Sermon Illustrations for Proper 12 | OT 17 (2024)
Illustration
2 Samuel 11:1-15
About David’s sin and sin in general, John Wesley wrote: “See how all the way to sin is downhill! When men begin, they cannot stop themselves.” (Commentary On the Bible, p.199) We are all as sinful as David, maybe more so. Martin Luther explained why:
For man cannot but seek his own advantages and love himself above all things. And this is the sum of all his iniquities. Hence even in good things and virtues men seek themselves, that is they seek to please themselves and applaud themselves... I say now that no one should doubt that all our good works are mortal sins if they are judged according to God’s judgment and severity and not accepted as good by God’s grace alone. (Luther’s Works, Vol.25, p.222)
Elsewhere the first reformer added a word about God’s forgiving love for this world of sinful human beings. He wrote:
This is in truth, what the world is; it is a stable full of wicked, shameful people who misuse all creatures of God in the most disgraceful manner, who blaspheme God and inflict everything evil on him. These shameful people God loves. This is love supreme. (What Luther Says, p.821)
Mark E.
* * *
2 Samuel 11:1-15
David the prophet, the king, the one called by God, was still human and we see that humanness in this passage from Samuel. David lusts after Uriah’s wife, has an affair with her, and more importantly, arranges for Uriah to be placed at the front of the battles so he will be killed. How can such a one be called by God?
Well, my friends, we may not have committed the same sins as David, but we surely have sinned. We have not, perhaps, had an affair, but we may have desired one. We may not have offered someone up to be killed, but we may have abandoned and hated one person enough to wish them ill. The measure of our humanity is found in our sin. The measure of God’s grace is in the offering of reconciliation, forgiveness and grace in spite of our human sin. We can read this passage and focus on the sins of David, or we can see our own humanity and our need for forgiveness. That would be my choice.
Bonnie B.
* * *
2 Samuel 11:1-15
This is the turning point in the story of King David. He does not lead his troops into battle. He stays home, with disastrous consequences. There is much to say about the story of David and Bathsheba. There’s the obvious irony that David fails as a commander of his troops while a foreigner refuses to abandon his military duty even when encouraged by the king to do so.
Nor is this a story of romance. David does not engage in seduction. Bathsheba did not have a choice. When there is power involved in sex, it’s rape.
So God sent the prophet Nathan with an engaging parable that will lead David to condemn himself.
Give Bathsheba credit. Regardless of how this relationship began, she will later seize the opportunity to manipulate her aging husband and the political situation to ensure her son Solomon ascends to the throne after his father’s death.
But most of all, there is that innocent infant who dies as a result of his parents’ actions. There’s nothing positive in this mess, not even with regards to God’s aim in punishing the sinners.
Still, when it comes to Solomon, despite the whole tawdry mess and its political repercussions God will still accomplish great things through David’s successor.
But in this installment of Emphasis I, want to emphasize something pointed out in the commentary of Everett Fox (p 470) on The Former Prophets. He points out that in this story David sends messages and messengers as he seeks first to satisfy his lust and then to cover it up. This is not a private matter. The household’s servants are not fools. They’re no doubt aware something is going on. And I think how in our time texts, emails, posts on social media of various sorts, are sent back and forth with appallingly frequency almost as if the senders really think their messages are private – and of course they are not. We reveal our innermost desires to this largely digital community without even thinking about it. We should know better. There are no secrets, and no secrets can be kept. Maybe we ought to behave in a manner that we have no need to keep secrets about our choices.
Frank R.
* * *
Ephesians 3:14-21
In this passage Paul refers to “the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.” In the Greek the apostle takes advantage of a play on words, “pater” for father and “patria” which refers to families, to make it clear that all of us, in heaven and on earth, the living and the really living, now share the same last name. Death from disease, childbirth, and the accidents of life meant that many people in those days were without relatives. Many Christians were slaves and were owned by someone rather than living as a part of a family. Many had just one name, or a nickname, a slave name. Only the elite had three names that identified them as individuals belonging to a family and a clan. This passage promises that all of us are now named, and the one naming us and claiming us is God, now our parent. All of us, regardless of background, economic status, or cultural history. In a status conscious society like the Roman world, this is an astounding claim to make. We are somebody!
Frank R.
* * *
Ephesians 3:14-21
I came across this letter while looking at various illustrations and stories. I thought it was appropriate for this text. Whether the letter is real or not, I could not ascertain. Here’s what it said.
Dearest Jimmy,
No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you’ll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you! I love you! I love you!
Yours forever, Marie.
P.S. And congratulations on winning the state lottery
I’m not sure about you, but I doubt the sincerity of that love. Jesus’ love, though, is not like that. Paul makes it clear to the Christians at Ephesus and the surrounding churches of Asia Minor. He prays, “that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (vs. 18-19). Rick Warren once wrote, “God’s love is like an ocean. You can see its beginning, but not its end.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 6:1-21
I love miracle stories in scripture. They remind me that God can do the impossible – no matter how we interpret them. So let’s take the story literally. A small boy shares his lunch, Jesus blesses it, and it multiples into enough to feed all the people, likely closer to 10,000 people if we count the women and children. In fact, it multiplies so much that there are more leftovers than there was food in the basket to begin with. Or let’s look at the miracle another way. Let’s say most of the people had brought a little something to eat. When they see the generosity of the young boy, they put a little of their lunch in the baskets as they are being passed. Those without any, take food, but those with a little more than they need, put food into the basket. So generous are the people that there is more than they began with.
In either case, the abundance of God is clear. Either God provides the plenty or the faithful do so. In any case the focus is on abundance, rather than the “scarcity” attitude the disciples had at the beginning of the story. Where is your heart and mind focused – on scarcity or on abundance? What might happen if we all celebrated the abundance of God and shared our abundance with others? I think the world would change!
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 6:1-21
Many Americans say that they would like to help the poor and the immigrants, but that we do not have the resources. Oh how they sound like Philip in this Gospel Lesson (vv.5-7). Such attitudes are guilty of what John Calvin said in the quote which follows when we follow our own opinions rather than God’s Word:
Thus, whenever we mix up our own opinions with the Word of God, faith degenerates into frivolous conjectures. Let believers, therefore, cultivate habitual modesty, lest... they shall rush violently against God, who is never worshipped aright but when we receive him as he presents himself to us. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVII/2, p.234)
In a sermon, Martin Luther refers to God’s bounty, contending that we should rely on God and not despair of resources, for the cherry tree does not despair in winter though it bears no fruit and lies frozen. He adds, “We ought to learn from these everyday wonders to trust in God and not despair.” (Complete Sermons, Vil.5, p.347) While preaching on this text, Augustine made some enlivening points about how we can proceed regarding despair over helping others and over our stinginess:
...our Lord spoiling his vessels and making them his own, poured out the bitterness, filled them with sweetness. Let us love him, for he is sweet... We have begun to be some great thing; let no man despise himself; we were once nothing; but we are something. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.6, pp.499-500)
Mark E.
About David’s sin and sin in general, John Wesley wrote: “See how all the way to sin is downhill! When men begin, they cannot stop themselves.” (Commentary On the Bible, p.199) We are all as sinful as David, maybe more so. Martin Luther explained why:
For man cannot but seek his own advantages and love himself above all things. And this is the sum of all his iniquities. Hence even in good things and virtues men seek themselves, that is they seek to please themselves and applaud themselves... I say now that no one should doubt that all our good works are mortal sins if they are judged according to God’s judgment and severity and not accepted as good by God’s grace alone. (Luther’s Works, Vol.25, p.222)
Elsewhere the first reformer added a word about God’s forgiving love for this world of sinful human beings. He wrote:
This is in truth, what the world is; it is a stable full of wicked, shameful people who misuse all creatures of God in the most disgraceful manner, who blaspheme God and inflict everything evil on him. These shameful people God loves. This is love supreme. (What Luther Says, p.821)
Mark E.
* * *
2 Samuel 11:1-15
David the prophet, the king, the one called by God, was still human and we see that humanness in this passage from Samuel. David lusts after Uriah’s wife, has an affair with her, and more importantly, arranges for Uriah to be placed at the front of the battles so he will be killed. How can such a one be called by God?
Well, my friends, we may not have committed the same sins as David, but we surely have sinned. We have not, perhaps, had an affair, but we may have desired one. We may not have offered someone up to be killed, but we may have abandoned and hated one person enough to wish them ill. The measure of our humanity is found in our sin. The measure of God’s grace is in the offering of reconciliation, forgiveness and grace in spite of our human sin. We can read this passage and focus on the sins of David, or we can see our own humanity and our need for forgiveness. That would be my choice.
Bonnie B.
* * *
2 Samuel 11:1-15
This is the turning point in the story of King David. He does not lead his troops into battle. He stays home, with disastrous consequences. There is much to say about the story of David and Bathsheba. There’s the obvious irony that David fails as a commander of his troops while a foreigner refuses to abandon his military duty even when encouraged by the king to do so.
Nor is this a story of romance. David does not engage in seduction. Bathsheba did not have a choice. When there is power involved in sex, it’s rape.
So God sent the prophet Nathan with an engaging parable that will lead David to condemn himself.
Give Bathsheba credit. Regardless of how this relationship began, she will later seize the opportunity to manipulate her aging husband and the political situation to ensure her son Solomon ascends to the throne after his father’s death.
But most of all, there is that innocent infant who dies as a result of his parents’ actions. There’s nothing positive in this mess, not even with regards to God’s aim in punishing the sinners.
Still, when it comes to Solomon, despite the whole tawdry mess and its political repercussions God will still accomplish great things through David’s successor.
But in this installment of Emphasis I, want to emphasize something pointed out in the commentary of Everett Fox (p 470) on The Former Prophets. He points out that in this story David sends messages and messengers as he seeks first to satisfy his lust and then to cover it up. This is not a private matter. The household’s servants are not fools. They’re no doubt aware something is going on. And I think how in our time texts, emails, posts on social media of various sorts, are sent back and forth with appallingly frequency almost as if the senders really think their messages are private – and of course they are not. We reveal our innermost desires to this largely digital community without even thinking about it. We should know better. There are no secrets, and no secrets can be kept. Maybe we ought to behave in a manner that we have no need to keep secrets about our choices.
Frank R.
* * *
Ephesians 3:14-21
In this passage Paul refers to “the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.” In the Greek the apostle takes advantage of a play on words, “pater” for father and “patria” which refers to families, to make it clear that all of us, in heaven and on earth, the living and the really living, now share the same last name. Death from disease, childbirth, and the accidents of life meant that many people in those days were without relatives. Many Christians were slaves and were owned by someone rather than living as a part of a family. Many had just one name, or a nickname, a slave name. Only the elite had three names that identified them as individuals belonging to a family and a clan. This passage promises that all of us are now named, and the one naming us and claiming us is God, now our parent. All of us, regardless of background, economic status, or cultural history. In a status conscious society like the Roman world, this is an astounding claim to make. We are somebody!
Frank R.
* * *
Ephesians 3:14-21
I came across this letter while looking at various illustrations and stories. I thought it was appropriate for this text. Whether the letter is real or not, I could not ascertain. Here’s what it said.
Dearest Jimmy,
No words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you’ll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you! I love you! I love you!
Yours forever, Marie.
P.S. And congratulations on winning the state lottery
I’m not sure about you, but I doubt the sincerity of that love. Jesus’ love, though, is not like that. Paul makes it clear to the Christians at Ephesus and the surrounding churches of Asia Minor. He prays, “that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (vs. 18-19). Rick Warren once wrote, “God’s love is like an ocean. You can see its beginning, but not its end.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 6:1-21
I love miracle stories in scripture. They remind me that God can do the impossible – no matter how we interpret them. So let’s take the story literally. A small boy shares his lunch, Jesus blesses it, and it multiples into enough to feed all the people, likely closer to 10,000 people if we count the women and children. In fact, it multiplies so much that there are more leftovers than there was food in the basket to begin with. Or let’s look at the miracle another way. Let’s say most of the people had brought a little something to eat. When they see the generosity of the young boy, they put a little of their lunch in the baskets as they are being passed. Those without any, take food, but those with a little more than they need, put food into the basket. So generous are the people that there is more than they began with.
In either case, the abundance of God is clear. Either God provides the plenty or the faithful do so. In any case the focus is on abundance, rather than the “scarcity” attitude the disciples had at the beginning of the story. Where is your heart and mind focused – on scarcity or on abundance? What might happen if we all celebrated the abundance of God and shared our abundance with others? I think the world would change!
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 6:1-21
Many Americans say that they would like to help the poor and the immigrants, but that we do not have the resources. Oh how they sound like Philip in this Gospel Lesson (vv.5-7). Such attitudes are guilty of what John Calvin said in the quote which follows when we follow our own opinions rather than God’s Word:
Thus, whenever we mix up our own opinions with the Word of God, faith degenerates into frivolous conjectures. Let believers, therefore, cultivate habitual modesty, lest... they shall rush violently against God, who is never worshipped aright but when we receive him as he presents himself to us. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVII/2, p.234)
In a sermon, Martin Luther refers to God’s bounty, contending that we should rely on God and not despair of resources, for the cherry tree does not despair in winter though it bears no fruit and lies frozen. He adds, “We ought to learn from these everyday wonders to trust in God and not despair.” (Complete Sermons, Vil.5, p.347) While preaching on this text, Augustine made some enlivening points about how we can proceed regarding despair over helping others and over our stinginess:
...our Lord spoiling his vessels and making them his own, poured out the bitterness, filled them with sweetness. Let us love him, for he is sweet... We have begun to be some great thing; let no man despise himself; we were once nothing; but we are something. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.6, pp.499-500)
Mark E.
