Sermons Illustrations for Proper 24 | OT 29 (2019)
Illustration
Jeremiah 31:27-34
A 2018 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 61% of Americans believe in a God who judges them based on what they have done. This was in line with an earlier Baylor University poll finding 47.4% of Americans have an angry god. Most of us have not really heard the word of this lesson about a New Covenant with a God who will remember our sin no more (v.34).
Forgive and forget: The phrase has biblical roots, but it was first written by the Spanish author of Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes and later by William Shakespeare. Only God can do it. To be forgiven and have the sin forgotten is like a fresh start. Oprah Winfrey has a nice way of talking about how that feels, how feeling that you have a fresh start makes life better. As she once put it: “I want every day to be a fresh start on expanding what is possible.” This kind of forgiveness, feeling God’s parental love, brings you even closer to him. John Calvin made that point well:
[God offers us] His paternal favor, and declares that our salvation is become the object of His care; He gives us free access to Himself... (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.X/2, p.133)
The lesson also refers to how the New Covenant changes our lives, embedding the law of God in our hearts (v.33). On this matter Martin Luther once noted:
For our sins are not forgiven with the design that we should continue to commit sin, but that we should case from it. Otherwise it would more justly be called not forgiveness of sin but permission to sin. (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/2, pp.168-169)
Forgiven sinners don’t want to sin anymore.
Mark E.
* * *
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Jeremiah brings a prophecy of hope and covenant. God is proclaiming a new covenant with the nation of Israel, a covenant unlike any other. God proclaims that the Law will be written on the hearts of the people and that all will know God. How wonderful this must have sounded to the beleaguered and conquered people of Judah! God redeems them. God forgives them. God renews them, promises to love and care for them.
In our darkest times, this is a message we, too, need. We need to know we are forgiven, redeemed, loved and cared for. We need to understand and know that God keeps God’s promises. This is the foundation on which we can live and grow.
Bonnie B.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
Robert Krulwich, of NPR, in a “Krulwich Wonders” segment from November 22, 2010 made an interesting observation. He noted studies have shown that if you blindfold a man and ask him to walk in a straight line, he will start out well but will soon begin to turn one way or another, looping around in ever tightening circles. It is a phenomenon that has been demonstrated repeatedly: without a fixed reference point we cannot keep a straight line.
The strange thing is that it feels like we're walking in a straight line. But we begin to loop and curve erratically — without ever knowing it. We need a fixed point to walk a straight line. Krulwich observes, "Without a corrective, our insides take over and there's something inside us that won't stay straight."
Krulwich is right. There is something inside us that won’t stay straight. That’s why we need God’s word. Paul reminds Timothy and us over the power and authority of the word of God. “All scripture is inspired by God and is [a] useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The inerrant (God-breathed) word of God matters if we’re to stay on the “straight” path.
Bill T.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
In the book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, we have a love story between Catherine, Edgar Linton and Heathcliff. Her real love is for Heathcliff, but she ends up marrying Edgar because of his wealth, which will increase her social status. But, prior to the marriage, Catherine expresses her true feelings about Edgar to her house servant Nelly. Catherine said:
I was always going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other, I’ve no business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven…
Going on to explain her love for Heatchliff and how she despises Edgar, Catherine said:
Whatever our souls are made of his and mine are the same and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning or frost from fire.
Ron L.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
Decades ago, when I was in seminary, during a time when folks at football games would wave signs displaying “John 3:16,” one of my professors noted that by sheer coincidence, there were several interesting New Testament verses in various books which were also designated a “3:16.” Some might take this as some divine preference for the number 316, but many Christians don’t realize that the original New Testament manuscripts had no chapter divisions, and verse numbering did not appear until the year 1551! They have no basis in the text, and in many cases these chapter and verse divisions artificially divide sentences or thoughts that belong together.
Even so, 3:16 is a fun game to play with the New Testament books. This lectionary passage contains one of those 3:16’s! “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” is sometimes proof-texted to show that every verse in the New Testament is crucial, and has its own meaning. But there’s an assumption made about this verse that is totally unwarranted.
The verse is not referring to the New Testament. When it was written, there was no New Testament. It is talking about the Hebrew scriptures, which Paul could no doubt read as a scholar trained by the Pharisees, but Paul seems to be quoting at least part of the time from the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, known as the Septuagint. And it’s not clear if by scripture he means the Five Books of Moses, or a canon that includes not only the books in our Old Testament, but books we now label Apocrypha or Deutero-canonical.
What matters is not the boundary or borders of what constitutes scripture. To Paul, and for us, it has to be the process of reading, listening, and interpreting together as God’s people!
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 18:1-8
This text sounds like good advice. Don’t stop praying for what you need and want.
I talked with a prisoner when I was chaplain at the prison. He told me that he was wrongly accused of his conviction for robbing a store in my home town. I looked at his records and took a photo of the prisoner to the clerk at the store that was robbed. The clerk said he had not seen that man before. I got him a retrial and they cleared him and found the guilty one who looked somewhat similar. It took a whole year to clear him, but his prayer was answered. We thanked the Lord together when he was released with apologies.
My mother prayed that I would become a pastor for 30 years and finally the Lord answer when I became ordained when I was just over 30 years old.
One of my kids begged me for a bicycle for three years before he got it. I thought he was too young before that.
The Lord may wait for just the right time. Only God knows.
Our church should teach us determination — praying for strength to wait patiently.
Jesus was wrongly accused and suffered on a cross but the reward was resurrection and everlasting life. Jesus passes on that reward to those who put their faith in him.
Bob O.
* * *
Luke 18:1-8
We need prayer. A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that 23% of Americans never pray and 23% of us engage in prayer only weekly or monthly. We need more persistence, the kind of persistence Jesus urges. John Calvin makes this point well:
We know that perseverance in prayer is a rare and difficult attainment; and it is a manifestation of our unbelief that, when first prayers are not successful, we immediately throw away not only hope but all ardour of prayer. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVI/2, p.198)
Just because you don’t seem to get what you want in prayer does not mean that God is not listening or giving us what we need. John Wesley claimed that this lesson “warns us against two fatal extremes with regard to prayer; the former against faintness and weariness, the latter against self-confidence.” (Commentary On the Bible, p.449)
For what then should we pray? Famed modern Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin reflected on his hopes for what might happen when we pray:
Lord lock me up in the deepest depths of your heart; and then, holding me there, burn me, purify me, set me on fire, sublimate me, till I become utterly what You would have me be, through the utter annihilation of my ego. (Hymn of the Universe, p.32)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 18:1-8
Jesus continues to teach the people how to pray. In this parable, Jesus reminds us to be persistent in our prayers. I’ve never liked the assumption that God is the unjust judge, for I don’t believe that is how we view or see God. Yet, there is a gift in prayer persistence. Interestingly, persistent prayer changes us. We develop a stronger and more intimate relationship with God. We build the prayer “muscles” we need to face whatever comes, to be prepared when even deeper and stronger prayer moments are needed. It’s worth remembering that God answers prayer, but not always in our time and in the way we choose. So pray with persistence. Pray often. Build your prayer “muscles.” God is listening.
Bonnie B.
A 2018 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 61% of Americans believe in a God who judges them based on what they have done. This was in line with an earlier Baylor University poll finding 47.4% of Americans have an angry god. Most of us have not really heard the word of this lesson about a New Covenant with a God who will remember our sin no more (v.34).
Forgive and forget: The phrase has biblical roots, but it was first written by the Spanish author of Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes and later by William Shakespeare. Only God can do it. To be forgiven and have the sin forgotten is like a fresh start. Oprah Winfrey has a nice way of talking about how that feels, how feeling that you have a fresh start makes life better. As she once put it: “I want every day to be a fresh start on expanding what is possible.” This kind of forgiveness, feeling God’s parental love, brings you even closer to him. John Calvin made that point well:
[God offers us] His paternal favor, and declares that our salvation is become the object of His care; He gives us free access to Himself... (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.X/2, p.133)
The lesson also refers to how the New Covenant changes our lives, embedding the law of God in our hearts (v.33). On this matter Martin Luther once noted:
For our sins are not forgiven with the design that we should continue to commit sin, but that we should case from it. Otherwise it would more justly be called not forgiveness of sin but permission to sin. (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/2, pp.168-169)
Forgiven sinners don’t want to sin anymore.
Mark E.
* * *
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Jeremiah brings a prophecy of hope and covenant. God is proclaiming a new covenant with the nation of Israel, a covenant unlike any other. God proclaims that the Law will be written on the hearts of the people and that all will know God. How wonderful this must have sounded to the beleaguered and conquered people of Judah! God redeems them. God forgives them. God renews them, promises to love and care for them.
In our darkest times, this is a message we, too, need. We need to know we are forgiven, redeemed, loved and cared for. We need to understand and know that God keeps God’s promises. This is the foundation on which we can live and grow.
Bonnie B.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
Robert Krulwich, of NPR, in a “Krulwich Wonders” segment from November 22, 2010 made an interesting observation. He noted studies have shown that if you blindfold a man and ask him to walk in a straight line, he will start out well but will soon begin to turn one way or another, looping around in ever tightening circles. It is a phenomenon that has been demonstrated repeatedly: without a fixed reference point we cannot keep a straight line.
The strange thing is that it feels like we're walking in a straight line. But we begin to loop and curve erratically — without ever knowing it. We need a fixed point to walk a straight line. Krulwich observes, "Without a corrective, our insides take over and there's something inside us that won't stay straight."
Krulwich is right. There is something inside us that won’t stay straight. That’s why we need God’s word. Paul reminds Timothy and us over the power and authority of the word of God. “All scripture is inspired by God and is [a] useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The inerrant (God-breathed) word of God matters if we’re to stay on the “straight” path.
Bill T.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
In the book Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, we have a love story between Catherine, Edgar Linton and Heathcliff. Her real love is for Heathcliff, but she ends up marrying Edgar because of his wealth, which will increase her social status. But, prior to the marriage, Catherine expresses her true feelings about Edgar to her house servant Nelly. Catherine said:
I was always going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other, I’ve no business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven…
Going on to explain her love for Heatchliff and how she despises Edgar, Catherine said:
Whatever our souls are made of his and mine are the same and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning or frost from fire.
Ron L.
* * *
2 Timothy 3:14--4:5
Decades ago, when I was in seminary, during a time when folks at football games would wave signs displaying “John 3:16,” one of my professors noted that by sheer coincidence, there were several interesting New Testament verses in various books which were also designated a “3:16.” Some might take this as some divine preference for the number 316, but many Christians don’t realize that the original New Testament manuscripts had no chapter divisions, and verse numbering did not appear until the year 1551! They have no basis in the text, and in many cases these chapter and verse divisions artificially divide sentences or thoughts that belong together.
Even so, 3:16 is a fun game to play with the New Testament books. This lectionary passage contains one of those 3:16’s! “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” is sometimes proof-texted to show that every verse in the New Testament is crucial, and has its own meaning. But there’s an assumption made about this verse that is totally unwarranted.
The verse is not referring to the New Testament. When it was written, there was no New Testament. It is talking about the Hebrew scriptures, which Paul could no doubt read as a scholar trained by the Pharisees, but Paul seems to be quoting at least part of the time from the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, known as the Septuagint. And it’s not clear if by scripture he means the Five Books of Moses, or a canon that includes not only the books in our Old Testament, but books we now label Apocrypha or Deutero-canonical.
What matters is not the boundary or borders of what constitutes scripture. To Paul, and for us, it has to be the process of reading, listening, and interpreting together as God’s people!
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 18:1-8
This text sounds like good advice. Don’t stop praying for what you need and want.
I talked with a prisoner when I was chaplain at the prison. He told me that he was wrongly accused of his conviction for robbing a store in my home town. I looked at his records and took a photo of the prisoner to the clerk at the store that was robbed. The clerk said he had not seen that man before. I got him a retrial and they cleared him and found the guilty one who looked somewhat similar. It took a whole year to clear him, but his prayer was answered. We thanked the Lord together when he was released with apologies.
My mother prayed that I would become a pastor for 30 years and finally the Lord answer when I became ordained when I was just over 30 years old.
One of my kids begged me for a bicycle for three years before he got it. I thought he was too young before that.
The Lord may wait for just the right time. Only God knows.
Our church should teach us determination — praying for strength to wait patiently.
Jesus was wrongly accused and suffered on a cross but the reward was resurrection and everlasting life. Jesus passes on that reward to those who put their faith in him.
Bob O.
* * *
Luke 18:1-8
We need prayer. A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that 23% of Americans never pray and 23% of us engage in prayer only weekly or monthly. We need more persistence, the kind of persistence Jesus urges. John Calvin makes this point well:
We know that perseverance in prayer is a rare and difficult attainment; and it is a manifestation of our unbelief that, when first prayers are not successful, we immediately throw away not only hope but all ardour of prayer. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XVI/2, p.198)
Just because you don’t seem to get what you want in prayer does not mean that God is not listening or giving us what we need. John Wesley claimed that this lesson “warns us against two fatal extremes with regard to prayer; the former against faintness and weariness, the latter against self-confidence.” (Commentary On the Bible, p.449)
For what then should we pray? Famed modern Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin reflected on his hopes for what might happen when we pray:
Lord lock me up in the deepest depths of your heart; and then, holding me there, burn me, purify me, set me on fire, sublimate me, till I become utterly what You would have me be, through the utter annihilation of my ego. (Hymn of the Universe, p.32)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 18:1-8
Jesus continues to teach the people how to pray. In this parable, Jesus reminds us to be persistent in our prayers. I’ve never liked the assumption that God is the unjust judge, for I don’t believe that is how we view or see God. Yet, there is a gift in prayer persistence. Interestingly, persistent prayer changes us. We develop a stronger and more intimate relationship with God. We build the prayer “muscles” we need to face whatever comes, to be prepared when even deeper and stronger prayer moments are needed. It’s worth remembering that God answers prayer, but not always in our time and in the way we choose. So pray with persistence. Pray often. Build your prayer “muscles.” God is listening.
Bonnie B.
