Sermon Illustrations for Epiphany 4 (OT 4) Cycle C (2019)
Illustration
Jeremiah 1:4-10
In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Rick Warren wrote, “Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He was not at all surprised by your birth. In fact, he expected it. Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God.” It is an incredible, mind-numbing truth that before we were even born, God knew us. There is a children’s book by Anne Bowen, published in 2006, called I Loved You Before You Were Born. It is the story if a loving grandmother who eagerly awaits the arrival of her grandchild. She dreams of the baby's soft sighs, sweet smells, and tiny toes, and imagines the infant smiling, rolling over, and crawling for the first time. With poignancy and thoughtfulness, the story covers the grandmother imagining the child’s whole first year of life. Once the baby arrives and Grandma is ready with a very special message: Even before you were born, I was your grandma and I loved you.
I thought about both books as I read through this familiar passage in Jeremiah. The first part of this passage is often used by those of us who are pro-life to note the sanctity of life, even in the womb. Though I believe that to be true, I think it goes much deeper. It is the account of how God had chosen his messenger, even while still in his mother’s womb or a young boy. It is a passage about the awesomeness and greatness of God. He knows and selects people based on what he sees.
Bill T.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Moses responds to God’s call by insisting his speech impediment will prevent him from doing the job. Isaiah laments that he is unworthy, a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips. Jeremiah’s excuse is that he’s too young to do what God has called him to do. Jonah doesn’t argue with God — he just takes off.
What’s your excuse?
Frank R.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
As we can learn from the calling of Jeremiah, there is no age limitation on being called to a prophetic ministry. In the newspaper comic the Born Loser, which appeared on the first day of the New Year, we have Brutus standing before the easy chair that his Uncle Ted is sitting in, feet resting on a hassock. Brutus, wearing a V-neck sweater and holding his hands behind his back, asks, “Well, another year in the books. Do you miss the good old days, Uncle Ted?” Ted, remaining in his relaxed position upon his favorite chair, answers, “Yes, I do, Brutus…But that’s because I wasn’t old in the good old days!”
Ron L.
* * *
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
More songs have been written and sung about love than any other emotion. We feel compelled to write about, sing about and talk about what love is and what love is not. The reality is that our human version of love, the conditional and often failed version of love is not what Paul is writing to the church about. Paul is writing about how to take the unconditional love of God, understand it, and apply it to our human relationships. Anyone who has ever been angry with a spouse, a friend, a church community, or a pastor, knows how challenging this kind of unconditional love is to express and accept. We sometimes view whether or not our human friends please us as the measure of their love. If that same view is how we view the love of God — whether or not God pleases us — we act on self-centeredness rather than faith. God loves us unconditionally, but that doesn’t mean we get everything we want. Rather God’s unconditional love inspires and moves us to aspire to share that same love with ourselves and others. That is the message of Paul’s letter for us. May we seek to love others as God loves us.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
We need to let this text speak for itself and quit (incorrectly) treating it as an ode to how we should or do love each other. This is a lesson about agape, about God’s love. The brave modern Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer did a great job describing love in such a way that only God can offer it:
Only true love can forgive. Love forgets the wrong. It does not hold grudges... Every day it faces the other with new love and a fresh start. It forgets what lies behind. By acting this way it makes itself the laughingstock of the people. It makes a fool of itself, but it is not deterred by such ridicule. Instead it continues to love. (A Testament of Hope, p.261)
To be sure this love of God leads us to love others. In one of his early Reformation writings on freedom Martin Luther observed this:
He [the Christian] ought to think: “Although I am an unworthy and condemned man, my God has given me in Christ all the riches of righteousness and salvation without any merit on my part... Why should I not therefore freely, joyfully, with all my heart and wit and eager will do all the things which I know are pleasing and acceptable to such a Father who has overwhelmed with His inestimable riches? I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered Himself for me; I will do nothing in this life except what I see is necessary, profitable, and salutary to my neighbor, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ.” (Luther’s Works, Vool.31, p.367)
Bonhoeffer elaborates on what this freedom and love entails for everyday life:
Because to be free... means to be free from ourselves, from our untruth, in which it seems as if I alone were there, as if I were the center of the world... to be free from myself in order to be for others. God’s truth alone allows me to see others. It directs my attention, bent on myself, to what is beyond and shows me the other person. (A Testament to Freedom, p.217)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Even if we speak in tongues but don’t have love in us we are just noise makers.
No matter what great things we can do to help others, but have not love, it is nothing.
New believers (children) are sometimes making sacrifices for all the homeless people who immigrated to our country — even connecting lost children to their parents — but are just doing it to gain votes in the next election. If they don’t do it out of love it amounts to nothing for them in God’s eyes.
It is true that one of the ways we show love is by our actions. Jesus tells the story of those who don’t give to someone in need and they are condemned because they didn’t give to him when he was begging. This text seems to tell us that anything we do without love is worthless. Love must be our soul motive. And the way we show our love is my helping others. It is a sign that we don’t have love if we don’t give to those in need.
A pastor may check a record of contributions as a sign of love. That may be one sign. One duty of a church is to help us grow in love.
My seminary professors spoke in the tongues of men and angels. They spoke brilliantly and sometimes there was even beauty in their words. But I could only really feel God’s loving spirit in one or two of them. My buddies in seminary also felt this. They did not truly “feel” God’s love in every one.
One of our professors spent extra time finding a home for one student who came from another country. One of them also helped a student in financial difficulties.
The God I found came to me through his love that I felt in others. That is not something easily explained in words. It is something you feel. I even received gifts from some, but felt no love in them. I got contributions for my ministry from some who felt it was their duty as a good church member. One told me that he saved money on his income tax when he recorded his gift to mission.
Our every prayer should be that God will put his love in our heart. Everything we do should be from that love.
Bob O.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
Lorenzo Cain is one of the premier baseball players in Major League Baseball. The outfielder started with the Milwaukee Brewers and then, later, played for the Kansas City Royals where he was part of the nucleus of a team that went to the World Series in back to back years. In 2014, Cain was named the MVP of the American League Championship Series and has been a two-time All Star. His story is one of hard work, dedication and determination. He currently plays again for the Brewers and is a part of their push to win the National League pennant. Cain is a strong hitter, speedy runner and phenomenal fielder. He is also a husband and a father. Though he accomplishes incredible feats on the diamond, he has “home team” responsibilities, including changing diapers. “It’s definitely going to take me a while to master that … but I’m definitely willing to learn and do what I can to be an expert on changing diapers
I suspect that Lorenzo Cain is happy to change his kids’ diapers, but it is a bit of an unusual thought. The superstar outfielder who is watched and loved by fans struggles to change diapers at home. There is something different about being around the “home team.” While baseball superstars are reduced to doing the work of mere mortals, it was worse for Jesus. Not only did they minimize him, his “home team” felt as if he couldn’t possibly be anything big. He was just one of them. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” It seems that it’s just not easy to go home again.
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
Luke uses more than one term to describe anger. In the story of the martyrdom of Stephen from the Acts of the Apostles the people are so angry at what the martyr says they grind their teeth together, doing damage to themselves (Acts 7:54). Before Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath he challenges the religious leaders with a question that invites them to condemn him for doing so, knowing that they don’t dare oppose him because the people watching will be outraged. Their response is a Greek word suggesting mindless fury (Luke 6:11). They’re so angry they can’t think straight.
When Jesus reads a passage from Isaiah that suggests that the messiah is going to declare the Jubilee, bringing gifts to the outcasts and the prisoners and bringing debt relief to the impoverished, it triggers a different kind of anger from the people who know him best. For them this is personal. The anger is thumos, a deep anger felt in the very core of one’s being. It is so deep a wrath that they move from admiration to an unquenchable desire to kill Jesus.
Do you want to add something about the relationship of this word to Incense or Thyme? Sharing the same root?
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
It was my first day as a Virginia State trooper. I was working the evening shift, and nothing occurred during my eight hours of patrolling the streets of Page County. So, a few minutes before 11 p.m. I returned to the barracks to sign-out, thankful that my first day was a quiet day. I then got a radio call for a hit-and-run accident. By 2 a.m. I located the culprit. Our confrontation took place on a hill. As he stood on the street a few feet below me, he was still taller than I was. I wondered how I would ever get this scoundrel into my patrol car. After announcing that he was under arrest, he quietly walked over and got in the back seat of my blue and gray patrol car. Now, that is peace! God, we know, offers us even a greater peace in a hostile world. Unfortunately, Jesus did not receive this kind of cooperation.
Ron L.
In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Rick Warren wrote, “Your birth was no mistake or mishap, and your life is no fluke of nature. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He was not at all surprised by your birth. In fact, he expected it. Long before you were conceived by your parents, you were conceived in the mind of God.” It is an incredible, mind-numbing truth that before we were even born, God knew us. There is a children’s book by Anne Bowen, published in 2006, called I Loved You Before You Were Born. It is the story if a loving grandmother who eagerly awaits the arrival of her grandchild. She dreams of the baby's soft sighs, sweet smells, and tiny toes, and imagines the infant smiling, rolling over, and crawling for the first time. With poignancy and thoughtfulness, the story covers the grandmother imagining the child’s whole first year of life. Once the baby arrives and Grandma is ready with a very special message: Even before you were born, I was your grandma and I loved you.
I thought about both books as I read through this familiar passage in Jeremiah. The first part of this passage is often used by those of us who are pro-life to note the sanctity of life, even in the womb. Though I believe that to be true, I think it goes much deeper. It is the account of how God had chosen his messenger, even while still in his mother’s womb or a young boy. It is a passage about the awesomeness and greatness of God. He knows and selects people based on what he sees.
Bill T.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Moses responds to God’s call by insisting his speech impediment will prevent him from doing the job. Isaiah laments that he is unworthy, a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips. Jeremiah’s excuse is that he’s too young to do what God has called him to do. Jonah doesn’t argue with God — he just takes off.
What’s your excuse?
Frank R.
* * *
Jeremiah 1:4-10
As we can learn from the calling of Jeremiah, there is no age limitation on being called to a prophetic ministry. In the newspaper comic the Born Loser, which appeared on the first day of the New Year, we have Brutus standing before the easy chair that his Uncle Ted is sitting in, feet resting on a hassock. Brutus, wearing a V-neck sweater and holding his hands behind his back, asks, “Well, another year in the books. Do you miss the good old days, Uncle Ted?” Ted, remaining in his relaxed position upon his favorite chair, answers, “Yes, I do, Brutus…But that’s because I wasn’t old in the good old days!”
Ron L.
* * *
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
More songs have been written and sung about love than any other emotion. We feel compelled to write about, sing about and talk about what love is and what love is not. The reality is that our human version of love, the conditional and often failed version of love is not what Paul is writing to the church about. Paul is writing about how to take the unconditional love of God, understand it, and apply it to our human relationships. Anyone who has ever been angry with a spouse, a friend, a church community, or a pastor, knows how challenging this kind of unconditional love is to express and accept. We sometimes view whether or not our human friends please us as the measure of their love. If that same view is how we view the love of God — whether or not God pleases us — we act on self-centeredness rather than faith. God loves us unconditionally, but that doesn’t mean we get everything we want. Rather God’s unconditional love inspires and moves us to aspire to share that same love with ourselves and others. That is the message of Paul’s letter for us. May we seek to love others as God loves us.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
We need to let this text speak for itself and quit (incorrectly) treating it as an ode to how we should or do love each other. This is a lesson about agape, about God’s love. The brave modern Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer did a great job describing love in such a way that only God can offer it:
Only true love can forgive. Love forgets the wrong. It does not hold grudges... Every day it faces the other with new love and a fresh start. It forgets what lies behind. By acting this way it makes itself the laughingstock of the people. It makes a fool of itself, but it is not deterred by such ridicule. Instead it continues to love. (A Testament of Hope, p.261)
To be sure this love of God leads us to love others. In one of his early Reformation writings on freedom Martin Luther observed this:
He [the Christian] ought to think: “Although I am an unworthy and condemned man, my God has given me in Christ all the riches of righteousness and salvation without any merit on my part... Why should I not therefore freely, joyfully, with all my heart and wit and eager will do all the things which I know are pleasing and acceptable to such a Father who has overwhelmed with His inestimable riches? I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered Himself for me; I will do nothing in this life except what I see is necessary, profitable, and salutary to my neighbor, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ.” (Luther’s Works, Vool.31, p.367)
Bonhoeffer elaborates on what this freedom and love entails for everyday life:
Because to be free... means to be free from ourselves, from our untruth, in which it seems as if I alone were there, as if I were the center of the world... to be free from myself in order to be for others. God’s truth alone allows me to see others. It directs my attention, bent on myself, to what is beyond and shows me the other person. (A Testament to Freedom, p.217)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Even if we speak in tongues but don’t have love in us we are just noise makers.
No matter what great things we can do to help others, but have not love, it is nothing.
New believers (children) are sometimes making sacrifices for all the homeless people who immigrated to our country — even connecting lost children to their parents — but are just doing it to gain votes in the next election. If they don’t do it out of love it amounts to nothing for them in God’s eyes.
It is true that one of the ways we show love is by our actions. Jesus tells the story of those who don’t give to someone in need and they are condemned because they didn’t give to him when he was begging. This text seems to tell us that anything we do without love is worthless. Love must be our soul motive. And the way we show our love is my helping others. It is a sign that we don’t have love if we don’t give to those in need.
A pastor may check a record of contributions as a sign of love. That may be one sign. One duty of a church is to help us grow in love.
My seminary professors spoke in the tongues of men and angels. They spoke brilliantly and sometimes there was even beauty in their words. But I could only really feel God’s loving spirit in one or two of them. My buddies in seminary also felt this. They did not truly “feel” God’s love in every one.
One of our professors spent extra time finding a home for one student who came from another country. One of them also helped a student in financial difficulties.
The God I found came to me through his love that I felt in others. That is not something easily explained in words. It is something you feel. I even received gifts from some, but felt no love in them. I got contributions for my ministry from some who felt it was their duty as a good church member. One told me that he saved money on his income tax when he recorded his gift to mission.
Our every prayer should be that God will put his love in our heart. Everything we do should be from that love.
Bob O.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
Lorenzo Cain is one of the premier baseball players in Major League Baseball. The outfielder started with the Milwaukee Brewers and then, later, played for the Kansas City Royals where he was part of the nucleus of a team that went to the World Series in back to back years. In 2014, Cain was named the MVP of the American League Championship Series and has been a two-time All Star. His story is one of hard work, dedication and determination. He currently plays again for the Brewers and is a part of their push to win the National League pennant. Cain is a strong hitter, speedy runner and phenomenal fielder. He is also a husband and a father. Though he accomplishes incredible feats on the diamond, he has “home team” responsibilities, including changing diapers. “It’s definitely going to take me a while to master that … but I’m definitely willing to learn and do what I can to be an expert on changing diapers
I suspect that Lorenzo Cain is happy to change his kids’ diapers, but it is a bit of an unusual thought. The superstar outfielder who is watched and loved by fans struggles to change diapers at home. There is something different about being around the “home team.” While baseball superstars are reduced to doing the work of mere mortals, it was worse for Jesus. Not only did they minimize him, his “home team” felt as if he couldn’t possibly be anything big. He was just one of them. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” It seems that it’s just not easy to go home again.
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
Luke uses more than one term to describe anger. In the story of the martyrdom of Stephen from the Acts of the Apostles the people are so angry at what the martyr says they grind their teeth together, doing damage to themselves (Acts 7:54). Before Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath he challenges the religious leaders with a question that invites them to condemn him for doing so, knowing that they don’t dare oppose him because the people watching will be outraged. Their response is a Greek word suggesting mindless fury (Luke 6:11). They’re so angry they can’t think straight.
When Jesus reads a passage from Isaiah that suggests that the messiah is going to declare the Jubilee, bringing gifts to the outcasts and the prisoners and bringing debt relief to the impoverished, it triggers a different kind of anger from the people who know him best. For them this is personal. The anger is thumos, a deep anger felt in the very core of one’s being. It is so deep a wrath that they move from admiration to an unquenchable desire to kill Jesus.
Do you want to add something about the relationship of this word to Incense or Thyme? Sharing the same root?
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 4:21-30
It was my first day as a Virginia State trooper. I was working the evening shift, and nothing occurred during my eight hours of patrolling the streets of Page County. So, a few minutes before 11 p.m. I returned to the barracks to sign-out, thankful that my first day was a quiet day. I then got a radio call for a hit-and-run accident. By 2 a.m. I located the culprit. Our confrontation took place on a hill. As he stood on the street a few feet below me, he was still taller than I was. I wondered how I would ever get this scoundrel into my patrol car. After announcing that he was under arrest, he quietly walked over and got in the back seat of my blue and gray patrol car. Now, that is peace! God, we know, offers us even a greater peace in a hostile world. Unfortunately, Jesus did not receive this kind of cooperation.
Ron L.
