Sermon illustrations for Easter 5 (2019)
Illustration
Acts 11:1-18
This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. (Acts 11:10)
According to Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known to the world as Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass,” the inspiration for his classic nonsense poem, “The Hunting of the Snark,” came while he was out for a walk. Suddenly the the final line of the poem came to him: “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.” At the time he didn’t know what the line meant, nor had he a clue what either a Snark or a Boojum might be, but over the course of a couple of years from 1874 to 1876 he wrote the poem from end to beginning.
It begins with these lines:
“Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.
“Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
“Just the place for a Snark!” I have said it thrice;
What I tell you three times is true.”
Throughout the poem things are repeated three times as proof that they are true. In our own lives that’s not necessarily true. Repeating a lie three times does not make it any truer than it was the first time we said it.
Still, when it comes to this passage, it seems as if the apostle Peter needs to see this alarming dream three times before he can come to understand it at a deeper level and act on it. Peter sees a sheet dropped from heaven with animals named as unclean in the Hebrew scriptures. When the voice from heaven commands him to eat, he protests – and probably feels sick to his stomach at the very idea. There’s no telling if Peter ever overcame his qualms about eating certain things, but here we see the beginning of barriers being broken down that separated humanity. So at least in this passage there is no nonsense about it: what we are told three times is true!
Frank R.
* * *
Acts 11:1-18
The great divide between Jew and Gentile was symbolized by the wall in Herod’s Temple that separated the outer court of the Gentiles from the inner courts of Israel. King Herod had enclosed the outer court with colonnades and it was referred to as the Court of the Gentiles because the Gentiles were permitted to enter the temple area. They could walk within in it, but they were forbidden to go any further than the outer court. Warning signs in Greek and Latin were there indicating the penalty for such trespass was death. In Acts 21 the crowds were angry with Paul and tried to kill him because of his teaching and that they thought he’d brought a Greek, Trophimus, beyond the outer court. The Jews, as the covenant people of God, couldn’t envision him accepting Gentiles.
However, as the text indicates, God’s plan was always to include Gentiles among his people. Peter’s conclusion in verse seventeen reverberates with truth. “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” We recognize today that God’s message is for all people. Billy Graham said, “God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’”
Bill T.
* * *
Acts 11:1-18
Thomas Huxley was a biologist. Because of his scientific accomplishments he was a member of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, better known to us as the Royal Society. Huxley placed science over religion, and even questioned the validity of religion. Because of his vigorous and outspoken support of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary naturalism he earned the nickname “Darwin’s bulldog.” Huxley was the first person, on April 21, 1869, to publicly use the word “agnostic” at a meeting of the Royal Society to describe intellectuals who, like himself, are unable to come to certain conclusions on big issues such as the existence of God.
Ron L.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-6
As recently as 2016 the National Institute of Mental Health reported that 16.2 million American adults (nearly 7% of us) suffer from depression and a Harris poll of that year found two-thirds of us are not very happy in life. What can a lesson about the second coming like this one have to say to us in the midst of this unhappiness with life? It is like Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel (President Obama’s former Chief of Staff once put it): “Crises are something you don’t want to waste.” Famed theologian Karl Barth said something similar. He claimed that faith is a crisis, for in faith we see that we and universe are under judgment and that how we decide about Jesus is the most important decision we will ever make (Lectures On Romans, pp.32,39-40,91).
Crises get our attention. The fact that world is passing away means that it is no longer business as usual in life. That awareness, psychologists like Daniel Amen tell us, is good for your mental health. Our problem, he says, is that we let our Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) dominate our lives. But when we face crises, then the ANTs no longer matter so much, because we get our attention off ourselves on to the crisis. We see that the ANTs don’t matter so much after all (Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, pp.55ff.). Likewise the anxiety about our status which social commentator Alain de Botton has highlighted as so strongly influencing our lives (status anxiety) does not seem to matter so much when encountered by an awareness that the world and what status we can achieve are passing away. It is as Karl Barth has said, reminding us of the majesty of eternity and the new reality Christ has begun and will complete:
Yet one drop of eternity is of greater weight than a vast oceans of finite things. Measured by the standard of God the dignitaries of men forfeit their excellence and their serious importance – they become relative... (Lectures On Romans, p.77)
Mark E.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-6
“When we all get to heaven,” words of a hymn sung in 2007 by Brad Paisley. We often think of “going” to heaven as the ultimate goal of our faithful lives. Yet, Revelation tells us that God comes to us, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them”
God, once more, comes to dwell with us, with us human beings. Just as Jesus came to live among us, God with us, our holy creator, God also comes to dwell among us, transforming the world as we know it into God’s world, the realm God intended at creation. What a gift for God to come to us, for God to dwell among us and transform us and the world in which we live? And still, God is with us now, in this very moment, in this very place. This, too, is a gift and the Revelation of John reminds us that we are not alone — not ever alone. What a gift, even now before “we all get to heaven!”
Bonnie B.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-7
It sounds like heaven will be familiar but also new. There will be a new heaven. The new earth will have a new Jerusalem as a bride. As I always say, Jesus counts his church as one. He did not marry Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Roman Catholics, etc. All Christians are one.
That is one thing I liked about my mission in Nepal (and I understand talking with other missionaries it is almost the same in most mission countries) we were all brothers and sisters in Christ. We were one!)
It sounds like God will come down to his new earth. We won’t go up to be with him somewhere else.
There are so many descriptions of life hereafter in the Bible, but the most important verse that appears many times is that God is love. If he loves us, then I will not worry. If he loves us so much that he let his son die a terrible death for us then I won’t worry! He is making all things new. So don’t worry about any problems we are having here on this present earth.
When we went to Hawaii, which we had never seen, our daughter who lived there said it would be different than anything we were used to in the other states. We found out she was right. Just trust in God’s love. His love is always new. There is fantastic variety on earth, but all we need to know is God’s love. We have traveled to 76 countries and always felt God’s love everywhere.
The church can’t give us a picture of heaven. It can only prove his love through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Bob O.
* * *
John 13:31-35
During the Civil War a kind and gentle city resident frequently visited hospitals located throughout the capital, comforting the stricken soldiers. The lanky man happened upon a young trooper whose leg had been amputated, and the soldier was not expected to live until morning. Sitting beside the bed the tall man inquired if he could be of assistance. The grateful soldier requested the stranger to write a letter to his mother. Obliging, the black suited gentleman carefully recorded the dictated words. Finishing the correspondence, he handed the letter to the young man for approval. After proofreading the short note, the lad studied the postscript, words not spoken yet penned by the kind caller: “This letter was written by Abraham Lincoln.” Astonished, the soldier stared at the visitor, meekly asking, “Are you our President?” “Yes,” was the gentle response, “and now that you know that, is there anything else I can do for you?” Feebly, the youth requested, “I guess you might hold my hand and see me through.” The large hand of the rail splitter, firm enough to guide the Republic, was soft enough to embrace the sufferer through the night.
Ron L.
* * *
John 13:31-35
Marshall Broomhall writes in The Jubilee Story of the China Inland Mission about Maria Dyer. Maria was born in 1837 on the mission field in China where her parents were pioneer missionaries. Her parents died when Maria was a little girl, and she was sent back to England to be raised by an uncle. The loss of her parents, however, did not dampen her determination to share the gospel. When she was sixteen, she and her sister, returned to China to work in a girl’s school as a missionary herself. Five years later, she married Hudson Taylor, a man well-known for his life of ministry, faith, and sacrifice.
The Taylor’s work was often criticized, even by other Christians, and Maria once wrote, “As to the harsh judging of the world, or the more painful misunderstandings of Christian brethren, I generally feel that the best plan is to go on with our work and leave God to vindicate our cause.” Of their nine children, only four survived to adulthood. Maria herself died of cholera when she was just forty-three. She believed, however, the cause was worthy of the sacrifice. On her grave marker these words were inscribed: “For her to live was Christ, and to die was gain.”
Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” In a day when many are self-absorbed and care more about what they can get rather than what they can give, we need a renewal of sacrificial love.
Bill T.
* * *
John 13:31-35
In the other gospels Jesus is questioned on the subject of which commandment is most important. You will recall that he gave two commandments – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. These verses come from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and demonstrate that our love should extend in two directions: vertically up towards God, and horizontally, among God’s people.
In this passage from John’s gospel Jesus says the same thing when he gives his disciples a new commandment. Jesus tells his disciples they are to love each other – that’s the horizontal part. In what way are they to love each other? That’s where the vertical part comes in. Our love for each other is to match the love Jesus demonstrated for us and it shows we need God’s love to help us define neighbor love. The difference between these verses and the other three gospels is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke talk about how we should love God. John tells us how Jesus loves us. The two different traditions complement each other.
Frank R.
This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. (Acts 11:10)
According to Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known to the world as Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass,” the inspiration for his classic nonsense poem, “The Hunting of the Snark,” came while he was out for a walk. Suddenly the the final line of the poem came to him: “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.” At the time he didn’t know what the line meant, nor had he a clue what either a Snark or a Boojum might be, but over the course of a couple of years from 1874 to 1876 he wrote the poem from end to beginning.
It begins with these lines:
“Just the place for a Snark!” the Bellman cried,
As he landed his crew with care;
Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.
“Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
That alone should encourage the crew.
“Just the place for a Snark!” I have said it thrice;
What I tell you three times is true.”
Throughout the poem things are repeated three times as proof that they are true. In our own lives that’s not necessarily true. Repeating a lie three times does not make it any truer than it was the first time we said it.
Still, when it comes to this passage, it seems as if the apostle Peter needs to see this alarming dream three times before he can come to understand it at a deeper level and act on it. Peter sees a sheet dropped from heaven with animals named as unclean in the Hebrew scriptures. When the voice from heaven commands him to eat, he protests – and probably feels sick to his stomach at the very idea. There’s no telling if Peter ever overcame his qualms about eating certain things, but here we see the beginning of barriers being broken down that separated humanity. So at least in this passage there is no nonsense about it: what we are told three times is true!
Frank R.
* * *
Acts 11:1-18
The great divide between Jew and Gentile was symbolized by the wall in Herod’s Temple that separated the outer court of the Gentiles from the inner courts of Israel. King Herod had enclosed the outer court with colonnades and it was referred to as the Court of the Gentiles because the Gentiles were permitted to enter the temple area. They could walk within in it, but they were forbidden to go any further than the outer court. Warning signs in Greek and Latin were there indicating the penalty for such trespass was death. In Acts 21 the crowds were angry with Paul and tried to kill him because of his teaching and that they thought he’d brought a Greek, Trophimus, beyond the outer court. The Jews, as the covenant people of God, couldn’t envision him accepting Gentiles.
However, as the text indicates, God’s plan was always to include Gentiles among his people. Peter’s conclusion in verse seventeen reverberates with truth. “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” We recognize today that God’s message is for all people. Billy Graham said, “God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’”
Bill T.
* * *
Acts 11:1-18
Thomas Huxley was a biologist. Because of his scientific accomplishments he was a member of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, better known to us as the Royal Society. Huxley placed science over religion, and even questioned the validity of religion. Because of his vigorous and outspoken support of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary naturalism he earned the nickname “Darwin’s bulldog.” Huxley was the first person, on April 21, 1869, to publicly use the word “agnostic” at a meeting of the Royal Society to describe intellectuals who, like himself, are unable to come to certain conclusions on big issues such as the existence of God.
Ron L.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-6
As recently as 2016 the National Institute of Mental Health reported that 16.2 million American adults (nearly 7% of us) suffer from depression and a Harris poll of that year found two-thirds of us are not very happy in life. What can a lesson about the second coming like this one have to say to us in the midst of this unhappiness with life? It is like Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel (President Obama’s former Chief of Staff once put it): “Crises are something you don’t want to waste.” Famed theologian Karl Barth said something similar. He claimed that faith is a crisis, for in faith we see that we and universe are under judgment and that how we decide about Jesus is the most important decision we will ever make (Lectures On Romans, pp.32,39-40,91).
Crises get our attention. The fact that world is passing away means that it is no longer business as usual in life. That awareness, psychologists like Daniel Amen tell us, is good for your mental health. Our problem, he says, is that we let our Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) dominate our lives. But when we face crises, then the ANTs no longer matter so much, because we get our attention off ourselves on to the crisis. We see that the ANTs don’t matter so much after all (Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, pp.55ff.). Likewise the anxiety about our status which social commentator Alain de Botton has highlighted as so strongly influencing our lives (status anxiety) does not seem to matter so much when encountered by an awareness that the world and what status we can achieve are passing away. It is as Karl Barth has said, reminding us of the majesty of eternity and the new reality Christ has begun and will complete:
Yet one drop of eternity is of greater weight than a vast oceans of finite things. Measured by the standard of God the dignitaries of men forfeit their excellence and their serious importance – they become relative... (Lectures On Romans, p.77)
Mark E.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-6
“When we all get to heaven,” words of a hymn sung in 2007 by Brad Paisley. We often think of “going” to heaven as the ultimate goal of our faithful lives. Yet, Revelation tells us that God comes to us, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them”
God, once more, comes to dwell with us, with us human beings. Just as Jesus came to live among us, God with us, our holy creator, God also comes to dwell among us, transforming the world as we know it into God’s world, the realm God intended at creation. What a gift for God to come to us, for God to dwell among us and transform us and the world in which we live? And still, God is with us now, in this very moment, in this very place. This, too, is a gift and the Revelation of John reminds us that we are not alone — not ever alone. What a gift, even now before “we all get to heaven!”
Bonnie B.
* * *
Revelation 21:1-7
It sounds like heaven will be familiar but also new. There will be a new heaven. The new earth will have a new Jerusalem as a bride. As I always say, Jesus counts his church as one. He did not marry Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Roman Catholics, etc. All Christians are one.
That is one thing I liked about my mission in Nepal (and I understand talking with other missionaries it is almost the same in most mission countries) we were all brothers and sisters in Christ. We were one!)
It sounds like God will come down to his new earth. We won’t go up to be with him somewhere else.
There are so many descriptions of life hereafter in the Bible, but the most important verse that appears many times is that God is love. If he loves us, then I will not worry. If he loves us so much that he let his son die a terrible death for us then I won’t worry! He is making all things new. So don’t worry about any problems we are having here on this present earth.
When we went to Hawaii, which we had never seen, our daughter who lived there said it would be different than anything we were used to in the other states. We found out she was right. Just trust in God’s love. His love is always new. There is fantastic variety on earth, but all we need to know is God’s love. We have traveled to 76 countries and always felt God’s love everywhere.
The church can’t give us a picture of heaven. It can only prove his love through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Bob O.
* * *
John 13:31-35
During the Civil War a kind and gentle city resident frequently visited hospitals located throughout the capital, comforting the stricken soldiers. The lanky man happened upon a young trooper whose leg had been amputated, and the soldier was not expected to live until morning. Sitting beside the bed the tall man inquired if he could be of assistance. The grateful soldier requested the stranger to write a letter to his mother. Obliging, the black suited gentleman carefully recorded the dictated words. Finishing the correspondence, he handed the letter to the young man for approval. After proofreading the short note, the lad studied the postscript, words not spoken yet penned by the kind caller: “This letter was written by Abraham Lincoln.” Astonished, the soldier stared at the visitor, meekly asking, “Are you our President?” “Yes,” was the gentle response, “and now that you know that, is there anything else I can do for you?” Feebly, the youth requested, “I guess you might hold my hand and see me through.” The large hand of the rail splitter, firm enough to guide the Republic, was soft enough to embrace the sufferer through the night.
Ron L.
* * *
John 13:31-35
Marshall Broomhall writes in The Jubilee Story of the China Inland Mission about Maria Dyer. Maria was born in 1837 on the mission field in China where her parents were pioneer missionaries. Her parents died when Maria was a little girl, and she was sent back to England to be raised by an uncle. The loss of her parents, however, did not dampen her determination to share the gospel. When she was sixteen, she and her sister, returned to China to work in a girl’s school as a missionary herself. Five years later, she married Hudson Taylor, a man well-known for his life of ministry, faith, and sacrifice.
The Taylor’s work was often criticized, even by other Christians, and Maria once wrote, “As to the harsh judging of the world, or the more painful misunderstandings of Christian brethren, I generally feel that the best plan is to go on with our work and leave God to vindicate our cause.” Of their nine children, only four survived to adulthood. Maria herself died of cholera when she was just forty-three. She believed, however, the cause was worthy of the sacrifice. On her grave marker these words were inscribed: “For her to live was Christ, and to die was gain.”
Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” In a day when many are self-absorbed and care more about what they can get rather than what they can give, we need a renewal of sacrificial love.
Bill T.
* * *
John 13:31-35
In the other gospels Jesus is questioned on the subject of which commandment is most important. You will recall that he gave two commandments – You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. These verses come from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and demonstrate that our love should extend in two directions: vertically up towards God, and horizontally, among God’s people.
In this passage from John’s gospel Jesus says the same thing when he gives his disciples a new commandment. Jesus tells his disciples they are to love each other – that’s the horizontal part. In what way are they to love each other? That’s where the vertical part comes in. Our love for each other is to match the love Jesus demonstrated for us and it shows we need God’s love to help us define neighbor love. The difference between these verses and the other three gospels is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke talk about how we should love God. John tells us how Jesus loves us. The two different traditions complement each other.
Frank R.
