Tag: advice-for-a-sermon

  • Preaching Paths 13 September 2026

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Inexhaustible forgiveness is at the center of today’s Gospel reading, Mt 18:21-35.  On the face of it, Peter’s query, Jesus’ reply, and the parable that follows seem straightforward. The message is clear: always be ready to forgive. Yet details of this text, especially the parable, prompt questions:…

  • Preaching Paths 6 September 2026

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s Gospel reading, Mt 18:15-20, is brief; yet its implications for the inter-relational life of Christians, assembling down the centuries for divine worship and public witness, has been profound. Jesus is not naïve; he anticipates that rifts and instances of personal failure among his disciples are inevitable.…

  • Preaching Paths 23 August 2026 Proper 16A

    Sally A Brown   Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Matthew’s placement of this scene in today’s Gospel text (Mt 16:13-20, often referred to as Peter’s “confession of faith”) is no accident; it is pivotal for his gospel, both from a literary and theological standpoint. First, the setting—Caesarea Philippi—would have been striking for Mt’s earliest, late-first-century readers.…

  • Preaching Paths 16 August 2026 Proper 15A

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita of Preaching and Worship                     In today’s text, Mt 15:21-28, Jesus and his disciples are traveling in the region of Tyre and Sidon, a locale populated by both Jewish and Canaanite villages. Suddenly, they are accosted by a persistent Canaanite woman making a public spectacle of herself for the best of…

  • Preaching Paths 9 August 2026 Proper 14A

    Sally A Brown, Professor of Preaching Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Few Gospel texts have engendered more diverse trajectories of interpretation than Matthew’s version of the story of Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a storm (Mt 14:22-33). Only in Matthew do we read of Peter climbing out of the boat to walk…

  • Preaching Paths 5 July 2026, Proper 9

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s Gospel lection, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30, can seem an odd collection of rhetorically disparate fragments. A parable (vv.16-17), judgment in the form of an antimony (vv.18-19b), a proverb (v. 19c), a brief prayer (vv. 25-26), a chiastic theological self-identification (v.27) and a summons accompanied by promise (vv.…

  • Preaching Paths 28 June 2026 Proper 8

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s gospel reading, Matthew 10:40-42, concludes the discourse in which Jesus discloses what his disciples can expect as they disperse into the villages of Israel, announcing the reign of heaven and healing the sick (see Mt 9:36-10:1). As we have noted in previous postings, most scholars take…

  • Preaching Paths 14 June 2026 Proper 5 (Gospel text)

    Sally A Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary The opening verse of today’s Gospel reading (Mt 9:35-10:8) echoes Mt 4:23. These verses bracket Mt’s five-chapter summation of Jesus’ mission.  Chs 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount) present the essence of Jesus’ teaching about the ways of the reign of heaven. Chs 8-9 present Jesus’ enactment…

  • Preaching Paths 7 June 2026

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Mt 9:9-13, 18-26 presents in four interlocked scenes the shocking, boundary-crossing nature of Jesus’ interpretation of the reign of God. Scene I: Rabbis like Jesus would choose disciples to learn their teachings and emulate their way of life, but none would choose a tax collector! Tax collectors…

  • Preaching Paths 10 May 2026

    Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary Today’s reading, John 14:15-21, is a continuation of Jesus’ parting words to his followers. Much of the vocabulary is familiar from previous verses. Yet, this section presents a significant new element: a dynamic of mutual and multidirectional love connecting Jesus, the Father, and Jesus’ followers. This current…