Upcoming Sunday Scripture Commentary for April 13

[Painting by Conrad Witz, 1444]

April 13 Sermon – “Who Were the Twelve Disciples of Jesus? Peter”

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

When the crowd waved palm branches at Jesus as he entered into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, they were probably thinking of this Psalm of thanksgiving.

Verses 1-2 – It’s a call to thanksgiving.

Verse 19 – “Gates of righteousness” might refer to the actual name of a gate leading into the Temple.

Verses 21-22 – The New Testament uses this in reference to Jesus. God has allowed the King to enter the Temple.

Verses 22-29 – The people acclaim the person who enters the Temple as King.

Verse 25 – “Hosanna” means “save us!”

Matthew 14:22-33

There are several scriptural references about the disciple Peter. One of these is when Peter got out of the boat to walk on the water toward Jesus.

Famous painting of this scene – Conrad Witz in 1444. This painting and this scripture help us to envision a life of faith mixed with doubts.

We are like the disciples. We are in our boat thinking that we have everything that we need but when a storm appears, we realize that we are dependent on outside help.  Just when we get out of the boat to trust in Jesus, we start to sink. This is less a story about proving a miracle of being able to walk on water and more of a story about seeking to live out our faith in the everyday world.

Sometimes, it feels that Jesus asked us to do the impossible and we question if we can walk toward him. If we look at the waves crashing into us, we will allow doubt to sink us. The key is to keep our focus on Jesus in the midst of the storm.

[Note: The resources used for these scripture reading commentaries are based on the Everyone series by NT Wright, The Wesley Study Bible, and the “Montreal-Anglican”lectionary commentaries.]