Sermon Illustrations for Proper 10 | OT 15 (2025)
Illustration
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82
The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is more than 2,700 feet high—over half a mile tall. It has 160 floors and is twice as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. It is home to the world’s fastest elevator which reaches speeds of forty miles an hour. The Burj Khalifa also hosts the world’s highest outdoor observation deck (on the 124th floor) and the world’s highest swimming pool (on the 76th floor).
While all of this is fascinating, what is even more interesting is how it is built. How does a building like this remain stable? The key is found underground. Before construction began, workers labored to create a massive, solid foundation of concrete weighing more than 100,000 tons. The building is safe and secure because it has structural integrity. Commercial Interior Design website called it “engineering genius.”
Integrity matters in building. It also matters in issues of faith. The prophet Amos, speaking for God, noted that he was establishing a plumb line for his people. He was testing their integrity. God desired his people to worship him only. They would suffer judgment because of their lack of integrity. Do we, the people of God, today demonstrate integrity? How do we measure up against the plumb line?
Bill T.
* * *
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82
A plumb line is a scientific instrument used to ensure that the work of a construction team was straight and true. Used properly, the results are inarguable. Something is straight and true or it isn’t.
Amos uses that symbol of a plumb line as an inarguable way to telling the people that they and their society are all out of true. Prophets have to tell us the truth. They tell us that things are every bit as bad as we think they are. But they tell us this truth to inspire us do so something to change what’s going on, before it’s too late.
By contrast, court prophets in the pay of the king told the king things he wanted to hear. They tried to trivialize Amos the prophet. Go back where you came from. This is the big city. You’re just this country bumpkin.
Amos is more than glad to claim that last bit — but he’s sees it as a compliment. As he will tell the big city prophets, yes — he’s a farmer, a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, but that doesn’t mean the message of the Lord isn’t true. True is true. You can’t argue with the plumb line.
Psalm 82, this week’s selection from the lectionary, pulls back the curtain on a meeting of the divine council, described as meeting with all the “gods” surrounding the Lord. Kings thought of themselves as gods, descended from the gods, but as the psalmist demonstrates with that truth-telling plumb line, they’re only mortal. Don’t pay attention to the court prophets. Listen to the Word of the Lord. Stop being in denial.
Frank R.
* * *
Amos 7:7-17
No question about it. CNN exit polls made clear that Donald Trump owed much of his electoral victory last fall to white Christians who see connections between his policies and their faith. 72% of white Protestants and 61% of white Catholics voted for him. Among evangelicals, he earned 81% of their vote, up from the 76% who sided with him in 2020. Famed modern Reformed theologian Karl Barth says this text was being about how the Word of God challenges mixing government and altar (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/2, pp.450-451). Martin Luther offers an alternative formula most suggestive of the American system. Far better not to inject Biblical teachings into our political deliberations. The reformer put it this way:
To be sure, God made the secular government subordinate and subject to reason, because it is to have no jurisdiction over the welfare of souls or things of eternal value but only over physical and temporal goods, which God places under man’s dominion, Genesis 2:8. For this reason nothing is taught in the gospel about how it is to be maintained and regulated… (Luther’s Works, Vol.13, p.198)
Mark E.
* * *
Psalm 82
A 2020 Pew Research Center poll found that nearly half of registered Republicans think that people who are poor have lower work-ethic standards than those who succeed. And a 2024 poll by Pew indicated that 74% of likely Trump voters believe government is presently doing too much for the poor. This data not only conflicts with the psalm, it is a rejection of the consensus of many of Christianity’s greatest thinkers. For example, St. Augustine once wrote:
God has no need of your money, but the poor have. You give it to the poor and God receives it.
Modern Latin American Liberation Theologian Leonardo Boff put it this way:
God is in the poor who cry out. And God is the one who listens to the cry and liberates so that the poor no longer need to cry out.
Martin Luther even went so far as to advocate that government do more for the poor than it has been doing. As he noted:
Many live for themselves. Meanwhile they neglect the poor, devote themselves to prayer, and consider themselves saints. Yet it is not enough not to have harmed one’s neighbor; God demands positive uplifting of the needy through love. (Luther’s Works, Vol.16, p.19)
Mark E.
* * *
Colossians 1:1-14
For John Calvin this is a text about how faith and love are conferred by God. He wrote:
And unquestionably, gifts of God that are so excellent ought to have such an effect upon us as to stir us up to love them wherever they appear… True love, therefore, will extend to humankind universally… (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXI/2, p.137)
Martin Luther makes some comments about Christ’s work as described in this text. The reformer writes:
The essential feature of redemption — forgiveness of sins — being once obtained, everything belonging to its completion immediately follows… The creatures are not opposed, but at peace and friendly; they smile upon us and we have only joy and life in God and his creation. (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/2. P.377)
In another context the reformer made a related point:
A Christian should not draw his love from the person as the world does… but Christian love should well up from within the heart, should flow constantly like a fresh brook or rivulet; it will not be checked, dried up, and exhausted. Christian love says: I do not love you because you are pious or wicked; for I do not draw my love from piety, as from an outside well but from my own well, namely, the world that has been sunk into my heart, which sways: Love your neighbor. From this well love gushed forth plentifully. (What Luther Says, p.827)
Mark E.
* * *
Colossians 1:1-14
I have to admit that Colossians is my least favorite of the letters that Paul wrote, but this reading is an exception. The thankfulness expressed by Paul is real and humbling to read. Paul is thanking the church for being what the church is called to be. Imagine if we all walked in the knowledge of God, shared our faithfulness, and worked on gaining even more spiritual understanding. I think Paul would thank us as well.
When I preached last Sunday, my call was a question. When will we go out? When will we share the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, with the people in our families, communities, and the world — not just with the people inside the church sitting next to us in a pew. Paul is thanking the Colossian church for living their faith, for acting in faith. Are we doing the same? Would Paul write this letter to our church?
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
A story’s frame is important. As vivid as Oz seems in the classic movie, according to the framing story it was all a dream. (Oddly enough, in the book The Wizard of Oz, there is no dream. Oz is a real place). Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew is about a shrewish woman who is “tamed” by a husband who controls and abuses her until she submits. But the play is actually framed by a play in which the patrons of a tavern dress a drunk peasant as royalty. When he wakes, they convince him he is actually a rich nobleman and to entertain him they put on a play about that shrewish woman. This may have been Shakespeare’s way of saying that the idea you can “tame” anyone by abusive treatment is a fantasy. It certainly changes everything.
The parable often called “The Good Samaritan” is framed by a story in which an expert in Torah tests Jesus by asking him what is necessary to inherit eternal life. Jesus turns the table by asking him a question — what is the essence of Torah? This leads the expert to quote Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” This purely theoretical discussion comes to life — and becomes far more challenging — when Jesus tells the story about how a hated Samaritan rescues a Judean from near certain death when both a priest and a Levite ignore and walk. At the end of the parable, Jesus invited his questioner to name who in the story was the actual neighbor (spoiler alert: the least likely person). Jesus knew it was unlikely anyone had imagined such a thing, and indeed the Torah expert couldn’t bring himself to say the word Samaritan.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
The UK Sun reported, in August 2016, about a situation that occurred in New Delhi. The article reports that a hit-and-run victim died after waiting more than an hour to be taken to hospital. The shocking thing is hundreds of people passed by and didn’t do anything. In fact, one person even stole the victim’s cell phone. The article concludes with this statement. “The release of the video has sparked a debate about the lack of compassion showed.”
John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, once wrote, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” Jesus is explaining that concept to the expert in the law who came to question him about inheriting eternal life. Jesus asked him what was in the law to which he replied, “Love the Lord God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told him to do it. He wanted to go further, though, so he asked, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus responds by telling him the parable of the Good Samaritan. The conclusion of the story is the man’s neighbor is the one who showed him mercy. In the story, it was the least expected one. It wasn’t the priest or Levite. It was the Samaritan. Who is your neighbor and are you demonstrating kindness and compassion to them?
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
The question “Who is my neighbor?" is still being asked. Jesus speaks about the Samaritan — a person the Jews would not have accepted or called their neighbor. Their theology and worship practices were too different. And yet, the Samaritan is the example of one who acts with love and compassion for another. In these days of such divisiveness, who is our neighbor?
Our neighbor is certainly the one who lives near us, whether we know them or not. Our neighbor is the one in our congregation or our volunteer team, maybe even in our workplace. Our neighbor is the one who agrees with us theologically and maybe even politically. And our neighbor is every other person walking on the planet, all created in the image of God. Every person is our neighbor; the ones with whom we agree, the ones with who we vehemently disagree, the Christians, and all the others who practice faith or don’t practice faith. They are all our neighbors. Might the world be a better place if we answered Jesus’ question, “Everyone one is a beloved child of God and therefore my neighbor.”
Bonnie B.
The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is more than 2,700 feet high—over half a mile tall. It has 160 floors and is twice as tall as the Empire State Building in New York City. It is home to the world’s fastest elevator which reaches speeds of forty miles an hour. The Burj Khalifa also hosts the world’s highest outdoor observation deck (on the 124th floor) and the world’s highest swimming pool (on the 76th floor).
While all of this is fascinating, what is even more interesting is how it is built. How does a building like this remain stable? The key is found underground. Before construction began, workers labored to create a massive, solid foundation of concrete weighing more than 100,000 tons. The building is safe and secure because it has structural integrity. Commercial Interior Design website called it “engineering genius.”
Integrity matters in building. It also matters in issues of faith. The prophet Amos, speaking for God, noted that he was establishing a plumb line for his people. He was testing their integrity. God desired his people to worship him only. They would suffer judgment because of their lack of integrity. Do we, the people of God, today demonstrate integrity? How do we measure up against the plumb line?
Bill T.
* * *
Amos 7:7-17 and Psalm 82
A plumb line is a scientific instrument used to ensure that the work of a construction team was straight and true. Used properly, the results are inarguable. Something is straight and true or it isn’t.
Amos uses that symbol of a plumb line as an inarguable way to telling the people that they and their society are all out of true. Prophets have to tell us the truth. They tell us that things are every bit as bad as we think they are. But they tell us this truth to inspire us do so something to change what’s going on, before it’s too late.
By contrast, court prophets in the pay of the king told the king things he wanted to hear. They tried to trivialize Amos the prophet. Go back where you came from. This is the big city. You’re just this country bumpkin.
Amos is more than glad to claim that last bit — but he’s sees it as a compliment. As he will tell the big city prophets, yes — he’s a farmer, a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, but that doesn’t mean the message of the Lord isn’t true. True is true. You can’t argue with the plumb line.
Psalm 82, this week’s selection from the lectionary, pulls back the curtain on a meeting of the divine council, described as meeting with all the “gods” surrounding the Lord. Kings thought of themselves as gods, descended from the gods, but as the psalmist demonstrates with that truth-telling plumb line, they’re only mortal. Don’t pay attention to the court prophets. Listen to the Word of the Lord. Stop being in denial.
Frank R.
* * *
Amos 7:7-17
No question about it. CNN exit polls made clear that Donald Trump owed much of his electoral victory last fall to white Christians who see connections between his policies and their faith. 72% of white Protestants and 61% of white Catholics voted for him. Among evangelicals, he earned 81% of their vote, up from the 76% who sided with him in 2020. Famed modern Reformed theologian Karl Barth says this text was being about how the Word of God challenges mixing government and altar (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/2, pp.450-451). Martin Luther offers an alternative formula most suggestive of the American system. Far better not to inject Biblical teachings into our political deliberations. The reformer put it this way:
To be sure, God made the secular government subordinate and subject to reason, because it is to have no jurisdiction over the welfare of souls or things of eternal value but only over physical and temporal goods, which God places under man’s dominion, Genesis 2:8. For this reason nothing is taught in the gospel about how it is to be maintained and regulated… (Luther’s Works, Vol.13, p.198)
Mark E.
* * *
Psalm 82
A 2020 Pew Research Center poll found that nearly half of registered Republicans think that people who are poor have lower work-ethic standards than those who succeed. And a 2024 poll by Pew indicated that 74% of likely Trump voters believe government is presently doing too much for the poor. This data not only conflicts with the psalm, it is a rejection of the consensus of many of Christianity’s greatest thinkers. For example, St. Augustine once wrote:
God has no need of your money, but the poor have. You give it to the poor and God receives it.
Modern Latin American Liberation Theologian Leonardo Boff put it this way:
God is in the poor who cry out. And God is the one who listens to the cry and liberates so that the poor no longer need to cry out.
Martin Luther even went so far as to advocate that government do more for the poor than it has been doing. As he noted:
Many live for themselves. Meanwhile they neglect the poor, devote themselves to prayer, and consider themselves saints. Yet it is not enough not to have harmed one’s neighbor; God demands positive uplifting of the needy through love. (Luther’s Works, Vol.16, p.19)
Mark E.
* * *
Colossians 1:1-14
For John Calvin this is a text about how faith and love are conferred by God. He wrote:
And unquestionably, gifts of God that are so excellent ought to have such an effect upon us as to stir us up to love them wherever they appear… True love, therefore, will extend to humankind universally… (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXI/2, p.137)
Martin Luther makes some comments about Christ’s work as described in this text. The reformer writes:
The essential feature of redemption — forgiveness of sins — being once obtained, everything belonging to its completion immediately follows… The creatures are not opposed, but at peace and friendly; they smile upon us and we have only joy and life in God and his creation. (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/2. P.377)
In another context the reformer made a related point:
A Christian should not draw his love from the person as the world does… but Christian love should well up from within the heart, should flow constantly like a fresh brook or rivulet; it will not be checked, dried up, and exhausted. Christian love says: I do not love you because you are pious or wicked; for I do not draw my love from piety, as from an outside well but from my own well, namely, the world that has been sunk into my heart, which sways: Love your neighbor. From this well love gushed forth plentifully. (What Luther Says, p.827)
Mark E.
* * *
Colossians 1:1-14
I have to admit that Colossians is my least favorite of the letters that Paul wrote, but this reading is an exception. The thankfulness expressed by Paul is real and humbling to read. Paul is thanking the church for being what the church is called to be. Imagine if we all walked in the knowledge of God, shared our faithfulness, and worked on gaining even more spiritual understanding. I think Paul would thank us as well.
When I preached last Sunday, my call was a question. When will we go out? When will we share the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, with the people in our families, communities, and the world — not just with the people inside the church sitting next to us in a pew. Paul is thanking the Colossian church for living their faith, for acting in faith. Are we doing the same? Would Paul write this letter to our church?
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
A story’s frame is important. As vivid as Oz seems in the classic movie, according to the framing story it was all a dream. (Oddly enough, in the book The Wizard of Oz, there is no dream. Oz is a real place). Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew is about a shrewish woman who is “tamed” by a husband who controls and abuses her until she submits. But the play is actually framed by a play in which the patrons of a tavern dress a drunk peasant as royalty. When he wakes, they convince him he is actually a rich nobleman and to entertain him they put on a play about that shrewish woman. This may have been Shakespeare’s way of saying that the idea you can “tame” anyone by abusive treatment is a fantasy. It certainly changes everything.
The parable often called “The Good Samaritan” is framed by a story in which an expert in Torah tests Jesus by asking him what is necessary to inherit eternal life. Jesus turns the table by asking him a question — what is the essence of Torah? This leads the expert to quote Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” This purely theoretical discussion comes to life — and becomes far more challenging — when Jesus tells the story about how a hated Samaritan rescues a Judean from near certain death when both a priest and a Levite ignore and walk. At the end of the parable, Jesus invited his questioner to name who in the story was the actual neighbor (spoiler alert: the least likely person). Jesus knew it was unlikely anyone had imagined such a thing, and indeed the Torah expert couldn’t bring himself to say the word Samaritan.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
The UK Sun reported, in August 2016, about a situation that occurred in New Delhi. The article reports that a hit-and-run victim died after waiting more than an hour to be taken to hospital. The shocking thing is hundreds of people passed by and didn’t do anything. In fact, one person even stole the victim’s cell phone. The article concludes with this statement. “The release of the video has sparked a debate about the lack of compassion showed.”
John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, once wrote, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” Jesus is explaining that concept to the expert in the law who came to question him about inheriting eternal life. Jesus asked him what was in the law to which he replied, “Love the Lord God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told him to do it. He wanted to go further, though, so he asked, “Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus responds by telling him the parable of the Good Samaritan. The conclusion of the story is the man’s neighbor is the one who showed him mercy. In the story, it was the least expected one. It wasn’t the priest or Levite. It was the Samaritan. Who is your neighbor and are you demonstrating kindness and compassion to them?
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 10:25-37
The question “Who is my neighbor?" is still being asked. Jesus speaks about the Samaritan — a person the Jews would not have accepted or called their neighbor. Their theology and worship practices were too different. And yet, the Samaritan is the example of one who acts with love and compassion for another. In these days of such divisiveness, who is our neighbor?
Our neighbor is certainly the one who lives near us, whether we know them or not. Our neighbor is the one in our congregation or our volunteer team, maybe even in our workplace. Our neighbor is the one who agrees with us theologically and maybe even politically. And our neighbor is every other person walking on the planet, all created in the image of God. Every person is our neighbor; the ones with whom we agree, the ones with who we vehemently disagree, the Christians, and all the others who practice faith or don’t practice faith. They are all our neighbors. Might the world be a better place if we answered Jesus’ question, “Everyone one is a beloved child of God and therefore my neighbor.”
Bonnie B.
