Fifth Sunday Of Easter
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII, Cycle B
Seasonal Theme
Alive and out of the grave, the risen Christ is witnessed in the real world.
Theme For The Day
Easter people take the good news of Jesus' resurrection out into the world and love others as God loved us.
First Lesson
Acts 8:26-40
Philip And The Eunuch
Here is a beautiful conversion story that took place in a part of the Holy Land with which we are very familiar -- Gaza. This particular intersection would be a route of many international travelers. The Ethiopian Eunuch was head of the treasury of the Queen of Ethiopia. He must have been in Jerusalem to worship either as a "God lover," which was a non-Jew who carried out the Jewish practices, or what was called a Jewish proselyte, who were people who took on the Jewish law. He was reading from Isaiah 53 and did not understand it. Philip explained that Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy he was reading. Philip's witness must have been mighty powerful for the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. Water for adult immersion baptism isn't available in that area so it's a mystery as to verse 36 and the water. I personally doubt it was by immersion. I have a hunch it was by pouring. However, see Romans 6:1-4 for the symbolism. There were three things baptism symbolized in that day: 1) the beginning of a new life; 2) water meant cleaning or washing away sins; and 3) it was a time when the baptized became one with Jesus.
Tradition has it that this convert from Ethiopia returned to his home country and brought the Christian faith there. Let's not worry about Philip's baptism with very little instruction. I won't even go there. It's a grace gift anyway and not the reward for passing an exam on its theological meaning. Philip probably included in his witness the demand to repent and be baptized. (See v. 2:38.)
Remember this is the same retiring personality who introduced Nathaniel to Jesus and who may have been the one who, when called by Jesus, wanted first to bury his father (Luke 9:57-60). He was instrumental for bringing the faith to Northeast Africa. The Harper's Bible Dictionary states about Philip: "He took up residence at Caesarea on the Mediterranean, where he was host to Paul, who stopped there on his last journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21:8-15). Philip had four unmarried daughters who were Christian prophetesses" (v. 9). What meat for an interesting biography sermon!
Second Lesson
1 John 4:7-21
A Commandment Of Love
The author has finished his words about light in the first part of this letter. God is light and he has said that we must live in that light obedient to God. Now he says God is love and we must live in that love out in the world. So this whole letter is one that makes the claim that Christian belief and life are inseparably connected. What we believe is how we live. In this very focused passage, God makes the first move and loves us. Some of the claims about that love are:
1. Love is from God (v. 7).
2. If we don't love we really don't know God (v. 8).
3. God's love for us was revealed by Jesus coming into the world (v. 9).
4. God's love was so great that it became a sacrifice for us (v. 10).
5. Because God loved us, we should love each other (v. 11).
6. When we love each other, God's love is perfected in us (v. 12).
7. God has given us God's spirit (v. 13).
8. We witness that God sent God's son because of love (v. 14).
9. God is love and those who abide in love abide in God (v. 16b).
10. Love gets rid of fear (v. 18).
11. We love because first God loved us (v. 19).
12. We cannot love God if we hate others (v. 20).
13. We are commanded by God to love others (v. 21).
The Gospel
John 15:1-8
Jesus, The True Vine
There is a cause and effect here similar to the second reading. There it was: if you love God, you will love others. Here it is: if you abide in God you will produce good works. Many times in the Old Testament Israel is pictured as the vine or the vineyard of God (see Isaiah 5:1-7). The vine was on their coins and in the temple representing the state. Here Jesus' claim is that he is the true vine. Israel has grown wild, he is the real one. Not Jewish blood but faith in Jesus was the true way.
Each year the everywhere present grape vine is drastically pruned back so it will develop correctly. Those branches that are not productive are the ones cut way back. Jesus uses this picture as an analogy of the Jews and also of his followers whose deeds did not match their words. We could extend that out to say those who won't listen, listen but don't act, or listen and abandon.
The passage is about abiding in Jesus. It is a mystical thing we ought do, which is difficult to describe. It means keeping in constant contact -- in our worship life, our prayer life, our Bible study, our social fellowship -- we are always in constant contact like a branch is always connected to the vine. And the source of life for the branch comes from the vine. "Abide" is defined in the dictionary as "remain, last, or reside, endure, agree to."
Then we have the claim that God is glorified by what we followers do while abiding in God. If we are in him, we can ask whatever one would ask (while in him) and it will be given (v. 7).
Preaching Possibilities
The choices today will be to focus on the witness of Philip in the First Reading or use the theme, which is cause and effect, in the Second Reading and Gospel. Of course, the analogy of a vine and its branches is a strong and understandable one, which will preach by itself. The 1 John account of loving each other also is full of potential. Down through the ages, followers of the Christ who professed a love for God have often been very hateful toward each other. It happened in many of our congregations where this message needs proclamation. A possible outline might be:
A. Theme: To love God is to love each other.
B. The reason: We love God because God first loved us from the cross (1 John 4:10-11).
C. Our response to God's love is to reach out in love to each other. There are many ways we can do this in our home, congregation, community, and world.
D. Our dare is to love more than the lovely -- to love those no one else loves and who will never love us in return.
E. Our method is to have God's love for the other even when we do not like them (John 15:9).
F. An example can be found in the section "Possible Metaphors And Stories."
G. Some possible targets of God's love through us would be the misfit in the community, the abrasive in the congregation, the unruly child in our home, the person of a different culture and skin color and language, the person of a different sexual preference, or the one who personally hurt you.
H. Conclude by reading 1 John 4:16b and 21 again.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
This is a good Sunday to do a dialogue sermon. Pretend we are able to overhear the conversation between the Ethiopian Eunuch and Philip on that road through Gaza. The Acts 8:26-40 can be read by three people. One can be Philip, one the Eunuch, and one the narrator. Prepare a discussion you can imagine the two had that day before baptism. I suggest you call in the two who will read and have them help you prepare the manuscript. This will make it more meaningful to them and keep the language and theology close to the ground. Some ideas follow:
Eunuch: "I can't make any sense out of this Bible."
Philip: "I can help you."
Eunuch: "Who are you and why should I listen to what you have to say?"
Philip: Gives his witness about being a disciple of Jesus and what he saw with his own eyes.
Eunuch: "This may be what I'm looking for! How do I become a part of this movement?"
Philip: Tells about what it means to follow Jesus.
Eunuch: Asks about baptism.
Philip: Baptizes him.
Eunuch: "Come back to Ethiopia with me."
Philip: "You will need to be Jesus' witness there."
Of course, you'll need to expand this. But you can end it by having the narrator challenge the congregation to respond to this dialogue:
1. Like Philip, they, too, can be witnesses.
2. Like the Eunuch, they, too, can take their faith back home with them. Elaborate.
To carry the idea just a little further, you might have Philip and the Eunuch offer a prayer to end the sermon.
Prayer For The Day
Make us bold in our witness as Easter people, O God, and show us how to make it in an effective and powerful way. And, like the Ethiopian on the Gaza road, help us to repent, believe, and take the faith to our homes. In Jesus' risen name. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
There is a powerful video titled Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble. She was an English actress who came to the U.S. and married a slave owner. There is a scene where he is whipping a slave tied to a stake and his wife Fannie embraces the slave so as to take the lashes for him. She wrote the famous Georgia Journals telling about the horrors of slavery, which helped abolish it.
W. H. Davis, the "tramp poet," tells how one of his vagrant friends, whenever he came into a town, looked for a church spire with a cross on top and began to beg in that area because there, from experience, he found people to be most generous.
I have many allergies and so when we built a new home in Arizona we paid extra to have an electronic air filter installed with our furnace. After three years we discovered that the electrician never hooked up the device! For three years I suffered with my allergies, but the air cleaner was not connected to the power. The branches are connected to the vine!
In Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Julia says, "They do not love that do not show their love." And Lucetta later claims, "O, they love least that let men know their love." Then in Act Four, we have the phrase, "Love will creep in service where it cannot go" (meaning where it cannot go upright).
Alive and out of the grave, the risen Christ is witnessed in the real world.
Theme For The Day
Easter people take the good news of Jesus' resurrection out into the world and love others as God loved us.
First Lesson
Acts 8:26-40
Philip And The Eunuch
Here is a beautiful conversion story that took place in a part of the Holy Land with which we are very familiar -- Gaza. This particular intersection would be a route of many international travelers. The Ethiopian Eunuch was head of the treasury of the Queen of Ethiopia. He must have been in Jerusalem to worship either as a "God lover," which was a non-Jew who carried out the Jewish practices, or what was called a Jewish proselyte, who were people who took on the Jewish law. He was reading from Isaiah 53 and did not understand it. Philip explained that Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy he was reading. Philip's witness must have been mighty powerful for the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. Water for adult immersion baptism isn't available in that area so it's a mystery as to verse 36 and the water. I personally doubt it was by immersion. I have a hunch it was by pouring. However, see Romans 6:1-4 for the symbolism. There were three things baptism symbolized in that day: 1) the beginning of a new life; 2) water meant cleaning or washing away sins; and 3) it was a time when the baptized became one with Jesus.
Tradition has it that this convert from Ethiopia returned to his home country and brought the Christian faith there. Let's not worry about Philip's baptism with very little instruction. I won't even go there. It's a grace gift anyway and not the reward for passing an exam on its theological meaning. Philip probably included in his witness the demand to repent and be baptized. (See v. 2:38.)
Remember this is the same retiring personality who introduced Nathaniel to Jesus and who may have been the one who, when called by Jesus, wanted first to bury his father (Luke 9:57-60). He was instrumental for bringing the faith to Northeast Africa. The Harper's Bible Dictionary states about Philip: "He took up residence at Caesarea on the Mediterranean, where he was host to Paul, who stopped there on his last journey to Jerusalem (Acts 21:8-15). Philip had four unmarried daughters who were Christian prophetesses" (v. 9). What meat for an interesting biography sermon!
Second Lesson
1 John 4:7-21
A Commandment Of Love
The author has finished his words about light in the first part of this letter. God is light and he has said that we must live in that light obedient to God. Now he says God is love and we must live in that love out in the world. So this whole letter is one that makes the claim that Christian belief and life are inseparably connected. What we believe is how we live. In this very focused passage, God makes the first move and loves us. Some of the claims about that love are:
1. Love is from God (v. 7).
2. If we don't love we really don't know God (v. 8).
3. God's love for us was revealed by Jesus coming into the world (v. 9).
4. God's love was so great that it became a sacrifice for us (v. 10).
5. Because God loved us, we should love each other (v. 11).
6. When we love each other, God's love is perfected in us (v. 12).
7. God has given us God's spirit (v. 13).
8. We witness that God sent God's son because of love (v. 14).
9. God is love and those who abide in love abide in God (v. 16b).
10. Love gets rid of fear (v. 18).
11. We love because first God loved us (v. 19).
12. We cannot love God if we hate others (v. 20).
13. We are commanded by God to love others (v. 21).
The Gospel
John 15:1-8
Jesus, The True Vine
There is a cause and effect here similar to the second reading. There it was: if you love God, you will love others. Here it is: if you abide in God you will produce good works. Many times in the Old Testament Israel is pictured as the vine or the vineyard of God (see Isaiah 5:1-7). The vine was on their coins and in the temple representing the state. Here Jesus' claim is that he is the true vine. Israel has grown wild, he is the real one. Not Jewish blood but faith in Jesus was the true way.
Each year the everywhere present grape vine is drastically pruned back so it will develop correctly. Those branches that are not productive are the ones cut way back. Jesus uses this picture as an analogy of the Jews and also of his followers whose deeds did not match their words. We could extend that out to say those who won't listen, listen but don't act, or listen and abandon.
The passage is about abiding in Jesus. It is a mystical thing we ought do, which is difficult to describe. It means keeping in constant contact -- in our worship life, our prayer life, our Bible study, our social fellowship -- we are always in constant contact like a branch is always connected to the vine. And the source of life for the branch comes from the vine. "Abide" is defined in the dictionary as "remain, last, or reside, endure, agree to."
Then we have the claim that God is glorified by what we followers do while abiding in God. If we are in him, we can ask whatever one would ask (while in him) and it will be given (v. 7).
Preaching Possibilities
The choices today will be to focus on the witness of Philip in the First Reading or use the theme, which is cause and effect, in the Second Reading and Gospel. Of course, the analogy of a vine and its branches is a strong and understandable one, which will preach by itself. The 1 John account of loving each other also is full of potential. Down through the ages, followers of the Christ who professed a love for God have often been very hateful toward each other. It happened in many of our congregations where this message needs proclamation. A possible outline might be:
A. Theme: To love God is to love each other.
B. The reason: We love God because God first loved us from the cross (1 John 4:10-11).
C. Our response to God's love is to reach out in love to each other. There are many ways we can do this in our home, congregation, community, and world.
D. Our dare is to love more than the lovely -- to love those no one else loves and who will never love us in return.
E. Our method is to have God's love for the other even when we do not like them (John 15:9).
F. An example can be found in the section "Possible Metaphors And Stories."
G. Some possible targets of God's love through us would be the misfit in the community, the abrasive in the congregation, the unruly child in our home, the person of a different culture and skin color and language, the person of a different sexual preference, or the one who personally hurt you.
H. Conclude by reading 1 John 4:16b and 21 again.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
This is a good Sunday to do a dialogue sermon. Pretend we are able to overhear the conversation between the Ethiopian Eunuch and Philip on that road through Gaza. The Acts 8:26-40 can be read by three people. One can be Philip, one the Eunuch, and one the narrator. Prepare a discussion you can imagine the two had that day before baptism. I suggest you call in the two who will read and have them help you prepare the manuscript. This will make it more meaningful to them and keep the language and theology close to the ground. Some ideas follow:
Eunuch: "I can't make any sense out of this Bible."
Philip: "I can help you."
Eunuch: "Who are you and why should I listen to what you have to say?"
Philip: Gives his witness about being a disciple of Jesus and what he saw with his own eyes.
Eunuch: "This may be what I'm looking for! How do I become a part of this movement?"
Philip: Tells about what it means to follow Jesus.
Eunuch: Asks about baptism.
Philip: Baptizes him.
Eunuch: "Come back to Ethiopia with me."
Philip: "You will need to be Jesus' witness there."
Of course, you'll need to expand this. But you can end it by having the narrator challenge the congregation to respond to this dialogue:
1. Like Philip, they, too, can be witnesses.
2. Like the Eunuch, they, too, can take their faith back home with them. Elaborate.
To carry the idea just a little further, you might have Philip and the Eunuch offer a prayer to end the sermon.
Prayer For The Day
Make us bold in our witness as Easter people, O God, and show us how to make it in an effective and powerful way. And, like the Ethiopian on the Gaza road, help us to repent, believe, and take the faith to our homes. In Jesus' risen name. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
There is a powerful video titled Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble. She was an English actress who came to the U.S. and married a slave owner. There is a scene where he is whipping a slave tied to a stake and his wife Fannie embraces the slave so as to take the lashes for him. She wrote the famous Georgia Journals telling about the horrors of slavery, which helped abolish it.
W. H. Davis, the "tramp poet," tells how one of his vagrant friends, whenever he came into a town, looked for a church spire with a cross on top and began to beg in that area because there, from experience, he found people to be most generous.
I have many allergies and so when we built a new home in Arizona we paid extra to have an electronic air filter installed with our furnace. After three years we discovered that the electrician never hooked up the device! For three years I suffered with my allergies, but the air cleaner was not connected to the power. The branches are connected to the vine!
In Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Julia says, "They do not love that do not show their love." And Lucetta later claims, "O, they love least that let men know their love." Then in Act Four, we have the phrase, "Love will creep in service where it cannot go" (meaning where it cannot go upright).
