Sermon Illustrations for New Year's Day (2022)
Illustration
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
I’m a fan of the Avengers movies. My two favorites are Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. These two go together and conclude an amazing story that encompasses over twenty movies. One of the most touching scenes of this movie (and there are lots of them) involves Steve Rogers and his friend, Sam Wilson. Rogers left on a time loop to take back an infinity stone, but he fails to return like he’s supposed to. In a matter of seconds, they see him, an old man, sitting on a bench. We discover that he’s decided to live back in time. When asked why, we learn that he believes it is his time to enjoy things that he never did, just as Tony Stark had told him to do. It was his season. Then, he passes the Captain America shield to Sam. It’s time for Sam to be what he can be…Captain America.
I thought about that ending scene as I read through this passage that Peter Seeger turned into a folk song. Solomon makes it clear in this passage that there is a time for all that we do and that we should make the most of the time we’re in. As we begin this new year, let’s remember God wants us to use our time well. That’s what Seeger wrote about, and Steve Rogers wanted to do.
Bill T.
* * *
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Just what is meant by a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones together?
Most of the other items in the list of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 make clear sense — a time to be born and a time to die, a time for love and a time for hate. Are these opposites a pair of euphemisms for something else, or do they refer literally to gathering and throwing stones?
The ancient rabbis gave the matter a lot of thought. One position is that it refers to times in our lives when it is appropriate and inappropriate for women and men to share sexual intercourse. Others suggest it refers specifically to a woman’s menstrual cycle, when she moves from being ritually clean to ritually unclean, marking boundaries for when sex is appropriate. Then, too, the seven days assigned for official mourning are also a time for refraining from sexual relations.
Another suggestion is the one throws stones to ruin an enemy’s field for cultivation (see 2 Kings 3, 19, 25 for instance), or then again, during a time of peace one clears a field of stones for planning (see Isaiah 5:2)
It’s also appropriate to gather stones in order to build.
(The various commentaries I read shared much of the same speculation. If you want to look for yourself, let me suggest “The JPS Bible Commentary: Ecclesiastes” with commentary by Michael V. Fox, and the “Ecclesiastes: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary” by Choon-Leong Seow. The latter is part of the Anchor Bible series.)
Frank R.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-6a
Commenting on this text, famed modern theologian Karl Barth noted the hope it offers in the midst of our trials (the crosses we must bear). He wrote:
It is of the very essence of the cross carried by Christians that it has a goal, and therefore an end, and therefore its time (v.4)... “Our Christian cross is brief and bounded. One day ‘twill have an ending. When hushed is snowy winter’s voice, beauteous summer comes again; Thus ‘twill be with human pain. Let those who have hope rejoice.” There cannot lack a foretaste of joy even in the intermediate time of waiting, in the time of sanctification, and therefore in the time of the cross. (Church Dogmatics, Index Vol., p.405)
Elsewhere he further elaborates on how this vision of the end helps us live in the here and now, is not a way to flee life. The New Jerusalem completes the Jerusalem which now exists, like omega completes alpha:
Resurrection means not the continuation of this life, but life’s completion. To this man a ‘yes’ is spoken which the shadow of death cannot touch... So the Christian hope affects our whole life: this life of ours will be completed. (Dogmatics in Outline, p.154)
Ancient African theologian Tertullian offers profound insights on what it means to say that God wipes away all our tears:
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;” from the same eyes indeed which had formerly wept, and which might weep again if the loving-kindness of God did not dry up every fountain of tears... and there shall be no more death, and therefore no more corruption it being chased away by incorruption... where will you find adversities in the present of God? (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.3, p.590)
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 25:31-46
I found the tragic story of Christopher Sercye while researching and was struck by how it connects to this passage. Sercye was playing basketball with his friends on May 16, 1998, when he was shot in the chest, and a bullet perforated his aorta. His friends helped him get to within forty feet of the entrance to a Chicago hospital and then went inside and asked for help. The hospital staff refused to help Christopher saying that it was against the hospital’s policies to administer aid to those outside the hospital. Eventually a policeman was able to get a wheelchair and wheeled Christopher into the hospital where he was helped by the hospital staff. It was too late, however, and Christopher died about an hour later. Five years later, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune, his family settled a lawsuit with the hospital and the hospital’s policy was changed.
A young man was wounded and dying just outside the doors of a hospital and didn’t receive help. At that moment, he was the “least of these,” but no one cared. It’s a gut-wrenching tragedy. I wonder, though, how many people we pass by who need our help? Have we grown numb to their plight? Are we deaf to their cries? As we enter this new year, may we take to heart the words of Jesus from this passage. “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
Bill T.
I’m a fan of the Avengers movies. My two favorites are Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. These two go together and conclude an amazing story that encompasses over twenty movies. One of the most touching scenes of this movie (and there are lots of them) involves Steve Rogers and his friend, Sam Wilson. Rogers left on a time loop to take back an infinity stone, but he fails to return like he’s supposed to. In a matter of seconds, they see him, an old man, sitting on a bench. We discover that he’s decided to live back in time. When asked why, we learn that he believes it is his time to enjoy things that he never did, just as Tony Stark had told him to do. It was his season. Then, he passes the Captain America shield to Sam. It’s time for Sam to be what he can be…Captain America.
I thought about that ending scene as I read through this passage that Peter Seeger turned into a folk song. Solomon makes it clear in this passage that there is a time for all that we do and that we should make the most of the time we’re in. As we begin this new year, let’s remember God wants us to use our time well. That’s what Seeger wrote about, and Steve Rogers wanted to do.
Bill T.
* * *
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Just what is meant by a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones together?
Most of the other items in the list of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 make clear sense — a time to be born and a time to die, a time for love and a time for hate. Are these opposites a pair of euphemisms for something else, or do they refer literally to gathering and throwing stones?
The ancient rabbis gave the matter a lot of thought. One position is that it refers to times in our lives when it is appropriate and inappropriate for women and men to share sexual intercourse. Others suggest it refers specifically to a woman’s menstrual cycle, when she moves from being ritually clean to ritually unclean, marking boundaries for when sex is appropriate. Then, too, the seven days assigned for official mourning are also a time for refraining from sexual relations.
Another suggestion is the one throws stones to ruin an enemy’s field for cultivation (see 2 Kings 3, 19, 25 for instance), or then again, during a time of peace one clears a field of stones for planning (see Isaiah 5:2)
It’s also appropriate to gather stones in order to build.
(The various commentaries I read shared much of the same speculation. If you want to look for yourself, let me suggest “The JPS Bible Commentary: Ecclesiastes” with commentary by Michael V. Fox, and the “Ecclesiastes: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary” by Choon-Leong Seow. The latter is part of the Anchor Bible series.)
Frank R.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-6a
Commenting on this text, famed modern theologian Karl Barth noted the hope it offers in the midst of our trials (the crosses we must bear). He wrote:
It is of the very essence of the cross carried by Christians that it has a goal, and therefore an end, and therefore its time (v.4)... “Our Christian cross is brief and bounded. One day ‘twill have an ending. When hushed is snowy winter’s voice, beauteous summer comes again; Thus ‘twill be with human pain. Let those who have hope rejoice.” There cannot lack a foretaste of joy even in the intermediate time of waiting, in the time of sanctification, and therefore in the time of the cross. (Church Dogmatics, Index Vol., p.405)
Elsewhere he further elaborates on how this vision of the end helps us live in the here and now, is not a way to flee life. The New Jerusalem completes the Jerusalem which now exists, like omega completes alpha:
Resurrection means not the continuation of this life, but life’s completion. To this man a ‘yes’ is spoken which the shadow of death cannot touch... So the Christian hope affects our whole life: this life of ours will be completed. (Dogmatics in Outline, p.154)
Ancient African theologian Tertullian offers profound insights on what it means to say that God wipes away all our tears:
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes;” from the same eyes indeed which had formerly wept, and which might weep again if the loving-kindness of God did not dry up every fountain of tears... and there shall be no more death, and therefore no more corruption it being chased away by incorruption... where will you find adversities in the present of God? (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.3, p.590)
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 25:31-46
I found the tragic story of Christopher Sercye while researching and was struck by how it connects to this passage. Sercye was playing basketball with his friends on May 16, 1998, when he was shot in the chest, and a bullet perforated his aorta. His friends helped him get to within forty feet of the entrance to a Chicago hospital and then went inside and asked for help. The hospital staff refused to help Christopher saying that it was against the hospital’s policies to administer aid to those outside the hospital. Eventually a policeman was able to get a wheelchair and wheeled Christopher into the hospital where he was helped by the hospital staff. It was too late, however, and Christopher died about an hour later. Five years later, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune, his family settled a lawsuit with the hospital and the hospital’s policy was changed.
A young man was wounded and dying just outside the doors of a hospital and didn’t receive help. At that moment, he was the “least of these,” but no one cared. It’s a gut-wrenching tragedy. I wonder, though, how many people we pass by who need our help? Have we grown numb to their plight? Are we deaf to their cries? As we enter this new year, may we take to heart the words of Jesus from this passage. “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
Bill T.
