Sermon Illustrations for Proper 18 | Ordinary Time 23 (2022)
Illustration
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Americans like to think they are in control, that each of us is responsible for determining his or her own fate. It is as William Shakespeare once put it: “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” Famed 19th-century German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche claimed that “we ought to face our destiny with courage.” Not so, our lesson proclaims, God is the potter and we are but clay (vv.5-6). John Calvin compared Jeremiah’s message to our false confidence in life as our responsibility to determine outcomes. He wrote:
If we examine ourselves we shall find that pride which is innate in us, cannot be corrected except the Lord draws us as it were by force to see clearly what it is, and except he shows us plainly what we are. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.IX/2, p. 392)
Calvin also offered some interesting reflections on the everyday payoff of these insights, for they bring us confidence and comfort:
Faith indeed ought to be tranquil, nay it ought to disregard whatever may bring on us any terror or anxiety... But we must see that the tranquility of faith be well-founded, that is, in humility. For as we cast our anchor in heaven, so also, with regard to ourselves, we ought to lie low and be humble... our condition is not through ourselves safe and secure, but through the gratuitous goodness of God. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.IX/2, p. 396)
Mark E.
* * *
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Reflecting on these verses, John Calvin marveled about the work of God’s creation and his marvelous control over it:
David no doubt means figuratively to express the inconceivable skill which appears in the formation of the human body [v.15]. When we examine it, even to the nails on our fingers, there is nothing which could be altered, without felt inconveniency, as at something disjointed or put out of place... We need not wonder if God, who formed man so perfectly in the womb, should have an exact knowledge of him [human beings] after he is ushered into the world. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VI/2, pp. 216-217)
Exegeting the psalm, John Wesley nicely portrays the meaning it all has for our personal relationship with God:
You know what my thoughts will be in such and such circumstances long before I know it, yes from all eternity... You keep me, as it were, with a strong hand in your sight and under your power. Your wonderful counsels and works on my behalf come constantly into my mind. (Commentary On the Bible, pp. 302-303)
Martin Luther’s reflections on the psalm are no less touching:
Therefore, since the Lord is present everywhere, one should believe in him with all confidence, for he can help us everywhere, even if everything forsakes us everywhere. (Luther’s Works, Vol.29, p.164)
Mark E.
* * *
Philemon 1:1-21
The letters to Philemon and Colossae are linked. Philemon’s home was one of the house churches of Colossae. Letters written to the one were public documents, with greetings to various and sundry. It was expected that these letters would be read aloud to the congregations. Paul has no legal authority to free Onesimus, a slave who escaped from Philemon’s tyranny and who ended up in Rome, where he served Paul during one of his stints in prison. Paul is using his moral authority instead to invite Philemon to enter into a new relationship with Paul.
This may have been written in 58 AD, or perhaps even as late as 61 AD. Which means there’s something we know that those hearing these letters read aloud don’t.
A lot of them are going to die.
Colossae was just a dot on a bend in the great East-West Road, passing through Asia Minor. And all the while the clock was ticking. The Sword of Damocles hung overhead. Doom was looming.
As the ancient Roman historian Tacitus, writing about the year 61, said simply, “Laodicea, one of the famous Asiatic cities, was laid in ruins by an earthquake….”
Now Tacitus only bothers to mention Laodicea because the other towns weren’t as important. But what this means is that though they did not know it at that moment, when these letters were read aloud in the house churches these words took on extra significance, because many of the listeners were soon going to die in that massive earthquake.
They’re all about to die. We know it. They don’t. The continental plates were moving, slowly drifting. Meanwhile Onesimus, a slave belonging to Philemon who ran away from his master, far away to Rome, hoping to safely hide, ended up not only becoming a Christian but chose to serve Paul during his imprisonment. He became one of the bearers of the letters to Colossae and to Philemon.
Did some Colossians squirm uncomfortably in their seats about the fact that they’d been slipping back into emperor worship, or the worship of other false idols? Was Philemon, enraged at his escaped slave, nevertheless thinking hard about what Paul was hinting – that Onesimus (whose name meant “useful”) was more useful as a fellow Christian than a maimed and punished slave? There were a lot of eternal choices to be made, a lot of souls hanging in the balance.
And all the while two continental plates were feeling the pressure of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object and they were about to cease to resist and move, with terrible consequences. One day there would be a loud snap, or a deep rumble (earthquakes make a variety of noises) and then a terrible shaking that went on and on and on, as buildings fell, crushing people to death in the midst of rubble – all these souls sped into judgment!
You know, every day is someone’s judgment day.
Frank R.
* * *
Philemon 1:1-21
In The Christian Leader, Don Ratzlaff shares a story from Ernest Gordon’s “Miracle on the River Kwai.” The conduct of the Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to work on a jungle railroad, had deteriorated. One afternoon something bad happened. A shovel was missing. The Japanese officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot.
It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. There had been a miscount at the first check point.
The word spread quickly through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others. The incident had a profound effect. The men began to treat each other like brothers. When the Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons by this time, lined up in front of their captors and insisted: ‘No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness.” Sacrificial love has transforming power.
What we need is forgiveness. That’s what the apostle Paul is telling Onesimus about Philemon. Paul writes, “So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me” (v. 17). Will we be forgiving, too?
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 14:25-33
Concerning Jesus’ references to hating one’s family and life itself, the eminent reformed theologian Karl Barth writes:
It is not the persons who are to be hated. It is the hold which these persons have and by which they themselves are also gripped... The coming of the kingdom of God means an end of the absolute of family no less than of possession and fame... The life of the new creature is something rather different from a healthy and worthy continuation of the old. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/2, p. 551)
Centuries earlier, Martin Luther made a related point about this text as he described the implications of Jesus’ call to bear the cross:
For where God’s Word is preached, accepted or believed, and bears fruit, there the blessed holy cross will not be far away. Let nobody think that he will have peace; he must sacrifice all he has on earth – possessions honor, house and home, wife and children, body and life. (Book of Concord, pp. 448-449)
It is as John Kennedy’s devout Catholic mother Rose once said:
I have always believed that God never gives a cross to bear larger than we can carry. No matter what, he wants us to be happy, not sad. Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn’t we?
Mark E.
Americans like to think they are in control, that each of us is responsible for determining his or her own fate. It is as William Shakespeare once put it: “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” Famed 19th-century German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche claimed that “we ought to face our destiny with courage.” Not so, our lesson proclaims, God is the potter and we are but clay (vv.5-6). John Calvin compared Jeremiah’s message to our false confidence in life as our responsibility to determine outcomes. He wrote:
If we examine ourselves we shall find that pride which is innate in us, cannot be corrected except the Lord draws us as it were by force to see clearly what it is, and except he shows us plainly what we are. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.IX/2, p. 392)
Calvin also offered some interesting reflections on the everyday payoff of these insights, for they bring us confidence and comfort:
Faith indeed ought to be tranquil, nay it ought to disregard whatever may bring on us any terror or anxiety... But we must see that the tranquility of faith be well-founded, that is, in humility. For as we cast our anchor in heaven, so also, with regard to ourselves, we ought to lie low and be humble... our condition is not through ourselves safe and secure, but through the gratuitous goodness of God. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.IX/2, p. 396)
Mark E.
* * *
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Reflecting on these verses, John Calvin marveled about the work of God’s creation and his marvelous control over it:
David no doubt means figuratively to express the inconceivable skill which appears in the formation of the human body [v.15]. When we examine it, even to the nails on our fingers, there is nothing which could be altered, without felt inconveniency, as at something disjointed or put out of place... We need not wonder if God, who formed man so perfectly in the womb, should have an exact knowledge of him [human beings] after he is ushered into the world. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VI/2, pp. 216-217)
Exegeting the psalm, John Wesley nicely portrays the meaning it all has for our personal relationship with God:
You know what my thoughts will be in such and such circumstances long before I know it, yes from all eternity... You keep me, as it were, with a strong hand in your sight and under your power. Your wonderful counsels and works on my behalf come constantly into my mind. (Commentary On the Bible, pp. 302-303)
Martin Luther’s reflections on the psalm are no less touching:
Therefore, since the Lord is present everywhere, one should believe in him with all confidence, for he can help us everywhere, even if everything forsakes us everywhere. (Luther’s Works, Vol.29, p.164)
Mark E.
* * *
Philemon 1:1-21
The letters to Philemon and Colossae are linked. Philemon’s home was one of the house churches of Colossae. Letters written to the one were public documents, with greetings to various and sundry. It was expected that these letters would be read aloud to the congregations. Paul has no legal authority to free Onesimus, a slave who escaped from Philemon’s tyranny and who ended up in Rome, where he served Paul during one of his stints in prison. Paul is using his moral authority instead to invite Philemon to enter into a new relationship with Paul.
This may have been written in 58 AD, or perhaps even as late as 61 AD. Which means there’s something we know that those hearing these letters read aloud don’t.
A lot of them are going to die.
Colossae was just a dot on a bend in the great East-West Road, passing through Asia Minor. And all the while the clock was ticking. The Sword of Damocles hung overhead. Doom was looming.
As the ancient Roman historian Tacitus, writing about the year 61, said simply, “Laodicea, one of the famous Asiatic cities, was laid in ruins by an earthquake….”
Now Tacitus only bothers to mention Laodicea because the other towns weren’t as important. But what this means is that though they did not know it at that moment, when these letters were read aloud in the house churches these words took on extra significance, because many of the listeners were soon going to die in that massive earthquake.
They’re all about to die. We know it. They don’t. The continental plates were moving, slowly drifting. Meanwhile Onesimus, a slave belonging to Philemon who ran away from his master, far away to Rome, hoping to safely hide, ended up not only becoming a Christian but chose to serve Paul during his imprisonment. He became one of the bearers of the letters to Colossae and to Philemon.
Did some Colossians squirm uncomfortably in their seats about the fact that they’d been slipping back into emperor worship, or the worship of other false idols? Was Philemon, enraged at his escaped slave, nevertheless thinking hard about what Paul was hinting – that Onesimus (whose name meant “useful”) was more useful as a fellow Christian than a maimed and punished slave? There were a lot of eternal choices to be made, a lot of souls hanging in the balance.
And all the while two continental plates were feeling the pressure of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object and they were about to cease to resist and move, with terrible consequences. One day there would be a loud snap, or a deep rumble (earthquakes make a variety of noises) and then a terrible shaking that went on and on and on, as buildings fell, crushing people to death in the midst of rubble – all these souls sped into judgment!
You know, every day is someone’s judgment day.
Frank R.
* * *
Philemon 1:1-21
In The Christian Leader, Don Ratzlaff shares a story from Ernest Gordon’s “Miracle on the River Kwai.” The conduct of the Scottish soldiers, forced by their Japanese captors to work on a jungle railroad, had deteriorated. One afternoon something bad happened. A shovel was missing. The Japanese officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot.
It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the corpse and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. There had been a miscount at the first check point.
The word spread quickly through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others. The incident had a profound effect. The men began to treat each other like brothers. When the Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons by this time, lined up in front of their captors and insisted: ‘No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness.” Sacrificial love has transforming power.
What we need is forgiveness. That’s what the apostle Paul is telling Onesimus about Philemon. Paul writes, “So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me” (v. 17). Will we be forgiving, too?
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 14:25-33
Concerning Jesus’ references to hating one’s family and life itself, the eminent reformed theologian Karl Barth writes:
It is not the persons who are to be hated. It is the hold which these persons have and by which they themselves are also gripped... The coming of the kingdom of God means an end of the absolute of family no less than of possession and fame... The life of the new creature is something rather different from a healthy and worthy continuation of the old. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/2, p. 551)
Centuries earlier, Martin Luther made a related point about this text as he described the implications of Jesus’ call to bear the cross:
For where God’s Word is preached, accepted or believed, and bears fruit, there the blessed holy cross will not be far away. Let nobody think that he will have peace; he must sacrifice all he has on earth – possessions honor, house and home, wife and children, body and life. (Book of Concord, pp. 448-449)
It is as John Kennedy’s devout Catholic mother Rose once said:
I have always believed that God never gives a cross to bear larger than we can carry. No matter what, he wants us to be happy, not sad. Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn’t we?
Mark E.
