Sermon Illustrations for Proper 6 | OT 11, Cycle B (2024)
Illustration
1 Samuel 15:34--16:13
Have you ever been the last chosen? I have. As a youth I was a plump, short girl (much as I am a plump, short woman) and that made me a last pick for some sports teams. I didn’t look like I could play well or with the energy needed to win. However, I played on a championship softball team as a young teen. I was a center fielder and rarely did a fly ball get past me. I also had a good arm and could throw from deep center field to the pitcher to get runners out. So, even though sometimes I was chosen last, I learned to trust my instincts and play with all my heart.
I wonder how David felt, as the last of his brothers to be considered (at least by his human siblings) to become the king of Israel. God knew David was the one to be called, and although David certainly wasn’t perfect, God called him to lead. Samuel and Jesse may have seen him as the last choice, but he was God’s choice. Don’t fear what God is calling you to do. Even if no one else understands it, God is anointing you to fulfill God’s call on your life — just as Samuel anointed David.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Samuel 15:34--16:13
Americans are seeking fresh starts. A January poll by Gallup revealed that 35% of Americans were dissatisfied with how our democracy is working, while the previous all-time low was 28%. Such desire for a fresh start also reflected in earlier polls regarding the public’s dissatisfaction with a presidential sweepstakes between Trump and Biden. This text’s story about the anointing of David is an example of how our faith gives fresh starts. Eighteenth-century Englishman Oscar Wilde had a nice way of putting this point. He wrote, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us [Christians] can see the stars.” There is an aboriginal proverb saying much the same thing (especially if we think of God as the sun). It goes like this:
Keep your eyes on the sun, and you will not see the shadows.
The advice of medieval mystic, Meister Eckhart, is so sound. He directed us to “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” And famed Christian writer C. S. Lewis reminds us why Christians are people who have and are looking for fresh starts. He wrote:
God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.
Mark E.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
Scripture calls us to live with tension between seeming opposites. For instance, I think of how the teacher in Ecclesiastes wearily tells us that generations come and go, sunrise and sunset follow to no apparent purpose, and that “…what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Been there. Done that. Bought the T-shirt.
On the other hand in the book of love poems known as “The Song of Songs” it’s as if the world is brand new and is experienced by us for the first time.
This is especially well expressed in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Both statements, nothing new under the sun, and all things new, are equally true. I think at different times of the day, not just different stages of our lives, we feel the truth of these contradictory statements. It’s part of the rhythm of life. This is mirrored even in the life of Jesus, when he expresses great weariness, when upbraiding his disciples or confronting his adversaries, or even despair, as in the Garden of Gethsemane, or on the cross. The one attitude is not an admission of failure, nor is the other viewpoint naïve. It’s part of the inhalation and exhalation of our lives of faith.
Frank R.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
I read about a London businessman named Lindsay Clegg. He told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior. As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.
"Forget about the repairs," the buyer said. "When I buy this place, I'm going to build something completely different. I don't want the building; I want the site." I thought about this story when I read the text for today. The Lord is in the business of making people a new creation. We don’t have to clean ourselves up for him. We simply need to submit to him, and he will rebuild and recreate what he desires. Dr. Billy Graham once said, “The born-again Christian sees life not as a blurred , confused, meaningless mass, but as something planned and purposeful.”
Bill T.
* * *
Mark 4:26-34
I have to say I was startled to discover, while studying for the ministry at seminary, that mustard seeds do not produce trees, but plants! Growing up as a city boy I was really hazy on this whole plant/tree thing. However I did not learn that mustard seeds produce a shrub, not a tree, in class. It was in the garden that we students were invited to share in during the summer. For decades afterwards I felt it was my duty to use my sermon to set people straight about this bush/tree thing.
In recent years, however, I have to admit my job has been made easier by a children’s book I share both in chapel services for our nursery school, and in children’s stories during worship. It’s titled The Marvelous Mustard Seed by Amy-Jill Levine and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Margaux Meganck. In this retelling of the parable the authors revel in the ambiguity. We’re expecting a bush, but what we get is this marvelous tree which shelters birds and animals, provides mustard seeds for medicinal and nutritional value, which causes people to come from miles around to sit in its shade and enjoy its beauty.
Just don’t confuse it for the same authors’ book The Good for Nothing Tree. That one’s about the fig tree in Luke 13 which the landowner wants to cut down.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 4:26-34
The gospel text is about the unexpected, surprising character of how God works. Referring to the parable of the seed, the great 20th-century reformed theologian Karl Barth reminds us that growth is a work of grace:
We have here a growth which is as little the result of human industry as the completion of the building and a human industry which is only the effect and symptom of this growth, so that whether man sets his hands to work or folds them or even lay them in his lap he can only be a spectator and affirm that it takes place... (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/2, p.631)
In a similar vein, the great American Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote: “So the kingdom of God comes without observation, without noise and tumult, but goes silently and calmly, but irresistibly, on.” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol.2, p.787) Novelist Alice Walker offers advice which clearly dovetails with Jesus’ remarks in these Parables: “The best things in life are unexpected... Live frugally on surprise.”
Mark E.
* * *
Mark 4:26-34
Jesus often spoke to the people in parables — stories to accent his meaning and to engage the people in theological faith topics in simple ways that related to their lives. I love the mystery of gardening. Sure I prepare the soil, and put the seeds or plants in the ground, I even water the plants when there is no rain. But I wonder at the miracle that is going on underground — the root system, the developing stems, leaves, and flowers. It seems both a miracle and a mystery to me.
A little faith goes along way. That, for me, is the essence of the mustard seed story. Sometimes all we can gather or feel is a little faith. It’s good to know, that, like the mustard seed, God can use that little bit of faith and help it bloom into a much larger faith than expected. The seeds of faith that we sow in the world make a difference. We may not understand how and we may not see the resulting flourishing, but the seeds are the beginnings. Sow your seeds of faith into the world, God will take care of the rest.
Bonnie B.
Have you ever been the last chosen? I have. As a youth I was a plump, short girl (much as I am a plump, short woman) and that made me a last pick for some sports teams. I didn’t look like I could play well or with the energy needed to win. However, I played on a championship softball team as a young teen. I was a center fielder and rarely did a fly ball get past me. I also had a good arm and could throw from deep center field to the pitcher to get runners out. So, even though sometimes I was chosen last, I learned to trust my instincts and play with all my heart.
I wonder how David felt, as the last of his brothers to be considered (at least by his human siblings) to become the king of Israel. God knew David was the one to be called, and although David certainly wasn’t perfect, God called him to lead. Samuel and Jesse may have seen him as the last choice, but he was God’s choice. Don’t fear what God is calling you to do. Even if no one else understands it, God is anointing you to fulfill God’s call on your life — just as Samuel anointed David.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Samuel 15:34--16:13
Americans are seeking fresh starts. A January poll by Gallup revealed that 35% of Americans were dissatisfied with how our democracy is working, while the previous all-time low was 28%. Such desire for a fresh start also reflected in earlier polls regarding the public’s dissatisfaction with a presidential sweepstakes between Trump and Biden. This text’s story about the anointing of David is an example of how our faith gives fresh starts. Eighteenth-century Englishman Oscar Wilde had a nice way of putting this point. He wrote, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us [Christians] can see the stars.” There is an aboriginal proverb saying much the same thing (especially if we think of God as the sun). It goes like this:
Keep your eyes on the sun, and you will not see the shadows.
The advice of medieval mystic, Meister Eckhart, is so sound. He directed us to “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” And famed Christian writer C. S. Lewis reminds us why Christians are people who have and are looking for fresh starts. He wrote:
God became man to turn creatures into sons: not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.
Mark E.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
Scripture calls us to live with tension between seeming opposites. For instance, I think of how the teacher in Ecclesiastes wearily tells us that generations come and go, sunrise and sunset follow to no apparent purpose, and that “…what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) Been there. Done that. Bought the T-shirt.
On the other hand in the book of love poems known as “The Song of Songs” it’s as if the world is brand new and is experienced by us for the first time.
This is especially well expressed in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Both statements, nothing new under the sun, and all things new, are equally true. I think at different times of the day, not just different stages of our lives, we feel the truth of these contradictory statements. It’s part of the rhythm of life. This is mirrored even in the life of Jesus, when he expresses great weariness, when upbraiding his disciples or confronting his adversaries, or even despair, as in the Garden of Gethsemane, or on the cross. The one attitude is not an admission of failure, nor is the other viewpoint naïve. It’s part of the inhalation and exhalation of our lives of faith.
Frank R.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 (11-13) 14-17
I read about a London businessman named Lindsay Clegg. He told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior. As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.
"Forget about the repairs," the buyer said. "When I buy this place, I'm going to build something completely different. I don't want the building; I want the site." I thought about this story when I read the text for today. The Lord is in the business of making people a new creation. We don’t have to clean ourselves up for him. We simply need to submit to him, and he will rebuild and recreate what he desires. Dr. Billy Graham once said, “The born-again Christian sees life not as a blurred , confused, meaningless mass, but as something planned and purposeful.”
Bill T.
* * *
Mark 4:26-34
I have to say I was startled to discover, while studying for the ministry at seminary, that mustard seeds do not produce trees, but plants! Growing up as a city boy I was really hazy on this whole plant/tree thing. However I did not learn that mustard seeds produce a shrub, not a tree, in class. It was in the garden that we students were invited to share in during the summer. For decades afterwards I felt it was my duty to use my sermon to set people straight about this bush/tree thing.
In recent years, however, I have to admit my job has been made easier by a children’s book I share both in chapel services for our nursery school, and in children’s stories during worship. It’s titled The Marvelous Mustard Seed by Amy-Jill Levine and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Margaux Meganck. In this retelling of the parable the authors revel in the ambiguity. We’re expecting a bush, but what we get is this marvelous tree which shelters birds and animals, provides mustard seeds for medicinal and nutritional value, which causes people to come from miles around to sit in its shade and enjoy its beauty.
Just don’t confuse it for the same authors’ book The Good for Nothing Tree. That one’s about the fig tree in Luke 13 which the landowner wants to cut down.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 4:26-34
The gospel text is about the unexpected, surprising character of how God works. Referring to the parable of the seed, the great 20th-century reformed theologian Karl Barth reminds us that growth is a work of grace:
We have here a growth which is as little the result of human industry as the completion of the building and a human industry which is only the effect and symptom of this growth, so that whether man sets his hands to work or folds them or even lay them in his lap he can only be a spectator and affirm that it takes place... (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/2, p.631)
In a similar vein, the great American Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote: “So the kingdom of God comes without observation, without noise and tumult, but goes silently and calmly, but irresistibly, on.” (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol.2, p.787) Novelist Alice Walker offers advice which clearly dovetails with Jesus’ remarks in these Parables: “The best things in life are unexpected... Live frugally on surprise.”
Mark E.
* * *
Mark 4:26-34
Jesus often spoke to the people in parables — stories to accent his meaning and to engage the people in theological faith topics in simple ways that related to their lives. I love the mystery of gardening. Sure I prepare the soil, and put the seeds or plants in the ground, I even water the plants when there is no rain. But I wonder at the miracle that is going on underground — the root system, the developing stems, leaves, and flowers. It seems both a miracle and a mystery to me.
A little faith goes along way. That, for me, is the essence of the mustard seed story. Sometimes all we can gather or feel is a little faith. It’s good to know, that, like the mustard seed, God can use that little bit of faith and help it bloom into a much larger faith than expected. The seeds of faith that we sow in the world make a difference. We may not understand how and we may not see the resulting flourishing, but the seeds are the beginnings. Sow your seeds of faith into the world, God will take care of the rest.
Bonnie B.
