Sermon Illustrations for Christ the King / Proper 29 (2013)
Illustration
Object:
Jeremiah 23:1-6
"Our rabbis taught: The poor, the rich, the sensual come before the [heavenly] court -- They say to the poor: Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah? If he says: I was poor and worried about my sustenance, they would say to him: Were you poorer than Hillel? It was reported about Hillel the Elder that every day he used to work and earn one coin, half of which he would give to the guard at the House of Learning, the other half being spent for his food and for that of his family. One day he found nothing to earn and the guard at the House of Learning would not permit him to enter. He climbed up and sat upon the window, to hear the words of the living God from the mouth of Shemayah and Abtalion. They say that day was the eve of Sabbath in the winter solstice and snow fell down upon him from heaven. When the dawn rose, Shemayah said to Abtalion: Brother Abtalion, on every day this house is light and to-day it is dark, is it perhaps a cloudy day. They looked up and saw the figure of a man in the window. They went up and found him covered by three cubits of snow. They removed him, bathed, anointed him, and placed him opposite the fire and they said: This man deserves that the Sabbath be profaned on his behalf."
This story circulated orally for a millennium prior to being recorded in "The Tractate Yoma" chapter in The Talmud. The message emphasized the importance of providing youth with a religious education. As no student should ever suffer as Hillel did and certainly no child should be denied an education for lack of coin, this tale was repeated from generation to generation, maintaining the established practice of free education for all Jewish children.
Application: The good shepherd does not deny any of the sheep of his fold that which is needed for spiritual, physical, and emotional development.
Ron L.
Jeremiah 23:1-6
This is a text to remind us that faith has implications for politics, for the way American society should look, for we are reminded that the promised Messiah will execute justice (v. 5). Well-known 20th-century social commentator Reinhold Niebuhr described in a penetrating way how large segments of American Christianity (esp. the white church, but increasingly pockets of the black church) have failed to get this word out: "Much of Christian teaching down the ages has been in terms of serving or saving the soul, but not the body. What we do in the body affects the attitudes of the soul" (Justice and Mercy, p. 68).
Yale Law School professor (and active Christian layman) Stephen Carter offers a thoughtful clarification of what faith has to do with politics. Religious traditions like Christianity, he observes, teach that means are as important as ends, that how you get there is as important as where you get (The Culture of Disbelief, p. 273).
Mark E.
Colossians 1:11-20
Paul is hinting that we have no excuse for not serving our Lord in whatever he gives us to do for him. He has paid us in advance. He gives us not only power, endurance, and patience, but also joy in sharing in his inheritance. The reward is so great, how can we complain? Paul is also hinting that we might have something to endure and that we may need patience. When I see the news, I wonder why we have anything to complain about, especially since we are Christians! Of course there are times of suffering, not only on the mission field but also in that we are sometimes ridiculed for our faith by those who have none. Sometimes even our own families don't want us to get too involved in all that church stuff.
Only he has rescued us from Satan's power. If you have been sorely tempted at times, you know what I, and Paul, mean by that demonic power. It seems to attack when we are vulnerable and have a hard time resisting. If we are short of enough money to support our family, we may be open to temptations to do questionable acts -- for their sake, of course! If it were just us we might be able to resist, but not if some problem hits those we love. Even here God will reconcile to himself everything and everyone. Even when we make "mistakes" and sin, we can still find peace through his sacrifice for us.
Those I worked with in my prison ministry found a peace that surprised them when they turned their lives over to Christ. They felt a fullness that they could not explain since they had felt the powers of darkness at work in their hearts years before and felt the difference. They were now under new management.
We should add that God appreciates thankfulness! Our thankfulness can be expressed in many ways, including generous offerings (that does not mean we give to get more rewards).
If it were not for Jesus, everything would fall apart. He created all and everything can fall apart without him. We can see the visible blessings he has given, but the invisible ones are more important in many ways.
When a scientist told me that he could not believe in anything he could not see or feel or measure, I told him that the most important things in life could not be measured. How could he measure the love for his wife and family? How could he measure the feelings that came from inspiration (the very word implies "spirit given")? How could he measure all the feelings in his heart, like the urge to give to the poor or help a friend in need? Neither can we measure hate and jealousy. Yet all those "things" are the most important in our whole life!
And Jesus has made peace in our heart through what he has done for us!
Bob O.
Colossians 1:11-20
Paul encourages the Colossians to be strong, endure everything, and give thanks. Some things are hard to endure with any sense of thanksgiving. The Liberian Christians were under great duress during the fourteen-year-long civil war that ravaged the country, killing hundreds of thousands, and displacing half a million more. St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Gbarnga had at one point been commandeered by a rebel general to be used as his headquarters in the region. When the rebels left the area, the church was left with no windows, no carpeting, no metal roof, and no doors. All had been pillaged by the rebels. They did leave some things, however: bullet holes all over the church structure. Once the civil war was over and the congregation had reclaimed the church building, on the altar hangs a green parament with words for the entire congregation to see: Give thanks whatever happens. With the strength that comes from God's glorious power they had endured, and in time they had been rescued from the power of darkness in a real and tangible way.
Mark M.
Luke 23:33-43
We need to expand our horizon beyond that of Paris Hilton, whose life's philosophy never transcends allurement, as she once commented: "One of my heroes is Barbie. She may not do anything, but she always looks great doing it." Looking great for the paparazzi and a tabloid cover is not how a Christian should picture oneself. Oil of Olay skin is becoming, but it is the softness of one's heart that is the true measure of elegance.
Application: The thief on the cross who repented understood what is important in life.
Ron L.
Luke 23:33-43
How can we say Christ is King in view of the natural catastrophes that befall our nation, in view of our international conflicts, in light of the poverty that mars the lives of 1 in 6 Americans (per U.S. Census Bureau statistics)? The black church has a phrase that is relevant to helping us confess our faith in Christ's lordship: "God may not come when you want you want him. But he's always on time!"
God is ruling in ways that include suffering, that remind us of the Cross, and in so doing deflate us of a sense that we are in charge through our brilliance, ingenuity, and hard work. In accord with our lesson's reminder that it was on the Cross that Jesus was declared king (vv. 37-38), Martin Luther called this way of Christ ruling the Theology of the Cross:
Because men misused the knowledge of God through works, God wished again to be recognized in suffering and to condemn wisdom... Now it is not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the Cross.
Thus God destroys the wisdom of the wise... It is impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his good works unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God's.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, pp. 356-357)
Ain't nothin' so bad that God can't make good out of it!
Mark E.
"Our rabbis taught: The poor, the rich, the sensual come before the [heavenly] court -- They say to the poor: Why have you not occupied yourself with the Torah? If he says: I was poor and worried about my sustenance, they would say to him: Were you poorer than Hillel? It was reported about Hillel the Elder that every day he used to work and earn one coin, half of which he would give to the guard at the House of Learning, the other half being spent for his food and for that of his family. One day he found nothing to earn and the guard at the House of Learning would not permit him to enter. He climbed up and sat upon the window, to hear the words of the living God from the mouth of Shemayah and Abtalion. They say that day was the eve of Sabbath in the winter solstice and snow fell down upon him from heaven. When the dawn rose, Shemayah said to Abtalion: Brother Abtalion, on every day this house is light and to-day it is dark, is it perhaps a cloudy day. They looked up and saw the figure of a man in the window. They went up and found him covered by three cubits of snow. They removed him, bathed, anointed him, and placed him opposite the fire and they said: This man deserves that the Sabbath be profaned on his behalf."
This story circulated orally for a millennium prior to being recorded in "The Tractate Yoma" chapter in The Talmud. The message emphasized the importance of providing youth with a religious education. As no student should ever suffer as Hillel did and certainly no child should be denied an education for lack of coin, this tale was repeated from generation to generation, maintaining the established practice of free education for all Jewish children.
Application: The good shepherd does not deny any of the sheep of his fold that which is needed for spiritual, physical, and emotional development.
Ron L.
Jeremiah 23:1-6
This is a text to remind us that faith has implications for politics, for the way American society should look, for we are reminded that the promised Messiah will execute justice (v. 5). Well-known 20th-century social commentator Reinhold Niebuhr described in a penetrating way how large segments of American Christianity (esp. the white church, but increasingly pockets of the black church) have failed to get this word out: "Much of Christian teaching down the ages has been in terms of serving or saving the soul, but not the body. What we do in the body affects the attitudes of the soul" (Justice and Mercy, p. 68).
Yale Law School professor (and active Christian layman) Stephen Carter offers a thoughtful clarification of what faith has to do with politics. Religious traditions like Christianity, he observes, teach that means are as important as ends, that how you get there is as important as where you get (The Culture of Disbelief, p. 273).
Mark E.
Colossians 1:11-20
Paul is hinting that we have no excuse for not serving our Lord in whatever he gives us to do for him. He has paid us in advance. He gives us not only power, endurance, and patience, but also joy in sharing in his inheritance. The reward is so great, how can we complain? Paul is also hinting that we might have something to endure and that we may need patience. When I see the news, I wonder why we have anything to complain about, especially since we are Christians! Of course there are times of suffering, not only on the mission field but also in that we are sometimes ridiculed for our faith by those who have none. Sometimes even our own families don't want us to get too involved in all that church stuff.
Only he has rescued us from Satan's power. If you have been sorely tempted at times, you know what I, and Paul, mean by that demonic power. It seems to attack when we are vulnerable and have a hard time resisting. If we are short of enough money to support our family, we may be open to temptations to do questionable acts -- for their sake, of course! If it were just us we might be able to resist, but not if some problem hits those we love. Even here God will reconcile to himself everything and everyone. Even when we make "mistakes" and sin, we can still find peace through his sacrifice for us.
Those I worked with in my prison ministry found a peace that surprised them when they turned their lives over to Christ. They felt a fullness that they could not explain since they had felt the powers of darkness at work in their hearts years before and felt the difference. They were now under new management.
We should add that God appreciates thankfulness! Our thankfulness can be expressed in many ways, including generous offerings (that does not mean we give to get more rewards).
If it were not for Jesus, everything would fall apart. He created all and everything can fall apart without him. We can see the visible blessings he has given, but the invisible ones are more important in many ways.
When a scientist told me that he could not believe in anything he could not see or feel or measure, I told him that the most important things in life could not be measured. How could he measure the love for his wife and family? How could he measure the feelings that came from inspiration (the very word implies "spirit given")? How could he measure all the feelings in his heart, like the urge to give to the poor or help a friend in need? Neither can we measure hate and jealousy. Yet all those "things" are the most important in our whole life!
And Jesus has made peace in our heart through what he has done for us!
Bob O.
Colossians 1:11-20
Paul encourages the Colossians to be strong, endure everything, and give thanks. Some things are hard to endure with any sense of thanksgiving. The Liberian Christians were under great duress during the fourteen-year-long civil war that ravaged the country, killing hundreds of thousands, and displacing half a million more. St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Gbarnga had at one point been commandeered by a rebel general to be used as his headquarters in the region. When the rebels left the area, the church was left with no windows, no carpeting, no metal roof, and no doors. All had been pillaged by the rebels. They did leave some things, however: bullet holes all over the church structure. Once the civil war was over and the congregation had reclaimed the church building, on the altar hangs a green parament with words for the entire congregation to see: Give thanks whatever happens. With the strength that comes from God's glorious power they had endured, and in time they had been rescued from the power of darkness in a real and tangible way.
Mark M.
Luke 23:33-43
We need to expand our horizon beyond that of Paris Hilton, whose life's philosophy never transcends allurement, as she once commented: "One of my heroes is Barbie. She may not do anything, but she always looks great doing it." Looking great for the paparazzi and a tabloid cover is not how a Christian should picture oneself. Oil of Olay skin is becoming, but it is the softness of one's heart that is the true measure of elegance.
Application: The thief on the cross who repented understood what is important in life.
Ron L.
Luke 23:33-43
How can we say Christ is King in view of the natural catastrophes that befall our nation, in view of our international conflicts, in light of the poverty that mars the lives of 1 in 6 Americans (per U.S. Census Bureau statistics)? The black church has a phrase that is relevant to helping us confess our faith in Christ's lordship: "God may not come when you want you want him. But he's always on time!"
God is ruling in ways that include suffering, that remind us of the Cross, and in so doing deflate us of a sense that we are in charge through our brilliance, ingenuity, and hard work. In accord with our lesson's reminder that it was on the Cross that Jesus was declared king (vv. 37-38), Martin Luther called this way of Christ ruling the Theology of the Cross:
Because men misused the knowledge of God through works, God wished again to be recognized in suffering and to condemn wisdom... Now it is not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the Cross.
Thus God destroys the wisdom of the wise... It is impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his good works unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God's.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 31, pp. 356-357)
Ain't nothin' so bad that God can't make good out of it!
Mark E.
