Sermon Illustrations for Proper 17 | Ordinary Time 22 (2015)
Illustration
Object:
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
It fascinates me to discover the many ways in which Christian readers of Song of Songs connect short phrases and individual images with their experience of the holy. Take the image of the lover peering in through latticework to see his beloved (2:9), an image so fleeting that we can easily gloss over it. Not so for all readers.
Ancient Jewish readers saw in this image a reference to God’s presence. According to Midrash Rabbah (11:26), this verse describes how God peers through the gaps in the Western Wall of the Jerusalem Temple to keep watch over the people of God.
(Christina Bucher, Lamentations / Song of Songs: A Believer’s Church Bible Commentary, pp. 192-193)
Frank R.
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
This is a love song. Some have even questioned why it is in scripture. It is only for Christians if it relates to our Lord. We are his bride. We have to remember that he has only one bride, and not a polygamous bevy of brides in a harem.
The thing that is hard for me is to think that God loves each one of us -- individually! How can he do that with all the billions of people in the world? But then, he created millions of different kinds of animals and plants and trees. Look at the universe, with untold numbers of stars and planets floating around. His ways are far beyond our ways.
Look at it more like we look at our family. We love our one wife (hopefully!) and each one of our children separately. Yes, we have favorites, but then so did Jesus. John, it was said, was the disciple that he loved. I don’t think for a minute that he did not love the others. It even said he had love for some who came to him for healing.
We are all treated in the feminine. He does not sort out fellows and girls, but he is always the husband, the groom.
This passage has more of a “romantic” mood to it, which makes it hard to picture it as Jesus’ kind of love. I think we have to take it far beyond romance. Greeks have a word for it: agape. There is eros, which is the romantic love; philios, which is the brotherly kind of love (as in Philadelphia); and storgey (family love). Agape is way beyond that, and some have said that humans are not capable of that depth of love, which suffered for us on a cross.
Try to put God’s eros in place of the “love” in this passage and read it again. It takes some doing to keep eros out of it, but give it a try.
Bob O.
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
As a woman raised in the north, I can attest that the winters are long and hard. When winter is past, when rain is over, when green shoots and small blossoms cover the landscape I feel hope. There is something about new leaves, yellow buttercups, and apple blossoms that speak of God’s renewal. As the earth awakens, so do the longings of our hearts.
Watching a young fawn and her wobbling walk reminds us of the struggle we have in our own walk of faith following Jesus. God calls to us: “Come out of the darkness and the cold. Come into the light of love and renewal. Come away from that which burdens you. Let the past burdens go. Put them down. Come into love and life and joy and peace.”
God is present. God stands and gazes at us lovingly. God calls to our hearts and our spirits. God calls us to an embrace, a holy hug, a resurrection. Come my love, my fair one. Arise. Lift up your heart and your spirit. Come away.
Bonnie B.
James 1:17-27
James is a book about doing more than talking. As the Four Seasons sang about, “Silence Is Golden.” Will Rogers offered some good folk wisdom: “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” Others in the same line of thinking include the ancient philosopher Epictetus, who once observed: “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. American columnist Doug Larson commented on the wisdom of such an insight: “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.” The listener is also usually a better doer, like James advocates. The listener is more open to the cues and needs of others. If you are talking all the time, it is more about you than the other. Benjamin Franklin helps us see this, as he once said: “Well done is better than well said.”
Mark E.
James 1:17-27
Remember the first time you drove a car? If you were like me, you felt awkward. There were so many details to think about: securing the seat belt, adjusting the mirrors, starting the car, turning on signals, coordinating the accelerator and the clutch. I learned to drive using my dad’s manual transmission pickup truck. There was a hill I avoided for nearly a year because I couldn’t coordinate the clutch and the accelerator and was always rolling down the hill.
Learning to walk in faithfulness is a lot like learning to drive. Reading the Bible, praying, attending worship, living out the gospel can be confusing. But to not act on faith is like sitting in the car without starting the engine. For those of us who have been driving for years, all those little steps are second nature to us now. If we live our faith as diligently and as completely as we can, acting on our faith in recognition of the grace we have been given will become a part of us as well.
Bonnie B.
James 1:17-27
A ballpoint pen that doesn’t write; a key that won’t turn a lock; a zipper that will not hold a jacket together -- three random things that seem to have nothing in common except for this... I own all of them, and dealt with all three last week. Second, and maybe more importantly, these are things that appear as if they ought to and can do something, but they don’t. It is not helpful to have a pen that doesn’t write, a key that opens nothing, or a zipper that won’t hold. They look fine, but they are worth zilch. Hardly anything is more frustrating than having something you need and count on to appear to be good, but not work as it should. Value is found in what something actually does, not so much in how it looks.
It’s an interesting thought, and appropriate to what James is writing here. Simply hearing the word and not being a doer is deceiving ourselves -- and ultimately worthless. What we are to be doing is spelled out in this passage. It is seen in our words and in the way we treat the people around us. The challenge is clear. Our faith isn’t measured by how it looks to others. It is measured and tested by what we do.
Bill T.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Let us, then, his servants, follow our Lord and patiently submit to denunciations that we may be blessed! If, with slight forbearance, I hear some bitter or evil remark directed against me, I may return it, and then I shall inevitably become bitter myself. Either that, or I shall be tormented by unexpressed resentment. If I retaliate when cursed, how shall I be found to have followed the teaching of our Lord? For his saying has been handed down that one is defiled not by unclean dishes but by the words which proceed from his mouth.
(Tertullian, On Patience, 8)
Frank R.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Two bottles of liquid were found side by side in the shelter. Legend was that one brought life and the other death. They had been there for many years, so whatever writing or labeling that had been on them was now gone. There were no other markings; just two bottles of liquid about as different from each other as they could possibly be. The first shone brightly through dust that had accumulated on the bottle over the years. It was almost sky blue in color, seemed light in the bottle, and was inviting. The other liquid was a disgusting brown and black mixture, but the dust on the bottle seemed more appealing. A decision had to be made. One would bring death. The other would bring life. The finder had to make a choice...
“Hold it for a minute,” you say. How could anyone choose from such a flimsy set of facts? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that there isn’t enough evidence there to make such an important choice. With liquids in a bottle, that’s easy to see. With people, well, that’s another story. How many times do we hope that people will buy the act? How many times have we made a foolish choice based on something superficial and meaningless? Jesus reiterates for his listeners that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. That’s what matters. Don’t just be about style -- have substance in your walk with the Lord.
Bill T.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Do you like rules? There are some people who love rules. They love making them and keeping them. They love catching other people not following them. There are other people for whom rules are an annoyance. Which type of person are you?
As a child I was a rule follower. I liked rules. They made me feel safe. I understood that the rules were there to protect me. I liked feeling protected.
For the Pharisees, the rules had been handed down from centuries past and they were the most important way to be faithful to God. Purity rules were especially important. But the Pharisees forgot that the rules were the means, not the end. Their focus was to be the love of God and the love of their neighbor. Jesus reminded them that the evil, the hate, and the negativity come out of us. That’s where the impurity is. So follow the rules, but don’t worship them. Look into your heart and into the hearts of others and cultivate the grace, forgiveness, and love that come from God.
Bonnie B.
It fascinates me to discover the many ways in which Christian readers of Song of Songs connect short phrases and individual images with their experience of the holy. Take the image of the lover peering in through latticework to see his beloved (2:9), an image so fleeting that we can easily gloss over it. Not so for all readers.
Ancient Jewish readers saw in this image a reference to God’s presence. According to Midrash Rabbah (11:26), this verse describes how God peers through the gaps in the Western Wall of the Jerusalem Temple to keep watch over the people of God.
(Christina Bucher, Lamentations / Song of Songs: A Believer’s Church Bible Commentary, pp. 192-193)
Frank R.
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
This is a love song. Some have even questioned why it is in scripture. It is only for Christians if it relates to our Lord. We are his bride. We have to remember that he has only one bride, and not a polygamous bevy of brides in a harem.
The thing that is hard for me is to think that God loves each one of us -- individually! How can he do that with all the billions of people in the world? But then, he created millions of different kinds of animals and plants and trees. Look at the universe, with untold numbers of stars and planets floating around. His ways are far beyond our ways.
Look at it more like we look at our family. We love our one wife (hopefully!) and each one of our children separately. Yes, we have favorites, but then so did Jesus. John, it was said, was the disciple that he loved. I don’t think for a minute that he did not love the others. It even said he had love for some who came to him for healing.
We are all treated in the feminine. He does not sort out fellows and girls, but he is always the husband, the groom.
This passage has more of a “romantic” mood to it, which makes it hard to picture it as Jesus’ kind of love. I think we have to take it far beyond romance. Greeks have a word for it: agape. There is eros, which is the romantic love; philios, which is the brotherly kind of love (as in Philadelphia); and storgey (family love). Agape is way beyond that, and some have said that humans are not capable of that depth of love, which suffered for us on a cross.
Try to put God’s eros in place of the “love” in this passage and read it again. It takes some doing to keep eros out of it, but give it a try.
Bob O.
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
As a woman raised in the north, I can attest that the winters are long and hard. When winter is past, when rain is over, when green shoots and small blossoms cover the landscape I feel hope. There is something about new leaves, yellow buttercups, and apple blossoms that speak of God’s renewal. As the earth awakens, so do the longings of our hearts.
Watching a young fawn and her wobbling walk reminds us of the struggle we have in our own walk of faith following Jesus. God calls to us: “Come out of the darkness and the cold. Come into the light of love and renewal. Come away from that which burdens you. Let the past burdens go. Put them down. Come into love and life and joy and peace.”
God is present. God stands and gazes at us lovingly. God calls to our hearts and our spirits. God calls us to an embrace, a holy hug, a resurrection. Come my love, my fair one. Arise. Lift up your heart and your spirit. Come away.
Bonnie B.
James 1:17-27
James is a book about doing more than talking. As the Four Seasons sang about, “Silence Is Golden.” Will Rogers offered some good folk wisdom: “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” Others in the same line of thinking include the ancient philosopher Epictetus, who once observed: “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. American columnist Doug Larson commented on the wisdom of such an insight: “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.” The listener is also usually a better doer, like James advocates. The listener is more open to the cues and needs of others. If you are talking all the time, it is more about you than the other. Benjamin Franklin helps us see this, as he once said: “Well done is better than well said.”
Mark E.
James 1:17-27
Remember the first time you drove a car? If you were like me, you felt awkward. There were so many details to think about: securing the seat belt, adjusting the mirrors, starting the car, turning on signals, coordinating the accelerator and the clutch. I learned to drive using my dad’s manual transmission pickup truck. There was a hill I avoided for nearly a year because I couldn’t coordinate the clutch and the accelerator and was always rolling down the hill.
Learning to walk in faithfulness is a lot like learning to drive. Reading the Bible, praying, attending worship, living out the gospel can be confusing. But to not act on faith is like sitting in the car without starting the engine. For those of us who have been driving for years, all those little steps are second nature to us now. If we live our faith as diligently and as completely as we can, acting on our faith in recognition of the grace we have been given will become a part of us as well.
Bonnie B.
James 1:17-27
A ballpoint pen that doesn’t write; a key that won’t turn a lock; a zipper that will not hold a jacket together -- three random things that seem to have nothing in common except for this... I own all of them, and dealt with all three last week. Second, and maybe more importantly, these are things that appear as if they ought to and can do something, but they don’t. It is not helpful to have a pen that doesn’t write, a key that opens nothing, or a zipper that won’t hold. They look fine, but they are worth zilch. Hardly anything is more frustrating than having something you need and count on to appear to be good, but not work as it should. Value is found in what something actually does, not so much in how it looks.
It’s an interesting thought, and appropriate to what James is writing here. Simply hearing the word and not being a doer is deceiving ourselves -- and ultimately worthless. What we are to be doing is spelled out in this passage. It is seen in our words and in the way we treat the people around us. The challenge is clear. Our faith isn’t measured by how it looks to others. It is measured and tested by what we do.
Bill T.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Let us, then, his servants, follow our Lord and patiently submit to denunciations that we may be blessed! If, with slight forbearance, I hear some bitter or evil remark directed against me, I may return it, and then I shall inevitably become bitter myself. Either that, or I shall be tormented by unexpressed resentment. If I retaliate when cursed, how shall I be found to have followed the teaching of our Lord? For his saying has been handed down that one is defiled not by unclean dishes but by the words which proceed from his mouth.
(Tertullian, On Patience, 8)
Frank R.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Two bottles of liquid were found side by side in the shelter. Legend was that one brought life and the other death. They had been there for many years, so whatever writing or labeling that had been on them was now gone. There were no other markings; just two bottles of liquid about as different from each other as they could possibly be. The first shone brightly through dust that had accumulated on the bottle over the years. It was almost sky blue in color, seemed light in the bottle, and was inviting. The other liquid was a disgusting brown and black mixture, but the dust on the bottle seemed more appealing. A decision had to be made. One would bring death. The other would bring life. The finder had to make a choice...
“Hold it for a minute,” you say. How could anyone choose from such a flimsy set of facts? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that there isn’t enough evidence there to make such an important choice. With liquids in a bottle, that’s easy to see. With people, well, that’s another story. How many times do we hope that people will buy the act? How many times have we made a foolish choice based on something superficial and meaningless? Jesus reiterates for his listeners that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. That’s what matters. Don’t just be about style -- have substance in your walk with the Lord.
Bill T.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Do you like rules? There are some people who love rules. They love making them and keeping them. They love catching other people not following them. There are other people for whom rules are an annoyance. Which type of person are you?
As a child I was a rule follower. I liked rules. They made me feel safe. I understood that the rules were there to protect me. I liked feeling protected.
For the Pharisees, the rules had been handed down from centuries past and they were the most important way to be faithful to God. Purity rules were especially important. But the Pharisees forgot that the rules were the means, not the end. Their focus was to be the love of God and the love of their neighbor. Jesus reminded them that the evil, the hate, and the negativity come out of us. That’s where the impurity is. So follow the rules, but don’t worship them. Look into your heart and into the hearts of others and cultivate the grace, forgiveness, and love that come from God.
Bonnie B.
