Sermon Illustrations for Proper 23 | Ordinary Time 28 (2015)
Illustration
Object:
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Do you like arguing? When I ask this, I mean making a case for your opinion -- standing up for what you think and attempting to persuade others that you are right. Defined in that way, I do like arguing. I like to be right and I like to defend my position. That is the state in which we find Job at this point of his journey. Job wants to lay out his case, to make his position clear, but he cannot find God -- Job cannot engage God in his bid for fairer treatment. Even in this declaration that God cannot be found, Job praises the character of God. God would listen, would heed his call, would be merciful.
Can Job not find God because God is not there, or because Job himself is becoming lost in the darkness? It’s a good question to ask ourselves when we feel that God is distant from us. Is God gone, or are we so overcome with darkness that we can’t see the light? Do me a favor. Tonight, turn out all the lights in a room and notice the darkness. Then light one candle and notice how broadly the light shines. God is like the candle. We need only to turn on the light of our relationship with God. Our circumstances may not change, our fate may remain the same, but our view is deepened.
Bonnie B.
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Has anyone not had a time when we felt some terror -- when we felt that either God was trying to scare us or that the powers of darkness were trying to overcome us? Job felt that God had deserted him and brought all kinds of suffering on him -- both physical and emotional -- when his family was taken from him. He wanted to go to court and put God on the spot for hurting him, an innocent man.
Job was not a bad guy, and he was ready to dispute with God as to why God was allowing all this suffering to fall on him. He was his own lawyer and was ready to go to court to prove his case -- to prove he was being treated unjustly. Do we ever feel that God is hurting us for some reason and we want to know why? Why did I lose my job? Why does my spouse want to leave me? Why am I sick when there is much to do?
I just had a knee replacement and I felt bad, partly because it left my poor wife to do everything in the house -- she felt bad about it also! We both put our complaints before the Lord and asked him to fix our problems. In the meantime we complained to each other. That is the most standard way to handle troubles.
Job’s problems were worse than mine -- he even lost his children! If we have faith, we will not be silenced by the darkness. We know that our Lord overcame the darkness. He is our light.
It sounds like Job did not have that ultimate assurance (yet), though he still trusted enough to know his God was the source of everything.
Let us look for the light at the end of the tunnel in God’s holy book and in his church. And then let us trust him regardless of what may happen to us!
Bob O.
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
In my political reading, the book of Job sanctifies defiance of unjust authority. It enshrines dissent and demands moral self-reliance. Finally, this sore thumb sticking out of the Bible ennobles the admission of ignorance -- and rewards that admission with a promise of ken to come....
As it dawned on moralists that suffering is not evidence of sin, it later struck economists that prosperity is not proof of virtue, and now it must be impressed on leaders that political success is no verdict of wisdom. No wonder that an individualist voice out of the muddle ? Job’s nagging, insistent challenge -- is heard more clearly today. You can’t keep a good idea down.
(William Safire, The First Dissident: The Book of Job in Today’s Politics, p. 225)
Frank R.
Hebrews 4:12-16
It was the first time the boy was to shave. His father and older brother had explained to him how to do it. They warned him of how sharp the razor was, telling him that he should be careful, shaving up and then down. The boy heard them, but he wasn’t exactly listening. He lathered his face with shaving cream and took the razor. He was eager -- this was his first time. His older brother could see that he was going to press too hard. He started to speak, to warn him. Their father stopped him. “Some things he has to learn on his own.” The young man made three strokes on his neck and then gasped as a trickle of red appeared. “You were right. That is sharp!”
Sometimes we are surprised at how sharp something is. It might be a razor, it might be a knife, it might be a hook. Or it might be the Word of God. The Word of God? How can that be sharp? Nothing cuts through our walls of pretense better than God’s Word. Nothing separates what’s real from what’s fake in our lives better than the Word of God. Nothing hacks away the image to leave the real person better than the Word. Learn how to handle it. Handle it well. The Word is sharp.
Bill T.
Hebrews 4:12-16
President Richard Nixon’s troubles did not begin with the break-in at the Democratic party’s national headquarters on June 18, 1972, an event that led to the Watergate scandal. The story of Nixon’s demise began in September 1971. Nixon was incensed about the release of the Pentagon Papers, exposing our country’s wrongdoings in Vietnam. Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst, had leaked the papers to the New York Times. Wanting to find information that would discredit Ellsberg, Nixon had a covert group break into the office of the psychiatrist who was treating Ellsberg in Beverly Hills. The group were professionals, but they made the break-in look amateur, as if someone was looking for drugs. This covert group was called by Nixon “the White House plumbers,” since their purpose was to plug the leak. These men were the same “plumbers” who broke into the Democratic party offices in the Watergate complex the following year.
Application: We may try to hide our sins, but as our lesson says, God is aware of our weaknesses.
Ron L.
Hebrews 4:12-16
Americans are not very inclined to think that what is said about sin pertains to them. A 2014 poll conducted by LifeWay Research indicates that 67% of Americans believe that we are basically good. Famed 20th-century American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr has noted how we hate to admit our sin: “Our analysis of man’s sin of pride and self-love has consistently assumed that an element of deceit is involved in the self-glorification. This dishonesty must be regarded as concomitant, and not as the basis of self-love. Man loves himself inordinately. Since his determinate existence does not deserve the devotion lavished upon it, it is obviously necessary to practice some deception in order to justify such excessive devotion (Reinhold Niebuhr, pp. 150-151).
Martin Luther claimed that since the Word of God is above all things, outside all things, within all things, behind all things, it is impossible to escape it. Thus it is impossible for its punishment or the cutting it is said to do in the lesson ever to cease (Luther’s Works, Vol. 29, p. 165). This is a Word that cuts apart all our pretensions to goodness. But we also cannot escape its assurance that we have a High Priest who has done all the sacrifices we need, who, as Luther says, is more a priest than a judge, “in order that he may console those who are frightened” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 29, p. 167).
Mark E.
Hebrews 4:12-16
There are many things characteristic of Christianity: but more than all, and better than all, Love towards one another, and Peace. Therefore Christ also saith, “My peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). And again, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another” (John 13:35). Therefore Paul too says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness,” that is, purity, “without which no man shall see the Lord.”
(St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews, “Homily XXXI, Hebrews 12:14” in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Volume XIV, p. 506)
Frank R.
Mark 10:17-31
This is one we may not like! Is this what we must do to inherit eternal life -- give away all we have? The keeping of the commandments is not so bad (though we may have slipped up on one or two), but that last one is a bummer!
When we think about it, Jesus is not asking all of us to give all our money away. He had found the weakest point in this young man’s character. He loved him, but Jesus wanted to be first in his life. It seemed like money was the first thing for him. Each one of us has our limit. Give up watching sports? Stop going to movies or shows? Throw out your TV? Stop spending all your money on clothing or food or computer stuff? What is the request that Jesus might make of you that might make you sadly turn away? If we have very little it might be easier to give it up (maybe) -- especially if we have alternatives. We are even to put Jesus ahead of family or career or our comfortable home. One of the things I think of when I think of giving up all I have is to go and live with one of my seven children. Most of them are better off financially than my wife and I, and they would welcome us.
I remember how hard it was to sell our beautiful home in Cheyenne when we went to Nepal as missionaries. We had lived there for years and it was part of our life! But if we wanted to go overseas, we had to make some sacrifices in order to follow where we felt Jesus wanted us to go.
My folks sold everything and moved from our hometown, where they had many relatives and friends, to Los Alamos for a job at the atomic bomb factory. No, it was not a call from the Lord and it paid more money than they were making, but even that took strength!
Once we gave up all the comforts of home and put our trust in God’s provenance, we found we had made a good choice and never regretted it. We didn’t know until we got there.
Stepping off into the unknown can be scary, even if it is to find even more money and security.
Our kids found us a place in Hawaii, and though it might be everyone’s dream, it still took some encouragement and strength to give up everything familiar and leave!
It is our willingness to go and a knowledge that it is to God’s calling that makes the difference. Jesus promises us much more than we are giving up -- not only in the age to come, he adds, but also now. How can we lose?
Bob O.
Mark 10:17-31
The Global Wealth Report published in October 2010 by the Credit Suisse Research Institute indicates that 50% of the adult population accounts for 90% of the world’s wealth, 10% of the population possesses 83% of the wealth, and that 43% of the world’s wealth is in the hands of only 1% of the population. But is Jesus really decrying wealth in this passage? Surely there are righteous and upright wealthy people. The point I believe Jesus is making is that those who love, honor, or worship their wealth instead of loving, honoring, and worshiping Jesus are in danger of leaving their opportunities to be righteous behind. It is challenging to have wealth and possessions and not love them.
Look around your own home. Is there something you adore, a piece of clothing or china or the property itself? Do you love it? Could you easily lay it aside? Jesus is reminding us that we are called to love God and our neighbors, not our stuff. And how do we love and honor God above all else? We seek God’s aid, God’s presence, because with God’s help we can turn from possessions as idols and to each other in faith. Something to consider. “As for me and my house, we will follow the Lord” -- even if it means giving up some stuff.
Bonnie B.
Mark 10:17-31
The rich man called Jesus “good,” as if he were offering him a favor, just as some favor others with honorary titles. [The Lord] fled from that by which people favored him, so that he might show that he had received this goodness from the Father through nature and generation, and not [merely] in name. “Only one is good” [he said], and did not remain silent but added “the father,” so that he might show that the Son is good in just the way that the Father is good.
(Ephrem the Syrian, “Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron,” in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Vol. II: Mark, p. 139)
Frank R.
Do you like arguing? When I ask this, I mean making a case for your opinion -- standing up for what you think and attempting to persuade others that you are right. Defined in that way, I do like arguing. I like to be right and I like to defend my position. That is the state in which we find Job at this point of his journey. Job wants to lay out his case, to make his position clear, but he cannot find God -- Job cannot engage God in his bid for fairer treatment. Even in this declaration that God cannot be found, Job praises the character of God. God would listen, would heed his call, would be merciful.
Can Job not find God because God is not there, or because Job himself is becoming lost in the darkness? It’s a good question to ask ourselves when we feel that God is distant from us. Is God gone, or are we so overcome with darkness that we can’t see the light? Do me a favor. Tonight, turn out all the lights in a room and notice the darkness. Then light one candle and notice how broadly the light shines. God is like the candle. We need only to turn on the light of our relationship with God. Our circumstances may not change, our fate may remain the same, but our view is deepened.
Bonnie B.
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Has anyone not had a time when we felt some terror -- when we felt that either God was trying to scare us or that the powers of darkness were trying to overcome us? Job felt that God had deserted him and brought all kinds of suffering on him -- both physical and emotional -- when his family was taken from him. He wanted to go to court and put God on the spot for hurting him, an innocent man.
Job was not a bad guy, and he was ready to dispute with God as to why God was allowing all this suffering to fall on him. He was his own lawyer and was ready to go to court to prove his case -- to prove he was being treated unjustly. Do we ever feel that God is hurting us for some reason and we want to know why? Why did I lose my job? Why does my spouse want to leave me? Why am I sick when there is much to do?
I just had a knee replacement and I felt bad, partly because it left my poor wife to do everything in the house -- she felt bad about it also! We both put our complaints before the Lord and asked him to fix our problems. In the meantime we complained to each other. That is the most standard way to handle troubles.
Job’s problems were worse than mine -- he even lost his children! If we have faith, we will not be silenced by the darkness. We know that our Lord overcame the darkness. He is our light.
It sounds like Job did not have that ultimate assurance (yet), though he still trusted enough to know his God was the source of everything.
Let us look for the light at the end of the tunnel in God’s holy book and in his church. And then let us trust him regardless of what may happen to us!
Bob O.
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
In my political reading, the book of Job sanctifies defiance of unjust authority. It enshrines dissent and demands moral self-reliance. Finally, this sore thumb sticking out of the Bible ennobles the admission of ignorance -- and rewards that admission with a promise of ken to come....
As it dawned on moralists that suffering is not evidence of sin, it later struck economists that prosperity is not proof of virtue, and now it must be impressed on leaders that political success is no verdict of wisdom. No wonder that an individualist voice out of the muddle ? Job’s nagging, insistent challenge -- is heard more clearly today. You can’t keep a good idea down.
(William Safire, The First Dissident: The Book of Job in Today’s Politics, p. 225)
Frank R.
Hebrews 4:12-16
It was the first time the boy was to shave. His father and older brother had explained to him how to do it. They warned him of how sharp the razor was, telling him that he should be careful, shaving up and then down. The boy heard them, but he wasn’t exactly listening. He lathered his face with shaving cream and took the razor. He was eager -- this was his first time. His older brother could see that he was going to press too hard. He started to speak, to warn him. Their father stopped him. “Some things he has to learn on his own.” The young man made three strokes on his neck and then gasped as a trickle of red appeared. “You were right. That is sharp!”
Sometimes we are surprised at how sharp something is. It might be a razor, it might be a knife, it might be a hook. Or it might be the Word of God. The Word of God? How can that be sharp? Nothing cuts through our walls of pretense better than God’s Word. Nothing separates what’s real from what’s fake in our lives better than the Word of God. Nothing hacks away the image to leave the real person better than the Word. Learn how to handle it. Handle it well. The Word is sharp.
Bill T.
Hebrews 4:12-16
President Richard Nixon’s troubles did not begin with the break-in at the Democratic party’s national headquarters on June 18, 1972, an event that led to the Watergate scandal. The story of Nixon’s demise began in September 1971. Nixon was incensed about the release of the Pentagon Papers, exposing our country’s wrongdoings in Vietnam. Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst, had leaked the papers to the New York Times. Wanting to find information that would discredit Ellsberg, Nixon had a covert group break into the office of the psychiatrist who was treating Ellsberg in Beverly Hills. The group were professionals, but they made the break-in look amateur, as if someone was looking for drugs. This covert group was called by Nixon “the White House plumbers,” since their purpose was to plug the leak. These men were the same “plumbers” who broke into the Democratic party offices in the Watergate complex the following year.
Application: We may try to hide our sins, but as our lesson says, God is aware of our weaknesses.
Ron L.
Hebrews 4:12-16
Americans are not very inclined to think that what is said about sin pertains to them. A 2014 poll conducted by LifeWay Research indicates that 67% of Americans believe that we are basically good. Famed 20th-century American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr has noted how we hate to admit our sin: “Our analysis of man’s sin of pride and self-love has consistently assumed that an element of deceit is involved in the self-glorification. This dishonesty must be regarded as concomitant, and not as the basis of self-love. Man loves himself inordinately. Since his determinate existence does not deserve the devotion lavished upon it, it is obviously necessary to practice some deception in order to justify such excessive devotion (Reinhold Niebuhr, pp. 150-151).
Martin Luther claimed that since the Word of God is above all things, outside all things, within all things, behind all things, it is impossible to escape it. Thus it is impossible for its punishment or the cutting it is said to do in the lesson ever to cease (Luther’s Works, Vol. 29, p. 165). This is a Word that cuts apart all our pretensions to goodness. But we also cannot escape its assurance that we have a High Priest who has done all the sacrifices we need, who, as Luther says, is more a priest than a judge, “in order that he may console those who are frightened” (Luther’s Works, Vol. 29, p. 167).
Mark E.
Hebrews 4:12-16
There are many things characteristic of Christianity: but more than all, and better than all, Love towards one another, and Peace. Therefore Christ also saith, “My peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). And again, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another” (John 13:35). Therefore Paul too says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness,” that is, purity, “without which no man shall see the Lord.”
(St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews, “Homily XXXI, Hebrews 12:14” in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Volume XIV, p. 506)
Frank R.
Mark 10:17-31
This is one we may not like! Is this what we must do to inherit eternal life -- give away all we have? The keeping of the commandments is not so bad (though we may have slipped up on one or two), but that last one is a bummer!
When we think about it, Jesus is not asking all of us to give all our money away. He had found the weakest point in this young man’s character. He loved him, but Jesus wanted to be first in his life. It seemed like money was the first thing for him. Each one of us has our limit. Give up watching sports? Stop going to movies or shows? Throw out your TV? Stop spending all your money on clothing or food or computer stuff? What is the request that Jesus might make of you that might make you sadly turn away? If we have very little it might be easier to give it up (maybe) -- especially if we have alternatives. We are even to put Jesus ahead of family or career or our comfortable home. One of the things I think of when I think of giving up all I have is to go and live with one of my seven children. Most of them are better off financially than my wife and I, and they would welcome us.
I remember how hard it was to sell our beautiful home in Cheyenne when we went to Nepal as missionaries. We had lived there for years and it was part of our life! But if we wanted to go overseas, we had to make some sacrifices in order to follow where we felt Jesus wanted us to go.
My folks sold everything and moved from our hometown, where they had many relatives and friends, to Los Alamos for a job at the atomic bomb factory. No, it was not a call from the Lord and it paid more money than they were making, but even that took strength!
Once we gave up all the comforts of home and put our trust in God’s provenance, we found we had made a good choice and never regretted it. We didn’t know until we got there.
Stepping off into the unknown can be scary, even if it is to find even more money and security.
Our kids found us a place in Hawaii, and though it might be everyone’s dream, it still took some encouragement and strength to give up everything familiar and leave!
It is our willingness to go and a knowledge that it is to God’s calling that makes the difference. Jesus promises us much more than we are giving up -- not only in the age to come, he adds, but also now. How can we lose?
Bob O.
Mark 10:17-31
The Global Wealth Report published in October 2010 by the Credit Suisse Research Institute indicates that 50% of the adult population accounts for 90% of the world’s wealth, 10% of the population possesses 83% of the wealth, and that 43% of the world’s wealth is in the hands of only 1% of the population. But is Jesus really decrying wealth in this passage? Surely there are righteous and upright wealthy people. The point I believe Jesus is making is that those who love, honor, or worship their wealth instead of loving, honoring, and worshiping Jesus are in danger of leaving their opportunities to be righteous behind. It is challenging to have wealth and possessions and not love them.
Look around your own home. Is there something you adore, a piece of clothing or china or the property itself? Do you love it? Could you easily lay it aside? Jesus is reminding us that we are called to love God and our neighbors, not our stuff. And how do we love and honor God above all else? We seek God’s aid, God’s presence, because with God’s help we can turn from possessions as idols and to each other in faith. Something to consider. “As for me and my house, we will follow the Lord” -- even if it means giving up some stuff.
Bonnie B.
Mark 10:17-31
The rich man called Jesus “good,” as if he were offering him a favor, just as some favor others with honorary titles. [The Lord] fled from that by which people favored him, so that he might show that he had received this goodness from the Father through nature and generation, and not [merely] in name. “Only one is good” [he said], and did not remain silent but added “the father,” so that he might show that the Son is good in just the way that the Father is good.
(Ephrem the Syrian, “Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron,” in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Vol. II: Mark, p. 139)
Frank R.
