Sermon Illustrations for Proper 28 | Ordinary Time 33 (2022)
Illustration
Isaiah 65:17-25; Isaiah 12
Living a century is doable in our time, though not accomplished as often as we would like. What is astounding are the number of people who are achieving a hundred years living fairly well. I knew one fellow who lived to 108. Starting with his hundredth birthday, he took a motorcycle ride (helmeted of course) riding behind one of his nephews who himself was in his sixties. It was a little daring, but he wanted to show he wasn’t done living yet. He stayed active until a week before his passing, when he took sick and died peacefully, blessing his family and friends.
Now in Isaiah’s time there were those who lived to an advanced age, but we generally think of the average length of live being 25 to 35 years. Isaiah’s promise that an era was coming when those who failed to reach a hundred would consider themselves accursed also suggested they would be living extravagantly, vigorously, and living lives of purpose. Building for themselves, instead of conquerors, planting crops that they ate, living the promise of what the prophet Isaiah wrote in 11:6-9, before the conquests of the Assyrians and the Babylonians. The wolf and lamb would lie down together, predators living with prey safely, as was experienced before Noah’s ark, when all creatures, including humans, were vegetarians. Moreover, that safety was emphasized by the promise that the serpent would eat dust for its food instead of striking down people in their youth, fulfilling the promise of Genesis 3:14.
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25; Isaiah 12
I heard the story of a businessman who was selling some property. The building had been vacant for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and scattered trash around the interior. As the man showed a prospective buyer the property, the businessman told him that he would replace the broken windows, fix any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.
The buyer shook his head. “Forget about the repairs. When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.”
“I’m going to build something completely different.” That’s the message God has in this passage. “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:1). There will come a day when God makes all things new, as they were intended to be at creation. “What a day of rejoicing that will be!”
Bill T.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
The statistics on poverty are depressing. The Center on Poverty and Social Action reported an increase in the monthly child poverty rate from 12.1% in December 2021 to 17% in January 2022. It is also reported that nearly 40 million Americans (11% of us) live in poverty. We need to keep those statistics before us in considering this lesson. True enough, there may be some who would be disposed to Paul’s critique of those who would abuse generosity. But John Calvin offers a sound defense against those who claim that the poor deserve their plight and so do not deserve our aid:
Hence Paul admonishes us, that although there are many who are undeserving, while others abuse our liberality, we must not on this account leave off helping those who need our aid. Here we have a statement worthy of being observed — that however ingratitude, moroseness, pride, arrogance, and other unseemly dispositions on the part of the poor, may have tendency to annoy us, or to dispirit us, from a feeling of weariness, we must strive, nevertheless, never to leave off aiming at doing good. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XXI/2, pp. 358-359)
Famed theologian of the early church, Clement of Alexandria, links a concern for the poor and economic equality to the nature of Christian faith. He writes:
God brought our race into communion by first imparting what was his own, when he gave his own word, common to all, and made all things for all. All things therefore are common, and not for the rich to appropriate an undue share. (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, 268)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
The word "maranatha" is an Aramaic expression that means: "our Lord, come" or “our Lord has come.” The word had become a sort of watchword—a “secret” password—among early first-century Christians even though most of them spoke Greek. At a time when Christians were persecuted both by Jews and Romans, an Aramaic password was a kind of code they could use to identify other Christians—one that Greeks and Romans wouldn’t necessarily understand. The word indicated the longing of the early church for Jesus’ return. The early church expectantly waited for Jesus to come back.
While on a South Pole expedition, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left a few men on Elephant Island, promising that he would return. Later, when he tried to go back, huge icebergs blocked the way. But suddenly, as if by a miracle, an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men, ready and waiting, quickly scrambled aboard. No sooner had the ship cleared the island than the ice crashed together behind them. Thinking about their narrow escape, the explorer said to his men, "It was fortunate you were all packed and ready to go!" They replied, "We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other, 'The boss may come today.'"
Followers of Jesus are called to endure and be ready. The boss may come today.
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
When Jesus states that a time is coming when not one stone of the temple will be left standing on another, peopled asked him, “’Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?’”
My goodness! They just saw the clearest sign that injustice reigns and that their society, the temple along with it, is heading for a downfall! Everyone was enjoying the show as people cast their temple tax into the trumpet like openings of the collection bins in the temple. Larger coins made a bigger noise. The rich and powerful wanted to be seen as they deposited their offering. Then the widow approached with two tiny coins, lepta, which would have made the softest sound imaginable when they were hastily thrown into the collection bin. Two snowflakes bumping into each other as they settled down to the earth, unheard, unnoticed. This woman was not required to pay the temple tax, but she considered it important enough to do so. Had not Jesus pointed this out, no one would have marked it at all.
That such poverty and piety could exist while a building “adorned with beautiful stones and gifts” existed more for the praise of the donors than the God they supposedly served is a great condemnation. We build our own monuments to our wealth, and choose not to see, unless Jesus points it out to us, the poverty that bankrupts our society.
Frank R.
Living a century is doable in our time, though not accomplished as often as we would like. What is astounding are the number of people who are achieving a hundred years living fairly well. I knew one fellow who lived to 108. Starting with his hundredth birthday, he took a motorcycle ride (helmeted of course) riding behind one of his nephews who himself was in his sixties. It was a little daring, but he wanted to show he wasn’t done living yet. He stayed active until a week before his passing, when he took sick and died peacefully, blessing his family and friends.
Now in Isaiah’s time there were those who lived to an advanced age, but we generally think of the average length of live being 25 to 35 years. Isaiah’s promise that an era was coming when those who failed to reach a hundred would consider themselves accursed also suggested they would be living extravagantly, vigorously, and living lives of purpose. Building for themselves, instead of conquerors, planting crops that they ate, living the promise of what the prophet Isaiah wrote in 11:6-9, before the conquests of the Assyrians and the Babylonians. The wolf and lamb would lie down together, predators living with prey safely, as was experienced before Noah’s ark, when all creatures, including humans, were vegetarians. Moreover, that safety was emphasized by the promise that the serpent would eat dust for its food instead of striking down people in their youth, fulfilling the promise of Genesis 3:14.
Frank R.
* * *
Isaiah 65:17-25; Isaiah 12
I heard the story of a businessman who was selling some property. The building had been vacant for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and scattered trash around the interior. As the man showed a prospective buyer the property, the businessman told him that he would replace the broken windows, fix any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.
The buyer shook his head. “Forget about the repairs. When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.”
“I’m going to build something completely different.” That’s the message God has in this passage. “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:1). There will come a day when God makes all things new, as they were intended to be at creation. “What a day of rejoicing that will be!”
Bill T.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
The statistics on poverty are depressing. The Center on Poverty and Social Action reported an increase in the monthly child poverty rate from 12.1% in December 2021 to 17% in January 2022. It is also reported that nearly 40 million Americans (11% of us) live in poverty. We need to keep those statistics before us in considering this lesson. True enough, there may be some who would be disposed to Paul’s critique of those who would abuse generosity. But John Calvin offers a sound defense against those who claim that the poor deserve their plight and so do not deserve our aid:
Hence Paul admonishes us, that although there are many who are undeserving, while others abuse our liberality, we must not on this account leave off helping those who need our aid. Here we have a statement worthy of being observed — that however ingratitude, moroseness, pride, arrogance, and other unseemly dispositions on the part of the poor, may have tendency to annoy us, or to dispirit us, from a feeling of weariness, we must strive, nevertheless, never to leave off aiming at doing good. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XXI/2, pp. 358-359)
Famed theologian of the early church, Clement of Alexandria, links a concern for the poor and economic equality to the nature of Christian faith. He writes:
God brought our race into communion by first imparting what was his own, when he gave his own word, common to all, and made all things for all. All things therefore are common, and not for the rich to appropriate an undue share. (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, 268)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
The word "maranatha" is an Aramaic expression that means: "our Lord, come" or “our Lord has come.” The word had become a sort of watchword—a “secret” password—among early first-century Christians even though most of them spoke Greek. At a time when Christians were persecuted both by Jews and Romans, an Aramaic password was a kind of code they could use to identify other Christians—one that Greeks and Romans wouldn’t necessarily understand. The word indicated the longing of the early church for Jesus’ return. The early church expectantly waited for Jesus to come back.
While on a South Pole expedition, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left a few men on Elephant Island, promising that he would return. Later, when he tried to go back, huge icebergs blocked the way. But suddenly, as if by a miracle, an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men, ready and waiting, quickly scrambled aboard. No sooner had the ship cleared the island than the ice crashed together behind them. Thinking about their narrow escape, the explorer said to his men, "It was fortunate you were all packed and ready to go!" They replied, "We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other, 'The boss may come today.'"
Followers of Jesus are called to endure and be ready. The boss may come today.
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 21:5-19
When Jesus states that a time is coming when not one stone of the temple will be left standing on another, peopled asked him, “’Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?’”
My goodness! They just saw the clearest sign that injustice reigns and that their society, the temple along with it, is heading for a downfall! Everyone was enjoying the show as people cast their temple tax into the trumpet like openings of the collection bins in the temple. Larger coins made a bigger noise. The rich and powerful wanted to be seen as they deposited their offering. Then the widow approached with two tiny coins, lepta, which would have made the softest sound imaginable when they were hastily thrown into the collection bin. Two snowflakes bumping into each other as they settled down to the earth, unheard, unnoticed. This woman was not required to pay the temple tax, but she considered it important enough to do so. Had not Jesus pointed this out, no one would have marked it at all.
That such poverty and piety could exist while a building “adorned with beautiful stones and gifts” existed more for the praise of the donors than the God they supposedly served is a great condemnation. We build our own monuments to our wealth, and choose not to see, unless Jesus points it out to us, the poverty that bankrupts our society.
Frank R.
