Sermon Illustrations for Epiphany 6 (OT 6) Cycle C (2019)
Illustration
Jeremiah 17:5-10
On Sunday, August 5, 2012, Garrett Reid killed himself in the dorm room at Lehigh University where the Philadelphia Eagles were holding training camp. Garrett is the oldest son of the Eagles’ head coach Andy Reid. Garrett had a history of drug problems and even spent some time in prison on drug related charges. Andy Reid told the team’s owner that in this difficult situation he would continue to move forward, saying “I’m going to hit that curveball and hit it out of the park.”
Ron L.
* * *
Jeremiah 17:5-10
A story was told, preceding the 1988 Winter Olympics, about blind skiers being trained for slalom skiing, impossible as that sounds. Paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on the flats how to make right and left turns. When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them and shouted, "Left!" and "Right!" As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line. They depended solely on the sighted skiers' word. It was either complete trust or catastrophe.
That’s how it is with God, too. Either you trust in him and are blessed, or you trust in man and it is a disaster. In whom will you trust?
Bill T.
***
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Plants may not have a choice where they are planted. Seeds can be strewn by birds, or the wind, or happenstance. Life is persistent and can triumph anyway. Similarities to the parables of Jesus. The image only goes so far. We, unlike trees, may be planted in difficult circumstances, but unlike a plant or a tree we can uproot ourselves and move to better circumstances. Do we prefer an arid environment, or will we be drawing nourishment from the waters.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
I told my people that I was healed of my asthma when I was 42 and I know of other healings that I have witnessed. Some doubt that. They don’t think I am a liar, they just think I didn’t think I knew what really happened.
The resurrection of Christ is the most important miracle since the world began. Those on our mission field in Nepal had no trouble with the resurrection. They see unusual things happen every day there.
It looks like one of the main responsibilities of our church is to help all our members accept it.
Sometimes it is events in the church that confirm the faith.
One of the members of my California church who had a bad heart told me of his experience when I visited him. He visited his terminal wife, Margret in the hospital every day. Then one night he came home to terrible chest pains. It was so bad he couldn’t reach the phone to call his son who lived near him. Then, he said, the pain stopped and he felt himself floating up and up until he came to a figure in white who is assumed was Jesus. Jesus asked him, “Are you ready Fred?” He answered, “Yes, but I’d like to stay until Margret is gone.” Then he felt himself being pushed gently back in bed with no pain. Fred asked me what I thought and who should he tell. I told him to tell his son but not his doctor.
When he told his son the next day, he took his Dad to the doctor immediately. The doctor was surprised when he told Fred, “Your heart is healed! What did you do?” He told him the story but the doctor just scratched his head. When Margret died a month later, Fred was smiling at her funeral. He told me, “ I know where she is and I know I will go to join her!”
When he told his story to our church one Sunday, there were many new believers.
I hope it does not take that to help our people believe!
Bob O.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Resurrection is a concept hard for our rational mind to understand. How can one who was dead, again be alive? We could get into a deep theological discussion about bodily versus spiritual resurrection but the whole point Paul is making is that resurrection is the crux of our Christian faith. Do we really need to completely understand something in order for it to be true? Science continues to make discoveries, day by day, sometime minute by minute, which impact how we understand the world around us. Things we thought unlikely have now been proven to be true. Perhaps in the case of resurrection, our faith is more important than our provable scientific knowledge. Perhaps God is calling us to accept the power of God to create life where there is only death. I, for one, am ready to accept the power and love of God as truth. Are you?
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Famed modern theologian Karl Barth nicely explains the significance of Jesus’ resurrection for us:
If you have heard the Easter message, you can no longer run around with a tragic face and lead the humourless existence of a man who has no hope. One thing still holds, and only this one thing is really serious, that Jesus is the Victor. (Dogmatics in Outline, p.123)
Martin Luther adds some comments about why the things of the world don’t matter so much when you know that Jesus has risen:
Behold thus we must view our treasure and turn away from temporal reality which lies before our eyes and senses. We must not let death and other misfortune, distress and misery, terrify us so. Nor must we regard what the world has and can do, but balance this against what we are and have in Christ. For our confidence is built entirely on the fact that He has arisen and that we have life with Him already and are no longer in the power of death. Therefore let the world be mad and foolish, boasting of and relying on its money and goods... (Luther’s Works, Vol.28, p.111)
Life looks a lot better, and there are more coping mechanisms available to one who believes Christ has risen. It is like famed modern theologian Jűrgen Moltmann once said: “In the Gospel of the event of Christ this future is already present in the promises of Christ.” (Theology of Hope, p.139). Christians who know about Jesus’ resurrection have a future that others cannot look forward to, for without Jesus their future ends at the grave. With that insight in hand we can take the advice of the 19th-century Russian intellectual Fyodor Dostoevsky:
Beyond the grave they [non-Christians] will find nothing but death. But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity.
Like Paul, let’s spend the rest of our lives trying to allure our friends by the hope that there really is a future beyond the grave.
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 6:17-26
Dudley Tyng was an Episcopal minister who lived in the mid-1800s in Philadelphia. He was known for being a fiery, dynamic preacher, and somebody who stood strong for righteousness. He often spoke out against the evil going on around him. Once he preached a sermon on the evils of slavery. He ended up getting fired for it because the church didn't want to hear it. He preached in a YMCA noon meeting in Philadelphia in 1858 and five thousand men came to hear him. When he gave the invitation, a thousand came forward to give their lives to Christ. Two weeks later, he was involved in a freak farming accident that ended up taking his life. On his deathbed, he whispered to family and to friends these words: “Let us all stand up for Jesus!” One of his fellow preachers and a friend of his, when he heard those words, was inspired. The next Sunday, in his church, he shared the words that have become part of a familiar hymn; “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross. Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer lost. From victory unto victory His army shall He lead till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed. Stand up for Jesus
That hymn is a powerful hymn and fits well with the text for today. The Beatitudes tell us how to do that. To do so often goes against the ways of the world, but “stand up, stand up for Jesus.”
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 6:17-26
Why come out ot hear Jesus? In the Gospel of Mark the crowds come to Jesus “having heard of” him. It suggests more curiosity than anything else. But Luke tells us that the people came to hear and to be healed. They’re not curiosity seekers. They have come intentionally because they believe Jesus has something to offer them that they need badly.
This passage is the opening to the Sermon on the Plain, Luke’s version of the more familiar Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Luke’s version is similar in many ways to Matthew’s, but there are significant differences.
People seem to know the Beatitudes as recorded in Matthew. Luke, unlike Matthew, matches each of his four Beatitudes with a Woe. And notice that it is not the Poor in Spirit who are blessed but the poor. Those who are literally poor are blessed. Those who are literally rich are warned that the tables will be turned. Those who are literally hungry will be filled. Those who eat from full plates will literally be hungry. Part of what Jesus seems to be telling us here is that riches can ensnare us. Material prosperity is theft from the poor. Could this be why, in Luke’s account of Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth, the Savior enrages his neighbors because he is preaching the Jubilee, which will result in a leveling of debts and wealth?
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 6:17-26
Domestic violence has always plagued our nation. A news story from 2012 could easily be found as headline news in 2019, as racist and sectarian violence never seems to cease. On Sunday, August 5 of that year a gunman killed six people at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The first police officer on the scene was shot several times, but was able to kill the perpetrator. The nephew of the temple president, Jatin Der Mangat who lives in Racine, Wisconsin, upon learning that worshipers had died expressed his emotions with these words, “it was like the heart just sat down.”
Ron L.
On Sunday, August 5, 2012, Garrett Reid killed himself in the dorm room at Lehigh University where the Philadelphia Eagles were holding training camp. Garrett is the oldest son of the Eagles’ head coach Andy Reid. Garrett had a history of drug problems and even spent some time in prison on drug related charges. Andy Reid told the team’s owner that in this difficult situation he would continue to move forward, saying “I’m going to hit that curveball and hit it out of the park.”
Ron L.
* * *
Jeremiah 17:5-10
A story was told, preceding the 1988 Winter Olympics, about blind skiers being trained for slalom skiing, impossible as that sounds. Paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on the flats how to make right and left turns. When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them and shouted, "Left!" and "Right!" As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line. They depended solely on the sighted skiers' word. It was either complete trust or catastrophe.
That’s how it is with God, too. Either you trust in him and are blessed, or you trust in man and it is a disaster. In whom will you trust?
Bill T.
***
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Plants may not have a choice where they are planted. Seeds can be strewn by birds, or the wind, or happenstance. Life is persistent and can triumph anyway. Similarities to the parables of Jesus. The image only goes so far. We, unlike trees, may be planted in difficult circumstances, but unlike a plant or a tree we can uproot ourselves and move to better circumstances. Do we prefer an arid environment, or will we be drawing nourishment from the waters.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
I told my people that I was healed of my asthma when I was 42 and I know of other healings that I have witnessed. Some doubt that. They don’t think I am a liar, they just think I didn’t think I knew what really happened.
The resurrection of Christ is the most important miracle since the world began. Those on our mission field in Nepal had no trouble with the resurrection. They see unusual things happen every day there.
It looks like one of the main responsibilities of our church is to help all our members accept it.
Sometimes it is events in the church that confirm the faith.
One of the members of my California church who had a bad heart told me of his experience when I visited him. He visited his terminal wife, Margret in the hospital every day. Then one night he came home to terrible chest pains. It was so bad he couldn’t reach the phone to call his son who lived near him. Then, he said, the pain stopped and he felt himself floating up and up until he came to a figure in white who is assumed was Jesus. Jesus asked him, “Are you ready Fred?” He answered, “Yes, but I’d like to stay until Margret is gone.” Then he felt himself being pushed gently back in bed with no pain. Fred asked me what I thought and who should he tell. I told him to tell his son but not his doctor.
When he told his son the next day, he took his Dad to the doctor immediately. The doctor was surprised when he told Fred, “Your heart is healed! What did you do?” He told him the story but the doctor just scratched his head. When Margret died a month later, Fred was smiling at her funeral. He told me, “ I know where she is and I know I will go to join her!”
When he told his story to our church one Sunday, there were many new believers.
I hope it does not take that to help our people believe!
Bob O.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Resurrection is a concept hard for our rational mind to understand. How can one who was dead, again be alive? We could get into a deep theological discussion about bodily versus spiritual resurrection but the whole point Paul is making is that resurrection is the crux of our Christian faith. Do we really need to completely understand something in order for it to be true? Science continues to make discoveries, day by day, sometime minute by minute, which impact how we understand the world around us. Things we thought unlikely have now been proven to be true. Perhaps in the case of resurrection, our faith is more important than our provable scientific knowledge. Perhaps God is calling us to accept the power of God to create life where there is only death. I, for one, am ready to accept the power and love of God as truth. Are you?
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Famed modern theologian Karl Barth nicely explains the significance of Jesus’ resurrection for us:
If you have heard the Easter message, you can no longer run around with a tragic face and lead the humourless existence of a man who has no hope. One thing still holds, and only this one thing is really serious, that Jesus is the Victor. (Dogmatics in Outline, p.123)
Martin Luther adds some comments about why the things of the world don’t matter so much when you know that Jesus has risen:
Behold thus we must view our treasure and turn away from temporal reality which lies before our eyes and senses. We must not let death and other misfortune, distress and misery, terrify us so. Nor must we regard what the world has and can do, but balance this against what we are and have in Christ. For our confidence is built entirely on the fact that He has arisen and that we have life with Him already and are no longer in the power of death. Therefore let the world be mad and foolish, boasting of and relying on its money and goods... (Luther’s Works, Vol.28, p.111)
Life looks a lot better, and there are more coping mechanisms available to one who believes Christ has risen. It is like famed modern theologian Jűrgen Moltmann once said: “In the Gospel of the event of Christ this future is already present in the promises of Christ.” (Theology of Hope, p.139). Christians who know about Jesus’ resurrection have a future that others cannot look forward to, for without Jesus their future ends at the grave. With that insight in hand we can take the advice of the 19th-century Russian intellectual Fyodor Dostoevsky:
Beyond the grave they [non-Christians] will find nothing but death. But we shall keep the secret, and for their happiness we shall allure them with the reward of heaven and eternity.
Like Paul, let’s spend the rest of our lives trying to allure our friends by the hope that there really is a future beyond the grave.
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 6:17-26
Dudley Tyng was an Episcopal minister who lived in the mid-1800s in Philadelphia. He was known for being a fiery, dynamic preacher, and somebody who stood strong for righteousness. He often spoke out against the evil going on around him. Once he preached a sermon on the evils of slavery. He ended up getting fired for it because the church didn't want to hear it. He preached in a YMCA noon meeting in Philadelphia in 1858 and five thousand men came to hear him. When he gave the invitation, a thousand came forward to give their lives to Christ. Two weeks later, he was involved in a freak farming accident that ended up taking his life. On his deathbed, he whispered to family and to friends these words: “Let us all stand up for Jesus!” One of his fellow preachers and a friend of his, when he heard those words, was inspired. The next Sunday, in his church, he shared the words that have become part of a familiar hymn; “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross. Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer lost. From victory unto victory His army shall He lead till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed. Stand up for Jesus
That hymn is a powerful hymn and fits well with the text for today. The Beatitudes tell us how to do that. To do so often goes against the ways of the world, but “stand up, stand up for Jesus.”
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 6:17-26
Why come out ot hear Jesus? In the Gospel of Mark the crowds come to Jesus “having heard of” him. It suggests more curiosity than anything else. But Luke tells us that the people came to hear and to be healed. They’re not curiosity seekers. They have come intentionally because they believe Jesus has something to offer them that they need badly.
This passage is the opening to the Sermon on the Plain, Luke’s version of the more familiar Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Luke’s version is similar in many ways to Matthew’s, but there are significant differences.
People seem to know the Beatitudes as recorded in Matthew. Luke, unlike Matthew, matches each of his four Beatitudes with a Woe. And notice that it is not the Poor in Spirit who are blessed but the poor. Those who are literally poor are blessed. Those who are literally rich are warned that the tables will be turned. Those who are literally hungry will be filled. Those who eat from full plates will literally be hungry. Part of what Jesus seems to be telling us here is that riches can ensnare us. Material prosperity is theft from the poor. Could this be why, in Luke’s account of Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth, the Savior enrages his neighbors because he is preaching the Jubilee, which will result in a leveling of debts and wealth?
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 6:17-26
Domestic violence has always plagued our nation. A news story from 2012 could easily be found as headline news in 2019, as racist and sectarian violence never seems to cease. On Sunday, August 5 of that year a gunman killed six people at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. The first police officer on the scene was shot several times, but was able to kill the perpetrator. The nephew of the temple president, Jatin Der Mangat who lives in Racine, Wisconsin, upon learning that worshipers had died expressed his emotions with these words, “it was like the heart just sat down.”
Ron L.
