Sermon Illustrations for Lent 5 (2019)
Illustration
Isaiah 43:16-21
Irena Sendlerowa is a ninety-seven-year-old Polish woman whose story is powerful and profound. Sendlerowa was a Polish social worker who saved 2,500 Jewish babies and children from the Nazi death camps in 1942 and 1943. As a member of Zegota, a secret organization set up by the Polish government in exile in London in the second world war to rescue Polish Jews, she organized a small group of social workers to smuggle the children to safety. She worked in the Warsaw health department and had permission to enter the ghetto. She and her team smuggled the children out by variously hiding them in ambulances, taking them through the sewer pipes or other underground passageways, wheeling them out on a trolley in suitcases or boxes or taking them out through the old courtyard which led to the non-Jewish areas. She is remembered today as “the female Oskar Schindler.”
Stories of deliverance and rescue always tug at our heart strings and give us hope and encouragement. Sendlerowa’s story is uplifting. The story Isaiah tells for God in our text for today is also one of hope and encouragement. As God delivered his people from Egypt, God is about to do will be another act of deliverance. This time God promises to meet their needs, but it will be accomplished by turning the dry land into rivers. God is there for his people. Psalm 18:2 notes, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 43:16-21
It’s a radical thing when the prophet tells the people, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old (43:18).” Our backstory, our version of history, defines us. Take Nehemiah 9, for instance. When the Governor of Judah prays he calls upon the people to remember God as Creator, God as maker of Covenants (with Abraham), God as Liberator (a nation of slaves is freed as God performs wonders, including the parting of the Red Sea), and a Faithful God, despite a history of disobedience in the Wilderness and under the reign of the Kings. We see this history also recalled and retold in the Psalms and by the Prophets. God has been gracious and the people have failed, But in this passage the people are invited to put the past in the past, and prepare not only for greater deeds than God has ever performed before, but a new Exodus which will permit the people to succeed this time, instead of failing as in the past!
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 43:16-21
William Wilberforce is best known as a great abolitionist in England. He was an evangelical Christian whose lifelong ambition was social reform. In 1787 the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, who was the parliamentary leader of the abolition movement, suggested Wilberforce join the Abolition Society, which he officially did in 1794. In his campaign for outlawing slavery he had a number of disappointments. In one disappointing setback the English Parliament, on March 15, 1796, voted 74 -70 against an anti-slavery bill. The bill failed to pass because the opponents of the bill cleverly provided lukewarm supporters with free tickets to see the London premier of a comic opera. Yet, Wilberforce was persistent and the Slavery Abolition Act which was passed in 1833.
Ron L.
* * *
Philippians 3:4b-14
It’s easy sometimes to think we have done all we need to do to be righteous in the following of Jesus. Paul tells us about his own background of righteousness. “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” Yet, Paul goes on to tell us that everything he is really doesn’t mean anything against his relationship with Jesus. Human righteousness and adherence to human systems isn’t important. What is important is pressing on toward the goal of being in complete unity with God through Jesus. Thankfully, we don’t need to do this on our own. We have the strengthening of the Holy Spirit to encourage and empower us to move into relationship with God in God’s righteousness. Maybe we should meditate on that this Lenten season.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Philippians 3:4b-14
Paul wants us to give up the past for what’s ahead. In The Glass Bead Game German author Hermannn Hesse said it all about the transience of life and all the “great” things we’ve done in life:
No permanence is ours; we are a wave
That flows to fit whatever form it finds:
Life comes and goes. Ultimately it is all rubbish. Famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom (called the one with a “golden mouth”) said that all our deeds are nothing but dung (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.13, p.235). Who will know you and me in 1,000 years? Few of us know the names of our medieval ancestors, and even if we do, we do not love them. The graves in cemeteries which never get a visit testify to all this.
Paul says that it is only in Christ that life has any meaning. John Calvin claimed that Paul “condemns here such looking back...” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXI/2, p.102). In contrast to the dung of works, Augustine says that the righteousness and love that Christ gives us is a sweet perfume (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.7, p.280). A life lived in Jesus is sweet and its lasts. Long after you and I are no more the work we have done in his name will continue, the worship in which we have participated will continue in Lent 5000, and so what we have done will not be in vain. Reflecting on this text and its message of hope for the future and the meaning of our lives in the present, Martin Luther once noted: “Therefore a Christian, as a child of God, must always sing, fear nothing, always be free from care, and always glory in God.” (Luther’s Works, Vol.29, p.177). In Christ the future looks even better than the past.
Mark E.
* * *
Philippians 3:4b-14
There is a big difference between knowing Christ and knowing About Him.
I had some professors in seminary who I felt knew much about Christ, but I did not feel that they knew him. They were full of academic righteousness and knowledge. They were so proud of their wisdom and their degrees, but we did not feel any of God’s love in them.
When I attended pastor’s meetings I could tell which ones knew the Lord and which ones were mainly proud of their denominational wisdom.
I told my seminary students in Nepal that it was more important for their prospects to feel loved than to learn facts.
More members will be attracted to our churches if they felt God’s love in the pastor and the people
Confirmation class seems to emphasize knowledge of the Lutheran church more than the reality of Christ’s love.
The more we will show Jesus’ love to others the more they will come to know him.
Bob O.
* * *
John 12:1-8
Lazarus may have been raised from death into life, but death looms over the living Word Made Flesh. The verb used in John 13:5 to describe the washing of the disciples’ feet by Jesus is also used in this passage to describe Mary’s care for the feet of Jesus. In her volume on John in the Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries Karoline M. Lewis suggests that Mary is prefiguring the Servant Love Jesus will demonstrate for his disciples and for us, and she does it extravagantly. We learn that the perfume costs three hundred days wages. Since work is not performed on the Sabbaths this means that this act of love costs a whole year’s pay. Our world has done its best to banish strong smells, but Mary’s world cherished them. Just as the body her brother Lazarus upon his death had been lathered with perfumes and spices before being wound in clothes, Jesus is swathed with the smell of perfume and so is the room. All are blessed. Jesus is served as he will serve the others. Both are performing a degrading task reserved for slaves, and in doing so they not only set us an example, they elevate the gritty work of caregivers.
Frank R.
* * *
John 12:1-8
The rain didn’t seem to bother the little dancer. I saw her come into the church with her mother. Her mom rushed to get in from the downpour, but not this little girl. She was oblivious to the rain and overjoyed. I watched her artistry from the window. Though just six years old, she danced with grace, skill and most of all, exuberance. In her pink rain coat and hat, she twirled as a ballerina might. Joy radiated from her. The rain did not dampen her enthusiasm, nor did it wash away her passion.
Exuberant joy and unbridled passion might be a bit rare. People are not always comfortable around lavish displays of emotion. It’s a shame, in a way, because Jesus seems to honor extravagant worship. The people that came that day sat with Jesus, heard his voice and perhaps even served him. They saw Jesus, but not like Mary did. She saw Jesus in a way that moved her deeply. Her response came from a heart that understood his love for her. Her extravagant acts came from a desire to give to the One who has given and will give so much. Her outpouring of love flowed from a soul indelibly imprinted with the image of a friend and savior.
John Piper wrote in Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, “Jesus alone is worthy of our highest admiration.” When we see Jesus, as Mary did, our hearts cannot help but burst with love and passion. Being in Jesus’ presence can be awe-inspiring.
Bill T.
* * *
John 12:1-8
The death and Resurrection of Jesus assures us of the everlasting covenant we have with God. Perhaps the sign given to Noah carries the same message as the perfume that Mary used to anoint the feet of Jesus.
A rainbow contains the colors of creation, as we all can easily remember the colors of a rainbow with the name ROY G. BIV - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. If these are the colors of creation, then they are also the colors of an everlasting covenant with God.
We look to the rainbow and see a beautiful arc of colors on the horizon. Again, from childhood, we were told that if we can run to find the end of the rainbow, we will discover a leprechaun with a pot of gold. This is a nice story, but there is a truer and more meaningful story. A rainbow is actually a circle. It only appears to be an arc because the horizon only allows us to view one-half of the rainbow. So, if you chase a rainbow to find a pot of gold, you will have travelled a full circle only to discover yourself as the pot of gold.
So, what is the meaning of an everlasting covenant? It means that as we travel the circle of life God will forever be with us.
Ron L.
Irena Sendlerowa is a ninety-seven-year-old Polish woman whose story is powerful and profound. Sendlerowa was a Polish social worker who saved 2,500 Jewish babies and children from the Nazi death camps in 1942 and 1943. As a member of Zegota, a secret organization set up by the Polish government in exile in London in the second world war to rescue Polish Jews, she organized a small group of social workers to smuggle the children to safety. She worked in the Warsaw health department and had permission to enter the ghetto. She and her team smuggled the children out by variously hiding them in ambulances, taking them through the sewer pipes or other underground passageways, wheeling them out on a trolley in suitcases or boxes or taking them out through the old courtyard which led to the non-Jewish areas. She is remembered today as “the female Oskar Schindler.”
Stories of deliverance and rescue always tug at our heart strings and give us hope and encouragement. Sendlerowa’s story is uplifting. The story Isaiah tells for God in our text for today is also one of hope and encouragement. As God delivered his people from Egypt, God is about to do will be another act of deliverance. This time God promises to meet their needs, but it will be accomplished by turning the dry land into rivers. God is there for his people. Psalm 18:2 notes, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 43:16-21
It’s a radical thing when the prophet tells the people, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old (43:18).” Our backstory, our version of history, defines us. Take Nehemiah 9, for instance. When the Governor of Judah prays he calls upon the people to remember God as Creator, God as maker of Covenants (with Abraham), God as Liberator (a nation of slaves is freed as God performs wonders, including the parting of the Red Sea), and a Faithful God, despite a history of disobedience in the Wilderness and under the reign of the Kings. We see this history also recalled and retold in the Psalms and by the Prophets. God has been gracious and the people have failed, But in this passage the people are invited to put the past in the past, and prepare not only for greater deeds than God has ever performed before, but a new Exodus which will permit the people to succeed this time, instead of failing as in the past!
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 43:16-21
William Wilberforce is best known as a great abolitionist in England. He was an evangelical Christian whose lifelong ambition was social reform. In 1787 the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, who was the parliamentary leader of the abolition movement, suggested Wilberforce join the Abolition Society, which he officially did in 1794. In his campaign for outlawing slavery he had a number of disappointments. In one disappointing setback the English Parliament, on March 15, 1796, voted 74 -70 against an anti-slavery bill. The bill failed to pass because the opponents of the bill cleverly provided lukewarm supporters with free tickets to see the London premier of a comic opera. Yet, Wilberforce was persistent and the Slavery Abolition Act which was passed in 1833.
Ron L.
* * *
Philippians 3:4b-14
It’s easy sometimes to think we have done all we need to do to be righteous in the following of Jesus. Paul tells us about his own background of righteousness. “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” Yet, Paul goes on to tell us that everything he is really doesn’t mean anything against his relationship with Jesus. Human righteousness and adherence to human systems isn’t important. What is important is pressing on toward the goal of being in complete unity with God through Jesus. Thankfully, we don’t need to do this on our own. We have the strengthening of the Holy Spirit to encourage and empower us to move into relationship with God in God’s righteousness. Maybe we should meditate on that this Lenten season.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Philippians 3:4b-14
Paul wants us to give up the past for what’s ahead. In The Glass Bead Game German author Hermannn Hesse said it all about the transience of life and all the “great” things we’ve done in life:
No permanence is ours; we are a wave
That flows to fit whatever form it finds:
Life comes and goes. Ultimately it is all rubbish. Famed preacher of the early church John Chrysostom (called the one with a “golden mouth”) said that all our deeds are nothing but dung (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.13, p.235). Who will know you and me in 1,000 years? Few of us know the names of our medieval ancestors, and even if we do, we do not love them. The graves in cemeteries which never get a visit testify to all this.
Paul says that it is only in Christ that life has any meaning. John Calvin claimed that Paul “condemns here such looking back...” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXI/2, p.102). In contrast to the dung of works, Augustine says that the righteousness and love that Christ gives us is a sweet perfume (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.7, p.280). A life lived in Jesus is sweet and its lasts. Long after you and I are no more the work we have done in his name will continue, the worship in which we have participated will continue in Lent 5000, and so what we have done will not be in vain. Reflecting on this text and its message of hope for the future and the meaning of our lives in the present, Martin Luther once noted: “Therefore a Christian, as a child of God, must always sing, fear nothing, always be free from care, and always glory in God.” (Luther’s Works, Vol.29, p.177). In Christ the future looks even better than the past.
Mark E.
* * *
Philippians 3:4b-14
There is a big difference between knowing Christ and knowing About Him.
I had some professors in seminary who I felt knew much about Christ, but I did not feel that they knew him. They were full of academic righteousness and knowledge. They were so proud of their wisdom and their degrees, but we did not feel any of God’s love in them.
When I attended pastor’s meetings I could tell which ones knew the Lord and which ones were mainly proud of their denominational wisdom.
I told my seminary students in Nepal that it was more important for their prospects to feel loved than to learn facts.
More members will be attracted to our churches if they felt God’s love in the pastor and the people
Confirmation class seems to emphasize knowledge of the Lutheran church more than the reality of Christ’s love.
The more we will show Jesus’ love to others the more they will come to know him.
Bob O.
* * *
John 12:1-8
Lazarus may have been raised from death into life, but death looms over the living Word Made Flesh. The verb used in John 13:5 to describe the washing of the disciples’ feet by Jesus is also used in this passage to describe Mary’s care for the feet of Jesus. In her volume on John in the Fortress Biblical Preaching Commentaries Karoline M. Lewis suggests that Mary is prefiguring the Servant Love Jesus will demonstrate for his disciples and for us, and she does it extravagantly. We learn that the perfume costs three hundred days wages. Since work is not performed on the Sabbaths this means that this act of love costs a whole year’s pay. Our world has done its best to banish strong smells, but Mary’s world cherished them. Just as the body her brother Lazarus upon his death had been lathered with perfumes and spices before being wound in clothes, Jesus is swathed with the smell of perfume and so is the room. All are blessed. Jesus is served as he will serve the others. Both are performing a degrading task reserved for slaves, and in doing so they not only set us an example, they elevate the gritty work of caregivers.
Frank R.
* * *
John 12:1-8
The rain didn’t seem to bother the little dancer. I saw her come into the church with her mother. Her mom rushed to get in from the downpour, but not this little girl. She was oblivious to the rain and overjoyed. I watched her artistry from the window. Though just six years old, she danced with grace, skill and most of all, exuberance. In her pink rain coat and hat, she twirled as a ballerina might. Joy radiated from her. The rain did not dampen her enthusiasm, nor did it wash away her passion.
Exuberant joy and unbridled passion might be a bit rare. People are not always comfortable around lavish displays of emotion. It’s a shame, in a way, because Jesus seems to honor extravagant worship. The people that came that day sat with Jesus, heard his voice and perhaps even served him. They saw Jesus, but not like Mary did. She saw Jesus in a way that moved her deeply. Her response came from a heart that understood his love for her. Her extravagant acts came from a desire to give to the One who has given and will give so much. Her outpouring of love flowed from a soul indelibly imprinted with the image of a friend and savior.
John Piper wrote in Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, “Jesus alone is worthy of our highest admiration.” When we see Jesus, as Mary did, our hearts cannot help but burst with love and passion. Being in Jesus’ presence can be awe-inspiring.
Bill T.
* * *
John 12:1-8
The death and Resurrection of Jesus assures us of the everlasting covenant we have with God. Perhaps the sign given to Noah carries the same message as the perfume that Mary used to anoint the feet of Jesus.
A rainbow contains the colors of creation, as we all can easily remember the colors of a rainbow with the name ROY G. BIV - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. If these are the colors of creation, then they are also the colors of an everlasting covenant with God.
We look to the rainbow and see a beautiful arc of colors on the horizon. Again, from childhood, we were told that if we can run to find the end of the rainbow, we will discover a leprechaun with a pot of gold. This is a nice story, but there is a truer and more meaningful story. A rainbow is actually a circle. It only appears to be an arc because the horizon only allows us to view one-half of the rainbow. So, if you chase a rainbow to find a pot of gold, you will have travelled a full circle only to discover yourself as the pot of gold.
So, what is the meaning of an everlasting covenant? It means that as we travel the circle of life God will forever be with us.
Ron L.
