Visual Resources for the Lectionaries

This post offers visual resources for the Revised Common Lectionary and the Narrative Lectionary for July 12, 2026. Use this chart for quick links to the texts and the resource pages on cartoonistbible.com.

Proper 10

CLICK HERE to jump to the Narrative Lectionary Resources

Revised Common Lectionary Resources

Gospel Reading – Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

This image is from page 9 in A Cartoonist’s Guide to Matthew

This image comes from my 300 Daily Devo Doodles collection.

Food for Thought

“Knee high by the fourth of July” That is an expression that farmers use in the Midwest of the USA (where I live) to gauge the progress of corn growth in the fields. If the corn is as tall as your knee by the 4th of July, then things are going well.

This week we come to that midpoint in the summer when it is a good idea to do a growth check. The Gospel reading is a perfect text for this. Jesus told a parable about a farmer who was sowing seed. He cast the seed so wide that it fell on four types of soil: hard path, rocky, thorny, and good. The first three soils did not produce a harvest. The good soil multiplied the seed into a bountiful harvest.

This is one of the few parables where Jesus actually tells us what he means by it. The seed is the Word of God. The soil is the hearts of people. Many people will not be ready to receive Jesus’ message, he tells his disciples. Don’t be discouraged by that. Focus on the good soil, because it will produce a harvest.

Here is my message to you, Christian Public Leader. You may be tired. Ministry is hard. It might seem like much of your work is futile. What’s the point? Does anyone care?

Don’t give up.

Remember, Jesus only expected 25% of the people to be ready to receive his message. The other readings this week remind us that the work of watering and nurturing the earth is God’s work. Not ours. We don’t produce the harvest, we simply stay faithful to the Gospel and keep proclaiming it to anyone who has ears to hear.

I pray that you are getting rest this summer. Be well and trust the giver of life to bring the harvest in due time.

Start the Parable at 05:17

Narrative Lectionary Resources

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Food for Thought

The Narrative Lectionary begins another 5-week summer series through the two letters to Timothy. These letters fall among the list of “disputed letters” in Pauline scholarship. Many modern scholars doubt whether Paul wrote these letters himself. They suggest that they were written by some of Paul’s disciples in the subsequent generations. Much of the reason has to do with a stark difference in style and theology between these letters and the “undisputed letters” of Paul.

Regardless, these letters offer instruction from an elder leader to a young leader. In this week’s reading Paul gives his testimony of how he received God’s grace through Jesus Christ. That is a message we can lean into no matter who wrote it.

I uploaded the study I wrote for 1 Timothy back in 2005 during the Hart Haus house church days. You might find some of that commentary helpful.

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