Sermon Illustrations for Proper 25 | Ordinary Time 30 (2023)
Illustration
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Sometimes at the end of a movie there will be a brief pause, and then words will appear that tell us what happened to the characters, real life or fictional, after the events we just saw. They may have achieved their goals, or some things were left undone. They may have lived a full and fulfilling life or suffered an ignominious end. It’s kind of a reminder that the words, “And they lived happily ever after” are never true. We don’t live ever after, happily or otherwise.
This chapter has something of that feel to me. The saga of Moses, beginning in Exodus, comes to an end. Moses stands upon Mount Nebo, a place you can go to today, and looks out towards the breathtaking vista which includes a glimpse of the promised land, knowing this is as close as he’s going to get. Whatever hopes he might have had that God would relent and let him enter are shattered with God’s words. Nor will people come to his grave to show their respects. There will be no monument for people in future generations to visit. His monument, if there is one, is the people who live today, all of us, who claim him as part of our family tree, whether we share DNA or not.
And even so, what glowing words sum up his life: “Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face….” God’s word defined his life, not as a litany of his achievements or failures, but through a description of his relationship with God.
All of us need to come to grips with what we have been able to do, where we have failed, and what we’re just not going to accomplish. We may have accomplished great things — and yet there is always one more mountain range we will not cross, one more book we will not write, one more spring or fall we will not see. But it is God’s summary of our lives that matters more than any of these. We may not be a Moses, or even a Joshua, but we are a miracle of God’s handiwork, flawed but also a mirror held up to light of God’s face.
Frank R.
* * *
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
A poll conducted by Pew Research Center just prior to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 found that 52% of American Protestants believe that good deeds along with faith are necessary for salvation. Yes, Americans love the law of God (the rules that teach them about good works). Too many of us have not heard the message of this lesson, that Moses (the law) must pass away!
Martin Luther provides sound insight about what it means for Moses and the law to pass away. It has to do with the fact that the law cannot help us in our relationship to God or even in doing our Christian thing. He wrote:
The endurance of sight and strength in Moses signifies... that the power of the law does not grow less through length of days or magnitude of deeds; but it always oppresses and rouses guilty consciences until it dies, that is, until it is done way with through Christ and the new ministry of grace is established. (Luther’s Works, Vol.9, p.310)
This has important implications for how we are saved, the first reformer adds (urging that the law, like Moses, be put to death):
1. The law is not only unnecessary for justification, but it is entirely useless and utterly impossible...
3. When one treats of justification, not enough can be said against the impotence of the law and against the exceedingly harmful reliance on the law...
8. In a word, the law must be separated from justification as far as the heavens are separated from the earth.
9. And on the subject of justification we should teach, say, and think nothing except the word of the grace that is shown us in Christ. (What Luther Says, p.753)
Mark E.
* * *
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Final resting places seem to be important. For example, in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, announced a controversial plan to bury the body of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the National Heroes Cemetery in Manilla. The Philippines Supreme Court approved the plan despite opposition from critics who thought Marcos responsible for thousands of killings, tortures and military abductions. Not all burials are controversial, however. Joe Louis was buried in Arlington National Cemetery after he died in 1949. Louis was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world for twelve years and defeated Max Schmeling, who represented Nazi Germany at the time. Louis also served in the Army during World War II. The burial places of many famous people are known and visited. Steve Irwin in the Australia Zoo; Walt Disney at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California; Leonardo Da Vinci in the chape of Saint-Hubert. However, there is one burial place that can never be visited.
In Deuteronomy 34, God shows Moses the promised land. Moses is allowed to see it, but he will not enter it. Moses died in the land of Moab, on Mt. Nebo. The Lord himself buried Moses and no one knows where his grave is. That passage is fascinating. It led to a look at Jude 1:9 where Michael contended with the devil about the body of Moses. It is possible that the devil hoped to use Moses’ burial site as a way to tempt the Israelites to idolatry. Moses’ burial site remains unknown to this day. It is not to be a place of worship. Worship belongs to the one, true, living God.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Paul continues to teach the people and to act as the spiritual leader as he writes this letter to the church. He reminds them of the work he did while in their midst and reminds them to continue to accept and live into the Word of God as it has been shared with them. Often our lives get really busy and it’s easy to forget or to forego the time in prayer, scripture study, or devotion that we meant to, or that we need to. Even we who serve as leaders in the church, or maybe especially we who serve the church, can be so involved in the tasks laid before us that we forget to quiet ourselves and listen to the voice of God. Recently I was bedridden with a serious back issue. I prayed more fervently and regularly than I had in a while. Yes, I was praying for a release from the pain, but I was also listening for the voice of God. My desire to live a life worthy of God’s love was revived. Knowing I don’t earn God’s love for me doesn’t mean I don’t want to live into the potential God created for my life — and my friends, part of that potential is to strengthen our relationship with God through actions, yes, but also through prayer and listening. I have been reminded how important that is and I now remind us all.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
A 2018 informal poll in a Family Feud show asked the game players, “How many of the Ten Commandments have you broken this month?” The survey of 100 people came back with the answer, “I have broken one of the Ten Commandments this past month!” We need to hear the words of this lesson and the explanation offered by famed 19th-century Danish theologian N. F. S. Grundtvig, as he wrote:
It is irrevocably true that whoever is not convinced by what his own conscience tells him about his natural sinfulness, his inability to accomplish that which is good by his own strength, and his lack of any sincere desire for eternal life and happiness — such a person — will really never, in spirit and it truth, become a Christian, for he is simply not conscious of any personal need of the forgiveness of sin. (What Constitutes Authentic Christianity, p.97)
Grundtvig then goes on to speak of “that deep void within them [us] which Christianity promises to fill.” (What Constitutes Authentic Christianity, p.99) We can be sure of this, St. Patrick once wrote, for “he who promised is faithful; he never tells lies.” (Life and Writings, p.120)
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 22:34-46
Variations on a theme. In Isaiah 5, the prophet talks about a man who put his heart and soul into planting and caring for a vineyard — only to have the vineyard refuse to produce grapes. The vineyard is the embodiment of God’s people, cared for and nurtured by God over the centuries, but acting unfaithfully, leading to the eventual destruction of the vineyard.
Matthew 22:33-36 begins in a similar fashion — using the same meme if you will. The landowner carefully plants and nurtures a vineyard, but then must travel off, leaving tenant farmers to produce the crop.
In this story it is not the grapes themselves, but those tenant farmers, who act in a wayward fashion. With good storytelling technique the master sends his slaves, representing in this case the prophets, to collect his share of the harvest. The tenants beat, kill, and stone the slaves sent one after the other, to the farm. I wonder if those who first heard this parable laughed. It is ludicrous for tenant farmers to ever forget they don’t own the land, nor the lion’s share of the crop. Most striking of all, they get it in their heads if they kill the master’s son then they will inherit the land. It will be theirs. But it was never theirs. They are stewards.
How did the first hearers react to this? Did they laugh? Listen in horror? A combination of several emotions?
The conclusion of this passage makes it clear that that the religious leaders “got” the parable and wanted to take action against Jesus for insulting them, but they did not dare. Others also got the joke and were laughing at those leaders. They wouldn’t take kindly to the rich and powerful laying hands on this man who told great stories.
Frank R.
* * *
Matthew 22:34-46
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Do not waste your time bothering whether you ’love’ your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”
Fred Rogers, known as Mr. Rogers, made the theme song of his television show “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” A Presbyterian minister with a background in child development, Rogers took issue with the many children’s television programs. To him, they were silly. Only a few accurately addressing problems children actually faced. So, Rogers used a red trolley and a multitude of different puppets to create a world of make-believe, in which problems mimicking those faced in the real world could be solved before a child’s eyes. Lily Carroll writes, "Rogers felt the most important lesson a child could learn (and the most important lesson his show could teach) was that we are all deserving of love and capable of loving, with no exceptions."
If we are to take seriously the second of the greatest commands, then we will ask the question Mr. Rogers asked so many times. “Won’t you be my neighbor?”
Bill T.
Sometimes at the end of a movie there will be a brief pause, and then words will appear that tell us what happened to the characters, real life or fictional, after the events we just saw. They may have achieved their goals, or some things were left undone. They may have lived a full and fulfilling life or suffered an ignominious end. It’s kind of a reminder that the words, “And they lived happily ever after” are never true. We don’t live ever after, happily or otherwise.
This chapter has something of that feel to me. The saga of Moses, beginning in Exodus, comes to an end. Moses stands upon Mount Nebo, a place you can go to today, and looks out towards the breathtaking vista which includes a glimpse of the promised land, knowing this is as close as he’s going to get. Whatever hopes he might have had that God would relent and let him enter are shattered with God’s words. Nor will people come to his grave to show their respects. There will be no monument for people in future generations to visit. His monument, if there is one, is the people who live today, all of us, who claim him as part of our family tree, whether we share DNA or not.
And even so, what glowing words sum up his life: “Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face….” God’s word defined his life, not as a litany of his achievements or failures, but through a description of his relationship with God.
All of us need to come to grips with what we have been able to do, where we have failed, and what we’re just not going to accomplish. We may have accomplished great things — and yet there is always one more mountain range we will not cross, one more book we will not write, one more spring or fall we will not see. But it is God’s summary of our lives that matters more than any of these. We may not be a Moses, or even a Joshua, but we are a miracle of God’s handiwork, flawed but also a mirror held up to light of God’s face.
Frank R.
* * *
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
A poll conducted by Pew Research Center just prior to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 found that 52% of American Protestants believe that good deeds along with faith are necessary for salvation. Yes, Americans love the law of God (the rules that teach them about good works). Too many of us have not heard the message of this lesson, that Moses (the law) must pass away!
Martin Luther provides sound insight about what it means for Moses and the law to pass away. It has to do with the fact that the law cannot help us in our relationship to God or even in doing our Christian thing. He wrote:
The endurance of sight and strength in Moses signifies... that the power of the law does not grow less through length of days or magnitude of deeds; but it always oppresses and rouses guilty consciences until it dies, that is, until it is done way with through Christ and the new ministry of grace is established. (Luther’s Works, Vol.9, p.310)
This has important implications for how we are saved, the first reformer adds (urging that the law, like Moses, be put to death):
1. The law is not only unnecessary for justification, but it is entirely useless and utterly impossible...
3. When one treats of justification, not enough can be said against the impotence of the law and against the exceedingly harmful reliance on the law...
8. In a word, the law must be separated from justification as far as the heavens are separated from the earth.
9. And on the subject of justification we should teach, say, and think nothing except the word of the grace that is shown us in Christ. (What Luther Says, p.753)
Mark E.
* * *
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Final resting places seem to be important. For example, in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, announced a controversial plan to bury the body of former President Ferdinand Marcos in the National Heroes Cemetery in Manilla. The Philippines Supreme Court approved the plan despite opposition from critics who thought Marcos responsible for thousands of killings, tortures and military abductions. Not all burials are controversial, however. Joe Louis was buried in Arlington National Cemetery after he died in 1949. Louis was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world for twelve years and defeated Max Schmeling, who represented Nazi Germany at the time. Louis also served in the Army during World War II. The burial places of many famous people are known and visited. Steve Irwin in the Australia Zoo; Walt Disney at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California; Leonardo Da Vinci in the chape of Saint-Hubert. However, there is one burial place that can never be visited.
In Deuteronomy 34, God shows Moses the promised land. Moses is allowed to see it, but he will not enter it. Moses died in the land of Moab, on Mt. Nebo. The Lord himself buried Moses and no one knows where his grave is. That passage is fascinating. It led to a look at Jude 1:9 where Michael contended with the devil about the body of Moses. It is possible that the devil hoped to use Moses’ burial site as a way to tempt the Israelites to idolatry. Moses’ burial site remains unknown to this day. It is not to be a place of worship. Worship belongs to the one, true, living God.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 2:9-13
Paul continues to teach the people and to act as the spiritual leader as he writes this letter to the church. He reminds them of the work he did while in their midst and reminds them to continue to accept and live into the Word of God as it has been shared with them. Often our lives get really busy and it’s easy to forget or to forego the time in prayer, scripture study, or devotion that we meant to, or that we need to. Even we who serve as leaders in the church, or maybe especially we who serve the church, can be so involved in the tasks laid before us that we forget to quiet ourselves and listen to the voice of God. Recently I was bedridden with a serious back issue. I prayed more fervently and regularly than I had in a while. Yes, I was praying for a release from the pain, but I was also listening for the voice of God. My desire to live a life worthy of God’s love was revived. Knowing I don’t earn God’s love for me doesn’t mean I don’t want to live into the potential God created for my life — and my friends, part of that potential is to strengthen our relationship with God through actions, yes, but also through prayer and listening. I have been reminded how important that is and I now remind us all.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
A 2018 informal poll in a Family Feud show asked the game players, “How many of the Ten Commandments have you broken this month?” The survey of 100 people came back with the answer, “I have broken one of the Ten Commandments this past month!” We need to hear the words of this lesson and the explanation offered by famed 19th-century Danish theologian N. F. S. Grundtvig, as he wrote:
It is irrevocably true that whoever is not convinced by what his own conscience tells him about his natural sinfulness, his inability to accomplish that which is good by his own strength, and his lack of any sincere desire for eternal life and happiness — such a person — will really never, in spirit and it truth, become a Christian, for he is simply not conscious of any personal need of the forgiveness of sin. (What Constitutes Authentic Christianity, p.97)
Grundtvig then goes on to speak of “that deep void within them [us] which Christianity promises to fill.” (What Constitutes Authentic Christianity, p.99) We can be sure of this, St. Patrick once wrote, for “he who promised is faithful; he never tells lies.” (Life and Writings, p.120)
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 22:34-46
Variations on a theme. In Isaiah 5, the prophet talks about a man who put his heart and soul into planting and caring for a vineyard — only to have the vineyard refuse to produce grapes. The vineyard is the embodiment of God’s people, cared for and nurtured by God over the centuries, but acting unfaithfully, leading to the eventual destruction of the vineyard.
Matthew 22:33-36 begins in a similar fashion — using the same meme if you will. The landowner carefully plants and nurtures a vineyard, but then must travel off, leaving tenant farmers to produce the crop.
In this story it is not the grapes themselves, but those tenant farmers, who act in a wayward fashion. With good storytelling technique the master sends his slaves, representing in this case the prophets, to collect his share of the harvest. The tenants beat, kill, and stone the slaves sent one after the other, to the farm. I wonder if those who first heard this parable laughed. It is ludicrous for tenant farmers to ever forget they don’t own the land, nor the lion’s share of the crop. Most striking of all, they get it in their heads if they kill the master’s son then they will inherit the land. It will be theirs. But it was never theirs. They are stewards.
How did the first hearers react to this? Did they laugh? Listen in horror? A combination of several emotions?
The conclusion of this passage makes it clear that that the religious leaders “got” the parable and wanted to take action against Jesus for insulting them, but they did not dare. Others also got the joke and were laughing at those leaders. They wouldn’t take kindly to the rich and powerful laying hands on this man who told great stories.
Frank R.
* * *
Matthew 22:34-46
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Do not waste your time bothering whether you ’love’ your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”
Fred Rogers, known as Mr. Rogers, made the theme song of his television show “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” A Presbyterian minister with a background in child development, Rogers took issue with the many children’s television programs. To him, they were silly. Only a few accurately addressing problems children actually faced. So, Rogers used a red trolley and a multitude of different puppets to create a world of make-believe, in which problems mimicking those faced in the real world could be solved before a child’s eyes. Lily Carroll writes, "Rogers felt the most important lesson a child could learn (and the most important lesson his show could teach) was that we are all deserving of love and capable of loving, with no exceptions."
If we are to take seriously the second of the greatest commands, then we will ask the question Mr. Rogers asked so many times. “Won’t you be my neighbor?”
Bill T.
