Sermon Illustrations For Easter 3
Illustration
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Peter’s first sermon, often used on Pentecost Sunday, is one of our readings this week. Peter is calling the gathered to believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Peter is calling people to come into the community of believers, to be baptized, to move into the faith. He is not specifying who they must be, only what they must do: “repent and be baptized.”
There is no entrance examination, no pre-qualifying, no test for nationality or theology or ethnicity or even sexual orientation. There is only the invitation to “repent and be baptized” and become one of the faithful. To repent is to turn one’s life around, to change direction, to move into a new set of relationships. We are all called into that relationship, and we are responsible only for our own repentance and our own relationship with God. We are not responsible for judging others or their relationship with God, but only for inviting them. This Easter season let us turn and repent, turn and invite, turn and welcome, turn and live our baptism.
Bonnie B.
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
I assume that Peter’s statement “with” the 11 meant that he was including Judas’ replacement!
When the crowd hears Peter, they know that they were the ones who voted to crucify God’s savior. They are terrified and wonder what they can do.
That is also our cry when we realize that we also have sinned. We realize that Jesus died for us because we “are” sinners! No, we may not have voted for Jesus’ death, but if we had never sinned then Jesus would not have had to come and die for us. It is a great responsibility.
Our obligation is to repent. If we come as members of our church, it means that we must have already been baptized. The reason we come to church is because we know that Jesus died for us, and that we receive his communion as a sign of his forgiveness.
We bring our children to church so that they also may realize their sins and receive the assurance of God’s forgiveness and love.
I was a missionary and spread this message to the people of Nepal. We all need to spread this message, either by serving or by supporting it!
Bob O.
1 Peter 1:17-23
One my favorite television shows, now in syndication, is Little House on the Prairie. Though he isn’t exactly a main character, one of my favorites on the show is Nels Olesen. In the episode called “The Legend of Black Jake,” Nels is kidnapped by a pair of dimwitted crooks. They demand a ransom for his return, but Mrs. Olesen won’t pay. Nels is infuriated at that, and devises a humorous and clever plan to make her pay. I think it is one of the most enjoyable shows in that series. When thinking about the idea of a ransom, this episode came to mind.
In this text we find a ransom mentioned too, but unlike on “The Legend of Black Jake” this ransom is paid. Peter notes that our lives have been ransomed from futile ways, not by perishable things such as silver or gold, but by something far more valuable. We’ve been ransomed “with the precious blood of Christ.” When we were held captive by death and sin, God ransomed us with the blood of his son.
The key to a ransom is that the person is worth it to the one who must pay the ransom. On Little House Nels was angry because he thought Harriett didn’t think enough of him to pay the money. God, however, has deemed you and me to be worthy of the highest ransom, the death of his son. That’s what you and I mean to him. In his eyes, we were worth it.
Bill T.
1 Peter 1:17-23
We often use an axiom to express how we feel, but seldom do we know the original meaning of the term or its original intent. For example, we often say “The proof is in the pudding.” We say this to express the need to establish the truthfulness about something, unaware of what the axiom originally meant. The word “proof” is an archaic form of English that means “test.” The only way to test a recipe is to taste it.
Application: Our reading declares that the blood of Jesus is the proof of our salvation.
Ron L.
1 Peter 1:17-23
Americans are anxious and depressed. A poll taken shortly before the presidential election by Marketplace-Education Research indicated that economic anxiety in American was up by 20% from the previous year. The Huffington Post reported in 2015 that 16 million of us are depressed. And a 2014 report of the National Institute on Drug Addiction revealed that 2.1 million Americans are addicted to pain relievers. (The numbers are no doubt higher now three years later.) According to John Calvin, our lesson suggests a way to find relief from all this turmoil. We find it in Christ! Thus he writes: “it is Christ alone who can tranquilize consciences, so that we may dare come to confidence in God.” With Christ the anxiety lessens, the need for other tranquilizers is negated.
Martin Luther elaborated on why having Christ tranquilizes us. Indeed, he makes us passive, since he chooses us and not we him: “So one is not called a Christian because he does much, but because he receives something from Christ, draws from him and lets Christ only give to him. If one no longer receives anything from Christ, he is no longer a Christian, so that the name Christian continues to be based only on receiving, and not on giving and doing” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, pp. 329-330).
Our lesson, though, does say a good bit about the lifestyle that goes with this confidence. Again, Luther’s reflections on this text are illuminating: “As we have heard, a sincere Christian believer has the possessions of God and is a child of God. The time of his life, however, is but a pilgrimage. For through faith the spirit is already in heaven and this makes him lord over all things. But God permits him to remain alive... in order that he may help others.... Therefore we must use everything on earth in no other way than as a guest who travels across country and comes to an inn where he must spend the night.... He does not say that the innkeeper’s property belongs to him. Thus we must also deal with temporal goods as if they did not belong to us” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 30, p. 35).
When you live as if what you own is not yours, a lot of anxiety withers away.
Mark E.
Luke 24:13-35
Jesus must have enjoyed the conversation with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They had been trudging along, depressed and sad, uncertain what to do next. They encounter a man they do not recognize, the risen Christ. This man questions them, and as they respond about the happenings of the last few days Jesus begins to open the Word of God to them, sharing every prophecy of the Messiah with them. Still, they do not recognize him. Talking doesn’t do it.
It isn’t until they are sitting at a table together and Jesus blesses and breaks bread that they experience the risen Christ. They know Jesus through the breaking of the bread. We too know the risen Christ in this way -- each time we gather at table, break bread, drink from the cup, we remember and know the risen Christ. It is walking the talk, not just the talk that reveals the risen Christ to the disciples, to us, and to the world. Maybe that should be our focus this year.
Bonnie B.
Luke 24:13-35
Following the resurrection, the two disciples who meet Jesus at the inn after their walk to Emmaus make the statement that they knew him in the breaking of the bread. There is certainly communion language used in this passage, but it’s not simply the bread and cup. In the passage that follows, when Jesus appears to the disciples in the Upper Room, the risen Lord asks for a piece of fish.
Here’s where it helps to remember that Luke wrote both the gospel that bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles. One of the signal themes is the coming together of Christians from varying ethnic backgrounds -- Jewish, Gentile, and (in Galatia) the Celts. Each culture had its own conflicting taboos on what could and could not be eaten, but Christians, regardless of ethnic or religious background, can share bread, fish, and wine in the communal Love Feast that is depicted in early Christian art. Loaves and fishes are pictured in such celebrations. Jesus, raised from the dead, is demonstrating to the generation that followed that it was possible to share table fellowship. In our own churches there may be a variety of allergies or choices that make it difficult for us to come around one table, but not impossible.
Frank R.
Luke 24:13-35
Does that sound like us Christians today? If Jesus were walking with us, would we recognize him?
I liked what I heard from the Bible, but I had never experienced Jesus in my life. Then one day I had a great temptation to make a lot of money, but it was not quite kosher. I decided to search the Bible and see what it said. I was amazed when the answer came up in the first passage I read! I knew then that someone must be with me and guiding me. I never forgot that feeling, and it happened several other times. God answers prayer! It is a comforting thought.
When I told others, they weren’t sure if I was just making it up -- like the other disciples weren’t sure about the experience of Peter and the women. It came to them only as they heard Jesus speaking to them for a while. It will only come to you when you yourself recognize him in your life.
It came to the disciples fully only as Jesus broke the bread for lunch, as he did at the Last Supper. Does it come to us as we also take the bread and wine at the altar on Sunday? Does it take a while for his presence to dawn on us? Don’t feel bad! It took Jesus’ disciples a while to believe. Be patient.
Bob O.
Peter’s first sermon, often used on Pentecost Sunday, is one of our readings this week. Peter is calling the gathered to believe in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Peter is calling people to come into the community of believers, to be baptized, to move into the faith. He is not specifying who they must be, only what they must do: “repent and be baptized.”
There is no entrance examination, no pre-qualifying, no test for nationality or theology or ethnicity or even sexual orientation. There is only the invitation to “repent and be baptized” and become one of the faithful. To repent is to turn one’s life around, to change direction, to move into a new set of relationships. We are all called into that relationship, and we are responsible only for our own repentance and our own relationship with God. We are not responsible for judging others or their relationship with God, but only for inviting them. This Easter season let us turn and repent, turn and invite, turn and welcome, turn and live our baptism.
Bonnie B.
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
I assume that Peter’s statement “with” the 11 meant that he was including Judas’ replacement!
When the crowd hears Peter, they know that they were the ones who voted to crucify God’s savior. They are terrified and wonder what they can do.
That is also our cry when we realize that we also have sinned. We realize that Jesus died for us because we “are” sinners! No, we may not have voted for Jesus’ death, but if we had never sinned then Jesus would not have had to come and die for us. It is a great responsibility.
Our obligation is to repent. If we come as members of our church, it means that we must have already been baptized. The reason we come to church is because we know that Jesus died for us, and that we receive his communion as a sign of his forgiveness.
We bring our children to church so that they also may realize their sins and receive the assurance of God’s forgiveness and love.
I was a missionary and spread this message to the people of Nepal. We all need to spread this message, either by serving or by supporting it!
Bob O.
1 Peter 1:17-23
One my favorite television shows, now in syndication, is Little House on the Prairie. Though he isn’t exactly a main character, one of my favorites on the show is Nels Olesen. In the episode called “The Legend of Black Jake,” Nels is kidnapped by a pair of dimwitted crooks. They demand a ransom for his return, but Mrs. Olesen won’t pay. Nels is infuriated at that, and devises a humorous and clever plan to make her pay. I think it is one of the most enjoyable shows in that series. When thinking about the idea of a ransom, this episode came to mind.
In this text we find a ransom mentioned too, but unlike on “The Legend of Black Jake” this ransom is paid. Peter notes that our lives have been ransomed from futile ways, not by perishable things such as silver or gold, but by something far more valuable. We’ve been ransomed “with the precious blood of Christ.” When we were held captive by death and sin, God ransomed us with the blood of his son.
The key to a ransom is that the person is worth it to the one who must pay the ransom. On Little House Nels was angry because he thought Harriett didn’t think enough of him to pay the money. God, however, has deemed you and me to be worthy of the highest ransom, the death of his son. That’s what you and I mean to him. In his eyes, we were worth it.
Bill T.
1 Peter 1:17-23
We often use an axiom to express how we feel, but seldom do we know the original meaning of the term or its original intent. For example, we often say “The proof is in the pudding.” We say this to express the need to establish the truthfulness about something, unaware of what the axiom originally meant. The word “proof” is an archaic form of English that means “test.” The only way to test a recipe is to taste it.
Application: Our reading declares that the blood of Jesus is the proof of our salvation.
Ron L.
1 Peter 1:17-23
Americans are anxious and depressed. A poll taken shortly before the presidential election by Marketplace-Education Research indicated that economic anxiety in American was up by 20% from the previous year. The Huffington Post reported in 2015 that 16 million of us are depressed. And a 2014 report of the National Institute on Drug Addiction revealed that 2.1 million Americans are addicted to pain relievers. (The numbers are no doubt higher now three years later.) According to John Calvin, our lesson suggests a way to find relief from all this turmoil. We find it in Christ! Thus he writes: “it is Christ alone who can tranquilize consciences, so that we may dare come to confidence in God.” With Christ the anxiety lessens, the need for other tranquilizers is negated.
Martin Luther elaborated on why having Christ tranquilizes us. Indeed, he makes us passive, since he chooses us and not we him: “So one is not called a Christian because he does much, but because he receives something from Christ, draws from him and lets Christ only give to him. If one no longer receives anything from Christ, he is no longer a Christian, so that the name Christian continues to be based only on receiving, and not on giving and doing” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, pp. 329-330).
Our lesson, though, does say a good bit about the lifestyle that goes with this confidence. Again, Luther’s reflections on this text are illuminating: “As we have heard, a sincere Christian believer has the possessions of God and is a child of God. The time of his life, however, is but a pilgrimage. For through faith the spirit is already in heaven and this makes him lord over all things. But God permits him to remain alive... in order that he may help others.... Therefore we must use everything on earth in no other way than as a guest who travels across country and comes to an inn where he must spend the night.... He does not say that the innkeeper’s property belongs to him. Thus we must also deal with temporal goods as if they did not belong to us” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 30, p. 35).
When you live as if what you own is not yours, a lot of anxiety withers away.
Mark E.
Luke 24:13-35
Jesus must have enjoyed the conversation with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They had been trudging along, depressed and sad, uncertain what to do next. They encounter a man they do not recognize, the risen Christ. This man questions them, and as they respond about the happenings of the last few days Jesus begins to open the Word of God to them, sharing every prophecy of the Messiah with them. Still, they do not recognize him. Talking doesn’t do it.
It isn’t until they are sitting at a table together and Jesus blesses and breaks bread that they experience the risen Christ. They know Jesus through the breaking of the bread. We too know the risen Christ in this way -- each time we gather at table, break bread, drink from the cup, we remember and know the risen Christ. It is walking the talk, not just the talk that reveals the risen Christ to the disciples, to us, and to the world. Maybe that should be our focus this year.
Bonnie B.
Luke 24:13-35
Following the resurrection, the two disciples who meet Jesus at the inn after their walk to Emmaus make the statement that they knew him in the breaking of the bread. There is certainly communion language used in this passage, but it’s not simply the bread and cup. In the passage that follows, when Jesus appears to the disciples in the Upper Room, the risen Lord asks for a piece of fish.
Here’s where it helps to remember that Luke wrote both the gospel that bears his name and the Acts of the Apostles. One of the signal themes is the coming together of Christians from varying ethnic backgrounds -- Jewish, Gentile, and (in Galatia) the Celts. Each culture had its own conflicting taboos on what could and could not be eaten, but Christians, regardless of ethnic or religious background, can share bread, fish, and wine in the communal Love Feast that is depicted in early Christian art. Loaves and fishes are pictured in such celebrations. Jesus, raised from the dead, is demonstrating to the generation that followed that it was possible to share table fellowship. In our own churches there may be a variety of allergies or choices that make it difficult for us to come around one table, but not impossible.
Frank R.
Luke 24:13-35
Does that sound like us Christians today? If Jesus were walking with us, would we recognize him?
I liked what I heard from the Bible, but I had never experienced Jesus in my life. Then one day I had a great temptation to make a lot of money, but it was not quite kosher. I decided to search the Bible and see what it said. I was amazed when the answer came up in the first passage I read! I knew then that someone must be with me and guiding me. I never forgot that feeling, and it happened several other times. God answers prayer! It is a comforting thought.
When I told others, they weren’t sure if I was just making it up -- like the other disciples weren’t sure about the experience of Peter and the women. It came to them only as they heard Jesus speaking to them for a while. It will only come to you when you yourself recognize him in your life.
It came to the disciples fully only as Jesus broke the bread for lunch, as he did at the Last Supper. Does it come to us as we also take the bread and wine at the altar on Sunday? Does it take a while for his presence to dawn on us? Don’t feel bad! It took Jesus’ disciples a while to believe. Be patient.
Bob O.
