Sermon illustrations for Epiphany 4 (OT 4) Cycle C (2016)
Illustration
Object:
Jeremiah 1:4-10
As a church pastor, as a congregation member, as a mother, a wife, a grandmother, or a friend, I sometimes have no idea what words of comfort to offer. I do not have the words. My heart might be breaking, my tears may be falling, but my brain cannot send words to my mouth. And yet, God does. At the times when I have felt the least able to offer comfort to another, God has spoken through me. At times when I do not know what I will say, God speaks through me. When I close my eyes and take a breath to pray in a horrifying or grief-filled situation, God speaks through me.
This is the assurance that Jeremiah gets from God. Do not be afraid, for I will give you the words to say. The soft touch may be mine. The hug may come from me. The tears streaming down my face are surely mine. But the words, the words of comfort -- they come from God. Thankfully, the words come.
Bonnie B.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
The football practices were hard. The season was just starting. The team had “two-a-days” ? one practice session in the morning and one in the evening. Simply put, that meant that the players ran, stretched, did drills, ran plays, sweat, hit, sweat, and then ran some more twice a day. The coach had been around for years, and had much success at the town’s high school. Everyone knew what he did, and most knew why he did it. He explained it each year, though, at the parents’ meeting. “We work them hard at practice. They will be tired when they’re done. They will look forward to the games as a break from practices. The key to our success is simply this. We do so much in practice so that they will never face anything in a game that we haven’t covered. They will be prepared for whatever comes their way. That’s what we do as coaches.”
Jeremiah’s call is found at the beginning of the book of Jeremiah. God is making it clear to Jeremiah that he has a divine calling and that God has prepared him for what he will do. God began preparing him, even in his mother’s womb, for the task he was giving him. Jeremiah’s retort that he was only a boy falls on deaf ears. It isn’t about what is in Jeremiah, but rather who is in him. Just as the football team that is well-prepared need not fear the Friday night challenge, Jeremiah need not fear the future. God is with him. That’s more than enough.
Bill T.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo protests that he wishes that the great events happening all around him had not happened in his time. The wizard Gandalf chides him, saying, “So do I... and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us....”
The first few verses of Jeremiah make it clear that he was born to see the best and worst of times. Jeremiah will speak to the era when King Josiah instituted radical reforms of the faith, but he would also see those reforms dismantled under a king who follows. Israel’s enemy, the Assyrians, would be destroyed, but the prophet would also witness the rise of the Babylonians who would conquer Judea, destroy the Temple in Jerusalem, and cart the people away in exile.
Protesting that he is not up to the times he is born into, Jeremiah states, “I am only a boy.” God does not accept that excuse. It is up to all who are born into such times to do what they are called to do.
How about the protest that he is too young? Jeremiah might have been 17 when he claimed to be only a boy, an age when most of think we’re already grown up and why won’t people recognize that! Not only that, 13 years before Jeremiah protests that he is only a boy and too young to take on the prophetic mantle Josiah becomes king at the age of eight.
Only a child? I’d make any excuse to get out of the task Jeremiah is called to, but God makes us able in the worst of times. What is our excuse? What is our “I am only a __________” (fill in the blank)?
Frank R.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
If it is true that God knew us before we were born and set us apart, then our first job is to find out from him what we have been created for! That may not come to us as a baby. It may not even come while we are in high school or college.
I was 30 years old when I felt the Lord’s call for me to enter the gospel ministry. He also called me to be a missionary, and it took about 40 more years for that to happen. We must be patient. My folks had prayed that I would one day accept those goals. A friend told me that my mother had said to her at my ordination: “At last my prayers have been answered!”
Look how old Abraham was before he was called to Israel. Israel wasn’t even there yet! It took Moses a while to get his call -- but then, many or most of the prophets and leaders waited years for the call to get through to them. John the Baptist got his call before he was born. That thief on the cross next to Jesus got his call just before he died. We should keep praying, and keep our minds and hearts open to God’s call.
When we hear a pastor preach, we can sense if the Lord has put his words into the pastor’s mouth. We can also sense if the message is for us.
We may not be appointed to rule over nations -- or be president of our country. Some of our leaders have been appointed to uproot, tear down, and destroy, but I’m sure most of us would rather be called on to build and plant. You may need help, but keep your minds and hearts open to the call of God because we may recognize it. But you may need your pastor to confirm that call, so be ready!
Bob O.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If a couple requests a scripture reading at their wedding, there is a good chance this great hymn to love will be chosen. Certainly these words are appropriate and applicable in a setting for those who want to make a public and lifelong commitment to one another.
A wedding, however, is not this passage’s original setting. Remember that the first letter to the Corinthians responds to a long list of questions and problems faced by this early faith community. With only minimal hyperbole, First Church Corinth might even be described as “The Troubled Church of Stumbling over and Arguing about One Problem Right after Another.” These folks are having a hard time figuring out how to get along with one another.
In chapter 13, Paul makes the case that love is essential to a harmonious life in community. In chapter 13, he uses a substantial list of verbs to describe what love is and what love is not.
When this letter was received and read to the Corinthians, one might assume there was a great deal of discomfort that wafted through the pews. They had fallen substantially short of the standard Paul described.
There is a good chance a sermon on this passage will generate some of the same discomfort in a faith community today.
R. Robert C.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Josephine married George Butler, a scholar and cleric, in 1852. Together they had four children. Their only daughter, Eva, died in 1863, following a fall from the staircase at their home. This led Josephine to seek solace by ministering to people with greater pain than her own. She began visiting Liverpool’s Brownlow Hill workhouse, which led to her first involvement with prostitutes. She set up a House of Rest and an Industrial Home for them. Josephine, through her own pain, could understand the pain of others and dedicated her life to alleviating it.
Application: We have many opportunities to love others.
Ron L.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Contrary to popular perceptions, this is not a text about the loving we should do. It is about agape love, about God’s love. Methodist founder John Wesley spoke of the love referred to in this text as a love that “sweetly constrains him to love every child of man...” (Works, Vol. 7, p. 47). It is a love that “springs from the love of God” (Ibid.).
Famed 20th-century theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, martyred for his resistance to Hitler, was on target in his assessment of the importance of love: “A life has meaning and value only insofar as love is in it. Furthermore, life is nothing at all, and has not meaning and value, if love is not in it” (A Testament of Hope, p. 254).
Medieval mystic Bernard of Clairvaux beautifully describes how any love we have is of God, who is love: “When love comes into the soul it changes everything else into itself and takes the affections captive. The soul therefore that loves, loves and knows nothing else.... They [the believer and the Word] are bride and bridegroom.... But this bridegroom, remember, is not only loving; He is love itself” (Varieties of Mystic Experience, p. 103).
Martin Luther offers a profound reflection about the God of love who makes love happen: “God Himself is love, and his Being is nothing but pure love. Therefore if anyone wanted to draw and picture God in a telling way, he would have to draw a picture that showed nothing but love, as though the divine nature were nothing but an intense fire and fervor of a love that has filled heaven and earth” (What Luther Says, p. 819).
Mark E.
Luke 4:21-30
Town signs are kind of interesting. Here are a few I have come across. One for Hartford, Kentucky, says: “Welcome to Hartford: home of 2000 happy people and a few soreheads.” Here’s another one: “Welcome to Valeria, town of a railroad romance.” I like this one for Gravity, Iowa. It says: “Gravity: We’re down to earth.” A town sign conveys something of the nature of the town and the character of the people who live there. I don’t know if they had town signs in Jesus’ day, but if they did I don’t know if I would have liked the one outside of Nazareth.
Why do people refuse or reject something? I guess they let pride get in the way and can’t envision another person doing something. I suppose some foolishly don’t recognize the crisis or need. Others maybe are too close to someone or something to consider him or it any differently than they always have. Whatever the reason, history is littered with the wreckage of those who had a chance to join or be a part of something great, only to let it pass them by. Is there anything sadder than the refrain of what might have been?
Jesus is in his hometown synagogue. He has read and spoken. The people there are amazed and asking each other, “Isn’t this Joseph’s boy?” Jesus interrupts to challenge them and their skepticism. It is a short passage, but a bitter one. Jesus’ hometown folks drive him out of town and hope to hurl him from a cliff. To put it mildly, they didn’t get it. Why? It doesn’t say, leaving us to guess. Maybe they couldn’t get past the image of Jesus growing up there. How could he be anything but the “neighbor kid”? Maybe there was some jealousy. “Why is he so special?” Perhaps some just were too stuck in thinking that nothing of value could come from Nazareth. Whatever the reason, Jesus’ hometown pushed him away. How does that look on a sign? Welcome to Nazareth: the town that rejected Jesus.
Bill T.
Luke 4:21-30
Tell the truth. Tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If you’ve watched any courtroom drama on television during the last 60 years you have heard this admonition, usually in the form of a promise made by a witness. Yet, my friends, you can get into trouble for telling the truth. Telling the truth can be risky. Reminding people of the truth can be even riskier.
Have you ever reminded a friend who is in trouble that they acted in ways that caused the trouble to start? It might be true, but it strains the friendship. Have you ever told the truth about breaking a law or the rules and had to face the consequences? Telling the truth is admirable, necessary, but sometimes it comes with great personal cost.
Jesus, who has previously been admired for his reading of Isaiah 61, now is being yelled at, scoffed at, led to a cliff to be thrown off. All this reaction for having told the truth about how God chose to act in the lives of foreigners and Gentiles. Not everyone wants to hear the truth, wants to be reminded about the truth. But Jesus doesn’t lie. Jesus doesn’t soften the lesson. Jesus proclaims that God is not only the God of the Jews but the Gentiles. God is the God of all. Maybe we should follow this example and speak for God in all the places where lies about others are told. Maybe we too should risk telling the truth.
Bonnie B.
Luke 4:21-30
The cover of the biblical book says “Luke,” but we’re reading out of Isaiah in this lesson. In the passage leading up to this lection, Jesus entered the synagogue of his hometown, took up the Isaiah scroll, and read aloud the prophecy from Isaiah that “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (4:18-19).
This leads to a testy dialogue, in which Jesus at last reminds his people that in ancient times God sent prophets to outsiders because they were more receptive to the divine message and more accepting of God’s messenger, which then leads to an (unsuccessful) attempt on his life by the hometown folks.
A prophet is without honor in their own country? Yes, that means our kids of course, and our own prophets speaking in our midst. But this also includes denominational officials (oh, how churches love to criticize leadership) and others both within and beyond the church who are calling us to that practical ministry of jubilee outlined in the verses from Isaiah that Jesus quotes from.
Frank R.
Luke 4:21-30
When I was in seminary, one of my professors told us that we should not look for a call to our hometown. He said that too many would remember us as children and doubt that we could change and be their leader -- that is, unless we were perfect like Jesus.
We are overcome by the tremendous needs in the world when we read the paper or watch the news on television. It can be overwhelming, but our main concerns are for individuals we know; either friends or family. How often the Lord eventually answers those prayers -- so don’t give up.
Yes, the Lord cares for all his people! But he doesn’t just wipe the slate clean of all the world’s problems. I hear some non-believers complain that if God were a loving God and cared for all his people, then he would heal all the problems on earth now!
All the people in that synagogue were angry that God healed a “damned” Syrian, and other non-Israelites, instead of one of his “chosen” people.
Are there some Americans who might object if God healed a black or Asian person, but didn’t heal a white person in need? They are racist! Not like us!
Those folks in this text are so upset that they want to toss this nice hometown boy off the cliff!
Are we prejudiced over which political party our Lord may bless? Do we feel that he should be on our side (the right side!)? Are we upset if he helps the other party and not ours?
How dare we question God’s will! If we take sides, let it be only on the Lord’s side. That is why we come to church -- to find out who we are and what is the Lord’s side!
Bob O.
As a church pastor, as a congregation member, as a mother, a wife, a grandmother, or a friend, I sometimes have no idea what words of comfort to offer. I do not have the words. My heart might be breaking, my tears may be falling, but my brain cannot send words to my mouth. And yet, God does. At the times when I have felt the least able to offer comfort to another, God has spoken through me. At times when I do not know what I will say, God speaks through me. When I close my eyes and take a breath to pray in a horrifying or grief-filled situation, God speaks through me.
This is the assurance that Jeremiah gets from God. Do not be afraid, for I will give you the words to say. The soft touch may be mine. The hug may come from me. The tears streaming down my face are surely mine. But the words, the words of comfort -- they come from God. Thankfully, the words come.
Bonnie B.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
The football practices were hard. The season was just starting. The team had “two-a-days” ? one practice session in the morning and one in the evening. Simply put, that meant that the players ran, stretched, did drills, ran plays, sweat, hit, sweat, and then ran some more twice a day. The coach had been around for years, and had much success at the town’s high school. Everyone knew what he did, and most knew why he did it. He explained it each year, though, at the parents’ meeting. “We work them hard at practice. They will be tired when they’re done. They will look forward to the games as a break from practices. The key to our success is simply this. We do so much in practice so that they will never face anything in a game that we haven’t covered. They will be prepared for whatever comes their way. That’s what we do as coaches.”
Jeremiah’s call is found at the beginning of the book of Jeremiah. God is making it clear to Jeremiah that he has a divine calling and that God has prepared him for what he will do. God began preparing him, even in his mother’s womb, for the task he was giving him. Jeremiah’s retort that he was only a boy falls on deaf ears. It isn’t about what is in Jeremiah, but rather who is in him. Just as the football team that is well-prepared need not fear the Friday night challenge, Jeremiah need not fear the future. God is with him. That’s more than enough.
Bill T.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
In the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo protests that he wishes that the great events happening all around him had not happened in his time. The wizard Gandalf chides him, saying, “So do I... and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us....”
The first few verses of Jeremiah make it clear that he was born to see the best and worst of times. Jeremiah will speak to the era when King Josiah instituted radical reforms of the faith, but he would also see those reforms dismantled under a king who follows. Israel’s enemy, the Assyrians, would be destroyed, but the prophet would also witness the rise of the Babylonians who would conquer Judea, destroy the Temple in Jerusalem, and cart the people away in exile.
Protesting that he is not up to the times he is born into, Jeremiah states, “I am only a boy.” God does not accept that excuse. It is up to all who are born into such times to do what they are called to do.
How about the protest that he is too young? Jeremiah might have been 17 when he claimed to be only a boy, an age when most of think we’re already grown up and why won’t people recognize that! Not only that, 13 years before Jeremiah protests that he is only a boy and too young to take on the prophetic mantle Josiah becomes king at the age of eight.
Only a child? I’d make any excuse to get out of the task Jeremiah is called to, but God makes us able in the worst of times. What is our excuse? What is our “I am only a __________” (fill in the blank)?
Frank R.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
If it is true that God knew us before we were born and set us apart, then our first job is to find out from him what we have been created for! That may not come to us as a baby. It may not even come while we are in high school or college.
I was 30 years old when I felt the Lord’s call for me to enter the gospel ministry. He also called me to be a missionary, and it took about 40 more years for that to happen. We must be patient. My folks had prayed that I would one day accept those goals. A friend told me that my mother had said to her at my ordination: “At last my prayers have been answered!”
Look how old Abraham was before he was called to Israel. Israel wasn’t even there yet! It took Moses a while to get his call -- but then, many or most of the prophets and leaders waited years for the call to get through to them. John the Baptist got his call before he was born. That thief on the cross next to Jesus got his call just before he died. We should keep praying, and keep our minds and hearts open to God’s call.
When we hear a pastor preach, we can sense if the Lord has put his words into the pastor’s mouth. We can also sense if the message is for us.
We may not be appointed to rule over nations -- or be president of our country. Some of our leaders have been appointed to uproot, tear down, and destroy, but I’m sure most of us would rather be called on to build and plant. You may need help, but keep your minds and hearts open to the call of God because we may recognize it. But you may need your pastor to confirm that call, so be ready!
Bob O.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If a couple requests a scripture reading at their wedding, there is a good chance this great hymn to love will be chosen. Certainly these words are appropriate and applicable in a setting for those who want to make a public and lifelong commitment to one another.
A wedding, however, is not this passage’s original setting. Remember that the first letter to the Corinthians responds to a long list of questions and problems faced by this early faith community. With only minimal hyperbole, First Church Corinth might even be described as “The Troubled Church of Stumbling over and Arguing about One Problem Right after Another.” These folks are having a hard time figuring out how to get along with one another.
In chapter 13, Paul makes the case that love is essential to a harmonious life in community. In chapter 13, he uses a substantial list of verbs to describe what love is and what love is not.
When this letter was received and read to the Corinthians, one might assume there was a great deal of discomfort that wafted through the pews. They had fallen substantially short of the standard Paul described.
There is a good chance a sermon on this passage will generate some of the same discomfort in a faith community today.
R. Robert C.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Josephine married George Butler, a scholar and cleric, in 1852. Together they had four children. Their only daughter, Eva, died in 1863, following a fall from the staircase at their home. This led Josephine to seek solace by ministering to people with greater pain than her own. She began visiting Liverpool’s Brownlow Hill workhouse, which led to her first involvement with prostitutes. She set up a House of Rest and an Industrial Home for them. Josephine, through her own pain, could understand the pain of others and dedicated her life to alleviating it.
Application: We have many opportunities to love others.
Ron L.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Contrary to popular perceptions, this is not a text about the loving we should do. It is about agape love, about God’s love. Methodist founder John Wesley spoke of the love referred to in this text as a love that “sweetly constrains him to love every child of man...” (Works, Vol. 7, p. 47). It is a love that “springs from the love of God” (Ibid.).
Famed 20th-century theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, martyred for his resistance to Hitler, was on target in his assessment of the importance of love: “A life has meaning and value only insofar as love is in it. Furthermore, life is nothing at all, and has not meaning and value, if love is not in it” (A Testament of Hope, p. 254).
Medieval mystic Bernard of Clairvaux beautifully describes how any love we have is of God, who is love: “When love comes into the soul it changes everything else into itself and takes the affections captive. The soul therefore that loves, loves and knows nothing else.... They [the believer and the Word] are bride and bridegroom.... But this bridegroom, remember, is not only loving; He is love itself” (Varieties of Mystic Experience, p. 103).
Martin Luther offers a profound reflection about the God of love who makes love happen: “God Himself is love, and his Being is nothing but pure love. Therefore if anyone wanted to draw and picture God in a telling way, he would have to draw a picture that showed nothing but love, as though the divine nature were nothing but an intense fire and fervor of a love that has filled heaven and earth” (What Luther Says, p. 819).
Mark E.
Luke 4:21-30
Town signs are kind of interesting. Here are a few I have come across. One for Hartford, Kentucky, says: “Welcome to Hartford: home of 2000 happy people and a few soreheads.” Here’s another one: “Welcome to Valeria, town of a railroad romance.” I like this one for Gravity, Iowa. It says: “Gravity: We’re down to earth.” A town sign conveys something of the nature of the town and the character of the people who live there. I don’t know if they had town signs in Jesus’ day, but if they did I don’t know if I would have liked the one outside of Nazareth.
Why do people refuse or reject something? I guess they let pride get in the way and can’t envision another person doing something. I suppose some foolishly don’t recognize the crisis or need. Others maybe are too close to someone or something to consider him or it any differently than they always have. Whatever the reason, history is littered with the wreckage of those who had a chance to join or be a part of something great, only to let it pass them by. Is there anything sadder than the refrain of what might have been?
Jesus is in his hometown synagogue. He has read and spoken. The people there are amazed and asking each other, “Isn’t this Joseph’s boy?” Jesus interrupts to challenge them and their skepticism. It is a short passage, but a bitter one. Jesus’ hometown folks drive him out of town and hope to hurl him from a cliff. To put it mildly, they didn’t get it. Why? It doesn’t say, leaving us to guess. Maybe they couldn’t get past the image of Jesus growing up there. How could he be anything but the “neighbor kid”? Maybe there was some jealousy. “Why is he so special?” Perhaps some just were too stuck in thinking that nothing of value could come from Nazareth. Whatever the reason, Jesus’ hometown pushed him away. How does that look on a sign? Welcome to Nazareth: the town that rejected Jesus.
Bill T.
Luke 4:21-30
Tell the truth. Tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. If you’ve watched any courtroom drama on television during the last 60 years you have heard this admonition, usually in the form of a promise made by a witness. Yet, my friends, you can get into trouble for telling the truth. Telling the truth can be risky. Reminding people of the truth can be even riskier.
Have you ever reminded a friend who is in trouble that they acted in ways that caused the trouble to start? It might be true, but it strains the friendship. Have you ever told the truth about breaking a law or the rules and had to face the consequences? Telling the truth is admirable, necessary, but sometimes it comes with great personal cost.
Jesus, who has previously been admired for his reading of Isaiah 61, now is being yelled at, scoffed at, led to a cliff to be thrown off. All this reaction for having told the truth about how God chose to act in the lives of foreigners and Gentiles. Not everyone wants to hear the truth, wants to be reminded about the truth. But Jesus doesn’t lie. Jesus doesn’t soften the lesson. Jesus proclaims that God is not only the God of the Jews but the Gentiles. God is the God of all. Maybe we should follow this example and speak for God in all the places where lies about others are told. Maybe we too should risk telling the truth.
Bonnie B.
Luke 4:21-30
The cover of the biblical book says “Luke,” but we’re reading out of Isaiah in this lesson. In the passage leading up to this lection, Jesus entered the synagogue of his hometown, took up the Isaiah scroll, and read aloud the prophecy from Isaiah that “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (4:18-19).
This leads to a testy dialogue, in which Jesus at last reminds his people that in ancient times God sent prophets to outsiders because they were more receptive to the divine message and more accepting of God’s messenger, which then leads to an (unsuccessful) attempt on his life by the hometown folks.
A prophet is without honor in their own country? Yes, that means our kids of course, and our own prophets speaking in our midst. But this also includes denominational officials (oh, how churches love to criticize leadership) and others both within and beyond the church who are calling us to that practical ministry of jubilee outlined in the verses from Isaiah that Jesus quotes from.
Frank R.
Luke 4:21-30
When I was in seminary, one of my professors told us that we should not look for a call to our hometown. He said that too many would remember us as children and doubt that we could change and be their leader -- that is, unless we were perfect like Jesus.
We are overcome by the tremendous needs in the world when we read the paper or watch the news on television. It can be overwhelming, but our main concerns are for individuals we know; either friends or family. How often the Lord eventually answers those prayers -- so don’t give up.
Yes, the Lord cares for all his people! But he doesn’t just wipe the slate clean of all the world’s problems. I hear some non-believers complain that if God were a loving God and cared for all his people, then he would heal all the problems on earth now!
All the people in that synagogue were angry that God healed a “damned” Syrian, and other non-Israelites, instead of one of his “chosen” people.
Are there some Americans who might object if God healed a black or Asian person, but didn’t heal a white person in need? They are racist! Not like us!
Those folks in this text are so upset that they want to toss this nice hometown boy off the cliff!
Are we prejudiced over which political party our Lord may bless? Do we feel that he should be on our side (the right side!)? Are we upset if he helps the other party and not ours?
How dare we question God’s will! If we take sides, let it be only on the Lord’s side. That is why we come to church -- to find out who we are and what is the Lord’s side!
Bob O.
