Sermon Illustrations for Proper 19 | Ordinary Time 24 (2024)
Illustration
Proverbs 1:20-33
I am not a Tik Tok fan, and I do not have an account. However, in researching for this passage, I came across and interesting section of Tik Tok videos. The genre (if that’s the right word) was “I should have listened to my parents.” In that section, I found multiple Tik Tok videos with users describing, in usually a minute or less, situations in which they wished they would have listened to their parents. The scenarios ranged from going to college, applying for research grants, to dating a particular person. The common thread in them all was the regret, “I wish I’d listened to my parents.”
In this passage in Proverbs, wisdom is personified as both a mother, and, in some ways, as a prophet. She cries out in the streets, pours out her thoughts, calling people to the fear of the Lord. However, the people have “ignored all her counsel” (vs. 25). The outcome of ignoring the voice of wisdom is calamity and disaster. One cannot live foolishly forever without reaping the benefits of that lifestyle. May each one today heed the words of wisdom and seek the Lord.
Bill T.
* * *
Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom is such a pleasing thing. We refer with appreciation to the “wise old owl” and to the “wise man.” Aristotle claimed that, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” For the ancient Hebrews, wisdom was common sense. Martin Luther offered an interesting reflection on such human wisdom. In a commentary on Ecclesiastes he wrote:
The counsels of the wise are turned to folly to keep us from glorying in ourselves... It is certainly true that human wisdom does not dispose of a matter; God Himself disposes of it. (What Luther Says, p.1454)
Our lesson makes it clear along with Luther that true wisdom is God-given. As Luther put it elsewhere once: “If we want to be wise, we must become fools and let God’s Word be the eternal truth.” (Ibid., p.1455) Ancient African theologian Lactantius offered a reflection about how the wisdom promised in this lesson and in Christ changes us. He wrote:
So great is the power of divine wisdom, that, when infused into the breast of man, by one impulse it once for all expels folly, which is the mother of faults... But a few precepts of God so entirely change the whole man, and having put off the old man, render him new, that you would not recognise him as the same. (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.7, p.96)
You’re not the same when divine wisdom comes to dwell in you.
Mark E.
* * *
Proverbs 1:20-33
There’s an old Pete Seeger song that begins, “Where have all the flowers gone?” We learn the young girls pick the flowers, the young men who seek out the young girls end up with soldiers, then in graveyards which become overgrown with flowers. “When will they ever learn?” Seeger asked, which is something like the same question asked by wisdom, who in the book of Proverbs is represented by a woman, standing at “the entrance of the city gates.” (1:20)
Now, oddly enough, that was where the old guys in Bible times would hang out, watching folks come and go, and witnessing the drama of daily life in the town. Kind of like the old guys who make a cup of coffee last an hour while they meet every Tuesday morning to solve the world’s problems. The author of Proverbs has placed a woman, the concerned wisdom, in the place we normally find men, and this is a deliberate turning of the tables.
The city ages are the place where life happens, and therefore where wisdom is needed. It’s the real world, where free will, chance, and choice intersect and sometimes collide.
Now part of the Hebraic way of thinking is that there are two paths, where free will is required in order to make a choice. This is the way God made the world. If you listened to wisdom in the first place, you wouldn’t have a hard time choosing between the way of good and the way of evil. So pay attention to wisdom. This is doable.
In this passage, it’s as if this wise woman has been ignored in the past, so now she’s almost taunting us so we’ll pay attention. Later, in the eighth chapter, she’ll plead with us, expressing love and concern. And we’ll learn as we go along that she’s been around since the creation.
This is important because in the ancient world the fact that we’re here is almost an accident. The gods who are immortal are not omniscient, and they’re not fully in control of chaos and creation. You never know. Everything might just fall apart and return to chaos.
But in our story, wisdom was there from the beginning. Our universe make sense. It is not safe, but it is secure. Like she says, “I was there when he established the heavens, when he marked out the horizon on the deep sea, when he thickened the clouds above, when he secured the fountains of the deep, when he set a limit for the sea… I was there as a master of crafts (8:27-30).”
This whole wisdom thing reminds us that it is not fate that determines the outcome. There is chance, to be sure. There are accidents. But our choices for good or evil remain the important determining factor in our outcomes.
Frank R.
* * *
James 3:1-12
Words are powerful things, James seems to say. Martin Luther agreed. He once wrote:
There is nothing around or in us that can do greater good or greater harm in temporal or spiritual matters than the tongue, although it is the smallest and weakest member. (The Book of Concord, p.424)
These sentiments are echoes in a Saudi Arabian proverb: “The wound of words is worse than the wound of swords.” And a Spanish proverb translates: “A word from the mouth is like a stone from a sling.”
The words we speak say a lot about who we are as people. The first century BC Roman author Publius Syrus made that point well. He wrote: “Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so he is.” We may do well to keep that in mind in the present election season.
St. Augustine offers the final word on how to guard our speech. We need God to do it to us, he claims. As he put it:
This is the wisdom which tames the tongue; it descends from above, and springs from no human heart. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.5, p.126)
Mark E.
* * *
James 3:1-12
Our tongues can really get us into trouble. My Dad used to remind us to engage our brains before we engaged our mouths and James seems to be reminding us about the same thing. We can speak without thinking, and this small organ, our tongue, can get us into so much trouble, can hurt others so easily, and really damage our relationships. We all make mistakes in speaking. We can all be judgmental, arrogant, disrespectful, and even, wrong. And we can talk through that, push to make ourselves heard and known, and that little tongue gets us in big trouble.
Our tongues, and our words, can either cause pain or alleviate it; bring us closer together or tear us apart, renew or destroy relationships. Dialogue is important, Talking things out is important. But James reminds us that we need to think, maybe even to pray, before we speak. Otherwise, we can and will hurt someone with our words. This doesn’t, at all, mean that we should stop speaking the truth, but how we speak is as important as the words we say. Be kind, my friends. Be compassionate. Remember the damage our tongues, our words can cause.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Mark 8:27-38
This is the pivotal point in the Gospel of Mark. And in today’s lesson, Jesus challenges his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (8:27) They hem and haw. Who wants to give the wrong answer? They respond by repeating what others are saying, so when Jesus presses the disciples, Peter responds “You are the Messiah.”
Way right answer. But as it turns out, Peter and others who think of Jesus as the Messiah are looking at people, but seeing walking trees. Perhaps they think of the Messiah as one who will drive the Romans into the sea and restore a descendant of David onto the throne in Jerusalem. Jesus challenges us to set our minds on divine things, not human things, and that includes a path to glory that goes through, not around, the cross. The bald statement in this passage – “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (8:36) – makes it clear it is in suffering (not suffering that we seek but which finds us nonetheless) that we truly follow the Messiah to glory.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 8:27-38
I have always been a fan of the Star Wars movies. I saw all nine of them but did not love number eight. In the third of the prequel movies, Revenge of the Sith, Obi Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) is in a duel with Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansen) who has just become Darth Vader. In the duel, Obi Wan gets the high ground and has the advantage. Vader, though, attempts a risky move that ends up with him being severely wounded. Leaving him to die on the hot shore of the volcanic sea, Obi Wan laments, “"You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. You were to bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!”
It is a powerful scene in that movie. It is also a scene I thought of again as I read of Peter’s confession of who Jesus was. Clearly, Obi Wan was devastated that Anakin was supposed to be the one and yet he turned away from it. Peter answers Jesus’ question with a direct affirmation of his identity. Jesus was the Messiah and his followers, while not always understanding what it meant, knew it. Augustine knew of the importance of this truth. He wrote, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in every man that only Christ can fill.” Will you proclaim Jesus as the Christ, the chosen one?
Bill T.
* * *
Mark 8:27-38
I have a real understanding of Peter. Who would want to hear that their friend, who you have just proclaimed as the Messiah, is going to be shamed, arrested and killed? The conversation shifts so very quickly. Peter is praised for recognizing Jesus as the Messiah and then scolded for not wanting the Messiah to be treated as Jesus describes. It’s the challenge of the faithful – to live into the faith we have, the life we have been given, struggles and all, and still recognize that we walk in the footsteps, in the path Jesus has laid before us.
We carry our cross. We walk with Jesus. We remember the good opportunities we have and the struggles and challenges we face. All we live is a life of faith. All we carry is the cross of our life and the life of Jesus. We lose our lives when we hand them over to our faith walk. We give up the right to only see God in the happy times and the good moments. We are called to love and live as faithful people, even when it’s hard. Maybe that’s the part of the story Peter doesn’t get. We can follow Jesus when the times are tough, when we don’t understand, when we face an uphill climb – knowing that God is with us, Jesus holds us, and the Holy Spirit empowers us. Thank God it is so.
Bonnie B.
I am not a Tik Tok fan, and I do not have an account. However, in researching for this passage, I came across and interesting section of Tik Tok videos. The genre (if that’s the right word) was “I should have listened to my parents.” In that section, I found multiple Tik Tok videos with users describing, in usually a minute or less, situations in which they wished they would have listened to their parents. The scenarios ranged from going to college, applying for research grants, to dating a particular person. The common thread in them all was the regret, “I wish I’d listened to my parents.”
In this passage in Proverbs, wisdom is personified as both a mother, and, in some ways, as a prophet. She cries out in the streets, pours out her thoughts, calling people to the fear of the Lord. However, the people have “ignored all her counsel” (vs. 25). The outcome of ignoring the voice of wisdom is calamity and disaster. One cannot live foolishly forever without reaping the benefits of that lifestyle. May each one today heed the words of wisdom and seek the Lord.
Bill T.
* * *
Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom is such a pleasing thing. We refer with appreciation to the “wise old owl” and to the “wise man.” Aristotle claimed that, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” For the ancient Hebrews, wisdom was common sense. Martin Luther offered an interesting reflection on such human wisdom. In a commentary on Ecclesiastes he wrote:
The counsels of the wise are turned to folly to keep us from glorying in ourselves... It is certainly true that human wisdom does not dispose of a matter; God Himself disposes of it. (What Luther Says, p.1454)
Our lesson makes it clear along with Luther that true wisdom is God-given. As Luther put it elsewhere once: “If we want to be wise, we must become fools and let God’s Word be the eternal truth.” (Ibid., p.1455) Ancient African theologian Lactantius offered a reflection about how the wisdom promised in this lesson and in Christ changes us. He wrote:
So great is the power of divine wisdom, that, when infused into the breast of man, by one impulse it once for all expels folly, which is the mother of faults... But a few precepts of God so entirely change the whole man, and having put off the old man, render him new, that you would not recognise him as the same. (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.7, p.96)
You’re not the same when divine wisdom comes to dwell in you.
Mark E.
* * *
Proverbs 1:20-33
There’s an old Pete Seeger song that begins, “Where have all the flowers gone?” We learn the young girls pick the flowers, the young men who seek out the young girls end up with soldiers, then in graveyards which become overgrown with flowers. “When will they ever learn?” Seeger asked, which is something like the same question asked by wisdom, who in the book of Proverbs is represented by a woman, standing at “the entrance of the city gates.” (1:20)
Now, oddly enough, that was where the old guys in Bible times would hang out, watching folks come and go, and witnessing the drama of daily life in the town. Kind of like the old guys who make a cup of coffee last an hour while they meet every Tuesday morning to solve the world’s problems. The author of Proverbs has placed a woman, the concerned wisdom, in the place we normally find men, and this is a deliberate turning of the tables.
The city ages are the place where life happens, and therefore where wisdom is needed. It’s the real world, where free will, chance, and choice intersect and sometimes collide.
Now part of the Hebraic way of thinking is that there are two paths, where free will is required in order to make a choice. This is the way God made the world. If you listened to wisdom in the first place, you wouldn’t have a hard time choosing between the way of good and the way of evil. So pay attention to wisdom. This is doable.
In this passage, it’s as if this wise woman has been ignored in the past, so now she’s almost taunting us so we’ll pay attention. Later, in the eighth chapter, she’ll plead with us, expressing love and concern. And we’ll learn as we go along that she’s been around since the creation.
This is important because in the ancient world the fact that we’re here is almost an accident. The gods who are immortal are not omniscient, and they’re not fully in control of chaos and creation. You never know. Everything might just fall apart and return to chaos.
But in our story, wisdom was there from the beginning. Our universe make sense. It is not safe, but it is secure. Like she says, “I was there when he established the heavens, when he marked out the horizon on the deep sea, when he thickened the clouds above, when he secured the fountains of the deep, when he set a limit for the sea… I was there as a master of crafts (8:27-30).”
This whole wisdom thing reminds us that it is not fate that determines the outcome. There is chance, to be sure. There are accidents. But our choices for good or evil remain the important determining factor in our outcomes.
Frank R.
* * *
James 3:1-12
Words are powerful things, James seems to say. Martin Luther agreed. He once wrote:
There is nothing around or in us that can do greater good or greater harm in temporal or spiritual matters than the tongue, although it is the smallest and weakest member. (The Book of Concord, p.424)
These sentiments are echoes in a Saudi Arabian proverb: “The wound of words is worse than the wound of swords.” And a Spanish proverb translates: “A word from the mouth is like a stone from a sling.”
The words we speak say a lot about who we are as people. The first century BC Roman author Publius Syrus made that point well. He wrote: “Speech is the mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so he is.” We may do well to keep that in mind in the present election season.
St. Augustine offers the final word on how to guard our speech. We need God to do it to us, he claims. As he put it:
This is the wisdom which tames the tongue; it descends from above, and springs from no human heart. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.5, p.126)
Mark E.
* * *
James 3:1-12
Our tongues can really get us into trouble. My Dad used to remind us to engage our brains before we engaged our mouths and James seems to be reminding us about the same thing. We can speak without thinking, and this small organ, our tongue, can get us into so much trouble, can hurt others so easily, and really damage our relationships. We all make mistakes in speaking. We can all be judgmental, arrogant, disrespectful, and even, wrong. And we can talk through that, push to make ourselves heard and known, and that little tongue gets us in big trouble.
Our tongues, and our words, can either cause pain or alleviate it; bring us closer together or tear us apart, renew or destroy relationships. Dialogue is important, Talking things out is important. But James reminds us that we need to think, maybe even to pray, before we speak. Otherwise, we can and will hurt someone with our words. This doesn’t, at all, mean that we should stop speaking the truth, but how we speak is as important as the words we say. Be kind, my friends. Be compassionate. Remember the damage our tongues, our words can cause.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Mark 8:27-38
This is the pivotal point in the Gospel of Mark. And in today’s lesson, Jesus challenges his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (8:27) They hem and haw. Who wants to give the wrong answer? They respond by repeating what others are saying, so when Jesus presses the disciples, Peter responds “You are the Messiah.”
Way right answer. But as it turns out, Peter and others who think of Jesus as the Messiah are looking at people, but seeing walking trees. Perhaps they think of the Messiah as one who will drive the Romans into the sea and restore a descendant of David onto the throne in Jerusalem. Jesus challenges us to set our minds on divine things, not human things, and that includes a path to glory that goes through, not around, the cross. The bald statement in this passage – “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (8:36) – makes it clear it is in suffering (not suffering that we seek but which finds us nonetheless) that we truly follow the Messiah to glory.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 8:27-38
I have always been a fan of the Star Wars movies. I saw all nine of them but did not love number eight. In the third of the prequel movies, Revenge of the Sith, Obi Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) is in a duel with Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansen) who has just become Darth Vader. In the duel, Obi Wan gets the high ground and has the advantage. Vader, though, attempts a risky move that ends up with him being severely wounded. Leaving him to die on the hot shore of the volcanic sea, Obi Wan laments, “"You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. You were to bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!”
It is a powerful scene in that movie. It is also a scene I thought of again as I read of Peter’s confession of who Jesus was. Clearly, Obi Wan was devastated that Anakin was supposed to be the one and yet he turned away from it. Peter answers Jesus’ question with a direct affirmation of his identity. Jesus was the Messiah and his followers, while not always understanding what it meant, knew it. Augustine knew of the importance of this truth. He wrote, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in every man that only Christ can fill.” Will you proclaim Jesus as the Christ, the chosen one?
Bill T.
* * *
Mark 8:27-38
I have a real understanding of Peter. Who would want to hear that their friend, who you have just proclaimed as the Messiah, is going to be shamed, arrested and killed? The conversation shifts so very quickly. Peter is praised for recognizing Jesus as the Messiah and then scolded for not wanting the Messiah to be treated as Jesus describes. It’s the challenge of the faithful – to live into the faith we have, the life we have been given, struggles and all, and still recognize that we walk in the footsteps, in the path Jesus has laid before us.
We carry our cross. We walk with Jesus. We remember the good opportunities we have and the struggles and challenges we face. All we live is a life of faith. All we carry is the cross of our life and the life of Jesus. We lose our lives when we hand them over to our faith walk. We give up the right to only see God in the happy times and the good moments. We are called to love and live as faithful people, even when it’s hard. Maybe that’s the part of the story Peter doesn’t get. We can follow Jesus when the times are tough, when we don’t understand, when we face an uphill climb – knowing that God is with us, Jesus holds us, and the Holy Spirit empowers us. Thank God it is so.
Bonnie B.
