This post offers visual resources for the week of January 15, 2023 in the Revised Common Lectionary and the Narrative Lectionary. Jesus begins his public ministry this week. The Revised Common Lectionary takes us to John 1:29-42 where we see John the Baptist introduce his disciples to Jesus. The Narrative Lectionary continues in Matthew 4:1-17 and takes us into the wilderness where Jesus is tempted and then to Capernaum where Jesus takes up the mantle of John’s preaching.
Revised Common Lectionary | John 1:29-42 | John the Baptist Introduces His Disciples to Jesus
Although this year we draw from the Gospel of Matthew in the RCL, there are moments when we jump to the Gospel of John (John does not get its own year in the lectionary). John sees Jesus approaching him in the wilderness and proclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” Then he introduces his disciples, Andrew and Simon, to Jesus and they decide to follow him.
These images come from page 2 in A Cartoonist’s Guide to John.
This image comes from my 2018 exploration of John called Come and See.
CLICK HERE to view a frame-by-frame commentary on this passage.
Preview PowerPoint
Feel free to use any or all of these slides and images in your own preaching and teaching.
Narrative Lectionary | Matthew 4:1-17
This week the Narrative Lectionary takes us to two major stories at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The first, in Matthew 4:1-11, concludes the preparation period for Jesus’ ministry. Immediately after he is baptized the Spirit leads Jesus into the wildnerness to fast for forty days and face three temptations. This echoes the story of the Exodus, specifically the stories of Numbers, when Israel spent forty years in the wilderness before they entered the Promised Land.
The second story is found in Matthew 4:12-17. Jesus hears that John has been imprisoned. This prompts him to move to the fishing village of Capernaum and start preaching the same message that John preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This, once again, fulfills the words of the Hebrew prophet, Isaiah, and exalts the land of Galilee where Jesus will spend the next three years preaching and healing the people.
These images come from page 3 and page 4Â in A Cartoonist’s Guide to Matthew.
What does “Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven has come near” mean? CLICK HERE to jump to the section of last week’s video on YouTube where I discuss the term metanoeo and repentance.
Preview PowerPoint
Feel free to use any or all of these slides and images in your own preaching and teaching.
Join me every Monday at 4:00pm Central Time for a live Bible study on Zoom.
These sessions include:
- a presentation of the visual resources for the lectionary texts for the week,
- live discussion around the texts,
- previews and behind-the-scenes peeks at what is happening at A Cartoonist’s Guide to the Bible
The video of the session remains available on the network to view at any time, in case you can’t make it for the live session.
This is a part of the Cartoonist’s Bible Network. I’d love to have you join us.
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