Sermon Illustrations for Proper 17 | Ordinary Time 22 (2020)
Illustration
Exodus 3:1-15
This is a story about the future, about a future for the people of Israel and also about how God is the God of the future. (The name Yahweh revealed in this story may be translated “I will be who I will be,” as readily as “I am who I am,” since the present and future tenses in ancient Hebrew are indistinguishable.) John Wesley once elaborated on what God’s name entails:
That He is self-existent; He had His being of Himself, and has no dependence upon any other. Being self-existent He cannot but be self-sufficient, and therefore all-sufficient, and the inexhaustible fountain of being and blessing. (Commentary On the Bible, p.67)
This belief in God who is always moving us to the future is in line with Thomas Jefferson’s thinking, as he once claimed that, “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” And Eleanor Roosevelt is quoted as making a similar point, when she stated: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Life (in Christ) really is like Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
Mark E.
* * *
Jeremiah 15:15-21, Psalm 26:1-8
The psalmist writes, “Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and mind.” I don’t like to be tested — I never liked written or oral exams, tests of my character and my persistence, tests of my strength. Yet, the psalmist call for this testing. To prove is to test, to analyze, to authenticate. Maybe I do want God’s testing. Just as Jeremiah was reminded to speak the words of God and he could be assured he would prevail; I want that assurance too. I want to know that I am speaking that which God is calling me to say, that which God is calling me to preach. Recently I preached a message of justice, speaking about the institutional racism and the seemly unbounded hate for the “other” in our culture, and even in our church. They were difficult words to preach — but they were the words God called me to utter. What message about God are you being called to say, to share? Do you have the courage to hear from God the words of God’s heart and proclaim them? Can we be courageous like Jeremiah and be proved by God?
Bonnie B.
* * *
Romans 12:9-21
Today, Sunday, August 30, is my 69th birthday. I once was a United Methodist pastor in western Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, because I have Asperger’s, which is on the autism spectrum, I had to leave the ministry. I then went on to teach college, and now I write. Before entering the ministry, I was a Virginia state trooper. I was assigned to Page County, Division 2, Area 14. My barracks was in Luray. The reader may be more familiar with Luray from the Luray Caverns, which was across the street from my barracks.
During the time that I was a trooper, the reader cannot imagine what I encountered. But I can assure you that it was not television police, where a script writer concludes every show with such a pristine outcome. Bad guy loses. Good guy wins. If it weren’t only so in real life! My time as a trooper, straight out of college, introduced me to the underbelly of life. A dark, evil, and foreboding life lived on the streets of Page County, the same as any county in our nation.
When I began my theological studies, I had little time or interest in religious positions that presented simplistic answers for the multiple heartaches in life. As if God would seemingly allow death on a highway, the sexual abuse of a child, the beating of a wife, the robbery of a store, the destruction of a life by addiction, the willingness to murder for either joy or self-interest or perhaps both.
This is why I introduce many of my theological commentaries with the following disclosure:
On a personal note, I was called into theological studies from a career as a state trooper. This transition has been the litmus test for all my theological writings, for it made me mindful that biblical interpretation and theological positions must parallel what people experience in daily living. Therefore, my guide is that my theology must be able to dwell on the streets of Page County, where I was assigned as a state trooper, for this is where people live; this is reality. If a theological treatise that I compose cannot live on the streets of Page County then my theology is misguided, for the streets are real. The sermons, meditations, speeches and articles that I write must reflect the reality of daily living, offering encouragement and answers that are authentic and pragmatic.
Ron L.
* * *
Romans 12:9-21
In recent times, preachers have had to be more careful to list our sources, to use quotation marks when we’re quoting something, and to make it clear at least where some of our ideas come from.
This was not so a couple thousand years ago. You quoted on the fly because the reading public, very small, would probably recognize the source.
Certainly many times Matthew or Paul or Jesus will say, “You have heard it said,” and then quote scripture, or “This was done to fulfill the scripture,” or something like that. The thing is, the preacher, teacher, or writer could count on an audience that recognized scriptural sources, so it wasn’t necessary to give chapter and verse (never mind that there weren’t chapters and verses in the text at that time).
This passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us how much he depends on the words of Jesus. Certainly people listening to his letters being read aloud in the congregation were familiar with the sayings of Jesus. To be honest, this passage sounds like a paraphrase of parts of the Sermon on the Mount.
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them,” is reminiscent of “bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” from Luke 6:28. Or “do not repay evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.” This calls to mind, “do to others as you would have them do to you.” Paul’s injunction to “love one another with mutual affection,” makes me think of John 13:34 -- “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.”
Now just so you know I got some of these examples from the book Irish Jesus - Roman Jesus by Graydon F. Snyder (pp 236-259), but I thought of at least one of these on my own. You may be able to think of others as well.
Frank R.
* * *
Romans 12:9-21
I’m a fan of “The Andy Griffith Show.” It remains popular today, I think, because of its clean humor and warm, relational dynamic. There are lots of episodes I remember, but as I read through this passage, I thought about the one titled, “Opie and Andy’s Pal.” The show introduces a new boy to Mayberry, Trey Bowden. He lives with his mom and becomes Opie’s best friend and Andy’s, too. He gets so close to Andy, that Opie gets jealous and pushes Trey away. After gentle prompting and a humorous encounter with Barney, Andy teaches Opie about how to treat people. At the end of the story, Opie gives Trey his football, for keeps. He tells Andy, “Trey never had a genuine, regulation-size football before.” Andy smiles and replies, “He’s also got a genuine, regulation-size friend.”
We like things that are genuine. Paul’s call in this passage is for the Christians at Rome to live a genuine Christian life. That kind of life is marked by things like loving each other, zeal in serving the Lord, patience in suffering, prayer and generous giving to the needy. It is being the hands feet, eyes, ears and heart of Jesus in a world that is desperate to see and know him. Philip Yancey, in his book The Jesus I Never Knew explains why; “No one who meets Jesus ever stays the same.” Will you be the genuine Christian that someone meets today?
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 16:21-28
How do you respond to bad news? Do you try to deny it, scream about it, engage others in taking sides about it? Imagine poor Peter. He loved Jesus and couldn’t imagine that Jesus would travel to Jerusalem and to his likely death. And then to be called Satan! Didn’t Jesus understand Peter’s desire to protect him? I think of this passage and relate it to parenting. Imagine if we protected our children from every single instance that could harm them. Would they ever ride a bike, play a sport, try out a dance, go hiking, cook? I remember leading a girl scout troop and getting into an argument with a mom who didn’t want her daughter to use a knife. Now we were going to be cooking and some of the vegetables would need to be peeled. Some of the meat would need to be cut up. I reminded her of the safety rules we would be following but also of her daughter’s need, as she grew up, to be able to succeed at some things on her own. I think in the same way, Jesus is preparing the discipled for the time they will need to be on their own. Don’t stop me he says. This is something I must do so you can then do what you will need to do. Don’t allow the limits of fear keep you from being all you can be.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Matthew 16:21-28
Cross-bearing like Jesus advocates in this lesson goes against the American grain. Not much self-denial is reflected in our spending habits, as the New York Federal Reserve found that consumer debt was approaching $14 trillion after the second quarter of 2019, the 20th consecutive quarter for an increase. A Sallie Mae Student Loan poll in 2019 revealed that only four in ten families have planned for all four years of college costs. We don’t make the sacrifices, and so we let our kids assume the college debt.
John Wesley once wrote about the importance of taking up the cross:
Should we not consider all crosses, all things grievous to flesh and blood, as what they really are: as opportunities of embracing God’s will at the expense of our own? (Commentary On the Bible, p.416)
Martin Luther made a similar point:
He who is a Christian must also bear a cross. And the more you are wronged, the better it is for you. Therefore you must accept such a cross willingly from God and thank Him. (Luther’s Works, Vol.30, p.84)
This commitment has implications for the church. Luther’s 20th-century spiritual son Dietrich Bonhoeffer made this point:
The believer says: The Church lives in the midst of death, only because God calls it from death to life, because He does the impossible toward us and through us — so would we all say. (A Testament to Freedom, p.109)
Mark E.
This is a story about the future, about a future for the people of Israel and also about how God is the God of the future. (The name Yahweh revealed in this story may be translated “I will be who I will be,” as readily as “I am who I am,” since the present and future tenses in ancient Hebrew are indistinguishable.) John Wesley once elaborated on what God’s name entails:
That He is self-existent; He had His being of Himself, and has no dependence upon any other. Being self-existent He cannot but be self-sufficient, and therefore all-sufficient, and the inexhaustible fountain of being and blessing. (Commentary On the Bible, p.67)
This belief in God who is always moving us to the future is in line with Thomas Jefferson’s thinking, as he once claimed that, “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” And Eleanor Roosevelt is quoted as making a similar point, when she stated: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Life (in Christ) really is like Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
Mark E.
* * *
Jeremiah 15:15-21, Psalm 26:1-8
The psalmist writes, “Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and mind.” I don’t like to be tested — I never liked written or oral exams, tests of my character and my persistence, tests of my strength. Yet, the psalmist call for this testing. To prove is to test, to analyze, to authenticate. Maybe I do want God’s testing. Just as Jeremiah was reminded to speak the words of God and he could be assured he would prevail; I want that assurance too. I want to know that I am speaking that which God is calling me to say, that which God is calling me to preach. Recently I preached a message of justice, speaking about the institutional racism and the seemly unbounded hate for the “other” in our culture, and even in our church. They were difficult words to preach — but they were the words God called me to utter. What message about God are you being called to say, to share? Do you have the courage to hear from God the words of God’s heart and proclaim them? Can we be courageous like Jeremiah and be proved by God?
Bonnie B.
* * *
Romans 12:9-21
Today, Sunday, August 30, is my 69th birthday. I once was a United Methodist pastor in western Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, because I have Asperger’s, which is on the autism spectrum, I had to leave the ministry. I then went on to teach college, and now I write. Before entering the ministry, I was a Virginia state trooper. I was assigned to Page County, Division 2, Area 14. My barracks was in Luray. The reader may be more familiar with Luray from the Luray Caverns, which was across the street from my barracks.
During the time that I was a trooper, the reader cannot imagine what I encountered. But I can assure you that it was not television police, where a script writer concludes every show with such a pristine outcome. Bad guy loses. Good guy wins. If it weren’t only so in real life! My time as a trooper, straight out of college, introduced me to the underbelly of life. A dark, evil, and foreboding life lived on the streets of Page County, the same as any county in our nation.
When I began my theological studies, I had little time or interest in religious positions that presented simplistic answers for the multiple heartaches in life. As if God would seemingly allow death on a highway, the sexual abuse of a child, the beating of a wife, the robbery of a store, the destruction of a life by addiction, the willingness to murder for either joy or self-interest or perhaps both.
This is why I introduce many of my theological commentaries with the following disclosure:
On a personal note, I was called into theological studies from a career as a state trooper. This transition has been the litmus test for all my theological writings, for it made me mindful that biblical interpretation and theological positions must parallel what people experience in daily living. Therefore, my guide is that my theology must be able to dwell on the streets of Page County, where I was assigned as a state trooper, for this is where people live; this is reality. If a theological treatise that I compose cannot live on the streets of Page County then my theology is misguided, for the streets are real. The sermons, meditations, speeches and articles that I write must reflect the reality of daily living, offering encouragement and answers that are authentic and pragmatic.
Ron L.
* * *
Romans 12:9-21
In recent times, preachers have had to be more careful to list our sources, to use quotation marks when we’re quoting something, and to make it clear at least where some of our ideas come from.
This was not so a couple thousand years ago. You quoted on the fly because the reading public, very small, would probably recognize the source.
Certainly many times Matthew or Paul or Jesus will say, “You have heard it said,” and then quote scripture, or “This was done to fulfill the scripture,” or something like that. The thing is, the preacher, teacher, or writer could count on an audience that recognized scriptural sources, so it wasn’t necessary to give chapter and verse (never mind that there weren’t chapters and verses in the text at that time).
This passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us how much he depends on the words of Jesus. Certainly people listening to his letters being read aloud in the congregation were familiar with the sayings of Jesus. To be honest, this passage sounds like a paraphrase of parts of the Sermon on the Mount.
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them,” is reminiscent of “bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” from Luke 6:28. Or “do not repay evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.” This calls to mind, “do to others as you would have them do to you.” Paul’s injunction to “love one another with mutual affection,” makes me think of John 13:34 -- “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.”
Now just so you know I got some of these examples from the book Irish Jesus - Roman Jesus by Graydon F. Snyder (pp 236-259), but I thought of at least one of these on my own. You may be able to think of others as well.
Frank R.
* * *
Romans 12:9-21
I’m a fan of “The Andy Griffith Show.” It remains popular today, I think, because of its clean humor and warm, relational dynamic. There are lots of episodes I remember, but as I read through this passage, I thought about the one titled, “Opie and Andy’s Pal.” The show introduces a new boy to Mayberry, Trey Bowden. He lives with his mom and becomes Opie’s best friend and Andy’s, too. He gets so close to Andy, that Opie gets jealous and pushes Trey away. After gentle prompting and a humorous encounter with Barney, Andy teaches Opie about how to treat people. At the end of the story, Opie gives Trey his football, for keeps. He tells Andy, “Trey never had a genuine, regulation-size football before.” Andy smiles and replies, “He’s also got a genuine, regulation-size friend.”
We like things that are genuine. Paul’s call in this passage is for the Christians at Rome to live a genuine Christian life. That kind of life is marked by things like loving each other, zeal in serving the Lord, patience in suffering, prayer and generous giving to the needy. It is being the hands feet, eyes, ears and heart of Jesus in a world that is desperate to see and know him. Philip Yancey, in his book The Jesus I Never Knew explains why; “No one who meets Jesus ever stays the same.” Will you be the genuine Christian that someone meets today?
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 16:21-28
How do you respond to bad news? Do you try to deny it, scream about it, engage others in taking sides about it? Imagine poor Peter. He loved Jesus and couldn’t imagine that Jesus would travel to Jerusalem and to his likely death. And then to be called Satan! Didn’t Jesus understand Peter’s desire to protect him? I think of this passage and relate it to parenting. Imagine if we protected our children from every single instance that could harm them. Would they ever ride a bike, play a sport, try out a dance, go hiking, cook? I remember leading a girl scout troop and getting into an argument with a mom who didn’t want her daughter to use a knife. Now we were going to be cooking and some of the vegetables would need to be peeled. Some of the meat would need to be cut up. I reminded her of the safety rules we would be following but also of her daughter’s need, as she grew up, to be able to succeed at some things on her own. I think in the same way, Jesus is preparing the discipled for the time they will need to be on their own. Don’t stop me he says. This is something I must do so you can then do what you will need to do. Don’t allow the limits of fear keep you from being all you can be.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Matthew 16:21-28
Cross-bearing like Jesus advocates in this lesson goes against the American grain. Not much self-denial is reflected in our spending habits, as the New York Federal Reserve found that consumer debt was approaching $14 trillion after the second quarter of 2019, the 20th consecutive quarter for an increase. A Sallie Mae Student Loan poll in 2019 revealed that only four in ten families have planned for all four years of college costs. We don’t make the sacrifices, and so we let our kids assume the college debt.
John Wesley once wrote about the importance of taking up the cross:
Should we not consider all crosses, all things grievous to flesh and blood, as what they really are: as opportunities of embracing God’s will at the expense of our own? (Commentary On the Bible, p.416)
Martin Luther made a similar point:
He who is a Christian must also bear a cross. And the more you are wronged, the better it is for you. Therefore you must accept such a cross willingly from God and thank Him. (Luther’s Works, Vol.30, p.84)
This commitment has implications for the church. Luther’s 20th-century spiritual son Dietrich Bonhoeffer made this point:
The believer says: The Church lives in the midst of death, only because God calls it from death to life, because He does the impossible toward us and through us — so would we all say. (A Testament to Freedom, p.109)
Mark E.
