Sermon Illustrations for Good Friday (2012)
Illustration
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Ken and Carol Dorushka went to Safeway that morning to get a few items for lunch and to greet their congresswoman, Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, who was holding a rally at the store. As the Dorushkas stood in line with others, shoots rang out. A bullet pierced Ken's right arm. Knowing an assassin was present he pushed his wife to the ground and covered her body with his own. Lying there under her husband's large frame, hearing the echo of shots, Carol said she was "buried in darkness." Only when Jared Loughner was wrestled to the ground, did Ken let his wife up from the pavement.
This Good Friday many of us find ourselves "buried in darkness" as we are surrounded by problems and fears. This is why we are so willing to entertain the words of Isaiah that a Savior will come, "for that which had not been told them they shall see."
Ron L.
Hebrews 10:16-25
From the early years of the church people of faith have been responding to the call of the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews "not neglecting to meet together..." (Hebrews 10:25).
Marianne H. Micks in her little book, The Joy of Worship, notes the various places Christians have come together to worship and praise God. The first Christians met in homes, possibly in the home of leaders like Aquila and Prisca, people who were relatively well-off with enough room in their houses to accommodate at least a small gathering of brothers and sisters.
Then Christians began to meet in what was called a basilica, a large oblong public building often used for a place of worship. As the Christian movement began to expand, homes no longer could hold the believers who wished to gather together.
Eventually huge cathedrals were built, for example like the Gothic cathedral at Chartres in France where artists and craftsmen and common laborers joined together to express in such a structure their common faith.
Today, not a few people come together in an inner-city, "storefront" church that also speaks a symbolic language. The building lacks pretension but people outside in need know that they will be welcomed if they come in -- even without wearing Sunday clothes.
Richard H.
Hebrews 10:16-25
I love going to concerts. It always thrills me to hear bands I love playing my favorite songs live. However, there's one concert experience I've never had. I've always wanted to get one of those all-access, backstage passes that lets you walk into the band's dressing room, have a meet-and-greet session, maybe even get on stage and sing with the band! Unfortunately, those passes are a little out of my price range. But if I ever came across one, you can be sure that EVERYONE would know about it!
So often we take for granted the privileges we have as Christians. We get to go past the curtain, to enter the Holy of Holies, into the presence of God himself. And while it may seem like we can enter in freely, which we can, we forget that this ultimate backstage pass came at a higher price than we could ever imagine, something out of all of our price ranges: "We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh" (vv. 19-20).
Craig K.
John 18:1--19:42
There seems each year that there is a doomsayer who is predicting the end of the world. This year of 2012 doomsayers are turning to the Mayan calendar which on December 21 reaches the end of its 5,126 epoch. That, many predict, is the last day of this world. This could be ascertainable, except for the Mayans an end of an epoch is the same as the end of a century for Westerners. And at the end of the 5,126 mark, they decided not to continue their calendar. In fact, the Mayans of today do not follow the calendar of their ancestors, but they follow the Gregorian calendar, which is also known as the Western or Christian calendar.
In studying the original Mayan calendar, dream interpreter Jefferson Harman said, "I don't think the Mayan put a picture of Porky Pig at the end of their calendar and said, 'That's all, folks.' "
When Pilate put Jesus on the cross, he too thought that was the end -- not of the world -- but the end to the threat to his world. It was, until three days later. Let us stop predicting when the world will end but until it does, let us live as Jesus taught.
Ron L.
Ken and Carol Dorushka went to Safeway that morning to get a few items for lunch and to greet their congresswoman, Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, who was holding a rally at the store. As the Dorushkas stood in line with others, shoots rang out. A bullet pierced Ken's right arm. Knowing an assassin was present he pushed his wife to the ground and covered her body with his own. Lying there under her husband's large frame, hearing the echo of shots, Carol said she was "buried in darkness." Only when Jared Loughner was wrestled to the ground, did Ken let his wife up from the pavement.
This Good Friday many of us find ourselves "buried in darkness" as we are surrounded by problems and fears. This is why we are so willing to entertain the words of Isaiah that a Savior will come, "for that which had not been told them they shall see."
Ron L.
Hebrews 10:16-25
From the early years of the church people of faith have been responding to the call of the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews "not neglecting to meet together..." (Hebrews 10:25).
Marianne H. Micks in her little book, The Joy of Worship, notes the various places Christians have come together to worship and praise God. The first Christians met in homes, possibly in the home of leaders like Aquila and Prisca, people who were relatively well-off with enough room in their houses to accommodate at least a small gathering of brothers and sisters.
Then Christians began to meet in what was called a basilica, a large oblong public building often used for a place of worship. As the Christian movement began to expand, homes no longer could hold the believers who wished to gather together.
Eventually huge cathedrals were built, for example like the Gothic cathedral at Chartres in France where artists and craftsmen and common laborers joined together to express in such a structure their common faith.
Today, not a few people come together in an inner-city, "storefront" church that also speaks a symbolic language. The building lacks pretension but people outside in need know that they will be welcomed if they come in -- even without wearing Sunday clothes.
Richard H.
Hebrews 10:16-25
I love going to concerts. It always thrills me to hear bands I love playing my favorite songs live. However, there's one concert experience I've never had. I've always wanted to get one of those all-access, backstage passes that lets you walk into the band's dressing room, have a meet-and-greet session, maybe even get on stage and sing with the band! Unfortunately, those passes are a little out of my price range. But if I ever came across one, you can be sure that EVERYONE would know about it!
So often we take for granted the privileges we have as Christians. We get to go past the curtain, to enter the Holy of Holies, into the presence of God himself. And while it may seem like we can enter in freely, which we can, we forget that this ultimate backstage pass came at a higher price than we could ever imagine, something out of all of our price ranges: "We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh" (vv. 19-20).
Craig K.
John 18:1--19:42
There seems each year that there is a doomsayer who is predicting the end of the world. This year of 2012 doomsayers are turning to the Mayan calendar which on December 21 reaches the end of its 5,126 epoch. That, many predict, is the last day of this world. This could be ascertainable, except for the Mayans an end of an epoch is the same as the end of a century for Westerners. And at the end of the 5,126 mark, they decided not to continue their calendar. In fact, the Mayans of today do not follow the calendar of their ancestors, but they follow the Gregorian calendar, which is also known as the Western or Christian calendar.
In studying the original Mayan calendar, dream interpreter Jefferson Harman said, "I don't think the Mayan put a picture of Porky Pig at the end of their calendar and said, 'That's all, folks.' "
When Pilate put Jesus on the cross, he too thought that was the end -- not of the world -- but the end to the threat to his world. It was, until three days later. Let us stop predicting when the world will end but until it does, let us live as Jesus taught.
Ron L.
