Sermon Illustrations for Lent 5 (2021)
Illustration
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Do you always follow the rules? I could be disingenuous and say I do, but the next time I speed on my drive to work, that would be a lie. I try to follow the rules and I try to follow God’s law as well. Jeremiah is reminding us that the law isn’t something we put on like a shawl or a coat. Rather, God’s Law is to live within us, in our hearts. That for me changes everything. I am called to remember the relationship I have with God and with my neighbors is to come from my heart, not from my head. Heart-work is harder. Heart-work means more than going through the motions of loving God and neighbor. Heart-work means loving as God loves, offering grace and reconciliation as God does. That’s a large task and it’s not about our heads. It’s about our hearts being anchored in God, God’s law and God’s vision of the world.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Jeremiah 31:31-34
In a best-selling 2006 book by Psychologist Jean Twenge, Generation Me, she noted that a concern with self-esteem has become the ethical watchword for most Americans.
Morality in general has fallen on tough times. The Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics found in 2017 that 59% of high school students admitted cheating on a test during the last year. 34% self-reported doing it more than two times. And a 2019 Marketwatch poll found 15% of the public thought cheating on income tax was permissible. This Lesson provides a counter to this new value system, not by telling us to change but that we now have the law (the right values) written in our hearts. It is as Martin Luther once proclaimed in a sermon:
For where the Gospel is truly in the heart, it creates a new man who does not wait til the Law comes, but being so full of joy in Christ, and of desire and love for that which is good, he gladly helps and does good to everyone where he can, from a free heart, before he ever thinks of the Law. (Complete Sermons, Vol.2/2, p.76)
Mark E.
* * *
Hebrews 5:5-10
James Wolfe, a British Army officer, died on September 13, 1759, in Canada. History tells us that Wolfe and his troops moved noiselessly down the Saint Lawrence River by boat on that fateful day and climbed up the track to completely surprise the French, who then surrendered. However, Wolfe was hit by three bullets and fell at the head of his men. He knew, though, victory was assured for the English and was said to have died with a smile on his face. He was buried in Westminster Abbey where these words are carved on his tomb: “Slain in the moment of victory.”
Slain in the moment of victory. The words are appropriate for Wolfe and even more so for Jesus Christ, our high priest. By Jesus’ suffering, he became the “source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). Jesus “paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.”
Bill T.
* * *
Hebrews 5:5-10
So what does it mean to be a king after the order of Melchizedek?
What do you want it to mean?
Melchizedek appears, a mysterious figure, the priest- king who comes from nowhere, disappears into nowhere, honors Abraham after his military victory, grants him a blessing, and moves on. He seems to believe in the one God, God most high as the Lord was known among the nations. According to Nahum Sarna’s Jewish Publication Society commentary on Genesis, to Philo, a first-century BC Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, Egypt, he is “a cosmic figure, the personification of the logos.” In the Gospel of John, the logos is the “w ord,” the cosmic Jesus. For the Qumran community, a desert community believed to have produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, Melchizedek was a figure who would figure in the end times. Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages ranked him with David, Joseph, and Elijah.
Because he has no ancestry and no descendants that we are aware of, early Christian writers, including the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, saw him as someone who prefigured Jesus.
While some would translate his name as “Zadok is my King,” his name could be drawn from mlk sdq, r ighteous (or legitimate) King. There are many examples of this from the ancient world. This is indeed the claim made for Jesus. It’s there written ironically on his cross in three languages, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” It’s clear in Revelation that Jesus is the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16). We are assured in Paul’s letter to the Philippians that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess Jesus Christ is Lord…(Philippians 2:10-11).
Jesus is the king of righteousness. Jesus is the legitimate king.
Frank R.
* * *
John 12:20-33
I like to garden. I always have. I will confess that I can’t seem to grow a houseplant but outdoors I am a pretty good gardener. I can remember as a child working with my family in the garden, planting seeds which looked like little dried up, dead things, and being amazed as they began to send green shoots forth from the ground. The magic of something seeming dead coming to life amazed me then. It amazes me now as I hear Jesus share the death he will face and allude to the resurrection even though his disciples cannot understand his message. Resurrection is a difficult concept to understand, much like the “dead” seed growing into a new plant was difficult for me as a child. Yet, I am a believer in rebirth and resurrection. It is resurrection that gives me hope.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 12:20-33
Life is still full of confusion for many of us, even on this side of the pandemic and the elections. We make many plans, but still do not have it all figured out. Evangelical Episcopal church leader William Culbertson offers some sound advice in the midst of our confusion: “Be thankful that God’s answers are wiser than your answers.” In the same spirit, John Calvin observed how the bad things in life are in God’s hands, will lead to the good he has planned:
When, therefore, the godly are distressed by various afflictions, when they are pressed hard by the difficulties of their situation, when they suffer hunger, or nakedness, or disease, when they are assailed by reproaches, when it appears as if they would every hour be almost overwhelmed by death, let them unceasingly consider that this is a sowing which, in due time, will yield fruit. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXVIII/1, p.28)
Have hope in the midst of confusion, because God is still in charge. Reflecting on prayer in the Spirit of the way the Father answered Jesus’ prayer in our Lesson, Calvin added that in prayer we petition, “That all creatures be subdued to His [God’s] obedience and so dependent on His nod that nothing be done but by His Will.” (Calvin: Theological Treatises, p.125)
Mark E.
Do you always follow the rules? I could be disingenuous and say I do, but the next time I speed on my drive to work, that would be a lie. I try to follow the rules and I try to follow God’s law as well. Jeremiah is reminding us that the law isn’t something we put on like a shawl or a coat. Rather, God’s Law is to live within us, in our hearts. That for me changes everything. I am called to remember the relationship I have with God and with my neighbors is to come from my heart, not from my head. Heart-work is harder. Heart-work means more than going through the motions of loving God and neighbor. Heart-work means loving as God loves, offering grace and reconciliation as God does. That’s a large task and it’s not about our heads. It’s about our hearts being anchored in God, God’s law and God’s vision of the world.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Jeremiah 31:31-34
In a best-selling 2006 book by Psychologist Jean Twenge, Generation Me, she noted that a concern with self-esteem has become the ethical watchword for most Americans.
Morality in general has fallen on tough times. The Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics found in 2017 that 59% of high school students admitted cheating on a test during the last year. 34% self-reported doing it more than two times. And a 2019 Marketwatch poll found 15% of the public thought cheating on income tax was permissible. This Lesson provides a counter to this new value system, not by telling us to change but that we now have the law (the right values) written in our hearts. It is as Martin Luther once proclaimed in a sermon:
For where the Gospel is truly in the heart, it creates a new man who does not wait til the Law comes, but being so full of joy in Christ, and of desire and love for that which is good, he gladly helps and does good to everyone where he can, from a free heart, before he ever thinks of the Law. (Complete Sermons, Vol.2/2, p.76)
Mark E.
* * *
Hebrews 5:5-10
James Wolfe, a British Army officer, died on September 13, 1759, in Canada. History tells us that Wolfe and his troops moved noiselessly down the Saint Lawrence River by boat on that fateful day and climbed up the track to completely surprise the French, who then surrendered. However, Wolfe was hit by three bullets and fell at the head of his men. He knew, though, victory was assured for the English and was said to have died with a smile on his face. He was buried in Westminster Abbey where these words are carved on his tomb: “Slain in the moment of victory.”
Slain in the moment of victory. The words are appropriate for Wolfe and even more so for Jesus Christ, our high priest. By Jesus’ suffering, he became the “source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). Jesus “paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.”
Bill T.
* * *
Hebrews 5:5-10
So what does it mean to be a king after the order of Melchizedek?
What do you want it to mean?
Melchizedek appears, a mysterious figure, the priest- king who comes from nowhere, disappears into nowhere, honors Abraham after his military victory, grants him a blessing, and moves on. He seems to believe in the one God, God most high as the Lord was known among the nations. According to Nahum Sarna’s Jewish Publication Society commentary on Genesis, to Philo, a first-century BC Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, Egypt, he is “a cosmic figure, the personification of the logos.” In the Gospel of John, the logos is the “w ord,” the cosmic Jesus. For the Qumran community, a desert community believed to have produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, Melchizedek was a figure who would figure in the end times. Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages ranked him with David, Joseph, and Elijah.
Because he has no ancestry and no descendants that we are aware of, early Christian writers, including the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, saw him as someone who prefigured Jesus.
While some would translate his name as “Zadok is my King,” his name could be drawn from mlk sdq, r ighteous (or legitimate) King. There are many examples of this from the ancient world. This is indeed the claim made for Jesus. It’s there written ironically on his cross in three languages, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” It’s clear in Revelation that Jesus is the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Revelation 19:16). We are assured in Paul’s letter to the Philippians that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess Jesus Christ is Lord…(Philippians 2:10-11).
Jesus is the king of righteousness. Jesus is the legitimate king.
Frank R.
* * *
John 12:20-33
I like to garden. I always have. I will confess that I can’t seem to grow a houseplant but outdoors I am a pretty good gardener. I can remember as a child working with my family in the garden, planting seeds which looked like little dried up, dead things, and being amazed as they began to send green shoots forth from the ground. The magic of something seeming dead coming to life amazed me then. It amazes me now as I hear Jesus share the death he will face and allude to the resurrection even though his disciples cannot understand his message. Resurrection is a difficult concept to understand, much like the “dead” seed growing into a new plant was difficult for me as a child. Yet, I am a believer in rebirth and resurrection. It is resurrection that gives me hope.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 12:20-33
Life is still full of confusion for many of us, even on this side of the pandemic and the elections. We make many plans, but still do not have it all figured out. Evangelical Episcopal church leader William Culbertson offers some sound advice in the midst of our confusion: “Be thankful that God’s answers are wiser than your answers.” In the same spirit, John Calvin observed how the bad things in life are in God’s hands, will lead to the good he has planned:
When, therefore, the godly are distressed by various afflictions, when they are pressed hard by the difficulties of their situation, when they suffer hunger, or nakedness, or disease, when they are assailed by reproaches, when it appears as if they would every hour be almost overwhelmed by death, let them unceasingly consider that this is a sowing which, in due time, will yield fruit. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXVIII/1, p.28)
Have hope in the midst of confusion, because God is still in charge. Reflecting on prayer in the Spirit of the way the Father answered Jesus’ prayer in our Lesson, Calvin added that in prayer we petition, “That all creatures be subdued to His [God’s] obedience and so dependent on His nod that nothing be done but by His Will.” (Calvin: Theological Treatises, p.125)
Mark E.
