus appears, calmly walking across the stormy sea! Peter, first to believe that it really is Jesus, steps out onto the water to meet him. But Peter’s faith isn’t strong enough to keep him from sinking until Jesus extends a hand to save him. Then the wind eases, they get into the boat, and the awed disciples now for the first time worship Jesus as the Son of God.

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Aug. 2, 2026 (Pentecost 10A/Proper 13)

The Miracle of the Five Loaves and Two Fishes (early 1600s); painting by Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644). Private collection. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 32:22-31

We meet Jacob again in this first reading, continuing a theme that we’ve been following for several weeks. Once again, this notorious trickster confronts a force that proves stronger than he is, and yet, he wins. Or does he? Jacob, who saw God in a dream of angels going up and down a heavenly ladder at Bethel, now meets God’s angel in another dream. He struggles mightily against this mysterious foe and earns a new name, Israel – “who struggles with God.” Jacob, now Israel, comes of age in the understanding that God is not just somewhere out there in a distant universe but can be found right here with us in our daily lives, where we ask hard questions and even struggle with God.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 55:10-13

In this first reading, we hear some of the final verses written by the second of the three ancient prophets whose work Bible scholars believe has been consolidated into a single Isaiah figure in this memorable book of prophecy. The overall narrative of the book tells of the chosen people’s loss of Jerusalem and the Temple; their exile to Babylon; and their eventual return home to Jerusalem, where they build a restored temple. In these verses, having assured the people that God has forgiven their failures of justice, Isaiah paints a beautiful image of God as the giver of life and sustenance and all that is good.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 17: 1-7, 16

God remains faithful to the people of Israel, even when they struggle, even when they fail: In these reassuring verses, the Psalmist celebrates God’s faithful, steadfast love. This special kind of love is so sure and certain that there’s a specific Hebrew word for it – “chesed” – a term rich with connotations of faith, loyalty, care, and grace. The Psalmist reminds us that God loves us and will protect us when we seek refuge.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 145: 8-9, 15-22

The Psalms incorporate a wide variety of genres: hope, lament, petition, and praise. It is a diverse anthology in which we can find the many ways that God’s people approach the divine in worship and song. The final six Psalms in particular, beginning with Psalm 145, conclude the book with songs and shouts of praise. The two segments chosen for this reading celebrate the graciousness and compassion of God, who satisfies every living creature’s needs and stands near to all who call.

Second Reading: Romans 9:1-5

In the portion that we read last week, Paul reminds the ancient Christian community in Rome that nothing can separate us all from God’s love through Jesus. Now Paul recalls how God has remained faithful to the descendants of Abraham. Paul declares that he, like all Israel, has inherited God’s covenant and commandments “through the flesh” of family heritage. Now, in this letter focused on urging Rome’s Gentile and Jewish Christians to learn to love and accept one another, he declares that all who follow Jesus become children of God through the Spirit.

Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21

The story of Jesus feeding the multitude by multiplying a few loaves and fishes is so beloved that it’s repeated in varying forms in all four Gospels. The notion that many in the crowd shared their own supplies to supplement the feast rings true to anyone who’s ever indulged in a church potluck. But then, so does the simple symbolism of God’s faithful abundance … and of Jesus taking bread and feeding the community. But ponder these words of Jesus: “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” Can we hear an echo of Jesus saying, “I was hungry and you gave me food … just as you do it to one of the least of these, you do it to me”?

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for July 26, 2026 (Pentecost 9A/Proper 12)

Le trésor enfoui (The Hidden Treasure, c.1886-1894), watercolor painting on gray wove paper by James Tissot (1836-1902). Brooklyn Museum, New York. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 29:15-28

The concept of “biblical marriage” gets complicated in this first reading from Genesis. First, Jacob, a notorious trickster, is tricked in his turn by Laban, who puts him to work for seven years to earn Laban’s daughter Rachel as his bride. But then, much to Jacob’s consternation, Laban switches his older daughter, Leah, for Rachel on their wedding night. Only after working for Laban another seven years does Jacob eventually marry Rachel, too. When we consider scripture’s seemingly casual acceptance of arranged, polygamous marriages, with the women given no opportunity to participate or object, there’s no use in holding up Scripture as the example of a marital ideal. What does remain timeless is the celebration of God’s faithfulness, as told in the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants who will go on to populate all nations.

First Reading (Track Two): 1 Kings 3:5-12

Known in tradition for his great wisdom, King Solomon is likely most remembered for the story – just a few verses after this one – about his wisdom in revealing the real mother in two women’s dispute over a baby by proposing to cut the infant in half. This reading turns back the clock to show us Solomon – the son of King David and Bathsheba – as the new, young king, uncertain and uneasy. In a dream in which God asks Solomon what he would like to be given, the young king chose not long life, riches, or power, but simply asked for wisdom to govern the people well. Pleased by this choice, God grants Solomon a wise and discerning mind.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 105:1-11, 45b

This portion of Psalm 105 sings a ringing hymn of praise to God and God’s works. It offers thanksgiving for the reward that the Genesis story of Laban’s daughters foretells: God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God promises that their children would inherit the Promised Land for a thousand generations, in return for their covenant to follow God’s teaching and obey God’s laws.

Alternate Psalm (Track One): Psalm 128

Available as an alternate Track One Psalm, this one reflects similar ideas without specifically recalling the details of the ancestral covenant. Still, its poetic cadences celebrate the joy and the rewards that come to those who follow in God’s way: the fruits of their labor, the happiness and prosperity that they will inherit. Thanks to God’s blessings from Zion, the Psalmist sings, they will be rewarded with secure homes and long and prosperous lives.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 119:129-136

Brief selections from Psalm 119, the longest of all the Psalms, are often presented through the Lectionary year. Taken as a whole, the psalm forms an extended celebration of love for God’s law and teaching – Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The verses we read this week celebrate the love of Torah in almost sensuous terms of open-mouthed, breathless longing. God’s statutes are so wonderful that the Psalmist sheds streams of tears at the startling recognition that some people do not follow the law.

Second Reading: Romans 8:26-39

Our extended journey through Paul’s letter to the Christian community in Rome reaches a high point in this passage. His long discussion in which he has contrasted life in the flesh against life in the spirit now comes to its conclusion in a burst of poetic words: If God is for us, who is against us? God’s abiding faithfulness was made manifest through God’s gift of God’s own son. If God gave him up for all of us, nothing in all creation – not hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword – can separate us from the love of God through Jesus.

Gospel: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

What is the kingdom of heaven like? Jesus offers quick, thought-provoking glimpses in a quick series of short parables this week. The kingdom is like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a mighty tree! Or yeast that leavens bread! Or wait, is it like buried treasure? A merchant with an expensive pearl? Fishers with a full net? And there’s that scary threat of the fiery furnace again, with the weeping and gnashing of teeth that awaits evildoers. Parables don’t tell us the whole story – they only offer ideas that flash through our consciousness – but every one of them sparks our imagination about God’s kingdom.

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for July 19, 2026 (Pentecost 8A/Proper 11)

Jacob’s Dream (1639), oil painting on canvas by Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652). Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 28:10-19a

Sunday’s readings reveal a God of abundant love who appears not in temples or royal courts but in the margins, in the messy realities of our world. In this passage from Genesis, Jacob – a conniving trickster – is in trouble and on the run. He fears the murderous wrath of his angry older twin Esau, whom Jacob tricked out of his inheritance and their father’s blessing. Now Jacob stops to rest. Sleeping in the desert on a stone pillow, he has a remarkable dream of angels going up and down a celestial ladder. Then he hears God’s voice repeating the promise that God gave to his grandfather Abraham and to his father Isaac: God is with him, and his offspring will fill the Earth. Why would God reward such a sneaky cheater? God knows that no human is perfect, but God still loves and protects even broken, troubled people.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 44:6-8

Isiah’s short, poetic prayer of praise in this first reading assures the people in exile that their time in Babylon will eventually end and that they will return home to Jerusalem. The prophet imagines God speaking in the first person, declaring God’s own power and majesty. Whatever beliefs their captors may hold in other gods and other prophecies, Isaiah reassures them, Israel need not fear or be afraid. As they have known since days of old, even in their exile God remains the nation’s rock, redeemer, and leader, the first and last of all creation, beside whom there is no other god.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 139: 1-11, 22-23

When Jacob ran from angry Esau, he might have prayed something like this portion of Psalm 139. God loves us and knows everything about us, the Psalmist sings. We may run from God, but we can’t hide. In heaven or in the grave, in darkness or in light, up in the sky at sunrise or down in the deepest part of the sea; no matter where we go or how we try to hide, God knows where we are and what we are thinking. God will lead us, hold us, and keep us. Even when we are wicked, God will lead us in right paths.

Alternate Psalm (Track One): Wisdom of Solomon 12:13, 16-19

The Wisdom of Solomon, a short book in the Apocrypha, was written in the name of King Solomon not long before, or even possibly during or after, the time of Jesus and the evangelists. This passage harmonizes with the faith expressed in Psalm 139 in its ringing praise for a powerful, righteous God who reigns over all creation, yet judges the people mildly and with forbearance. To be righteous, we learn, requires us first to be kind.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 86:11-17

The Psalmist in these verses from Psalm 86 expresses gratitude for God’s abundant love shown in protection against the violence and threats of enemies. Like the people in exile in the first reading from Isaiah, the writer tells of facing difficulties, even being trapped in the “nethermost Pit” and pursued by a band of violent men. In this frightening situation, he turns to God with faith and trust, calling on God to respond out of grace and compassion, kindness, and truth, to turn to the one who suffers and have mercy, shaming the people’s foes with a sign of God’s favor.

Second Reading: Romans 8:12-25

As we continue our three-month journey through Paul’s letter to the Romans this summer, we find him continuing his lengthy meditation about what life in the Spirit of Christ looks like. Summing up his argument in today’s passage, he reiterates: In flesh, there is death; in the spirit of Christ, there is life. If we live by our own selfish desires, Paul warns, we die. But if we live in the Spirit through Christ, loving God and our neighbor even as we suffer with Christ – as the Roman Christians had suffered through persecution – we are glorified with him and become adopted children and heirs of God. Hope for what we do not yet see, Paul concludes this passage, and wait for it with patience.

Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Continuing in the spirit of last Sunday’s parable about the sower whose seeds fell on different soils, Jesus now moves on to a discussion of weeds in the wheat field. In this parable, the soil is good, and so is the seed. The sower is planting wheat in the rich soil of his own field. But then an enemy sneaks in at night and sows weeds among the good wheat. This is a problem because the sower can’t uproot the weeds without disturbing the wheat, so it must all grow entwined until harvest, when the weeds can finally be torn out and discarded. Jesus’ explanation to the apostles may seem disturbing with its talk of the furnace of fire, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. But Jesus assures us that those who live righteously will enjoy God’s kingdom.

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for July 12, 2026 (Pentecost 7A/Proper 10)

Landscape with the Parable of the Sower (1552), oil painting on panel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/1530-1569). Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, Calif. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 25:19-34

God promised that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven. But the ancestral legends of the chosen people show us that this outcome won’t be easy. Abraham and Sarah would not celebrate Isaac’s birth until she was 90 years old. In this first reading, we remember that Isaac and Rebekah, too, suffered through 20 barren years before their twins, Esau and Jacob, were born. Jacob, who would grow up as a notorious trickster, would persuade his moments-older twin to give up his rights as firstborn in exchange for a bit of bread and a pot of lentil stew. God, we see again and again, does not choose perfect people but works through flawed and broken humans.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 55:10-13

This reading contains the concluding verses from the second of the three ancient prophets who Bible scholars believe wrote separate prophecies that were eventually combined in this memorable book. Taken as a whole, the full book of Isaiah tells of the exile to Babylon and the people’s eventual return home to Jerusalem, where they build a restored temple. In this passage, Isaiah, having assured the people that God has forgiven their failures of justice, paints a beautiful image of God as the giver of life and sustenance and all that is good. His image of seeds and the sower and Earth’s bounty sets the stage for the parable of the sower that we hear in the Gospel.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 119:105-112

We hear parts of Psalm 119 a dozen times during the three-year cycle of Lectionary readings, so it will probably come as no surprise to hear that its 176 verses make it the longest of all the Psalms. All of those verses are devoted to a long, loving celebration of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The psalms usually translate “Torah” in this context as “law,” “ordinance,” or “decree.” It might be better expressed as “teaching,” a point of view that reveals God’s loving desire for us to live in good relationship with God and each other. Following God’s decrees – God’s teaching – brings joy even in darkness and time of trouble, the Psalmist sings.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 65: (1-8), 9-14

This psalm of praise and thanksgiving beautifully mirrors Isaiah’s portrayal of God as the generous creator who made the world and all that is in it, and who provides bountiful water and grain, pastures, and flocks. Perhaps originally sung as a harvest thanksgiving, it expresses praise for the overflowing richness of God’s gifts and for the joy this provides to those who receive it. This abundant seed, the Psalmist sings, has fallen on good soil and yielded a hundredfold.

Second Reading: Romans 8:1-11

The love of God’s law expressed in Torah and the Psalms would have had deep meaning for Paul, who declared himself a devout Pharisee and Torah scholar, righteous and blameless under the law. In his writings, we see Paul evolved a new understanding of that law in his letter to the Romans: Christ’s resurrection has freed us from the law of sin and death, not the law of Torah but of the world. When we are in the world and living in its way of sinful flesh, Paul reasoned, we remain subject to sin and death. But when we turn and accept God’s Spirit through Jesus – when the Spirit dwells in us because Christ is in us – we gain life and peace.

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

For the rest of the season after Pentecost, we will follow Matthew’s account of Jesus’ final journey with the apostles from Galilee to Jerusalem. In many of these Gospels, Jesus will teach by using parables as colorful, attention-getting metaphors. This week, we hear the parable of the sower, the first parable that Jesus tells in Matthew’s Gospel and the only one that Jesus goes on to explain. The seeds, it seems, are Jesus’s proclamation of God’s coming kingdom on Earth. Although Jesus proclaims it widely, it often falls on inhospitable ground and fails to take root. Only those who hear the word and understand it will indeed bear fruit and yield bountifully.