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This Sunday’s lectionary reading for Advent 4 in Year A is Matt 1.18–25. It is a short reading, but laden with significance as Matthew gives his distinctive account of Jesus’ origins. (The epistle is Romans 1.1–7, in which Paul introduces all the main ideas of his whole letter! See the video discussion of that here, … Continue Reading
The lectionary epistle reading for Advent 4 in Year A is Romans 1.1–7, which is a single sentence in Greek! Paul offers not just an opening greeting, but a programmatic introduction to the whole of his letter. It is relentlessly focussed on what God has done for us, before it ever touches on what might … Continue Reading
The lectionary gospel reading for Advent 3 in Year A is Matt 11.2–11, and as usual is rather truncated, so you might want to extend the reading by a verse or two before and after to be fair to its setting. The chapter begins with the second of Matthew’s five summary statements that conclude the … Continue Reading
The epistle for Advent 3 in Year A is James 5.7–10. The lectionary makes an odd choice here, and we really need to read on to verse 11 as well. James here echoes much of the ethical teaching of Jesus, including some exact parallels of wording from the gospels; like Jesus, James draws from the … Continue Reading
The lectionary gospel reading for Advent 2 in Year A is Matt 3.1–12, and it contains many foundational themes of eschatology, the coming of God, and judgement, which set us up nicely for thinking about Advent not as the build-up to Christmas, but (as it should be) thinking about the Last Things. (You can see the … Continue Reading
The epistle for Advent 2 in this Year A is Rom 15.4–13. It follows on from Paul’s discussion about the ‘strong’ and the ‘weak’ in chapter 14, and in many ways summarises the themes of the whole of Romans—that God is uniting Jews and Gentiles who follow Jesus as the goal of his whole plan … Continue Reading
With the advent of Advent on Sunday, we make the move in the lectionary from Year C to Year A. So, after journeying through Luke all year, this Sunday’s gospel reading comes from Matthew, Matt 24.36–44. (For video discussion of this passage, see here, also linked below.) This short section of text contains some important … Continue Reading
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.
The lectionary gospel reading for the Second Sunday before Advent as we approach the end of Year A is the so-called Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25.14–30. The most popular interpretation of this is that God gives us abilities and gifts (‘talents’) and leaves us to get on with using them in fruitful and enterprising … Continue Reading
The lectionary gospel reading for the Second Sunday before Advent as we approach the end of Year A is the so-called Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25.14–30. The most popular interpretation of this is that God gives us abilities and gifts (‘talents’) and leaves us to get on with using them in fruitful and … Continue Reading
The gospel lectionary reading for All Saints’ Day in Year A is Matthew 5.1–12, which is mostly composed of the set sayings of Jesus known as the Beatitudes, a name derived from the Latin translation of the opening term of each, ‘blessed’ or ‘happy’. (If you are using the alternative reading for the Fourth Sunday … Continue Reading
Ian Paul: theologian, author, speaker, academic consultant. Associate Senior Research Fellow, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology; Associate Minister, St Nic's, Nottingham; Managing Editor, Grove Books; member of General Synod and Archbishops' Council. Mac user; chocoholic. Tweets at @psephizo
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Gospel commentary index Lectionary Year A
Andrew Goddard Bible biblical interpretation Biblical literacy biblical theology Church of England culture discipleship discussion doctrine eschatology evangelism gay General Synod Grove guest Hermeneutics History hope interpretation James Blandford Baker Jesus John's gospel Justin Welby leadership lectionary Luke Luke's gospel Matthew ministry mission New Testament Paul politics power preaching Revelation same sex marriage same sex unions sexuality theology video Year A Year B Year C
