Fifth Sunday After The Epiphany
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII Cycle C
Seasonal Theme
Jesus calling his disciples and it dawning on them who this person is they are following. Light for a dark world.
Theme For The Day
If we ask and trust God, God will do it. We can also perform miracles on God's behalf. An eye to see the possible will help.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
A Vision Of God In The Temple
Homiletically, verse 5 is key. When Isaiah realized his own natural state and identified with the sinful state of his nation, it made him feel totally inadequate before God's appearing to him in glory in the Temple.
It ought be so with us. The more we apprehend what the Christ did for us on the cross for atonement, the more we become aware of our total unworthiness. Notice that because of Isaiah's contrite heart there is God's mercy (see 57:15). A seraph began to minister to him. So his sins were forgiven (v. 7).
In this unhindered fellowship with God, Isaiah could answer, "Here am I; send me!" So when the barriers between us and God are removed, there is nothing that can stop us from carrying out God's call to serve.
By the way, Rome was founded shortly after this time in Israel's history and King Uzziah's death. This was the power which eventually brought the devastation of Jerusalem and its Temple and the scattering of the Jews. So Isaiah has this vision of the Lord's glory in contrast with his and the nation's shame.
New Testament Lesson
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Christ's Resurrection
Paul is doing a summary of the Good News he had brought to the Corinthians. It was news:
1. Which they had received.
2. In which they stand.
3. Through which they are saved.
4. Something to which they had to hold firmly.
5. It was something of first importance.
Then comes a list of appearances of Jesus in this earliest account of the resurrection.
First, notice James, the brother of Jesus, is listed (v. 7). Perhaps he also had denied Jesus and thus Jesus first appeared to those who had hurt him. That's amazing grace and God's forgiving love. He right away brought the gift of peace to Peter and James, who most were in need of it.
Verses 9-11 give us insight into this Paul, who was first a persecutor and then the greatest missionary of the Christian faith.
1. He had humility (v. 9).
2. Still he was aware of his worth because of what God had empowered him to do on God's behalf.
3. And he had a great fellowship. He preached the same Gospel as the other apostles (v. 11).
The Gospel
Luke 5:1-11
The Call Of Fisherman As Disciples
Moving out of the synagogue, Jesus now went lakeside with a boat for a pulpit. Here we have all the right conditions for a miracle.
1. The ability to see. Jesus saw a school of fish not far off.
2. The person willing to try. Even though they had tried all night, Peter said they would try again.
3. The person who, in faith, will try what others call hopeless. After all, fishing there is done at night and the night was over!
If we need a miracle, we have to accept Jesus and what he commands and attempt the impossible.
This story is not found in the other Gospels. It serves as the call of Jesus to the disciples (Mark 1:16-20).
The symbolisms can't be missed: catching fish is a sign of the Christian mission -- to "catch" people for Jesus. This miracle of Jesus opens up for us God's mission in our world and who and how it will be carried out.
Preaching Possibilities
A. We could use the Epiphany theme of "dawning" today and include all the readings:
1. The dawning on Isaiah the great glory of God and his need for forgiveness and atonement. Then it dawning on him God's mission for him.
2. The dawning on Saint Paul that he too was an apostle with a gospel to proclaim.
3. The dawning upon the disciples, especially James, John, and Peter, that they were following the Christ and had a mission to do: catch people for Christ.
B. Also a sermon on the call to service could be based on Isaiah's response to go and the disciple's decision to leave their fishing and serve.
C. Of course, Paul's summary of the gospel in the Second Reading will stand alone and provide plenty of meat for a doctrinal sermon on what we hold and believe:
1. Christ died for our sins.
2. He was buried and raised on the third day.
3. He appeared to Peter and James.
4. He appeared to Paul on the Damascus road in a vision.
5. It is this gospel by which people are being saved.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
*Let's use my homiletical formula based on how people listen to sermons.
A. Build a fire. It's tough to keep fishing when you haven't caught anything for hours. Now tell a fishing story here. It can be your own experience or a joke or someone else's fish story.
B. Build a bridge. We all have times when the situation seems hopeless and just not worth trying any longer.
C. The focus. If we trust in the Christ, we can still do miracles and overcome.
D. An example. See Possible Metaphors And Stories below.
E. Witness. Tell of a time you were ready to give up, and God helped you go on, and it made a difference.
F. So What?
1. We must be God's instruments of encouragement to each other.
2. We must learn to ask God very bravely for help when it seems hopeless.
3. We must be confident that God wants to help and will do the impossible if we are people of prayer and (like Peter) try again.
4. We must respond to and see all the miraculous things Jesus still does for us by following him.
G. Frame. Return to your opening "fire" and finish the fish story you began with.
Prayer For The Day
Hear us today, dear God, when we get discouraged and are ready to give up. Increase our trust in you to do miracles in our lives like you did with those early disciples. Shape our congregation into a fellowship of strong believers with an eye for the possible, enabling you to do great things here, too. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
In a small discussion groups on miracles, some questioned whether there really were any. A wife of a recovering alcoholic responded: "I don't know why you find these miracles so hard to believe. I saw beer turned into furniture in my own home."
A Pan Am flight crashed in a severe thunderstorm just after takeoff from New Orleans Airport. Sheriff Lee found an eighteen-month-old baby in the debris who was still alive and everyone else was killed. She was called by the media "Melissa, the miracle baby."
We have a miracle baby in Mary's son, Jesus in Bethlehem.
Tom Brokaw on the NBC Nightly News told of a Terry May on Thanksgiving who was at his brother's home for the big meal and had forgotten to turn on his beeper. Meanwhile the Tucson hospital had lungs and heart for a transplant for him. They put the message on the televised Dallas Cowboys football game. A neighbor saw it and came over and told him the hospital was looking for him. A helicopter was dispatched which took him to the hospital for a successful transplant. God shows the same kind of individual attention to us. The call comes over and over, in many different ways.
Barbara Lundblad at an ELCA Assembly said: "The reason they tie mountain climbers together is to keep the sane ones from going home."
It is in family and the church we are together. We give one another courage.
____________
*Jerry L. Schmalenberger, The Preacher's Edge, (CSS Publishing Company: Lima, Ohio, 1996), p. 45ff.
Jesus calling his disciples and it dawning on them who this person is they are following. Light for a dark world.
Theme For The Day
If we ask and trust God, God will do it. We can also perform miracles on God's behalf. An eye to see the possible will help.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
A Vision Of God In The Temple
Homiletically, verse 5 is key. When Isaiah realized his own natural state and identified with the sinful state of his nation, it made him feel totally inadequate before God's appearing to him in glory in the Temple.
It ought be so with us. The more we apprehend what the Christ did for us on the cross for atonement, the more we become aware of our total unworthiness. Notice that because of Isaiah's contrite heart there is God's mercy (see 57:15). A seraph began to minister to him. So his sins were forgiven (v. 7).
In this unhindered fellowship with God, Isaiah could answer, "Here am I; send me!" So when the barriers between us and God are removed, there is nothing that can stop us from carrying out God's call to serve.
By the way, Rome was founded shortly after this time in Israel's history and King Uzziah's death. This was the power which eventually brought the devastation of Jerusalem and its Temple and the scattering of the Jews. So Isaiah has this vision of the Lord's glory in contrast with his and the nation's shame.
New Testament Lesson
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Christ's Resurrection
Paul is doing a summary of the Good News he had brought to the Corinthians. It was news:
1. Which they had received.
2. In which they stand.
3. Through which they are saved.
4. Something to which they had to hold firmly.
5. It was something of first importance.
Then comes a list of appearances of Jesus in this earliest account of the resurrection.
First, notice James, the brother of Jesus, is listed (v. 7). Perhaps he also had denied Jesus and thus Jesus first appeared to those who had hurt him. That's amazing grace and God's forgiving love. He right away brought the gift of peace to Peter and James, who most were in need of it.
Verses 9-11 give us insight into this Paul, who was first a persecutor and then the greatest missionary of the Christian faith.
1. He had humility (v. 9).
2. Still he was aware of his worth because of what God had empowered him to do on God's behalf.
3. And he had a great fellowship. He preached the same Gospel as the other apostles (v. 11).
The Gospel
Luke 5:1-11
The Call Of Fisherman As Disciples
Moving out of the synagogue, Jesus now went lakeside with a boat for a pulpit. Here we have all the right conditions for a miracle.
1. The ability to see. Jesus saw a school of fish not far off.
2. The person willing to try. Even though they had tried all night, Peter said they would try again.
3. The person who, in faith, will try what others call hopeless. After all, fishing there is done at night and the night was over!
If we need a miracle, we have to accept Jesus and what he commands and attempt the impossible.
This story is not found in the other Gospels. It serves as the call of Jesus to the disciples (Mark 1:16-20).
The symbolisms can't be missed: catching fish is a sign of the Christian mission -- to "catch" people for Jesus. This miracle of Jesus opens up for us God's mission in our world and who and how it will be carried out.
Preaching Possibilities
A. We could use the Epiphany theme of "dawning" today and include all the readings:
1. The dawning on Isaiah the great glory of God and his need for forgiveness and atonement. Then it dawning on him God's mission for him.
2. The dawning on Saint Paul that he too was an apostle with a gospel to proclaim.
3. The dawning upon the disciples, especially James, John, and Peter, that they were following the Christ and had a mission to do: catch people for Christ.
B. Also a sermon on the call to service could be based on Isaiah's response to go and the disciple's decision to leave their fishing and serve.
C. Of course, Paul's summary of the gospel in the Second Reading will stand alone and provide plenty of meat for a doctrinal sermon on what we hold and believe:
1. Christ died for our sins.
2. He was buried and raised on the third day.
3. He appeared to Peter and James.
4. He appeared to Paul on the Damascus road in a vision.
5. It is this gospel by which people are being saved.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
*Let's use my homiletical formula based on how people listen to sermons.
A. Build a fire. It's tough to keep fishing when you haven't caught anything for hours. Now tell a fishing story here. It can be your own experience or a joke or someone else's fish story.
B. Build a bridge. We all have times when the situation seems hopeless and just not worth trying any longer.
C. The focus. If we trust in the Christ, we can still do miracles and overcome.
D. An example. See Possible Metaphors And Stories below.
E. Witness. Tell of a time you were ready to give up, and God helped you go on, and it made a difference.
F. So What?
1. We must be God's instruments of encouragement to each other.
2. We must learn to ask God very bravely for help when it seems hopeless.
3. We must be confident that God wants to help and will do the impossible if we are people of prayer and (like Peter) try again.
4. We must respond to and see all the miraculous things Jesus still does for us by following him.
G. Frame. Return to your opening "fire" and finish the fish story you began with.
Prayer For The Day
Hear us today, dear God, when we get discouraged and are ready to give up. Increase our trust in you to do miracles in our lives like you did with those early disciples. Shape our congregation into a fellowship of strong believers with an eye for the possible, enabling you to do great things here, too. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
In a small discussion groups on miracles, some questioned whether there really were any. A wife of a recovering alcoholic responded: "I don't know why you find these miracles so hard to believe. I saw beer turned into furniture in my own home."
A Pan Am flight crashed in a severe thunderstorm just after takeoff from New Orleans Airport. Sheriff Lee found an eighteen-month-old baby in the debris who was still alive and everyone else was killed. She was called by the media "Melissa, the miracle baby."
We have a miracle baby in Mary's son, Jesus in Bethlehem.
Tom Brokaw on the NBC Nightly News told of a Terry May on Thanksgiving who was at his brother's home for the big meal and had forgotten to turn on his beeper. Meanwhile the Tucson hospital had lungs and heart for a transplant for him. They put the message on the televised Dallas Cowboys football game. A neighbor saw it and came over and told him the hospital was looking for him. A helicopter was dispatched which took him to the hospital for a successful transplant. God shows the same kind of individual attention to us. The call comes over and over, in many different ways.
Barbara Lundblad at an ELCA Assembly said: "The reason they tie mountain climbers together is to keep the sane ones from going home."
It is in family and the church we are together. We give one another courage.
____________
*Jerry L. Schmalenberger, The Preacher's Edge, (CSS Publishing Company: Lima, Ohio, 1996), p. 45ff.
