Sermon Illustrations for Epiphany 2 | OT 2 (2025)
Illustration
Isaiah 62:1-5
The proclamation of Isaiah reminds the people of Israel that they are not forsaken. They are, in fact, blessed by God. God celebrates them, vindicates them, renews and restores them. What joy there must be in this prophecy. Can you imagine being seen as forsaken and abandoned for centuries and knowing yet, that God is going to free you, vindicate you, bless you, and proclaim to the world that you are God’s beloved?
We, too, are celebrated, renewed, and restored through the grace and love, through the blessing and presence of God. What joy there is in knowing that — and in realizing that there is nothing we or the world can do to separate us from the love and presence of God. What peace that brings to my soul. I hope it does the same for you and that you can cling to these promises and the nation of Israel did.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Isaiah 62:1-5
The text compares the faithful's relationship to God to a marriage. Many Christians of a mystical bent have spoken of faith in this way, in terms of marital or sexual intimacy. Medieval mystic St. Bernard of Clairvaux put it this way:
WhenGod loves he seeks nothing but love in return... Therefore, is it that he is a bridegroom and the soul is a bride, for this belongs only to a wedded pair... The love of the bridegroom — rather the bridegroom who is love — asks only a return of love and fidelity. Let the bride, then, return love for love. (Varieties of Mystic Experience, p.104)
Martin Luther offered a similar vision:
The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom. By this mystery, as the apostle teaches, Christ and the soul become one flesh. And if they are one flesh there is between them a true marriage... it follows that everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil. (Luther's Works, Vol.31, p.351)
Bernard also reflected on what living in this marriage with the Lord does to us or for us, how it makes life so much sweeter and better. He wrote:
He [God's Word] is living and full of energy. As soon as he has entered into me he has awakened my sleeping soul. He has stirred and softened and wounded my heart which was torpid and as hard as a rock. (Varieties of Mystic Experience, p.105)
When it comes to faith, the old Swedish proverb makes sense: "Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow." Joy is even better when it is shared with Jesus through our union with him created in faith.
Mark E.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
I played high school football a half-century ago. I tell the students today that we not only didn’t have helmets, we didn’t even have a ball. We just pushed each other up and down the field for no apparent purpose.
That’s not true, of course, but it was a different game. I played on the offensive line, hardly one of the glamour positions. Once, though, when both the quarterback and I were injured, he took time to show me how to throw a spiral. It didn’t take long before I could do it. My spiral didn’t go far, but at least it spiraled straight and true.
That guy’s kindness also made it clear to me that, in the words of the Shaker hymn, “’Tis the gift to be simple, ’Tis the gift to be free, ’Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be.”
A football team needs quarterbacks, and running backs, and receivers, and, yes, offensive linemen — and we’re not even talking defense yet! We need all kinds of skills, some visible and some invisible (unless a penalty flag gets thrown for holding).
And that is the intent of the apostle in these opening verses of chapter 12. We’re all needed. We all have something to contribute to the Body of Christ, and we’re all essential. Every church I pastored, I depended on dreamers to look beyond the far horizon, as well as realists to keep the books balanced. There had to be folks who could bake a perfect pie crust, as well as worship leaders, vacuum jockeys, greeters, and kids! It was true in Corinth and it’s true now.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
I came across an interesting story that first ran in the Mason City Globe-Gazette on March 24, 1936. The story featured Thomas Overton who was, at the time, 31-years old and Stanley Kaspryzak, was 32 at the time. They were planning to form a cooperative law firm in Chicago. That doesn’t sound like such an interesting story, but there is more. Overton won the award for the highest-ranking scholar at Chicago-Kent School of Law. He insisted that some of the credit go to Kaspryzak. Why? Overton is blind. Kaspryzak was born without arms. Kaspryzak read to Overton in their study and Overton carried the books and transcribed notes for Kaspryzak. Their partnership worked so well in school, they decided to practice together.
Paul is reminding the Christians at Corinth that there is a variety of gifts, but the same Lord who works in all of them (vs. 4-5). In the Body of Christ, all need to work together, using their specific gifts, to accomplish what God intends for them to do. Like in an orchestra, when all the different instruments play their own part, the result is beautiful music. When we think of what role we play in God’s kingdom, think of Overton and Kaspryzak. Think of the orchestra. Just do what you are called to do.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
We never know when we will have an opportunity to share our faith — to share our ministry and mission with others. This month I ordered new eyeglasses. I haven’t had to buy them for a couple of years, but I was in the optical office buying glasses when someone asked me what I did for work. I shared that I was a conference minister in the United Church of Christ and discovered that one of the staff and her husband were also part time pastors. Their church is more conservative theologically that I am, but we worship the one God, the same God.
The couple is looking for a place to hold their church services, a space to rent or share. I was happy to give a couple of suggestions, give her my business card and invite her to be in touch with a couple churches and with me if they needed support. One God. One faith. Different gifts. Different activities. An unusual opportunity to proclaim my love of God.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 2:1-11
I am a fan of the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz. There is an older one that pictures Charlie Brown and Linus seeing Snoopy in a snowstorm. They discuss with each other how Snoopy looks cold and decide to go and comfort him. They approach him and both say, “Be of good cheer, Snoopy.” Then they leave. The last panel shows a shivering and puzzled Snoopy looking at them as they walk away.
The point Schulz is making is clear. Words without actions don’t really show care or compassion. While it is the way many people are, it is not the way Jesus is. His first miracle in John 2 shows that.
A wedding was being held in Cana of Galilee. The Bible does not tell us this, but apocryphal sources suggest that it is Mary’s sister’s family. Mary is at the wedding. Weddings lasted as long as seven days. Jesus and his disciples may have come on day three. At these big events, the food and wine were expected to last as long as the celebration, so we can understand the stress in Mary’s voice when she said to Jesus, “They have no more wine.” This leads to Jesus’ first miracle.
Max Lucado observes, “Now, you have to admit that as far as miracles go, this is setting the bar pretty low. Yes, in that culture it would have caused extreme embarrassment for the host to run short of wine. The memory of the happy couple would be marred by the event. The host family would carry a stigma of shame.” However, in the grand scheme of things, this is not a big, life-altering miracle. The reason is pretty simple. Jesus cares. He cares about all our struggles, big and little, and because he cares, he acts.
Bill T.
* * *
John 2:1-11
One of the primary forefathers of Quantum Physics, Werner Heisenberg once claimed, "The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will make you an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you." His Principle of Uncertainty entails that we can never learn everything about an electron or an atom (we cannot measure both is location and its speed at the same time), is where God and the miraculous seem to be found. It is in this sense that a famous quote by Fydor Dostoevksy appearing in his The Brothers Karamazov is relevant. It goes like this:
Faith does not, in the realist, spring from the miracle but the miracle from faith. If the realist once believes, then he is bound by his very realism to admit the miraculous also.
There is certainly place for miracles, but they only make sense from the perspective of faith, and we must be open to having them disconfirmed by scientific findings if we want our faith claims to be credible.
From the perspective of faith, then, life itself is miraculous, since it cannot be fully explained.
Miracles are everywhere when we look at life from a religious point of view. The founder of Buddhism, Gautama Siddhartha, put it well: "If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change." Spiritual activist Marianne Williamson made a related point, as she claimed that "miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is that love inspires them. In that sense everything that comes from love is a miracle." Martin Luther claimed that Jesus' miracle of changing water into wine happens in most every family, as you consider how much/little income the family has, and it always seems to stretch just far enough to pay all the miracles. Those life miracles happen daily in our families (Complete Sermons, Vol.5, pp.237-238).
Mark E.
* * *
John 2:1-11
Having officiated at many weddings over 45 years of pastoral ministry I’ve got used to the fact that some brides, grooms, momzillas, and dads have unreasonable expectations. They want everything to be perfect with a fierce determination. Others, like aunts, grannies, and various and sundry bridesmaids want this to be the wedding they didn’t have.
But as most of you reading know, there is no wedding service in the Bible. Marriage, yes, but no clue about ceremonies. We have no standard to live up to, no bar to meet, and that includes the wedding at Cana in this week’s lectionary passage. For all we know they met in the town square and jumped over the first-century equivalent of a broomstick.
I try to let people down easy. Perfection is not possible, and indeed, sometimes the most memorable event is the one we didn’t plan for, the mistake, the accident, the child attendant breaking into a dance, the flowers that didn’t arrive which needed to be replaced creatively, the wrong entre at the wedding feast, that is the most memorable and celebrated event.
That’s why I think it’s a shame that the most memorable event at that wedding feast at Cana in Galilee is one that went unnoticed by most people except Mary, Jesus, and the servants who filled the thirty-gallon stone jars with water before Jesus transformed water into wine. The bride, the groom, and the master of ceremonies, and all the people eating and drinking their fill, had no idea what was going on.
There are miracles of all kinds happening all the time. Pay attention. Praise God.
Frank R.
The proclamation of Isaiah reminds the people of Israel that they are not forsaken. They are, in fact, blessed by God. God celebrates them, vindicates them, renews and restores them. What joy there must be in this prophecy. Can you imagine being seen as forsaken and abandoned for centuries and knowing yet, that God is going to free you, vindicate you, bless you, and proclaim to the world that you are God’s beloved?
We, too, are celebrated, renewed, and restored through the grace and love, through the blessing and presence of God. What joy there is in knowing that — and in realizing that there is nothing we or the world can do to separate us from the love and presence of God. What peace that brings to my soul. I hope it does the same for you and that you can cling to these promises and the nation of Israel did.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Isaiah 62:1-5
The text compares the faithful's relationship to God to a marriage. Many Christians of a mystical bent have spoken of faith in this way, in terms of marital or sexual intimacy. Medieval mystic St. Bernard of Clairvaux put it this way:
WhenGod loves he seeks nothing but love in return... Therefore, is it that he is a bridegroom and the soul is a bride, for this belongs only to a wedded pair... The love of the bridegroom — rather the bridegroom who is love — asks only a return of love and fidelity. Let the bride, then, return love for love. (Varieties of Mystic Experience, p.104)
Martin Luther offered a similar vision:
The third incomparable benefit of faith is that it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom. By this mystery, as the apostle teaches, Christ and the soul become one flesh. And if they are one flesh there is between them a true marriage... it follows that everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil. (Luther's Works, Vol.31, p.351)
Bernard also reflected on what living in this marriage with the Lord does to us or for us, how it makes life so much sweeter and better. He wrote:
He [God's Word] is living and full of energy. As soon as he has entered into me he has awakened my sleeping soul. He has stirred and softened and wounded my heart which was torpid and as hard as a rock. (Varieties of Mystic Experience, p.105)
When it comes to faith, the old Swedish proverb makes sense: "Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow." Joy is even better when it is shared with Jesus through our union with him created in faith.
Mark E.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
I played high school football a half-century ago. I tell the students today that we not only didn’t have helmets, we didn’t even have a ball. We just pushed each other up and down the field for no apparent purpose.
That’s not true, of course, but it was a different game. I played on the offensive line, hardly one of the glamour positions. Once, though, when both the quarterback and I were injured, he took time to show me how to throw a spiral. It didn’t take long before I could do it. My spiral didn’t go far, but at least it spiraled straight and true.
That guy’s kindness also made it clear to me that, in the words of the Shaker hymn, “’Tis the gift to be simple, ’Tis the gift to be free, ’Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be.”
A football team needs quarterbacks, and running backs, and receivers, and, yes, offensive linemen — and we’re not even talking defense yet! We need all kinds of skills, some visible and some invisible (unless a penalty flag gets thrown for holding).
And that is the intent of the apostle in these opening verses of chapter 12. We’re all needed. We all have something to contribute to the Body of Christ, and we’re all essential. Every church I pastored, I depended on dreamers to look beyond the far horizon, as well as realists to keep the books balanced. There had to be folks who could bake a perfect pie crust, as well as worship leaders, vacuum jockeys, greeters, and kids! It was true in Corinth and it’s true now.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
I came across an interesting story that first ran in the Mason City Globe-Gazette on March 24, 1936. The story featured Thomas Overton who was, at the time, 31-years old and Stanley Kaspryzak, was 32 at the time. They were planning to form a cooperative law firm in Chicago. That doesn’t sound like such an interesting story, but there is more. Overton won the award for the highest-ranking scholar at Chicago-Kent School of Law. He insisted that some of the credit go to Kaspryzak. Why? Overton is blind. Kaspryzak was born without arms. Kaspryzak read to Overton in their study and Overton carried the books and transcribed notes for Kaspryzak. Their partnership worked so well in school, they decided to practice together.
Paul is reminding the Christians at Corinth that there is a variety of gifts, but the same Lord who works in all of them (vs. 4-5). In the Body of Christ, all need to work together, using their specific gifts, to accomplish what God intends for them to do. Like in an orchestra, when all the different instruments play their own part, the result is beautiful music. When we think of what role we play in God’s kingdom, think of Overton and Kaspryzak. Think of the orchestra. Just do what you are called to do.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
We never know when we will have an opportunity to share our faith — to share our ministry and mission with others. This month I ordered new eyeglasses. I haven’t had to buy them for a couple of years, but I was in the optical office buying glasses when someone asked me what I did for work. I shared that I was a conference minister in the United Church of Christ and discovered that one of the staff and her husband were also part time pastors. Their church is more conservative theologically that I am, but we worship the one God, the same God.
The couple is looking for a place to hold their church services, a space to rent or share. I was happy to give a couple of suggestions, give her my business card and invite her to be in touch with a couple churches and with me if they needed support. One God. One faith. Different gifts. Different activities. An unusual opportunity to proclaim my love of God.
Bonnie B.
* * *
John 2:1-11
I am a fan of the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz. There is an older one that pictures Charlie Brown and Linus seeing Snoopy in a snowstorm. They discuss with each other how Snoopy looks cold and decide to go and comfort him. They approach him and both say, “Be of good cheer, Snoopy.” Then they leave. The last panel shows a shivering and puzzled Snoopy looking at them as they walk away.
The point Schulz is making is clear. Words without actions don’t really show care or compassion. While it is the way many people are, it is not the way Jesus is. His first miracle in John 2 shows that.
A wedding was being held in Cana of Galilee. The Bible does not tell us this, but apocryphal sources suggest that it is Mary’s sister’s family. Mary is at the wedding. Weddings lasted as long as seven days. Jesus and his disciples may have come on day three. At these big events, the food and wine were expected to last as long as the celebration, so we can understand the stress in Mary’s voice when she said to Jesus, “They have no more wine.” This leads to Jesus’ first miracle.
Max Lucado observes, “Now, you have to admit that as far as miracles go, this is setting the bar pretty low. Yes, in that culture it would have caused extreme embarrassment for the host to run short of wine. The memory of the happy couple would be marred by the event. The host family would carry a stigma of shame.” However, in the grand scheme of things, this is not a big, life-altering miracle. The reason is pretty simple. Jesus cares. He cares about all our struggles, big and little, and because he cares, he acts.
Bill T.
* * *
John 2:1-11
One of the primary forefathers of Quantum Physics, Werner Heisenberg once claimed, "The first gulp from the glass of natural sciences will make you an atheist, but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you." His Principle of Uncertainty entails that we can never learn everything about an electron or an atom (we cannot measure both is location and its speed at the same time), is where God and the miraculous seem to be found. It is in this sense that a famous quote by Fydor Dostoevksy appearing in his The Brothers Karamazov is relevant. It goes like this:
Faith does not, in the realist, spring from the miracle but the miracle from faith. If the realist once believes, then he is bound by his very realism to admit the miraculous also.
There is certainly place for miracles, but they only make sense from the perspective of faith, and we must be open to having them disconfirmed by scientific findings if we want our faith claims to be credible.
From the perspective of faith, then, life itself is miraculous, since it cannot be fully explained.
Miracles are everywhere when we look at life from a religious point of view. The founder of Buddhism, Gautama Siddhartha, put it well: "If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change." Spiritual activist Marianne Williamson made a related point, as she claimed that "miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. The real miracle is that love inspires them. In that sense everything that comes from love is a miracle." Martin Luther claimed that Jesus' miracle of changing water into wine happens in most every family, as you consider how much/little income the family has, and it always seems to stretch just far enough to pay all the miracles. Those life miracles happen daily in our families (Complete Sermons, Vol.5, pp.237-238).
Mark E.
* * *
John 2:1-11
Having officiated at many weddings over 45 years of pastoral ministry I’ve got used to the fact that some brides, grooms, momzillas, and dads have unreasonable expectations. They want everything to be perfect with a fierce determination. Others, like aunts, grannies, and various and sundry bridesmaids want this to be the wedding they didn’t have.
But as most of you reading know, there is no wedding service in the Bible. Marriage, yes, but no clue about ceremonies. We have no standard to live up to, no bar to meet, and that includes the wedding at Cana in this week’s lectionary passage. For all we know they met in the town square and jumped over the first-century equivalent of a broomstick.
I try to let people down easy. Perfection is not possible, and indeed, sometimes the most memorable event is the one we didn’t plan for, the mistake, the accident, the child attendant breaking into a dance, the flowers that didn’t arrive which needed to be replaced creatively, the wrong entre at the wedding feast, that is the most memorable and celebrated event.
That’s why I think it’s a shame that the most memorable event at that wedding feast at Cana in Galilee is one that went unnoticed by most people except Mary, Jesus, and the servants who filled the thirty-gallon stone jars with water before Jesus transformed water into wine. The bride, the groom, and the master of ceremonies, and all the people eating and drinking their fill, had no idea what was going on.
There are miracles of all kinds happening all the time. Pay attention. Praise God.
Frank R.
