Lectionary Bible Study - 27 September 2026
Portugal, 2013, Katheryn M. King
Water from a Rock
Lectionary Bible Study
(a brief overview of Sunday texts for reflection!)
Part of The Bible in Time Blogsit
Texts for Sunday, September 27, 2026
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 21 (Book of Common Prayer) | RCL | Year A
The Texts
Exodus 17:1-7 or Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32
(The Psalms are not a part of this study.)
The Collect / Prayer of the Day Let’s pray…
O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Old Testament
Exodus 17:1-7
As we look at Exodus 17:1–7, one of the things I keep coming back to is the question the Israelites ask at the end of the passage: “Is the Lord among us or not?”
I think that is a very human question. The Israelites have already experienced God’s presence and deliverance, and been fed, but now they are thirsty. Their immediate circumstances make it difficult for them to remember what God has already done. And I wonder how often we do the same thing?
There are times when we can recognize God’s presence clearly. But there are also wilderness times—times of uncertainty, grief, change, or simply not knowing what comes next. In those moments, we may find ourselves asking the same question: Is God really here with us?
What I find meaningful is that God does not abandon the people because they question or complain. God hears them and provides water from the rock. Their doubt does not end the relationship. God remains present.
Maybe that gives us permission to bring our own questions into our life of faith. We do not have to pretend that we never doubt or struggle. We can bring those things honestly before God and into our community.
So I would invite us to sit with two questions together: Where are the wilderness places in our lives right now? And where might God already be present in those places, even if we have not recognized it yet?
or
Old Testament
Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32
As we look at Ezekiel 18:1–4 and 25–32, one of the things I keep coming back to is God’s call to turn around, to change direction, and to choose life.
To understand these words, we need to remember that Ezekiel himself is living in exile. He is a priest who has been taken from Jerusalem and carried off to Babylon along with other members of the community. He is living among the exiles, far from Jerusalem and the Temple that had stood at the center of their worship and identity. Ezekiel is not speaking about exile from a safe distance. He is experiencing it alongside the people to whom he is speaking.
And this raises an important question for Ezekiel and his community: Where is God in all of this? Jerusalem has been conquered. Their leaders have been taken away. Many of the people are now trying to build lives in Babylon, while others remain behind in a devastated homeland. Eventually even the Temple will be destroyed. Everything that once seemed to assure them of God’s presence has been shaken. Yet here in Babylon, God speaks to Ezekiel. That alone tells us something important. God’s presence is not confined to Jerusalem or even to the Temple. God has followed the people into exile.
The people are also struggling to understand why all of this has happened. They use a proverb: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” In other words, they feel as though they are suffering because of the failures of the generations who came before them. There is a sense that the past has determined their present and perhaps even their future.
But through Ezekiel, God challenges that way of thinking. God does not allow the people simply to blame the past and believe that nothing can change. “All lives are mine,” God says. Even here, even in exile, they still belong to God. And they still have the ability to respond to God.
I think there is something hopeful in that. Our past matters, and the choices of others can certainly affect our lives. Ezekiel does not deny that reality. But neither does God tell us that we are permanently trapped by what has already happened. God continues to call us into something new.
The people complain that God’s ways are unfair. But God turns the question back toward them: Are you willing to examine your own ways? Are you willing to turn toward life?
For me, this passage is less about punishment and more about transformation. God says, “Get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.” That sounds very much like the work of repentance—not simply feeling sorry, but allowing God to change the direction of our lives.
And then we hear these remarkable words: “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone… Turn, then, and live.”
Maybe this is one of the great messages of Ezekiel. God meets the people in the very place where they fear God is absent. Ezekiel discovers that God can speak in Babylon just as surely as God can speak in Jerusalem. Their Temple may be lost, their community scattered, and their old way of life shattered, but God has not abandoned them. Even in exile, God is still calling them toward life.
So perhaps the questions for us are these: Where do we experience exile in our own lives? Where do we find ourselves asking, “Where is God in all of this?” And what might it mean for us, individually and as a community, to discover that God may already be present with us there?
The Epistle
Philippians 2:1-13
As we look at Philippians 2:2–13, one of the things I keep coming back to is Paul’s call for us to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus.
Paul is writing from prison to a Christian community he deeply loves. He knows that the strength of this community will not come simply from believing the right things, but from how they live with one another. He asks them to be of the same mind, having the same love, and looking not only to their own interests but also to the interests of others.
And then Paul points us directly to Jesus.
Jesus does not use his relationship with God for his own advantage. Instead, he empties himself, takes the form of a servant, and becomes obedient even to death on a cross. This is what Christian humility looks like. It is not thinking less of ourselves. It is learning to put aside our own need to be first, to be right, or to be recognized so that we can truly serve one another.
I think this has something important to say to us as a Christian community. Church is not simply a gathering of individuals who happen to worship in the same place. We belong to one another. Our joys, struggles, disagreements, and hopes are shared.
And Paul reminds us that we do not do this alone: “God is at work in you.”
So perhaps the questions for us are these: What would it look like for us to have the mind of Christ? And where might God be asking us to put aside ourselves so that we can more fully love and serve one another?
More … Animated overview of the Letter to Phillippians.
The Gospel
Matthew 21:23-32
As we look at Matthew 21:23–32, one of the things I keep coming back to is the question of authority. The chief priests and elders ask Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things?” It sounds like a reasonable question, but Jesus knows there is something deeper going on.
This takes place in Jerusalem, after Jesus has entered the city and disrupted the activity in the Temple. The religious leaders want to know who gave him the right to do these things. Jesus responds by asking them about John the Baptist. Was John’s baptism from heaven or of human origin? They cannot answer—not because they do not understand the question, but because they are worried about the consequences of their answer because of the continuing popularity of John among the people.
Then Jesus tells the story of two sons. A father asks both to work in his vineyard. The first says no, but later changes his mind and goes. The second says yes but never goes. Jesus asks a wonderfully simple question: Which one actually did the will of his father?
I think this passage asks us to look beyond what we say about our faith and consider how we actually live it. It is easy to say yes to God in church. It is something else to carry that yes into our relationships, our choices, and the way we treat one another.
Perhaps Jesus is reminding us that repentance means we can change direction.
So the questions for us are these: Where are our words and actions not matching? And where might God be inviting us to change our minds, turn around, and enter the vineyard?
Notes and Sources:
Working Preacher Brainwave blog for 18th Sunday after Pentecost
Working Preacher Commentary -
The New Oxford Annotated Bible, 5th Edition.
The BibleGateway with over 150 translations of the Bible with vast resources at your fingertips.
The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
The Collects, Psalms and Canticles are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.
Texts from The Lectionary Page: http://lectionarypage.net
Edited by the Rev. Katheryn M. King
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