Sermon Illustrations For Easter 7 (2020)
Illustration
Acts 1:6-14
When I was in high school, I used to teach a kid’s swimming class at the community pool. After teaching them how move their arms and legs we, the teachers, would hold them up with a hand under their back or belly while they practiced their stroke. Holding them up kept them from sinking under the water, which would trigger their panic response and cause them to lose concentration. By removing that fear, they could practice their swimming form, secure in the knowledge that we would catch them if they started to sink. Over time they learned to relax and focus solely on their form because they had faith that we’d keep them safe.
Then one day, we’d let go. They could swim all on their own. Those were always great days because the students would finally understand that it wasn’t actually us who were holding them up and keeping them from sinking, it was their own ability that was allowing them to stay on the surface of the water. Their faith that we would keep them from sinking evolved and became a new kind of faith — not that we would keep them from sinking, but that they could keep themselves from sinking.
In the beginning of Acts, the disciples of Jesus watched him ascend to heaven, until “a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’” (1:9-11).
These disciples had walked with Jesus as he taught them. He’d always been there for them. Then, when he was crucified, they thought they’d lost him. But, he returned. Now, he was leaving them again, but this time, after he had risen. Seeing him resurrected, their faith was more secure. Like the kids I taught who learned to relax, certain that our hands would hold them up if they began to sink; after the resurrection, the disciples were certain that Jesus was there for them — not even death would separate him from them.
Yet, there was just one last thing that needed to be done: Jesus let them go. The two men in white robes — almost certainly angels — reassured the people that though Jesus had been taken up into heaven, the manifestation of his presence was a certainty they could rely on. Like those days when we’d carefully remove our hands from buoying up our students, and they would swim on their own for the first time, the disciples’ faith evolved. They now knew that Jesus’s presence no longer relied on him being there with them physically, but was something that they themselves would bring into the world as they set out on their own to preach the good news.
M T.
* * *
Act 1:6-14
It’s always been interesting to me that after the disciples witness the ascension of Jesus into heaven, they simply return to Jerusalem’s Upper Room. There they spend their time praying. What do you do when something amazing happens to you? You want to shout it from the mountain tops. I remember when my doctoral dissertation was approved, I sent out emails and made phone calls sharing the good news. I didn’t necessarily stop and pray.
Maybe that’s my struggle. I like to do things. I have a hard time with quiet prayer and contemplation, with meditation and silence. This scripture reminds me, reminds us, that the response to awe and wonder can simply be prayer and thanksgiving. We don’t need to do any more, or any less, than that.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Acts 1:6-14
The ascension is not a story about the absence of Jesus. It is a reminder that now he is in charge, that we can be assured that the one who went to the cross for us is now in charge of the universe! Picking up on this theme, Martin Luther proclaimed that with Christ glorified in heaven, now nothing can harm us.”
For while my enemies stand before my very door and plan to slay me, my faith reasons thus: Christ is Ascended into heaven and become Lord over all creatures, hence my enemies, too, must be subject to Him and thus it is not in their power to do me harm. (Complete Sermons, Vol.2/1, p.192)
The ascension teaches us that nothing is more important in world history than that Christ is in charge. Eminent twentieth-century theologian Karl Barth made this point clearly:
Whatever prosperity or defeat may occur in our space, whatever may become and pass away, there is one constant, one thing that remains and continues, this sitting of His at the Right Hand of God the Father. There is no historical turning-point which approaches this. Here we have the mystery of what we term world history... here we have the thing that underlies everything. (Dogmatics in Outline, pp.126-127)
The history of the world, where time is headed, is made known by the fact that what happened to Jesus is where time and history are moving.
Mark E.
* * *
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Isaac Watts wrote more than 600 hymns. In 1707, he published a collection of 210 hymns, titled Hymns and Spiritual Songs. It is considered the first real hymnbook in the English language. Watts is known to us today as “Father of English Hymnody.”
Watts, along with John Bunyan and others, were participants in what became known as Free Churches. These individuals were dissenters from the official state church in England, the Anglican Church. For their actions, many were sent to prison. The hymn “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?” was written to be sung after a sermon Watts preached on 1 Corinthians 16:13. That scripture passage reads, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”
The first stanza reads:
Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follow’r of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His name?
Ron L.
* * *
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal, the letter writer warns the listeners. This passage utilizes a rather odd word – xenidzao. One might translate it as “surprise” or “astonish.” But another legitimate translation is “receive as a guest, entertain.” The two translations actually work together. Guests were often a surprise, since you couldn’t very well phone in advance you were on the way. And part of the root of this word, xenos, means “stranger” or “foreigner.” The guest may be a total stranger, but in that society the opportunity to share hospitality with surprise guests and strangers was a grand thing.
The first letter of Peter is written to Christians who were enduring active and horrific persecution. We know that this persecution came in waves. The faith was illegal in the Roman Empire until early in the fourth century, but persecution was not constant. Indeed, it seems as if for many years Christianity was tolerated by the authorities. However, sooner or later, the need for a scapegoat or the desire to bolster faith in the emperor as a god led to an intensification of pressure and fear upon Christians. The author of the letter reminds believers that in the end, there is nothing surprising about this. And, shockingly, he is suggesting that we should welcome adversity as a welcome guest, for in that cauldron we have the opportunity to be proved true.
The letters speaks of a “fiery ordeal.” Let’s remember that long before things come to a boil, the water has been getting hotter and hotter – yet the water may appear placid and still, until suddenly there is a stirring on the water, a shuddering, then a full boil. The writer wants the Christians to remember that though things may appear to be placid and safe, we are never fully secure in this world, especially if we are being faithful to the values of the Sermon on the Mount, which set us in opposition to the culture of the world. Opposition may be slowly bubbling up, but at any point it may come to a full boil.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
I ran across this story that I thought was interesting. A newly licensed pilot was flying his private plane on a cloudy day. He was not very experienced in instrument landing. When the control tower attempted to bring him in, he started to panic. A stern voice came over the radio, “You just obey instructions, we’ll take care of the obstructions.”
“Just obey the instructions, we’ll take care of the obstructions.” That’s good advice. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” The devil prowls around looking for whom he may devour. Suffering is common for followers of Jesus, and some will suffer for doing right. Following Jesus is not a guarantee of a smooth, carefree life. However, in the middle of the clouds, when you can’t see and panic starts to build, there comes the words “cast your anxieties on me.” Jesus says, “I got this. Just obey the instructions. I’ll take care of the obstructions.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 17:1-11
One question that was of great concern to ancient Christians was, if faith in Christ is necessary for salvation, what happened to all those people who had died before Jesus was born? After all, the early Christians knew that good and righteous people had lived before Christ had been revealed in the flesh. What happened to them?
Ancient Christian intellectuals would turn to passages like this one, John 17:1-11 where Jesus says, “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed” (5). This allowed early theologians, like Justin Martyr, who was born around 100 AD and died around 165, to argue that Christ was both present and discernible as God’s logos before his incarnation as the man Jesus on earth. For example, Justin argues that Christ was known to Socrates “in part” because “he was and is the Logos which is in everything” (Second Apology 10.8). Justin explains that when we understand that Christ is God’s rational power, i.e. God’s logos (logos as in ‘logic’), then individuals who teach and behave in a Christian way are, in some ways, “in tune” with God’s logos, and therefore with Christ.
This idea is also echoed in modern theologians, like Karl Rahner (1904-1984), who articulated the idea of an “anonymous Christianity.” As he explains in an interview, "anonymous Christianity means that a person lives in the grace of God and attains salvation outside of explicitly constituted Christianity… Let us say, a Buddhist monk… who, because he follows his conscience, attains salvation and lives in the grace of God; of him I must say that he is an anonymous Christian" (Karl Rahner in Dialogue, 135). Although this is slightly different from Justin, since it considers individuals who are living after rather than before the birth of Christ, one can see how the idea of Christ as a “presence before the world existed” (John 17:5) could lead a person to this idea.
M T.
* * *
John 17:1-11
America is a divided nation. The polls make this evident in our assessments of President Trump
and the impeachment proceedings. This seems to be just a symptom of the fraying of America into different social classes that never interact or have almost nothing in common. See Charles Murray, Coming Apart and Annette Lareau, Unequal Childhoods.
English playwright W. Somerset Maughn once offered an observation that speaks to this reality with insights compatible with this gospel lesson. He wrote: “The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.” Unity in variety is the essence of the Trinity which is suggested by Jesus’ words. The Trinity is all about unity, famed evangelical theologian Carl Henry once wrote:
Trinitarian religion involves all man’s relations to God and to society: the social relationships within the Trinity call out against any antisocial interpretation of the Christian religion. (Revelation and Authority, Vol.5, p.213)
A God who shares everything in one is a God who creates people who share everything in unity. In the same spirit, Martin Luther has claimed that Christians share a common brotherhood insofar as they share a common inheritance (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/2, pp.254-255). After all, as Augustine said, we are kin since we share a common mother (the Church) (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.4, p.422).
Mark E.
* * *
John 17:1-11
I don’t know about you, but in these days of pandemic and isolation I need the assurance of the Holy Spirit even more than I have before. I feel the need for God’s protection and I pray for it. Every night as my son goes to work as a paramedic, I pray God’s protection for him. Every time my daughter-in-law and son take a trip to the grocery store, I pray God’s protection for them. Every time I speak with or meet electronically with a pastor or a church, I pray God’s protection for them. Just as Jesus prayer for protection for those who followed him, who loved him and who he loved, I too, pray for those whom I love – and it’s not just the ones I know personally that I am praying for. I am praying for people I will never meet, may never see, but who are working in essential jobs, or struggling because they cannot work. I am praying God’s protection for the world right now. I have to believe that when Jesus was praying for God’s protection, it wasn’t just for the immediate followers of his ministry, but for all the people, all the people of the world entrusted to His care. Maybe we should be doing the same.
Bonnie B.
When I was in high school, I used to teach a kid’s swimming class at the community pool. After teaching them how move their arms and legs we, the teachers, would hold them up with a hand under their back or belly while they practiced their stroke. Holding them up kept them from sinking under the water, which would trigger their panic response and cause them to lose concentration. By removing that fear, they could practice their swimming form, secure in the knowledge that we would catch them if they started to sink. Over time they learned to relax and focus solely on their form because they had faith that we’d keep them safe.
Then one day, we’d let go. They could swim all on their own. Those were always great days because the students would finally understand that it wasn’t actually us who were holding them up and keeping them from sinking, it was their own ability that was allowing them to stay on the surface of the water. Their faith that we would keep them from sinking evolved and became a new kind of faith — not that we would keep them from sinking, but that they could keep themselves from sinking.
In the beginning of Acts, the disciples of Jesus watched him ascend to heaven, until “a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’” (1:9-11).
These disciples had walked with Jesus as he taught them. He’d always been there for them. Then, when he was crucified, they thought they’d lost him. But, he returned. Now, he was leaving them again, but this time, after he had risen. Seeing him resurrected, their faith was more secure. Like the kids I taught who learned to relax, certain that our hands would hold them up if they began to sink; after the resurrection, the disciples were certain that Jesus was there for them — not even death would separate him from them.
Yet, there was just one last thing that needed to be done: Jesus let them go. The two men in white robes — almost certainly angels — reassured the people that though Jesus had been taken up into heaven, the manifestation of his presence was a certainty they could rely on. Like those days when we’d carefully remove our hands from buoying up our students, and they would swim on their own for the first time, the disciples’ faith evolved. They now knew that Jesus’s presence no longer relied on him being there with them physically, but was something that they themselves would bring into the world as they set out on their own to preach the good news.
M T.
* * *
Act 1:6-14
It’s always been interesting to me that after the disciples witness the ascension of Jesus into heaven, they simply return to Jerusalem’s Upper Room. There they spend their time praying. What do you do when something amazing happens to you? You want to shout it from the mountain tops. I remember when my doctoral dissertation was approved, I sent out emails and made phone calls sharing the good news. I didn’t necessarily stop and pray.
Maybe that’s my struggle. I like to do things. I have a hard time with quiet prayer and contemplation, with meditation and silence. This scripture reminds me, reminds us, that the response to awe and wonder can simply be prayer and thanksgiving. We don’t need to do any more, or any less, than that.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Acts 1:6-14
The ascension is not a story about the absence of Jesus. It is a reminder that now he is in charge, that we can be assured that the one who went to the cross for us is now in charge of the universe! Picking up on this theme, Martin Luther proclaimed that with Christ glorified in heaven, now nothing can harm us.”
For while my enemies stand before my very door and plan to slay me, my faith reasons thus: Christ is Ascended into heaven and become Lord over all creatures, hence my enemies, too, must be subject to Him and thus it is not in their power to do me harm. (Complete Sermons, Vol.2/1, p.192)
The ascension teaches us that nothing is more important in world history than that Christ is in charge. Eminent twentieth-century theologian Karl Barth made this point clearly:
Whatever prosperity or defeat may occur in our space, whatever may become and pass away, there is one constant, one thing that remains and continues, this sitting of His at the Right Hand of God the Father. There is no historical turning-point which approaches this. Here we have the mystery of what we term world history... here we have the thing that underlies everything. (Dogmatics in Outline, pp.126-127)
The history of the world, where time is headed, is made known by the fact that what happened to Jesus is where time and history are moving.
Mark E.
* * *
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Isaac Watts wrote more than 600 hymns. In 1707, he published a collection of 210 hymns, titled Hymns and Spiritual Songs. It is considered the first real hymnbook in the English language. Watts is known to us today as “Father of English Hymnody.”
Watts, along with John Bunyan and others, were participants in what became known as Free Churches. These individuals were dissenters from the official state church in England, the Anglican Church. For their actions, many were sent to prison. The hymn “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?” was written to be sung after a sermon Watts preached on 1 Corinthians 16:13. That scripture passage reads, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”
The first stanza reads:
Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follow’r of the Lamb?
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His name?
Ron L.
* * *
1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11
Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal, the letter writer warns the listeners. This passage utilizes a rather odd word – xenidzao. One might translate it as “surprise” or “astonish.” But another legitimate translation is “receive as a guest, entertain.” The two translations actually work together. Guests were often a surprise, since you couldn’t very well phone in advance you were on the way. And part of the root of this word, xenos, means “stranger” or “foreigner.” The guest may be a total stranger, but in that society the opportunity to share hospitality with surprise guests and strangers was a grand thing.
The first letter of Peter is written to Christians who were enduring active and horrific persecution. We know that this persecution came in waves. The faith was illegal in the Roman Empire until early in the fourth century, but persecution was not constant. Indeed, it seems as if for many years Christianity was tolerated by the authorities. However, sooner or later, the need for a scapegoat or the desire to bolster faith in the emperor as a god led to an intensification of pressure and fear upon Christians. The author of the letter reminds believers that in the end, there is nothing surprising about this. And, shockingly, he is suggesting that we should welcome adversity as a welcome guest, for in that cauldron we have the opportunity to be proved true.
The letters speaks of a “fiery ordeal.” Let’s remember that long before things come to a boil, the water has been getting hotter and hotter – yet the water may appear placid and still, until suddenly there is a stirring on the water, a shuddering, then a full boil. The writer wants the Christians to remember that though things may appear to be placid and safe, we are never fully secure in this world, especially if we are being faithful to the values of the Sermon on the Mount, which set us in opposition to the culture of the world. Opposition may be slowly bubbling up, but at any point it may come to a full boil.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11
I ran across this story that I thought was interesting. A newly licensed pilot was flying his private plane on a cloudy day. He was not very experienced in instrument landing. When the control tower attempted to bring him in, he started to panic. A stern voice came over the radio, “You just obey instructions, we’ll take care of the obstructions.”
“Just obey the instructions, we’ll take care of the obstructions.” That’s good advice. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” The devil prowls around looking for whom he may devour. Suffering is common for followers of Jesus, and some will suffer for doing right. Following Jesus is not a guarantee of a smooth, carefree life. However, in the middle of the clouds, when you can’t see and panic starts to build, there comes the words “cast your anxieties on me.” Jesus says, “I got this. Just obey the instructions. I’ll take care of the obstructions.”
Bill T.
* * *
John 17:1-11
One question that was of great concern to ancient Christians was, if faith in Christ is necessary for salvation, what happened to all those people who had died before Jesus was born? After all, the early Christians knew that good and righteous people had lived before Christ had been revealed in the flesh. What happened to them?
Ancient Christian intellectuals would turn to passages like this one, John 17:1-11 where Jesus says, “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed” (5). This allowed early theologians, like Justin Martyr, who was born around 100 AD and died around 165, to argue that Christ was both present and discernible as God’s logos before his incarnation as the man Jesus on earth. For example, Justin argues that Christ was known to Socrates “in part” because “he was and is the Logos which is in everything” (Second Apology 10.8). Justin explains that when we understand that Christ is God’s rational power, i.e. God’s logos (logos as in ‘logic’), then individuals who teach and behave in a Christian way are, in some ways, “in tune” with God’s logos, and therefore with Christ.
This idea is also echoed in modern theologians, like Karl Rahner (1904-1984), who articulated the idea of an “anonymous Christianity.” As he explains in an interview, "anonymous Christianity means that a person lives in the grace of God and attains salvation outside of explicitly constituted Christianity… Let us say, a Buddhist monk… who, because he follows his conscience, attains salvation and lives in the grace of God; of him I must say that he is an anonymous Christian" (Karl Rahner in Dialogue, 135). Although this is slightly different from Justin, since it considers individuals who are living after rather than before the birth of Christ, one can see how the idea of Christ as a “presence before the world existed” (John 17:5) could lead a person to this idea.
M T.
* * *
John 17:1-11
America is a divided nation. The polls make this evident in our assessments of President Trump
and the impeachment proceedings. This seems to be just a symptom of the fraying of America into different social classes that never interact or have almost nothing in common. See Charles Murray, Coming Apart and Annette Lareau, Unequal Childhoods.
English playwright W. Somerset Maughn once offered an observation that speaks to this reality with insights compatible with this gospel lesson. He wrote: “The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety.” Unity in variety is the essence of the Trinity which is suggested by Jesus’ words. The Trinity is all about unity, famed evangelical theologian Carl Henry once wrote:
Trinitarian religion involves all man’s relations to God and to society: the social relationships within the Trinity call out against any antisocial interpretation of the Christian religion. (Revelation and Authority, Vol.5, p.213)
A God who shares everything in one is a God who creates people who share everything in unity. In the same spirit, Martin Luther has claimed that Christians share a common brotherhood insofar as they share a common inheritance (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/2, pp.254-255). After all, as Augustine said, we are kin since we share a common mother (the Church) (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol.4, p.422).
Mark E.
* * *
John 17:1-11
I don’t know about you, but in these days of pandemic and isolation I need the assurance of the Holy Spirit even more than I have before. I feel the need for God’s protection and I pray for it. Every night as my son goes to work as a paramedic, I pray God’s protection for him. Every time my daughter-in-law and son take a trip to the grocery store, I pray God’s protection for them. Every time I speak with or meet electronically with a pastor or a church, I pray God’s protection for them. Just as Jesus prayer for protection for those who followed him, who loved him and who he loved, I too, pray for those whom I love – and it’s not just the ones I know personally that I am praying for. I am praying for people I will never meet, may never see, but who are working in essential jobs, or struggling because they cannot work. I am praying God’s protection for the world right now. I have to believe that when Jesus was praying for God’s protection, it wasn’t just for the immediate followers of his ministry, but for all the people, all the people of the world entrusted to His care. Maybe we should be doing the same.
Bonnie B.
