Sermon Illustrations for Proper 14 | OT 19 (2015)
Illustration
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Absalom had betrayed his father, and yet David his father still loved him. A parent’s love, the love of our heavenly Father, does not stop because of betrayal. Victorian-era English poet William Blake said it well: “Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too.”
It is not just Absalom who betrayed his kin. We all have betrayed our brothers and sisters here in America. Charitable giving as a percentage of the American gross domestic product declined between 2011 and 2013, just when the poor needed it the most. And while a much-too-high 11% of the white population in America remains mired in poverty, 25% of the Native Americans, 25% of the Hispanic population, and 25% of African-Americans are impoverished. We betray black youth in law enforcement it seems. How else can it be explained that only 1.47 white males per million have been killed by law enforcement in 2012, compared with 31.17 per million black youth? This certainly looks like betrayal.
Martin Luther offered several comments about the profound character of God’s love, reflected partially in David’s love of his wayward son. How badly we need this forgiveness too: “Our Lord God must be a devout man to be able to love knaves. I can’t do it, although I am myself a knave” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 54, p. 32). Luther also noted: “Our heart is much too limited to be able to grasp the scope of this great blessing. For such is its magnitude that if anyone were able to comprehend it... if we had a full understanding of this love of God for me, a joy so great would come to us from this recognition that we would promptly die because of it. From this we see how great our feebleness is, how great our torpor, since few taste, I do not say, this ocean, but scarcely a few drops of this immense joy” (What Luther Says, p. 821).
Mark E.
Ephesians 4:25--5:2
Should circumstances arise to call for anger on your part, let it be as Christ’s “anger” (Mark 3:5), without sin. Our natural feelings are not wrong when directed to their legitimate object, and when not exceeding due bounds.... “Wrath” is absolutely forbidden; “anger” not so, though, like poison sometimes used as medicine, it is to be used with extreme caution.
(The Abingdon Bible Commentary, edited by Frederick Eiselen, Edward Lewis, and David G. Downey, 1929, p. 352)
Frank R.
Ephesians 4:25--5:2
I have always loved baseball cards. I collected them as a kid, and still have quite a few. I have some really good cards, ones that I am honored to own. I can remember, though, liking all of them. I can especially remember one card. It was a Honus Wagner card from 1909-1911. Okay, I can hear some of you gasp. That card was valued not long ago at over 1.2 million dollars! So I don’t have an original Honus Wagner card. What I do have is an imitation of one. It looks just like the rare one. In the picture, the coloring, the wording, and the layout, the card is identical to the original. It is a wonderful imitation. It does exactly what an imitation is supposed to do. It draws attention to the more valuable original and it highlights what is important about it.
I thought about that card as I read this passage again: being an imitator of God looks like everything that Paul listed before it. Speaking the truth, loving, not sinning in being angry, and all of those things are hallmarks of his character. When we do our job well as an imitation, it brings glory and praise to the original. When people see us and how we live and conduct ourselves, it ought to cause them to look to the original. I hope you find value as an imitation.
Bill T.
Ephesians 4:25--5:2
What should I say if my wife comes in with a new hat and asks me how I like it? If it doesn’t look great to me, should I be untruthful?
I was in a rehab center after knee surgery, and when my therapist came for a session all she said was, “Hey, you are doing great!” I always wondered if it was truthful or if she was just trying to encourage me. What about “white” lies -- are they okay?
On the other side, I hear blatant lies and anger from both parties in this election year. Tell “them” what Paul says.
Are there any married couples in the congregation today who have ever harbored ill feelings overnight? It is pretty common and in extreme can result in divorce.
I had a couple in my church in Canada who were fighting over the fact that the husband drank himself into a stupor every weekend. The rest of the week he was a fine loving husband. His wife tried everything, including getting drunk herself, to show him how shameful it looked. She swore at him and badgered him and found ways to punish him. When she mentioned her problem to our church Bible study, I grabbed some of the above passage and suggested that she try treating him lovingly, even when he was loaded. She thought it would never work, but she said she would try it. She helped him to bed when he came home in bad shape. She gave him aspirin for his headache the next morning. She smiled at him and hugged him and said nothing in anger. When I came back from a short vacation, I got a call from the wife to see her husband in the detox ward of the hospital. When I went to him, he told me: “I don’t know what you did to my wife, but she is totally changed. She didn’t rail at me or try to punish me. She was just so kind and loving that a week ago I was so ashamed I couldn’t take it anymore. I got so loaded I was gone for a whole weekend, but when I recovered, I told myself that this could not go on forever, that I had to stop it somehow, so here I am!” They moved to get away from his drinking buddies, and he stayed clean for the rest of his life.
There could be several methods of “stealing,” and some of them are legal -- as when a homeowner offers to pay a little less on his mortgage each month if he could keep his house, but it is taken from him by a greedy bank. Most Christians would not resort to out-and-out theft, but there are many legal alternatives. Paul is telling us that when we have plenty we should share with others.
The bottom line is that we do everything in love. Try it -- it works and makes God happy.
Bob O.
John 6:35, 41-51
Have you ever been so closely connected to something or someone that you failed to appreciate how really special it was? A pair of brothers were soccer players. Though a year apart in age, they played together all of the time, both at home and on teams. They were close, but were fierce competitors on the field of play. As they got older, the games got bigger. More people watched and paid attention. After one particularly grueling day, a man approached them as they sat packing up their gear. He spoke to both, but he asked the younger of the two a lot of questions -- how old he was, how long he’d been playing, what his training routine was, and things like that. They were both surprised when in a few days a letter came addressed to the younger one, offering him a scholarship and a chance to play soccer in college. The older brother couldn’t believe it. How could that be! Wasn’t this just his little brother who he’d played with all of his life? How could he be anything that special or important?
It is hard to believe that someone or something we’ve known nearly our whole lives could actually be something that might have impact on a larger stage. There’s a sense of shock, disbelief, and then maybe just a tinge of jealousy. The Jews that grew up around Jesus no doubt felt that way. They’d seen him grow up. They knew his parents. They might’ve known his siblings. They were so close to him that they knew all about him. Unfortunately, they were too close to really know him -- not just about him, but know him. You might know about him, but do you know him?
Bill T.
John 6:35, 41-51
Sometimes life feels like you are on a treadmill. We are living much like 19th-century journalist Margaret Fuller accused us: “Men for the sake of living forget to live.” We need energy; we need strength. A 2014 study by the American Psychological Association indicates that 73% of us experience stress, and among this group 48% say the stress levels have increased in the last five years. We clearly need psychological nourishment, something to get us to live a little more and fret a little less.
Our lesson reminds us that Jesus, the Bread of Life, provides this nourishment and that he is in like the bread we had for breakfast this morning. As Martin Luther once explained: “This bread is a preservative against death. It is as if a physician or a pharmacist were to tell a patient: ‘I will give you a medicine, a potion or purgative, that will save you from death. You will no longer live in fear of death, since you are immune’ ” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 23, p. 41).
The Reformer also notes how joyful life is when you live it with Christ: “Therefore a Christian life is a life of bliss and joy. Christ’s yoke is easy and sweet...” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 2/1, p. 402).
Mark E.
Absalom had betrayed his father, and yet David his father still loved him. A parent’s love, the love of our heavenly Father, does not stop because of betrayal. Victorian-era English poet William Blake said it well: “Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too.”
It is not just Absalom who betrayed his kin. We all have betrayed our brothers and sisters here in America. Charitable giving as a percentage of the American gross domestic product declined between 2011 and 2013, just when the poor needed it the most. And while a much-too-high 11% of the white population in America remains mired in poverty, 25% of the Native Americans, 25% of the Hispanic population, and 25% of African-Americans are impoverished. We betray black youth in law enforcement it seems. How else can it be explained that only 1.47 white males per million have been killed by law enforcement in 2012, compared with 31.17 per million black youth? This certainly looks like betrayal.
Martin Luther offered several comments about the profound character of God’s love, reflected partially in David’s love of his wayward son. How badly we need this forgiveness too: “Our Lord God must be a devout man to be able to love knaves. I can’t do it, although I am myself a knave” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 54, p. 32). Luther also noted: “Our heart is much too limited to be able to grasp the scope of this great blessing. For such is its magnitude that if anyone were able to comprehend it... if we had a full understanding of this love of God for me, a joy so great would come to us from this recognition that we would promptly die because of it. From this we see how great our feebleness is, how great our torpor, since few taste, I do not say, this ocean, but scarcely a few drops of this immense joy” (What Luther Says, p. 821).
Mark E.
Ephesians 4:25--5:2
Should circumstances arise to call for anger on your part, let it be as Christ’s “anger” (Mark 3:5), without sin. Our natural feelings are not wrong when directed to their legitimate object, and when not exceeding due bounds.... “Wrath” is absolutely forbidden; “anger” not so, though, like poison sometimes used as medicine, it is to be used with extreme caution.
(The Abingdon Bible Commentary, edited by Frederick Eiselen, Edward Lewis, and David G. Downey, 1929, p. 352)
Frank R.
Ephesians 4:25--5:2
I have always loved baseball cards. I collected them as a kid, and still have quite a few. I have some really good cards, ones that I am honored to own. I can remember, though, liking all of them. I can especially remember one card. It was a Honus Wagner card from 1909-1911. Okay, I can hear some of you gasp. That card was valued not long ago at over 1.2 million dollars! So I don’t have an original Honus Wagner card. What I do have is an imitation of one. It looks just like the rare one. In the picture, the coloring, the wording, and the layout, the card is identical to the original. It is a wonderful imitation. It does exactly what an imitation is supposed to do. It draws attention to the more valuable original and it highlights what is important about it.
I thought about that card as I read this passage again: being an imitator of God looks like everything that Paul listed before it. Speaking the truth, loving, not sinning in being angry, and all of those things are hallmarks of his character. When we do our job well as an imitation, it brings glory and praise to the original. When people see us and how we live and conduct ourselves, it ought to cause them to look to the original. I hope you find value as an imitation.
Bill T.
Ephesians 4:25--5:2
What should I say if my wife comes in with a new hat and asks me how I like it? If it doesn’t look great to me, should I be untruthful?
I was in a rehab center after knee surgery, and when my therapist came for a session all she said was, “Hey, you are doing great!” I always wondered if it was truthful or if she was just trying to encourage me. What about “white” lies -- are they okay?
On the other side, I hear blatant lies and anger from both parties in this election year. Tell “them” what Paul says.
Are there any married couples in the congregation today who have ever harbored ill feelings overnight? It is pretty common and in extreme can result in divorce.
I had a couple in my church in Canada who were fighting over the fact that the husband drank himself into a stupor every weekend. The rest of the week he was a fine loving husband. His wife tried everything, including getting drunk herself, to show him how shameful it looked. She swore at him and badgered him and found ways to punish him. When she mentioned her problem to our church Bible study, I grabbed some of the above passage and suggested that she try treating him lovingly, even when he was loaded. She thought it would never work, but she said she would try it. She helped him to bed when he came home in bad shape. She gave him aspirin for his headache the next morning. She smiled at him and hugged him and said nothing in anger. When I came back from a short vacation, I got a call from the wife to see her husband in the detox ward of the hospital. When I went to him, he told me: “I don’t know what you did to my wife, but she is totally changed. She didn’t rail at me or try to punish me. She was just so kind and loving that a week ago I was so ashamed I couldn’t take it anymore. I got so loaded I was gone for a whole weekend, but when I recovered, I told myself that this could not go on forever, that I had to stop it somehow, so here I am!” They moved to get away from his drinking buddies, and he stayed clean for the rest of his life.
There could be several methods of “stealing,” and some of them are legal -- as when a homeowner offers to pay a little less on his mortgage each month if he could keep his house, but it is taken from him by a greedy bank. Most Christians would not resort to out-and-out theft, but there are many legal alternatives. Paul is telling us that when we have plenty we should share with others.
The bottom line is that we do everything in love. Try it -- it works and makes God happy.
Bob O.
John 6:35, 41-51
Have you ever been so closely connected to something or someone that you failed to appreciate how really special it was? A pair of brothers were soccer players. Though a year apart in age, they played together all of the time, both at home and on teams. They were close, but were fierce competitors on the field of play. As they got older, the games got bigger. More people watched and paid attention. After one particularly grueling day, a man approached them as they sat packing up their gear. He spoke to both, but he asked the younger of the two a lot of questions -- how old he was, how long he’d been playing, what his training routine was, and things like that. They were both surprised when in a few days a letter came addressed to the younger one, offering him a scholarship and a chance to play soccer in college. The older brother couldn’t believe it. How could that be! Wasn’t this just his little brother who he’d played with all of his life? How could he be anything that special or important?
It is hard to believe that someone or something we’ve known nearly our whole lives could actually be something that might have impact on a larger stage. There’s a sense of shock, disbelief, and then maybe just a tinge of jealousy. The Jews that grew up around Jesus no doubt felt that way. They’d seen him grow up. They knew his parents. They might’ve known his siblings. They were so close to him that they knew all about him. Unfortunately, they were too close to really know him -- not just about him, but know him. You might know about him, but do you know him?
Bill T.
John 6:35, 41-51
Sometimes life feels like you are on a treadmill. We are living much like 19th-century journalist Margaret Fuller accused us: “Men for the sake of living forget to live.” We need energy; we need strength. A 2014 study by the American Psychological Association indicates that 73% of us experience stress, and among this group 48% say the stress levels have increased in the last five years. We clearly need psychological nourishment, something to get us to live a little more and fret a little less.
Our lesson reminds us that Jesus, the Bread of Life, provides this nourishment and that he is in like the bread we had for breakfast this morning. As Martin Luther once explained: “This bread is a preservative against death. It is as if a physician or a pharmacist were to tell a patient: ‘I will give you a medicine, a potion or purgative, that will save you from death. You will no longer live in fear of death, since you are immune’ ” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 23, p. 41).
The Reformer also notes how joyful life is when you live it with Christ: “Therefore a Christian life is a life of bliss and joy. Christ’s yoke is easy and sweet...” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 2/1, p. 402).
Mark E.
