Sermon Illustrations for Epiphany 5 (OT 5) Cycle C (2022)
Illustration
Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13)
John Calvin comments on the impact this call of Isaiah and the prophet’s response can have on our lives:
Besides, it is a powerful aid to our confidence, when we know that we are not destitute of the necessary gifts, but that God has bestowed them on us, in order that we may be better enabled to discharge our office. Now, this remarkable instance of obedience ought to produce such an effect on our minds that we shall readily and cheerfully undertake any task which he may be pleased to enjoin, and shall never refuse any task, however difficult we may imagine it to be. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VII/1, pp.213-214)
Martin Luther’s characterization of why it would be difficult to find a prophet during Isaiah’s lifetime might have bearing on the challenges of being prophetic today. The reformer wrote:
The Lord thinks hardly anyone is to be found to condemn this nation with its counterfeit righteousness and with teaching that is not sound... (Luther’s Works, Vol.16, p.74)
The first reformer offers a nice image for what the Word of God needs to be for these times. He calls it the “glowing coal kindled by the Holy Spirit in love.” (Luther’s Works, Vol.16, p.77)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Noted artist Paul Gustave Dore was traveling in Europe when he encountered a tough situation. He reached a border crossing and discovered that he had misplaced his passport. Without his papers, the officer wouldn’t allow him to pass. Finally, Dore was given a test to prove his identity. The official gave him a piece of paper and a pencil and requested he draw a group of nearby peasants. Dore did so with such ease that the official was convinced he was indeed the artist. Paul Dore’s identity was affirmed through his work.
Jesus’ work on the cross powerfully affirms that he is the Christ. Perhaps nowhere in scripture is the gospel more succinctly described as it is in this passage. The apostle Paul explained that the gospel message was of first importance. It was in his life, and it is in ours.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Even though I have loved reading from the beginning, and also grew to love writing from a very early age, I can’t say I could make sense of grammar and verb structure. That was always a struggle. Yet I find it intriguing the way Paul uses two different verbs in two different verses to make the same point – that what we experience in communion is emblematic and inseparable from what all human receives from the crucifixion – life and hope!
Here in this passage, we find the verbs paralambano (usually translated “received”) and paradidomi (translated “handed over” or “passed along.”). The NRSV reads: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received; that Christ died for our sins…(15:3)
Just a few chapters earlier, Paul introduced the account of the institution of communion with the same verbs in reverse order. “For I received from the Lord what I also handed to you…(11:23).” I think there’s a deliberate parallel. The living Christ we encounter in communion is the same living Christ who, after his crucifixion, is ever living in the resurrection.
What I can’t figure, and which challenges me, is that the verb for handing over is then translated as “betrayed” when Paul should be translated as saying Jesus was “handed over.” In other words, “…that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was handed over...” not when he was betrayed.
Just as the good news of the resurrection was handed over to us, so too the description of the Last Supper handed over to us states that Jesus, the Bread of Life, was handed over to be crucified. Broken body, broken bread, and our broken lives are transformed.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 5:1-11
Martin Luther nicely summarized this lesson:
Thus, we see in this gospel how God cares for his own and how he sustains them temporally and spiritually both in body and soul. (Complete Sermons, Vol. 2/2, p.140)
In another sermon, the reformer proceeds to explain how the miracle described in this text can impact our everyday lives:
Here you see how a man is delivered from spiritual poverty and distress, that is, how through Christ’s Word he obtains forgiveness of sins and peace of conscience together with grace and increase of spiritual gifts, without any merit or worthiness of his own but only through the grace of Christ... yet the Lord will not permit him [Peter and us] to dispense with all work and effort. Yea, he assigns to him [and us] the duty and business of bringing the same blessings to others... (Complete Sermons, Vol.2/2, p.163)
Not surprisingly, Luther understood the account in this lesson as all about God’s forgiving love, that nothing in life happens without it:
If God did not give us anything unless we had earned it and were worthy of it, he could hardly give us bread and plain water. But he does not intend to look at our merit and worthiness but at our need and his grace and mercy. (What Luther Says, pp.921-922)
Mark E.
John Calvin comments on the impact this call of Isaiah and the prophet’s response can have on our lives:
Besides, it is a powerful aid to our confidence, when we know that we are not destitute of the necessary gifts, but that God has bestowed them on us, in order that we may be better enabled to discharge our office. Now, this remarkable instance of obedience ought to produce such an effect on our minds that we shall readily and cheerfully undertake any task which he may be pleased to enjoin, and shall never refuse any task, however difficult we may imagine it to be. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VII/1, pp.213-214)
Martin Luther’s characterization of why it would be difficult to find a prophet during Isaiah’s lifetime might have bearing on the challenges of being prophetic today. The reformer wrote:
The Lord thinks hardly anyone is to be found to condemn this nation with its counterfeit righteousness and with teaching that is not sound... (Luther’s Works, Vol.16, p.74)
The first reformer offers a nice image for what the Word of God needs to be for these times. He calls it the “glowing coal kindled by the Holy Spirit in love.” (Luther’s Works, Vol.16, p.77)
Mark E.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Noted artist Paul Gustave Dore was traveling in Europe when he encountered a tough situation. He reached a border crossing and discovered that he had misplaced his passport. Without his papers, the officer wouldn’t allow him to pass. Finally, Dore was given a test to prove his identity. The official gave him a piece of paper and a pencil and requested he draw a group of nearby peasants. Dore did so with such ease that the official was convinced he was indeed the artist. Paul Dore’s identity was affirmed through his work.
Jesus’ work on the cross powerfully affirms that he is the Christ. Perhaps nowhere in scripture is the gospel more succinctly described as it is in this passage. The apostle Paul explained that the gospel message was of first importance. It was in his life, and it is in ours.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Even though I have loved reading from the beginning, and also grew to love writing from a very early age, I can’t say I could make sense of grammar and verb structure. That was always a struggle. Yet I find it intriguing the way Paul uses two different verbs in two different verses to make the same point – that what we experience in communion is emblematic and inseparable from what all human receives from the crucifixion – life and hope!
Here in this passage, we find the verbs paralambano (usually translated “received”) and paradidomi (translated “handed over” or “passed along.”). The NRSV reads: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received; that Christ died for our sins…(15:3)
Just a few chapters earlier, Paul introduced the account of the institution of communion with the same verbs in reverse order. “For I received from the Lord what I also handed to you…(11:23).” I think there’s a deliberate parallel. The living Christ we encounter in communion is the same living Christ who, after his crucifixion, is ever living in the resurrection.
What I can’t figure, and which challenges me, is that the verb for handing over is then translated as “betrayed” when Paul should be translated as saying Jesus was “handed over.” In other words, “…that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was handed over...” not when he was betrayed.
Just as the good news of the resurrection was handed over to us, so too the description of the Last Supper handed over to us states that Jesus, the Bread of Life, was handed over to be crucified. Broken body, broken bread, and our broken lives are transformed.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 5:1-11
Martin Luther nicely summarized this lesson:
Thus, we see in this gospel how God cares for his own and how he sustains them temporally and spiritually both in body and soul. (Complete Sermons, Vol. 2/2, p.140)
In another sermon, the reformer proceeds to explain how the miracle described in this text can impact our everyday lives:
Here you see how a man is delivered from spiritual poverty and distress, that is, how through Christ’s Word he obtains forgiveness of sins and peace of conscience together with grace and increase of spiritual gifts, without any merit or worthiness of his own but only through the grace of Christ... yet the Lord will not permit him [Peter and us] to dispense with all work and effort. Yea, he assigns to him [and us] the duty and business of bringing the same blessings to others... (Complete Sermons, Vol.2/2, p.163)
Not surprisingly, Luther understood the account in this lesson as all about God’s forgiving love, that nothing in life happens without it:
If God did not give us anything unless we had earned it and were worthy of it, he could hardly give us bread and plain water. But he does not intend to look at our merit and worthiness but at our need and his grace and mercy. (What Luther Says, pp.921-922)
Mark E.
