Bible on the Back Porch
Reading, pondering and studying God’s Word is sometimes best done “on the back porch.” Each week we will try to offer something for you and your “back porch time.”
Current and Upcoming Sunday Readings
Pentecost Sunday, Years ABC
What We Celebrate
Pentecost Sunday offers us two different readings about the giving of the Holy Spirit. The first reading from Acts 2 describes the Pentecost scene in dramatic fashion occurring 50 days after the Resurrection. The gospel reading from John describes the evening of Resurrection Sunday in the Upper Room when Jesus appears, breathes on the Apostles and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Why the two accounts?
Take a moment and consider these amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary – Pentecost
Image credit: Descent of the Holy Spirit, Cryo-Russian icon, Wiki Commons, PD-US
The Importance of Pentecost
The book of Acts shows how God fulfilled His ancient promises to restore His blessing to all the nations through the offspring of Abraham: Jesus of Nazareth. In this video, we’ll explore how Jesus and the Spirit renew the people of Israel and prepare them to announce good news to the nations.
Holy Trinity Sunday
Witnesses to the ends of the Earth
In Liturgical Year C, the celebration of the Most Holy Trinity offers an interesting combination of readings, history and theology. The “Detailed Commentary” offers a rich tapestry of the Scriptures that reveal the working of the Holy Trinity in the history of salvation, the way the Early Church Fathers began to explain the revealed truth of this mystery of God, and the way the great iconographers portrayed in all in their works, none more famous Andrei Rublev’s masterpiece. But the idea of the Holy Spirit as the source of Wisdom has deep roots in the Hebrew Scriptures, especially in the Book of Proverbs.
There is a lot to unpack in these readings, so grab your favorite beverage and take some time on the back porch.
Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary
Trinity, Andrei Rublev, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow
The Holy Trinity
The Church distinguishes between theology (theologia) and economy (oikonomia). “Theology” refers to the mystery of God’s inmost life within the Blessed Trinity and “economy” to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life. Through the oikonomia the theologia is revealed to us; but conversely, the theologia illuminates the whole oikonomia. God’s works reveal who he is in himself; the mystery of his inmost being enlightens our understanding of all his works. So it is, analogously, among human persons. A person discloses himself in his actions, and the better we know a person, the better we understand his actions. Want another explanation? Watch the video below!
Two Irish Lads Explain the Trinity
Just for fun…. take a moment to watch this video from Lutheran Satire. The Holy Trinity is a mystery which means it is beyong human words of explanation – not that we don’t give it a try. And those attempts often (techincaly) fall into heresy. Listen as two Irish lads explain the errors of St. Patrick’s explanations.
Corpus Christi, Year C
What We Celebrate
The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, i.e. Corpus Christ, is celebrated each year on the Sunday following Trinity Sunday. While the celebration of Holy Thursday includes a remembrance of the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it does so in the shadow of the solemn events of Holy Week, including the death of Jesus on Good Friday. The Church has established this solemnity to joyously celebrate the great gift of the Eucharist and to more fully explore its meaning as the “source and summit of the faith.”
Each year on this solemnity the gospel is taken from one of the miraculous feeding of the multitudes. This year the reading is from the Gospel of Luke 9:10-17 when five loaves and two fish become the starting point for feeding more than 5,000 people. There are lessons for the Eucharist as well as Ministry and Mission.
Take a moment and consider these amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary – Corpus Christi
Image credit: Pexels CC-0 modified with Canva
The Source and Summit
The Eucharist, as Vatican II famously said, is the source and summit of the Christian life—that from which Christian life comes and that toward which it tends. It’s the alpha and the omega of our Christianity. Our three marvelous readings today bring forth three key aspects of the Eucharist: re-presented sacrifice, blood covenant, and spiritual banquet.
Saints Peter and Paul, Year ABC
Saints Together
Most of the apostles and lots of saints have their own feast day, but how about the two most famous saints of the early church? There is February 22nd in which the Church celebrates the “Chair of Peter” the sign that Peter was the first among the apostles and the one designated to lead the early Church after Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension. But there is no “Feast of St. Peter.”
St. Paul, although not one of the Twelve, was an Apostle commissioned by Jesus. There is the January 25th celebration of “The Conversion of St. Paul” which commemorates the Damascus Road episode described in Acts of the Apostles: 9:1-31, 22:1-22, and 26:9-24. It is the scene made famous by the “Conversion on the Way to Damascus” painting by Caravaggio. But there is no “Feast of St. Paul.”
The celebration is June 29th – and when that falls on a Sunday in Ordinary Time, it replaces the Ordinary Time Sunday. This last happened in 2008.
Take a moment and consider these amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary – Saints Peter and Paul
Image credit: Icon from “Christ Between Saints Peter and Paul” | Pietro Lorenzetti, ca. 1320 | Ferens Art Gallery, Hull England
14th Sunday, Year C
The First Mission
The Gospel reading for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C (Luke 10:1–12, 17–20), recounts Jesus appointing seventy-two disciples and sending them ahead in pairs to towns He intended to visit. He instructs them to travel lightly, accept hospitality, and proclaim, “The kingdom of God has come near.” Upon their joyful return, they report that even demons submitted to them in His name. Jesus responds by affirming their authority over evil but emphasizes that their true joy should come from knowing their names are written in heaven.
This passage underscores the themes of mission, trust in divine provision, and the primacy of spiritual over worldly achievements. It reminds believers that while successes in ministry are cause for gratitude, the ultimate source of joy lies in their relationship with God and the promise of eternal life.
Take a moment and consider these amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary
The Exhortation to the Apostles | James Tissot | ca. 1890 | Brooklyn Museum NYC | PD-US
The video from “The Chosen” is about the sending of the 12 Apostles (rather than the 72 disciples), but it is a scene well worth watching!
15th Sunday, Year C
The Good Samaritan
The Gospel reading for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C is the well known parable of the “Good Samaritan.” There are a lot of undercurrent in this simple story. A “certain man” is waylaid on the way to Jerusalem. He is not identified by race, nationality or religion. People in positions of leadership in the Jewish faith pass him by. A Samaritan stops to help. Is this important? Would Jesus’ hearers be shocked?
Take a moment and consider these amazing reading from the comfort of your back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary
Parable of the Good Samaritan by Balthasar van Cortbemde (1647) | Royal Museum of Fine Art, Antwerp | PD-US