Sermon Illustrations for Easter 5 (2022)
Illustration
Acts 11:1-18
On April 15, 1947, a twenty-eight-year-old Jackie Robison became the first African American player in Major League Baseball when he stepped onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier in a sport that had been segregated for more than fifty years. Most baseball fans are aware of this bit of history. Jackie Robinson’s number 42 has been retired and honored across Major League Baseball.
Since that spring day more than 75 years ago, the landscape of MLB looks a lot different. Men from every nation, race, and language play “America’s pastime.” The MVP of this year’s World Series was Atlanta Braves slugger Jorge Soler who was born in Cuba. Rosters of MLB teams are diverse.
Diversity is a part of God’s kingdom, too. In this familiar passage, Peter is vividly shown “God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.” (vs. 18)
Bill T.
* * *
Acts 11:1-18
Part of Luke’s strategy for cementing crucial historical events in our hearts and minds is to repeat the event. It happens with regards to the Ascension (two accounts, in Luke and Acts), and also with Paul’s three reports of his vision and commission by Jesus. There are important moments with history in the balance, and God’s people are called to take a much different path.
In chapter 10 of Acts Peter has a dream, repeated three times, which suggests he satisfy his hunger with animals that he has been taught to consider unclean. He refuses. But then the Holy Spirit informs him that three men have arrived to take him somewhere important. Peter follows the direction of the Holy Spirit to the house of Cornelius the centurion, someone he has been raised to think of as unclean, and upon his arrival there repeats what has happened to him to Cornelius. After Cornelius and his household are filled with the Holy Spirit, leading to their baptism, we jump to chapter 11, where Peter retells this story to the Jerusalem Christians. This repetition turns into confirmation of a crucial turning point for the fledgling Christian church, which ceases to be a single cell homogenous body and instead is revealed to be a dynamic multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, Body of Christ. (Insights based in part on the Jewish Annotated New Testament, p. 220)
Frank R.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-6
A recent article in the Evangelical magazine Christianity Today observed that few evangelicals talk about the Second Coming. Why? Famous Christian author C. S. Lewis forecast this decline during his lifetime. He wrote:
The idea which...shuts out the Second Coming from our minds, the idea of the world slowly ripening to perfection, is a myth, not a generalization from experience.
This lesson offers some compelling images which might help us reconsider things. John Wesley himself painted a lovely portrait of the end, why we might want to yearn for it:
As there will be no more death, and no more pain or sickness preparatory thereto; as there will be no more sorrow or crying. Nay, but there will be a greater deliverance than all this; for there will be no more sin. And, to crown all, there will be a deep, an intimate, an uninterrupted union with God... a continual enjoyment of the three-in-one God and of all creatures in him. (Works, Vol. 6, p. 296)
Writer Stefan Edwards painted this portrait: “Mankind’s happy end and people’s happy endings are inevitable.” (The Second Coming of Jesus Christ - a Short Essay)
Mark E.
* * *
John 13:31-35
In this passage, Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Love is one of those rare things that the more you give it, the more you get it in return. I came across an Indian parable that conveys this truth.
A selfish person inherited a rice field in India. The first season the irrigation water covered his property, making it very fruitful, and it also overflowed on to his neighbors’ fields, bringing a great harvest to them as well. The next season he decided that he was too generous in sharing his wealth by letting this water escape to others, so he stopped the water with a specially made dam. However, in doing so he spoiled his own crop. The irrigation water brought blessing when it flowed, but when it became stagnant, it turned the field into an unfruitful marsh.
Bob Goff wrote, “Love one another. We don't need more instructions; we need more examples.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 13:31-35
Classics scholar Susan Rudan, in her book The Gospels: A New Translation (p.309) disputes this statement by Jesus about his command that we love one another is somehow a “new” commandment. She points to Mark 12:28-31, Matthew 22:35-40, and Luke 10:25-28, as passages in which Jesus commands we love one another. This makes me wonder. Was it new to the Johannine community? Is it new to us? Is it new because we have not been loving each other and that’s why it has to be reiterated?
It's a good point. Any suggestions?
Frank R.
On April 15, 1947, a twenty-eight-year-old Jackie Robison became the first African American player in Major League Baseball when he stepped onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier in a sport that had been segregated for more than fifty years. Most baseball fans are aware of this bit of history. Jackie Robinson’s number 42 has been retired and honored across Major League Baseball.
Since that spring day more than 75 years ago, the landscape of MLB looks a lot different. Men from every nation, race, and language play “America’s pastime.” The MVP of this year’s World Series was Atlanta Braves slugger Jorge Soler who was born in Cuba. Rosters of MLB teams are diverse.
Diversity is a part of God’s kingdom, too. In this familiar passage, Peter is vividly shown “God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.” (vs. 18)
Bill T.
* * *
Acts 11:1-18
Part of Luke’s strategy for cementing crucial historical events in our hearts and minds is to repeat the event. It happens with regards to the Ascension (two accounts, in Luke and Acts), and also with Paul’s three reports of his vision and commission by Jesus. There are important moments with history in the balance, and God’s people are called to take a much different path.
In chapter 10 of Acts Peter has a dream, repeated three times, which suggests he satisfy his hunger with animals that he has been taught to consider unclean. He refuses. But then the Holy Spirit informs him that three men have arrived to take him somewhere important. Peter follows the direction of the Holy Spirit to the house of Cornelius the centurion, someone he has been raised to think of as unclean, and upon his arrival there repeats what has happened to him to Cornelius. After Cornelius and his household are filled with the Holy Spirit, leading to their baptism, we jump to chapter 11, where Peter retells this story to the Jerusalem Christians. This repetition turns into confirmation of a crucial turning point for the fledgling Christian church, which ceases to be a single cell homogenous body and instead is revealed to be a dynamic multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, Body of Christ. (Insights based in part on the Jewish Annotated New Testament, p. 220)
Frank R.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-6
A recent article in the Evangelical magazine Christianity Today observed that few evangelicals talk about the Second Coming. Why? Famous Christian author C. S. Lewis forecast this decline during his lifetime. He wrote:
The idea which...shuts out the Second Coming from our minds, the idea of the world slowly ripening to perfection, is a myth, not a generalization from experience.
This lesson offers some compelling images which might help us reconsider things. John Wesley himself painted a lovely portrait of the end, why we might want to yearn for it:
As there will be no more death, and no more pain or sickness preparatory thereto; as there will be no more sorrow or crying. Nay, but there will be a greater deliverance than all this; for there will be no more sin. And, to crown all, there will be a deep, an intimate, an uninterrupted union with God... a continual enjoyment of the three-in-one God and of all creatures in him. (Works, Vol. 6, p. 296)
Writer Stefan Edwards painted this portrait: “Mankind’s happy end and people’s happy endings are inevitable.” (The Second Coming of Jesus Christ - a Short Essay)
Mark E.
* * *
John 13:31-35
In this passage, Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Love is one of those rare things that the more you give it, the more you get it in return. I came across an Indian parable that conveys this truth.
A selfish person inherited a rice field in India. The first season the irrigation water covered his property, making it very fruitful, and it also overflowed on to his neighbors’ fields, bringing a great harvest to them as well. The next season he decided that he was too generous in sharing his wealth by letting this water escape to others, so he stopped the water with a specially made dam. However, in doing so he spoiled his own crop. The irrigation water brought blessing when it flowed, but when it became stagnant, it turned the field into an unfruitful marsh.
Bob Goff wrote, “Love one another. We don't need more instructions; we need more examples.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 13:31-35
Classics scholar Susan Rudan, in her book The Gospels: A New Translation (p.309) disputes this statement by Jesus about his command that we love one another is somehow a “new” commandment. She points to Mark 12:28-31, Matthew 22:35-40, and Luke 10:25-28, as passages in which Jesus commands we love one another. This makes me wonder. Was it new to the Johannine community? Is it new to us? Is it new because we have not been loving each other and that’s why it has to be reiterated?
It's a good point. Any suggestions?
Frank R.
