Sermon Illustrations For Proper 11 | Ordinary Time 16 (2023)
Illustration
Genesis 28:10-19a
Bethel is “beth,” house, and “El,” God. House of God. Think about your “house of God.” It’s probably your church, and whether yours is patterned after the simplicity of the old Dunker Meetinghouse, an actual house church, the Little Brown Church in the Vale, or a mighty cathedral with vaulting towers — no matter what the style, we like to think of it as the place where heaven and earth meet — and it’s probably true.
But what makes this passage so powerful is that the house of God is a stone pillow where Joseph rests while he is on the run for his life. His brother wants to kill him. He is leaving behind family and rushing headlong into an unknown future. And the thing is, he’s getting what he deserves. He cheated his brother not once, but twice, and with his mother, he connived to deceive his father.
Despite all these negatives, it is in this circumstance, his head on a stone pillow as he sleeps beneath a venerable tree, with a blessing from his father — and an admonition of who not to marry — it is in these circumstances that Jacob has a dream in which he sees clearly that “surely this is the gate of heaven and I did not know it.” A stone pillow. Not Babylon (the name means “gate of heaven.”) Not a place of safety and security. Not even the comfort and familiarity of his father’s tents. It is here that he sees angels ascending and descending.
And so, he names the place Bethel. And our Bethel might surprise us as well. There are times in our lives when everything is womperjog. There are moments when we are far from security or any safe destination that we can think of. Safety and security feel far away. And yet no matter where we go, we can be in Bethel if we only knew it. Perhaps it takes only a stone pillow to recognize God’s house, and God’s presence is all about us, and God’s promise is always waiting — on us — for it to come true.
Frank R.
* * *
Genesis 28:10-19a
In 1977, Jack Hayford was traveling in Great Britain. While there, Hayford noted the actions and symbols of the royal family of Great Britain and was touched by the symbolism of the majesty of the history of the monarchy. On a deeper level, however, Hayford was moved at the greatness of the majesty of the Lord. The words amplify the greatness of Jesus.
Majesty, worship his Majesty.
Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise!
Majesty, kingdom authority,
Flow from his throne, unto his own
His anthem raise!
In this passage, Jacob is also struck by the majesty and awesomeness of God. After an incredible dream with a stairway reaching heaven, Jacob rightly concluded, “Surely the Lord is in this place” (vs. 16). Are we still awed by the majesty of the Lord? May we encounter the wonderful presence of the Lord and may he fill our hearts and lives.
Bill T.
* * *
Romans 8:12-25
Regarding the slavery from which we are released, Martin Luther writes, “For all men are slaves of sin, because all commit sin, if not in outward works, yet in their concupiscence and inclination...” (Luther’s Works, Vol.25, p.357). Yet there is a word of hope in the lesson. John Calvin comments on the lesson’s reference to the Spirit’s interceding for us. He writes:
God gives us the Spirit as our teacher in prayer, to tell us what is right and to temper our emotions... not that he actually prays or groans but arouses in us assurance, desires, and sighs, to conceive which our natural powers would scarcely suffice. (Institutes [Westminster Press ed.], p.855)
Calvin’s 20th-century spiritual son, the famed Karl Barth elaborated further on the work of the Spirit as he noted:
Christians... are those who waken up... as they awake they look up, and rise, thus making the countermovement to the downward drag of their sinfully slothful being. They are those who waken up, however, because they are awakened. They do not wake of themselves and get up. They are roused and they are thus caused to get up and sit in this countermovement. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.III/4, p.581)
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Sarah Laskow wrote in Atlas Obscura about “Wheat’s Evil Twin.” She notes, “For many centuries, maybe as long as humans have cultivated cereal grains, wheat’s evil twin has insinuated itself into our crops. In a big enough dose, this grass, darnel, can kill a person, and farmers would have to take care to separate it out from their true harvest. Darnel occupies a grey area in human agricultural history. It’s definitely not good for us.”
She also notes that darnel is a “mimic weed,” neither entirely tame or quite wild, that looks and behaves so much like wheat that it can’t live without human assistance. I found it fascinating that Darnel, wheat’s evil twin, was what Jesus was likely speaking about in the parable of the wheat and the tares. Most gardeners would agree to pull the weeds out of the garden quickly. Jesus, though, in the parable calls for the weeds to remain so that the wheat doesn’t get pulled up.
Jesus says, “Let both of them grow together.” The Greek word for the verb let can mean “permit”, “allow”, even “suffer.” The point of this parable is clear. It is difficult to know what is real from what isn’t. We, as human beings, can do a lot of damage thinking we know who and what to condemn. We do better to leave the gardening to God. God will one day separate the wheat from the weeds. God is responsible for weeding out that which causes sin and death. That is not our task. Our task is to love as Jesus did, be the genuine wheat and help others to come to Jesus, too.
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
There are a lot of weeds around us, even in our own lives. Famed New Testament scholar Rudolf Bultmann once made it very clear that because of these weeds human endeavors ultimately get us nowhere:
... man forgets in his selfishness and presumption... that it is an illusion to suppose that real security can be gained by men organizing their own personal and community life. There are encounters and destinies which man cannot master. He cannot secure endurance for his works. His life is fleeting, and its end is death. History goes on and pulls down all the Towers of Babel again and again. There is no real definitive security, and it is precisely this illusion to which men are prone to succumb in their yearning for security. (Jesus Christ and Mythology, pp. 39-40)
There is no way we can avoid these weeds. Life is ambiguous. You always have weeds along with the wheat. Famed American social ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr put it this way one time:
Consider how much more evil and good, creativity and selfishness, are mixed up in actual life than our moralists, whether they be Christian or secular, realize. How little we achieve charity because we do not recognize this fact... How curiously are love and self-love mixed up in life, much more than any scheme of morals recognizes. (Justice & Mercy, pp.56-57)
We need to keep the wheat and tares/weeds together, Martin Luther urges, because of what God’s Word can do. As he put it in a sermon:
We have to do here with God’s work alone; for in this matter he who errs today may find truth tomorrow. Who knows when the Word of God may touch his heart? (Collected Sermons, vol.1.2, p.102)
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
It’s interesting to me that in Matthew’s Gospel there are two parables about sowing seeds pretty close to each other. In the first one, (13:3-9) the seed is sown with good intent and circumstances are tough enough that much of the seed doesn’t survive. This second parable is more complicated because someone is actively sowing weeds to interfere with the crop.
Now one can say there are enemies of the church, enemies of Christ, who attempt to derail the work of the gospel, but it seems to me also that there are some within churches who are killjoys, naysayers, predictors of failure, who always know why new ideas, good fellowship, innovations, and other seed sowing that might lead to revival and a great harvest will never work. They can sabotage, without appearing to have ill will, the work of the kingdom.
Fortunately for everyone, there is time to change. In this parable the weeds, for all the damage they do, are not plucked yet and cast into the fire. There is time to change. And while weeds don’t change into wheat very often, we ourselves might come to our senses and stop standing in the way of a good harvest for Christ.
Frank R.
Bethel is “beth,” house, and “El,” God. House of God. Think about your “house of God.” It’s probably your church, and whether yours is patterned after the simplicity of the old Dunker Meetinghouse, an actual house church, the Little Brown Church in the Vale, or a mighty cathedral with vaulting towers — no matter what the style, we like to think of it as the place where heaven and earth meet — and it’s probably true.
But what makes this passage so powerful is that the house of God is a stone pillow where Joseph rests while he is on the run for his life. His brother wants to kill him. He is leaving behind family and rushing headlong into an unknown future. And the thing is, he’s getting what he deserves. He cheated his brother not once, but twice, and with his mother, he connived to deceive his father.
Despite all these negatives, it is in this circumstance, his head on a stone pillow as he sleeps beneath a venerable tree, with a blessing from his father — and an admonition of who not to marry — it is in these circumstances that Jacob has a dream in which he sees clearly that “surely this is the gate of heaven and I did not know it.” A stone pillow. Not Babylon (the name means “gate of heaven.”) Not a place of safety and security. Not even the comfort and familiarity of his father’s tents. It is here that he sees angels ascending and descending.
And so, he names the place Bethel. And our Bethel might surprise us as well. There are times in our lives when everything is womperjog. There are moments when we are far from security or any safe destination that we can think of. Safety and security feel far away. And yet no matter where we go, we can be in Bethel if we only knew it. Perhaps it takes only a stone pillow to recognize God’s house, and God’s presence is all about us, and God’s promise is always waiting — on us — for it to come true.
Frank R.
* * *
Genesis 28:10-19a
In 1977, Jack Hayford was traveling in Great Britain. While there, Hayford noted the actions and symbols of the royal family of Great Britain and was touched by the symbolism of the majesty of the history of the monarchy. On a deeper level, however, Hayford was moved at the greatness of the majesty of the Lord. The words amplify the greatness of Jesus.
Majesty, worship his Majesty.
Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise!
Majesty, kingdom authority,
Flow from his throne, unto his own
His anthem raise!
In this passage, Jacob is also struck by the majesty and awesomeness of God. After an incredible dream with a stairway reaching heaven, Jacob rightly concluded, “Surely the Lord is in this place” (vs. 16). Are we still awed by the majesty of the Lord? May we encounter the wonderful presence of the Lord and may he fill our hearts and lives.
Bill T.
* * *
Romans 8:12-25
Regarding the slavery from which we are released, Martin Luther writes, “For all men are slaves of sin, because all commit sin, if not in outward works, yet in their concupiscence and inclination...” (Luther’s Works, Vol.25, p.357). Yet there is a word of hope in the lesson. John Calvin comments on the lesson’s reference to the Spirit’s interceding for us. He writes:
God gives us the Spirit as our teacher in prayer, to tell us what is right and to temper our emotions... not that he actually prays or groans but arouses in us assurance, desires, and sighs, to conceive which our natural powers would scarcely suffice. (Institutes [Westminster Press ed.], p.855)
Calvin’s 20th-century spiritual son, the famed Karl Barth elaborated further on the work of the Spirit as he noted:
Christians... are those who waken up... as they awake they look up, and rise, thus making the countermovement to the downward drag of their sinfully slothful being. They are those who waken up, however, because they are awakened. They do not wake of themselves and get up. They are roused and they are thus caused to get up and sit in this countermovement. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.III/4, p.581)
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Sarah Laskow wrote in Atlas Obscura about “Wheat’s Evil Twin.” She notes, “For many centuries, maybe as long as humans have cultivated cereal grains, wheat’s evil twin has insinuated itself into our crops. In a big enough dose, this grass, darnel, can kill a person, and farmers would have to take care to separate it out from their true harvest. Darnel occupies a grey area in human agricultural history. It’s definitely not good for us.”
She also notes that darnel is a “mimic weed,” neither entirely tame or quite wild, that looks and behaves so much like wheat that it can’t live without human assistance. I found it fascinating that Darnel, wheat’s evil twin, was what Jesus was likely speaking about in the parable of the wheat and the tares. Most gardeners would agree to pull the weeds out of the garden quickly. Jesus, though, in the parable calls for the weeds to remain so that the wheat doesn’t get pulled up.
Jesus says, “Let both of them grow together.” The Greek word for the verb let can mean “permit”, “allow”, even “suffer.” The point of this parable is clear. It is difficult to know what is real from what isn’t. We, as human beings, can do a lot of damage thinking we know who and what to condemn. We do better to leave the gardening to God. God will one day separate the wheat from the weeds. God is responsible for weeding out that which causes sin and death. That is not our task. Our task is to love as Jesus did, be the genuine wheat and help others to come to Jesus, too.
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
There are a lot of weeds around us, even in our own lives. Famed New Testament scholar Rudolf Bultmann once made it very clear that because of these weeds human endeavors ultimately get us nowhere:
... man forgets in his selfishness and presumption... that it is an illusion to suppose that real security can be gained by men organizing their own personal and community life. There are encounters and destinies which man cannot master. He cannot secure endurance for his works. His life is fleeting, and its end is death. History goes on and pulls down all the Towers of Babel again and again. There is no real definitive security, and it is precisely this illusion to which men are prone to succumb in their yearning for security. (Jesus Christ and Mythology, pp. 39-40)
There is no way we can avoid these weeds. Life is ambiguous. You always have weeds along with the wheat. Famed American social ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr put it this way one time:
Consider how much more evil and good, creativity and selfishness, are mixed up in actual life than our moralists, whether they be Christian or secular, realize. How little we achieve charity because we do not recognize this fact... How curiously are love and self-love mixed up in life, much more than any scheme of morals recognizes. (Justice & Mercy, pp.56-57)
We need to keep the wheat and tares/weeds together, Martin Luther urges, because of what God’s Word can do. As he put it in a sermon:
We have to do here with God’s work alone; for in this matter he who errs today may find truth tomorrow. Who knows when the Word of God may touch his heart? (Collected Sermons, vol.1.2, p.102)
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
It’s interesting to me that in Matthew’s Gospel there are two parables about sowing seeds pretty close to each other. In the first one, (13:3-9) the seed is sown with good intent and circumstances are tough enough that much of the seed doesn’t survive. This second parable is more complicated because someone is actively sowing weeds to interfere with the crop.
Now one can say there are enemies of the church, enemies of Christ, who attempt to derail the work of the gospel, but it seems to me also that there are some within churches who are killjoys, naysayers, predictors of failure, who always know why new ideas, good fellowship, innovations, and other seed sowing that might lead to revival and a great harvest will never work. They can sabotage, without appearing to have ill will, the work of the kingdom.
Fortunately for everyone, there is time to change. In this parable the weeds, for all the damage they do, are not plucked yet and cast into the fire. There is time to change. And while weeds don’t change into wheat very often, we ourselves might come to our senses and stop standing in the way of a good harvest for Christ.
Frank R.
