Sermon Illustrations for Easter 6 (2025)
Illustration
Acts 16:9-15
John Calvin claimed that this is a text to stir up our commitments to reach out to those in need, especially in this time of intolerance towards immigrants and the poor. A 2024 Gallup poll indicates that 56% of Americans favor mass deportation. And in the most recent poll on the subject of the poor, (a 2002 NPR/Kaiser poll), 52% of Americans found the poor not to have a proper work ethic. It is unlikely we have outgrown that prejudice. In response, the reformer of Geneva wrote:
And this ought to be no small encouragement for godly teachers to stir up the heat of their study and desire, when they hear that they call back miserable souls from destruction and that they help those who should otherwise perish, that they may be saved. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XIX/1, p.98)
Our text and Calvin call for outreach to everyone, even those who might not be regarded as deserving.
Of course, all our good intentions and efforts cannot alone bring people to Christ. The lesson and Calvin make this clear. Thus the reformer notes that only because of grace and the Holy Spirit was Lydia brought to Christ:
So likewise in this place, Luke doth not only signify unto us that Lydia was brought by the inspiration of the Spirit, with affection of heart to embrace the gospel, but that her mind was lightened, that she might understand it. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XIX/1, p.103)
It is as the famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom once put in when preaching on this text: “Therefore, we need God to open the heart…” When it came to Lydia. “The opening, then, was God’s work…” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.11, pp.220-221)
Mark E.
* * *
Acts 16:9-15
I remember when I was in the fourth grade our teacher, Miss Orth, gave us an assignment that was focused on reading and following the directions. The paper had a list of multiple directions including things like where to put your name, what to put in certain corners of the paper, what to write on a certain line and so on. The final direction was to ignore all directions except the first one about your name. I did three of four things before realizing that I was only to do the first one.
Following directions is important in school. It is also important as a follower of Jesus. Luke writes about that with respect to Paul and his traveling party. “During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them” (vs. 9-10).
Paul and his group knew to go to Macedonia, and they went to the city of Philippi. There they met Lydia. She listened to Paul and the others and was baptized. This was the beginning of the church in Philippi. Paul and his group obeyed the Lord, and the kingdom expanded. When we obey the Lord, good things happen.
Bill T.
* * *
Acts 16:9-15
(This illustration is extracted from my Charting the Course installment this week.)
It's not said that Lydia’s ladies gathered at the river are praying for anything in particular, but God knows best their need. In Paul’s dream a “man” from Macedonia begs him to visit, so he departs from his planned itinerary and heads to Macedonia where the Spirit leads him to the women in worship. While if I were starting a church I would want legions of faithful believers who know what they’re doing, it’s interesting that these believers, who will come to include Paul’s jailer and his household, as well as the manufacturing household dwelling in Lydia’s villa which becomes Paul’s temporary headquarters, along with perhaps the slave girl who is freed from her spiritual chains and economic bondage, accomplishes almost effortlessly what Paul has been striving for — bringing together people of different economic classes together not only to worship, but to eat together. Perhaps because these people have no preconceived notion of how church works much more is accomplished much more quickly.
This scripture invites us to pray faithfully, trusting in what God may be planning, and without preconceived notions to be prepared for whatever God designs and desires. Faithfulness is something God desires we perform together, even if there is not an obvious path for us to accomplish God’s will. Our prayers are woven into God’s tapestry as part of the grand design in which the divine well is done. We may not be able to draw upon the church structures we are used to — we are living in a new age of Christianity, a major transformation that was accelerated by the pandemic. But God is accomplishing great things with us as we open our hearts to worship, prayer, and listening.
Frank R.
* * *
Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5
A 2023 Gallup Poll revealed that a declining number of Americans believe in God (now only 81%). This is a text for helping us realize a reality in which God is everywhere Present as he is in heaven. Indeed, there are hints of heaven already here on earth.
Martin Luther had a way of describing how God (or something which functions in an idolatrous manner as if it were a god) is everywhere in our lives. We all have a god he claimed:
A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol. (The Book of Concord [2000 ed.],p.386)
The gods, both the real one and the idols, are always with us. Since we always carry along our priorities with us, Luther also believed the true God is always with us, for in heaven we are written in Christ’s book of life. And that entails he is always watching, always with us. No need to fear such an insight as we find in 21:27 of the lesson. The reformer put it this way:
This is where God’s game begins, not that we may be destroyed, but that he may examine us and lead us to a knowledge of our foulness, yet not in such a way that we despair, but rather that we cry to him, invoke his mercy, and learn that he shows us his mercy wondrously. (Luther’s Works, Vol.7, pp.229-230)
Modern Quantum Physics has even described a reality which is in and around everything, which yet transcends us. There is a field (the Higgs Field) which contains the so-called Higgs Boson which somehow brings together all the waves which comprise atoms and makes the wave-like atoms cohere into matter. This reality is in all forms of matter, yet exists in an invisible dimension. From a faith perspective believing in the God who creates all things, it is not much of a stress to depict God as present in this field, present in every speck of matter through the universe yet omnipresent and in an invisible dimension of space and time. The Bible anticipates many of the findings of reason.
Mark E.
* * *
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
The vision of the paradise that is waiting for us is intermingled with some admonitions. I wonder about this. Are the admonitions from God, are they an interpretation that there are those who will not seek the new life — the new heaven and earth — or will God exclude them? That second part, God excluding, doesn’t sit well with my theology and experience of who God is. I believe that God waits patiently for us to turn toward God. We make the choice to do so or not. When we refuse, we are separated from the grace and life that is in and with God. So, all are invited to see the river of life. All are welcome to see the tree, are welcome to experience the light God provides.
How wonderful will it be for us to choose God, to choose light, to experience all that God has to offer us. And will we be surprised by who else is welcomed, who else is invited? Maybe. But it is God’s invitation, not our own, that is vitally important, that is celebrated and experienced as people of faith. Praise God it is so. After all, someone might think I should be excluded.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 14:23-29
Years ago, a colleague reminded me that patience is like a muscle — when you pray for patience, something is provided to test and challenge your presence much like exercise tests and challenges a muscle. She encouraged me to pray for peace instead. Peace would and could feed patience. Whenever I read this passage from John, I am reminded that Jesus promises us peace. And it’s not a kind of peace that is an absence of war. Rather, it is a kind of peace that removes fear, that conquers the “troubling” of our hearts. The Holy Spirit comes to feed that peace, in some cases to provide that peace.
I can always use more peace in my life and by that I do mean a removal of fear and of stress. I also could just use the rest that peace can bring — almost a rest in the arms of the Holy Spirit provided for us. I’m not sure a Holy Spirit has arms, but there are times when I feel the Holy Spirit’s embracing presence and know that God is with me. I can pray for that peace — and I can hope that the peace that comes from Jesus conquers all the fear, counters my lack of patience, and strengthens me for the days ahead. Thank you Jesus for that promise.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 14:23-29
It is a familiar illustration, but one that is good. Imagine, if you will, a glove. It represents our bodies or our lives. By itself, it is empty and devoid of power. It might look nice on the outside, but it is useless. Our bodies and our lives without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are a mere shell of what they might be. Just as the hand in the glove gives the glove life and purpose, it is the Holy Spirit indwelling the Christian that gives him/her purpose and life.
The promise of the Holy Spirit is important. Jesus said, “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you” (vs. 25-26). The Holy Spirit would be God’s presence with the disciples after Jesus’ ascension.
E.M. Bounds once wrote, “What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 5:1-9
(This illustration is extracted from my Charting the Course installment this week.)
Jesus indeed asks this man, ill for 38 years, “Do you want to be made well?” The man’s first response is to state the obvious. When the pool was stirred others were able to get to it first and receive healing. This is a sad situation. And Jesus is ready to heal him miraculously, but look at what he says, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” He is saying the man has something to do as a partner in healing.
Even today, some are unable to get to the pool of healing because of their inability to get insurance or navigate the maze of insurance regulations. Sometimes we can get partial or total payment for our expensive prescriptions by contacting the manufacturer of a specific drug (I had two friends who were able to get extraordinarily expensive hepatitis drugs for free even though they did not have insurance coverage, because they spoke to them directly). Others may need rides, or other means of helping.
I’ve been a diabetic for over thirty years, and there is much that is available to help with that condition, but it requires the willingness to become a partner in healing. I know other friends who tell me it’s just not worth it to see medical help or to follow it.
Do you want to be made well? There is help for the darkness of depression (which is a physical, not a spiritual ailment) but fear of stigma prevents many of seeking help. Let’s work together, helping others, and reaching out for help, because when those are waters are moved we need to be ready to act.
Frank R.
John Calvin claimed that this is a text to stir up our commitments to reach out to those in need, especially in this time of intolerance towards immigrants and the poor. A 2024 Gallup poll indicates that 56% of Americans favor mass deportation. And in the most recent poll on the subject of the poor, (a 2002 NPR/Kaiser poll), 52% of Americans found the poor not to have a proper work ethic. It is unlikely we have outgrown that prejudice. In response, the reformer of Geneva wrote:
And this ought to be no small encouragement for godly teachers to stir up the heat of their study and desire, when they hear that they call back miserable souls from destruction and that they help those who should otherwise perish, that they may be saved. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XIX/1, p.98)
Our text and Calvin call for outreach to everyone, even those who might not be regarded as deserving.
Of course, all our good intentions and efforts cannot alone bring people to Christ. The lesson and Calvin make this clear. Thus the reformer notes that only because of grace and the Holy Spirit was Lydia brought to Christ:
So likewise in this place, Luke doth not only signify unto us that Lydia was brought by the inspiration of the Spirit, with affection of heart to embrace the gospel, but that her mind was lightened, that she might understand it. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XIX/1, p.103)
It is as the famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom once put in when preaching on this text: “Therefore, we need God to open the heart…” When it came to Lydia. “The opening, then, was God’s work…” (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.11, pp.220-221)
Mark E.
* * *
Acts 16:9-15
I remember when I was in the fourth grade our teacher, Miss Orth, gave us an assignment that was focused on reading and following the directions. The paper had a list of multiple directions including things like where to put your name, what to put in certain corners of the paper, what to write on a certain line and so on. The final direction was to ignore all directions except the first one about your name. I did three of four things before realizing that I was only to do the first one.
Following directions is important in school. It is also important as a follower of Jesus. Luke writes about that with respect to Paul and his traveling party. “During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them” (vs. 9-10).
Paul and his group knew to go to Macedonia, and they went to the city of Philippi. There they met Lydia. She listened to Paul and the others and was baptized. This was the beginning of the church in Philippi. Paul and his group obeyed the Lord, and the kingdom expanded. When we obey the Lord, good things happen.
Bill T.
* * *
Acts 16:9-15
(This illustration is extracted from my Charting the Course installment this week.)
It's not said that Lydia’s ladies gathered at the river are praying for anything in particular, but God knows best their need. In Paul’s dream a “man” from Macedonia begs him to visit, so he departs from his planned itinerary and heads to Macedonia where the Spirit leads him to the women in worship. While if I were starting a church I would want legions of faithful believers who know what they’re doing, it’s interesting that these believers, who will come to include Paul’s jailer and his household, as well as the manufacturing household dwelling in Lydia’s villa which becomes Paul’s temporary headquarters, along with perhaps the slave girl who is freed from her spiritual chains and economic bondage, accomplishes almost effortlessly what Paul has been striving for — bringing together people of different economic classes together not only to worship, but to eat together. Perhaps because these people have no preconceived notion of how church works much more is accomplished much more quickly.
This scripture invites us to pray faithfully, trusting in what God may be planning, and without preconceived notions to be prepared for whatever God designs and desires. Faithfulness is something God desires we perform together, even if there is not an obvious path for us to accomplish God’s will. Our prayers are woven into God’s tapestry as part of the grand design in which the divine well is done. We may not be able to draw upon the church structures we are used to — we are living in a new age of Christianity, a major transformation that was accelerated by the pandemic. But God is accomplishing great things with us as we open our hearts to worship, prayer, and listening.
Frank R.
* * *
Revelation 21:10, 22--22:5
A 2023 Gallup Poll revealed that a declining number of Americans believe in God (now only 81%). This is a text for helping us realize a reality in which God is everywhere Present as he is in heaven. Indeed, there are hints of heaven already here on earth.
Martin Luther had a way of describing how God (or something which functions in an idolatrous manner as if it were a god) is everywhere in our lives. We all have a god he claimed:
A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol. (The Book of Concord [2000 ed.],p.386)
The gods, both the real one and the idols, are always with us. Since we always carry along our priorities with us, Luther also believed the true God is always with us, for in heaven we are written in Christ’s book of life. And that entails he is always watching, always with us. No need to fear such an insight as we find in 21:27 of the lesson. The reformer put it this way:
This is where God’s game begins, not that we may be destroyed, but that he may examine us and lead us to a knowledge of our foulness, yet not in such a way that we despair, but rather that we cry to him, invoke his mercy, and learn that he shows us his mercy wondrously. (Luther’s Works, Vol.7, pp.229-230)
Modern Quantum Physics has even described a reality which is in and around everything, which yet transcends us. There is a field (the Higgs Field) which contains the so-called Higgs Boson which somehow brings together all the waves which comprise atoms and makes the wave-like atoms cohere into matter. This reality is in all forms of matter, yet exists in an invisible dimension. From a faith perspective believing in the God who creates all things, it is not much of a stress to depict God as present in this field, present in every speck of matter through the universe yet omnipresent and in an invisible dimension of space and time. The Bible anticipates many of the findings of reason.
Mark E.
* * *
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
The vision of the paradise that is waiting for us is intermingled with some admonitions. I wonder about this. Are the admonitions from God, are they an interpretation that there are those who will not seek the new life — the new heaven and earth — or will God exclude them? That second part, God excluding, doesn’t sit well with my theology and experience of who God is. I believe that God waits patiently for us to turn toward God. We make the choice to do so or not. When we refuse, we are separated from the grace and life that is in and with God. So, all are invited to see the river of life. All are welcome to see the tree, are welcome to experience the light God provides.
How wonderful will it be for us to choose God, to choose light, to experience all that God has to offer us. And will we be surprised by who else is welcomed, who else is invited? Maybe. But it is God’s invitation, not our own, that is vitally important, that is celebrated and experienced as people of faith. Praise God it is so. After all, someone might think I should be excluded.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 14:23-29
Years ago, a colleague reminded me that patience is like a muscle — when you pray for patience, something is provided to test and challenge your presence much like exercise tests and challenges a muscle. She encouraged me to pray for peace instead. Peace would and could feed patience. Whenever I read this passage from John, I am reminded that Jesus promises us peace. And it’s not a kind of peace that is an absence of war. Rather, it is a kind of peace that removes fear, that conquers the “troubling” of our hearts. The Holy Spirit comes to feed that peace, in some cases to provide that peace.
I can always use more peace in my life and by that I do mean a removal of fear and of stress. I also could just use the rest that peace can bring — almost a rest in the arms of the Holy Spirit provided for us. I’m not sure a Holy Spirit has arms, but there are times when I feel the Holy Spirit’s embracing presence and know that God is with me. I can pray for that peace — and I can hope that the peace that comes from Jesus conquers all the fear, counters my lack of patience, and strengthens me for the days ahead. Thank you Jesus for that promise.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 14:23-29
It is a familiar illustration, but one that is good. Imagine, if you will, a glove. It represents our bodies or our lives. By itself, it is empty and devoid of power. It might look nice on the outside, but it is useless. Our bodies and our lives without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are a mere shell of what they might be. Just as the hand in the glove gives the glove life and purpose, it is the Holy Spirit indwelling the Christian that gives him/her purpose and life.
The promise of the Holy Spirit is important. Jesus said, “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you” (vs. 25-26). The Holy Spirit would be God’s presence with the disciples after Jesus’ ascension.
E.M. Bounds once wrote, “What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 5:1-9
(This illustration is extracted from my Charting the Course installment this week.)
Jesus indeed asks this man, ill for 38 years, “Do you want to be made well?” The man’s first response is to state the obvious. When the pool was stirred others were able to get to it first and receive healing. This is a sad situation. And Jesus is ready to heal him miraculously, but look at what he says, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” He is saying the man has something to do as a partner in healing.
Even today, some are unable to get to the pool of healing because of their inability to get insurance or navigate the maze of insurance regulations. Sometimes we can get partial or total payment for our expensive prescriptions by contacting the manufacturer of a specific drug (I had two friends who were able to get extraordinarily expensive hepatitis drugs for free even though they did not have insurance coverage, because they spoke to them directly). Others may need rides, or other means of helping.
I’ve been a diabetic for over thirty years, and there is much that is available to help with that condition, but it requires the willingness to become a partner in healing. I know other friends who tell me it’s just not worth it to see medical help or to follow it.
Do you want to be made well? There is help for the darkness of depression (which is a physical, not a spiritual ailment) but fear of stigma prevents many of seeking help. Let’s work together, helping others, and reaching out for help, because when those are waters are moved we need to be ready to act.
Frank R.
