Visual Resources for the Lectionaries

This post offers visual resources for the Revised Common Lectionary  for November 1, 2026. Use this chart for quick links to the texts and the resource pages on cartoonistbible.com.

All Saints’ Day

Revised Common Lectionary Resources

This image is from page 5 in A Cartoonist’s Guide to Matthew

Food for Thought

This week we observe two big days. All Saints’ Day, on Nov. 1 and All Souls’ Day on Nov. 2. Traditionally All Saints is a time to remember martyrs. These are people who were killed because of their testimony to Jesus Christ as Lord. All Souls is a day to remember all the faithful who have died. Many churches have simplified these days into one memorial service where we remember anyone who has died in the past year.

The challenge for the RCL preacher this year is the number of texts listed in the Lectionary. We are presented with Option I and II on Proper 26 plus the texts designated for All Saints. That’s a lot of reading!

As I was reading through all the texts there is one phrase that came to mind that ties them all together: Bearing Witness. The English word witness translates the Greek word martys. It is a legal term meaning one who has observed something and then gives a testimony to what they saw.

The church in the first few centuries suffered great persecution from religious leadership. Many people were executed for bearing witness—martys—to Jesus as the Christ and the Lord. This act of defiance to the power structures of the day and the subsequent public execution happened so often that the term martys became synonymous with giving one’s life for the name of Jesus. That is why we call them martyrs today.

The Gospel reading for Proper 26 continues our study of Jesus’ confrontations with the religious leaders in Jerusalem. This week he turns away from the leaders and speaks to the crowd, warning them not to follow these leaders. Jesus calls the leaders hypocrites. They are using their power to exalt themselves and to abuse those who are weak and marginalized. They are bearing false witness to the LORD they claim to represent.

This is the challenge to Christian Public Leaders this week. How are we bearing witness to Jesus? What version of Jesus do people see in how we lead those that God has entrusted to our leadership? May we soak in Jesus’ words in the beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, those who are reviled and persecuted because they bear witness to Jesus.

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