Sermon Illustrations for Proper 13 | OT 18 (2025)
Illustration
Hosea 11: 1-13
The prophet compares Yahweh to a father who exercises compassion despite his original plan to punish Israel. John Calvin nicely explains these dynamics:
And if any person be disposed to inquire how it comes to pass that the prophet, after treating of the judgments and severity of God now makes mention of his loving kindness, I answer, that his loving-kindness shines most conspicuously and occupies a very prominent place in all that he does; for he is naturally prone to loving-kindness, but which also he draws us to himself. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VI/1,p.267)
The parent who punished the wayward child still loves the child. Indeed, often the punishment is an expression of love so the child does not recur in doing wrong. But most parents will tell you that they almost feel worse than the child does while the punishment is being executed.
Mark E.
* * *
Hosea 11:1-11
Central to the identity of God’s people was the story of the Exodus, how God heard their cries, freed them from slavery, and brought them out of the land of Egypt into a land of their own. In this lament God through the prophet tells this story, and seems puzzled that in the face of the Assyrian crisis some of the people are responding, not with trust in the divine, but by moving back to Egypt.
We know this to be true. There are fascinating archives from the Jewish colony planted on the Egyptian island of Elephantine, located in the Nile. There they served the Persian overlords of the Egyptians as mercenaries. Other waves of refugees are also known to have taken refuge in Egypt. They were thriving. There they settled into ordinary lives. God speaks to them, and tells them they will return to the land given to them.
I can’t help but think of families who have farmed land for generations, or built up a business in a community through good times and bad, and how disappointing it is for the older generation when no one from the generations that have followed any interest in maintaining the business or farm that in many cases took hard work through bad times and good to establish and maintain. Yet just as God professes love for those who have sought refuge in Egypt, so too we are reminded that regardless of stories of hardship with regards to our families’ journeys, love is our guiding light.
Frank R.
* * *
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Concerning verse 8, Martin Luther observed:
This is a wonderful verse and full of perfect instruction, in the first place, that the blessings of God upon us are by pure mercy and not deserved. Therefore, he puts “mercy” first, and does not say “our redemption,” but “his mercy” for the purpose of showing that nothing was from us, but from God alone. Therefore it immediately follows that a man should not boast of them or be superior to others and not give credit to himself but to the Lord, who has done these mercies to us. (Luther’s Works, Vol.11, p.349)
John Calvin paints a similar picture:
For what else can be said of us, seeing that our natural mistrust drives us to God for help, when we are in perplexity and peril; and when after being rescued, we forthwith forget him… (Calvin’s Commentaries, (Vol.VI/1, p.280)
In African American church circles it is common to proclaim, “God is good.” To which the liturgical response is most times, “All the time.” It really is as St. Augustine once wrote:
The highest good, than which there is no higher, is God, and consequently he is unchangeable good, hence truly eternal and truly immortal. All other good things are only from him, not of him. For what is of him, is himself.
Mark E.
* * *
Colossians 3:1-11
In an early scene from the play Hamlet the courtier Polonius, who is a figure of fun, catches up with his son Laertes before he can step onboard a ship and head back to the freedom of the university life, and gives him a lot of unwanted advice.
Like –
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be….
To thine own self be true.
At one point he tells his son to dress as well as he can afford because, “Clothes make the man,” meaning we judge people by the clothes they wear. In most eras, the clothes a person wore told others their economic status, their profession, their place in the hierarchy, and as a result it was illegal to dress according to someone else’s station in life. In this passage, however, Paul is telling the Christians of Colossae to dress differently from their former life, at least in a spiritual sense. “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourself with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the creator.” (3:9-10) He lists things like “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language…” (3:8) as the old way of spiritually dressing oneself. Their new spiritual clothes may raise suspicion among those who live near them. But they are no longer spiritually slaves, whatever their economic condition. They are heirs, with Christ, of God’s kingdom.
Frank R.
* * *
Colossians 3:1-11
Chris Opfer wrote an article for How Things Work called, “Does Your Body Really Replace Itself Every Seven Years?” In that article, he wrote about how different parts of the human body completely renew themselves with new cells to replace old ones. Human skin renews itself every two to three weeks, whereas our bone cells renew about every ten years. There are some parts of our brains that regenerate and grow new cells as well. It is a remarkable process, the process of renewal.
What is true physically is even more true spiritually. As Christians, we're called to put to death the sinful desires of our earthly nature, including sexual immorality, impurity, and greed. This involves a change in our hearts and minds, seeking what is good and aligning ourselves with God's will. In Christ, we are made new creations, continually growing and being renewed in our knowledge of God.
Charles Stanley once wrote, “Renewing the mind is a little like refinishing furniture. It is a two-stage process. It involves taking off the old and replacing it with the new. The old is the lies you have learned to tell or were taught by those around you; it is the attitudes and ideas that have become a part of your thinking but do not reflect reality. The new is the truth. To renew your mind is to involve yourself in the process of allowing God to bring to the surface the lies you have mistakenly accepted and replace them with truth.”
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 12:13-21
John Calvin sees the parable as providing a good opportunity for us to confess our sin:
Do not all, on the contrary, regulate their life and arrange their schemes and employments in such a manner as to withdraw to the greatest distance from God, making their life to rest on a present abundance of good things?... The parable shows us, first, that the present life is short and transitory. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVI/1, p.148)
There is as complexity to our sin in the view of famed 20th-century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr:
What a marvelous and yet a terrible thing is this creativity of man; but note how the abundance of things is mixed up with his creativity… We have things because we are human and can make them. (Justice & Mercy, pp.63-64)
Niebuhr’s formula is equally subtle and realistic:
The church is sentimental when it simply says, “Let us share.” We are not good enough to share everything that comes out of technical competence, but we must be good enough and wise enough to share the competence, the skill by which the abundance of things can be produced or created. (Justice & Mercy, pp.67-68)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 12:13-21
I came across a sad story that reflects the nature of the parable Jesus told. The man’s name was James Marshall. He left his family’s home in New Jersey as a young man and headed west. After contracting malaria while living in Missouri, he was advised to go further west, and in 1845 he arrived in California. He worked a number of different jobs and served in the army during the Mexican American War in 1846. When he got out, a man he had earlier befriended, John Sutter, entered a partnership agreement with Marshall to build a sawmill.
When they discovered that the spillway they had constructed was too narrow to handle the amount of water needed to operate the mill, they began the process of enlarging it. On the morning of January 24, 1848, as Marshall examined the channel, he found large flakes of pure gold, sparking one of the greatest gold rushes in history. But Marshall did not profit from his discovery. The mill project failed. His mines did not produce. A vineyard he bought went bankrupt. In his old age, reduced to abject poverty, Marshall died alone in a small shack. The wealth he dreamed of never materialized.
The pursuit of worldly wealth rarely materializes. Even when attained, it is here a moment and then gone. Jesus makes it clear. “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (vs. 15).
Bill T.
The prophet compares Yahweh to a father who exercises compassion despite his original plan to punish Israel. John Calvin nicely explains these dynamics:
And if any person be disposed to inquire how it comes to pass that the prophet, after treating of the judgments and severity of God now makes mention of his loving kindness, I answer, that his loving-kindness shines most conspicuously and occupies a very prominent place in all that he does; for he is naturally prone to loving-kindness, but which also he draws us to himself. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VI/1,p.267)
The parent who punished the wayward child still loves the child. Indeed, often the punishment is an expression of love so the child does not recur in doing wrong. But most parents will tell you that they almost feel worse than the child does while the punishment is being executed.
Mark E.
* * *
Hosea 11:1-11
Central to the identity of God’s people was the story of the Exodus, how God heard their cries, freed them from slavery, and brought them out of the land of Egypt into a land of their own. In this lament God through the prophet tells this story, and seems puzzled that in the face of the Assyrian crisis some of the people are responding, not with trust in the divine, but by moving back to Egypt.
We know this to be true. There are fascinating archives from the Jewish colony planted on the Egyptian island of Elephantine, located in the Nile. There they served the Persian overlords of the Egyptians as mercenaries. Other waves of refugees are also known to have taken refuge in Egypt. They were thriving. There they settled into ordinary lives. God speaks to them, and tells them they will return to the land given to them.
I can’t help but think of families who have farmed land for generations, or built up a business in a community through good times and bad, and how disappointing it is for the older generation when no one from the generations that have followed any interest in maintaining the business or farm that in many cases took hard work through bad times and good to establish and maintain. Yet just as God professes love for those who have sought refuge in Egypt, so too we are reminded that regardless of stories of hardship with regards to our families’ journeys, love is our guiding light.
Frank R.
* * *
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Concerning verse 8, Martin Luther observed:
This is a wonderful verse and full of perfect instruction, in the first place, that the blessings of God upon us are by pure mercy and not deserved. Therefore, he puts “mercy” first, and does not say “our redemption,” but “his mercy” for the purpose of showing that nothing was from us, but from God alone. Therefore it immediately follows that a man should not boast of them or be superior to others and not give credit to himself but to the Lord, who has done these mercies to us. (Luther’s Works, Vol.11, p.349)
John Calvin paints a similar picture:
For what else can be said of us, seeing that our natural mistrust drives us to God for help, when we are in perplexity and peril; and when after being rescued, we forthwith forget him… (Calvin’s Commentaries, (Vol.VI/1, p.280)
In African American church circles it is common to proclaim, “God is good.” To which the liturgical response is most times, “All the time.” It really is as St. Augustine once wrote:
The highest good, than which there is no higher, is God, and consequently he is unchangeable good, hence truly eternal and truly immortal. All other good things are only from him, not of him. For what is of him, is himself.
Mark E.
* * *
Colossians 3:1-11
In an early scene from the play Hamlet the courtier Polonius, who is a figure of fun, catches up with his son Laertes before he can step onboard a ship and head back to the freedom of the university life, and gives him a lot of unwanted advice.
Like –
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be….
To thine own self be true.
At one point he tells his son to dress as well as he can afford because, “Clothes make the man,” meaning we judge people by the clothes they wear. In most eras, the clothes a person wore told others their economic status, their profession, their place in the hierarchy, and as a result it was illegal to dress according to someone else’s station in life. In this passage, however, Paul is telling the Christians of Colossae to dress differently from their former life, at least in a spiritual sense. “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourself with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the creator.” (3:9-10) He lists things like “anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language…” (3:8) as the old way of spiritually dressing oneself. Their new spiritual clothes may raise suspicion among those who live near them. But they are no longer spiritually slaves, whatever their economic condition. They are heirs, with Christ, of God’s kingdom.
Frank R.
* * *
Colossians 3:1-11
Chris Opfer wrote an article for How Things Work called, “Does Your Body Really Replace Itself Every Seven Years?” In that article, he wrote about how different parts of the human body completely renew themselves with new cells to replace old ones. Human skin renews itself every two to three weeks, whereas our bone cells renew about every ten years. There are some parts of our brains that regenerate and grow new cells as well. It is a remarkable process, the process of renewal.
What is true physically is even more true spiritually. As Christians, we're called to put to death the sinful desires of our earthly nature, including sexual immorality, impurity, and greed. This involves a change in our hearts and minds, seeking what is good and aligning ourselves with God's will. In Christ, we are made new creations, continually growing and being renewed in our knowledge of God.
Charles Stanley once wrote, “Renewing the mind is a little like refinishing furniture. It is a two-stage process. It involves taking off the old and replacing it with the new. The old is the lies you have learned to tell or were taught by those around you; it is the attitudes and ideas that have become a part of your thinking but do not reflect reality. The new is the truth. To renew your mind is to involve yourself in the process of allowing God to bring to the surface the lies you have mistakenly accepted and replace them with truth.”
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 12:13-21
John Calvin sees the parable as providing a good opportunity for us to confess our sin:
Do not all, on the contrary, regulate their life and arrange their schemes and employments in such a manner as to withdraw to the greatest distance from God, making their life to rest on a present abundance of good things?... The parable shows us, first, that the present life is short and transitory. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVI/1, p.148)
There is as complexity to our sin in the view of famed 20th-century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr:
What a marvelous and yet a terrible thing is this creativity of man; but note how the abundance of things is mixed up with his creativity… We have things because we are human and can make them. (Justice & Mercy, pp.63-64)
Niebuhr’s formula is equally subtle and realistic:
The church is sentimental when it simply says, “Let us share.” We are not good enough to share everything that comes out of technical competence, but we must be good enough and wise enough to share the competence, the skill by which the abundance of things can be produced or created. (Justice & Mercy, pp.67-68)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 12:13-21
I came across a sad story that reflects the nature of the parable Jesus told. The man’s name was James Marshall. He left his family’s home in New Jersey as a young man and headed west. After contracting malaria while living in Missouri, he was advised to go further west, and in 1845 he arrived in California. He worked a number of different jobs and served in the army during the Mexican American War in 1846. When he got out, a man he had earlier befriended, John Sutter, entered a partnership agreement with Marshall to build a sawmill.
When they discovered that the spillway they had constructed was too narrow to handle the amount of water needed to operate the mill, they began the process of enlarging it. On the morning of January 24, 1848, as Marshall examined the channel, he found large flakes of pure gold, sparking one of the greatest gold rushes in history. But Marshall did not profit from his discovery. The mill project failed. His mines did not produce. A vineyard he bought went bankrupt. In his old age, reduced to abject poverty, Marshall died alone in a small shack. The wealth he dreamed of never materialized.
The pursuit of worldly wealth rarely materializes. Even when attained, it is here a moment and then gone. Jesus makes it clear. “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (vs. 15).
Bill T.
