Sermon Illustrations for Passion Sunday (2021)
Illustration
Isaiah 50:4-9
Submission is hard. I’ve been a fan of the NFL for quite a while and the name Roger Staubach stands out as one of the all-time greats. Staubach went to the Naval Academy, served in Vietnam and came back after the war to become a superstar quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. Staubach started for the Cowboys in four Super Bowls, winning two of them. He had a Hall of Fame career and, in November of 2018, President Donald Trump bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Staubach. Staubach was the epitome of success. There is, though, one interesting aspect of Staubach’s football career that is sometimes not mentioned. He never called his own plays. The plays always came in from Coach Tom Landry. While that is the norm in the NFL today, it wasn’t when Staubach played. Staubach called it “a source of trial.” No one would dispute Staubach’s intellect or ability. Landry, though, told him what to do. Staubach has since said, “I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory.”
Jesus, as we see it in Psalm 50, was submissive to the will of his father. He wasn’t calling the plays, God was. Jesus followed the game plan. Aren’t we glad he did? At a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered a prayer that powerfully depicts submissiveness. He prayed, “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.”
That’s what Jesus did. Will we do the same?
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 50:4-9a
These words of Isaiah’s suffering servant, in addition to speaking to the prophet’s time, are also interpreted by Christians through the experience of Jesus. It’s worth noting that the speaker makes no complaint against God, despite the suffering, nor does the speaker suggest that faithfulness results in averting further suffering. Pain is a part of life.
What is especially appropriate in reflections on the sufferings of Jesus are the role of both speaking and listening. The speaker praises God for having been given “the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.” To be able to speak a word in season with authority and insight is essential with regards to our shared ministry with those in pain.
Part of what gives this speaker authority as a teacher is the ability to listen. The Lord God “wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.” In other words, we don’t have all the answers. We need to be partners in both teaching and learning. We cannot rest upon a pedestal acting as if we had all the answers. We must be as willing to learn as to teach.
Frank R.
* * *
Philippians 2:5-11
Palm Sunday is all about how our beloved Jesus emptied himself for our sakes. Martin Luther put it this way in a sermon, as he notes what all this means for us:
Fifth: “He humbled Himself,” or debased Himself. In addition to manifesting His Servant form in becoming man and faring as an ordinary human being, He went further and made Himself lower than any man. He abased Himself to serve all men with the supreme service... (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/1, p.178)
As Jesus gave it all up for us, we’ll want to empty ourselves into him too. Medieval mystic Meister Eckhart beautifully describes such a way to live:
The soul should remain in nakedness, without any needs, for God is thus in nakedness and without any needs, In other words, it is stripped of matter that the soul attains to God... The soul attains to perfect beatitude only in throwing itself into the desert of the Godhead... (O’Brien, Varieties of Mystic Experience, p.128)
Emptying ourselves into God is not so difficult after all. It is more like an ecstatic response to the passion. Luther put it this way in a sermon:
Who would not love, praise and thank God is return for His goodness, not only be ready to serve the world, but gladly to embrace the extremity of humility? Who would not do so when he is aware that God Himself has such precious regard for him, and points to the obedience of His Son as the pouring out and evidence of His fatherly will. (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/1, p.179)
Mark E.
* * *
Philippians 2:5-11
Humility is hard for most of us. We are proud of our accomplishments, the results of our efforts. Yet, God’s grace pours over us, enabling us to become, to move into the places of joy and accomplishment. Paul reminds us that even Jesus, God-With-Us, was humble, loving enough to sacrifice his life for you and me, for each and all of us. I like to think that my success is the result of my own efforts and some of it likely is. Yet, my whole life is a gift from God, a blessing laid out for me to journey. The path I am on may require my efforts, but God pours blessings into me and the world around me. That is the gift. And I am humble enough to know nothing I have accomplished could have been done without those blessings.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Mark 14:1--15:47
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? That’s what the hymn asks. And all of us who have suffered and struggled and remained faithful through the worst of it can say — yes!
There’s an odd verse in Mark’s description of the arrest of Jesus. After the apostles desert him in the Garden of Gethsemane, we read: “A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.” (14:51-52)
Some people think this is Mark’s way of saying “This is me. I was there. I was scared. I’m not proud of this, but my story intersects the good news of Jesus.”
Why would Mark be there? Because the upper room Jesus used for the Passover he celebrated with his apostles was part of a house owned by Mark’s mother. This same upper room is where the apostles waited while Jesus was in the grave. It was where they met Jesus after the resurrection. It’s where over a hundred disciples were gathered when the Holy Spirit descended into their midst at Pentecost. Its where the disciples gathered to pray for Peter while he was imprisoned, and where he greeted them after an angel released him.
John, who was younger, might well have been present at the last supper. A child was supposed to ask the four questions including “Why is this night so different from all other nights?” I can imagine John Mark ask his mother questions about this Jesus, who no doubt was famous by word of mouth among the people of Jerusalem. He may have asked permission to see what was happening. Or he may have taken part in his family’s Passover but followed the men upstairs when they went downstairs out to the Garden of Gethsemane, which made him a witness to history.
Where do we see ourselves in the story of the passion? That’s a good question to ask of the congregation, and of yourself.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 14:1--15:47
John Ortberg writes in his book Who is this Man? “During a recent holy week a cross with a mocking sign ROFL (a texting abbreviation for “rolling on the floor laughing”) was placed on Cross Campus at Yale. It stirred considerable conversation about free speech and respect for religion and whether Christians are privileged or persecuted. Some Christians complained that they are the one group allowed to be bashed in public, a complaint that—even if it were true — sounds oddly unlike the response of the early church.”
Mocking words have always come with the cross. The inscription of the charge against Jesus was nailed to the cross. “The King of the Jews;” it is a statement of mockery and derision, both for Jesus and possibly the Jews as well. Churches often place the Latin acronym for what Pilate had written on crosses: Jesus-Nazareth, King-Jews, using the Latin letters INRI.
The world will not understand the cross. To them, the idea of God giving his life in sacrifice is a preposterous, outdated notion. The first half of 1 Corinthians 1:18 notes this. “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” For us who know Jesus, the last half of the verse resonates. “To us who are being saved it is the power of God.” May we lift up the cross of Christ as the hope for all mankind.
Bill T.
Submission is hard. I’ve been a fan of the NFL for quite a while and the name Roger Staubach stands out as one of the all-time greats. Staubach went to the Naval Academy, served in Vietnam and came back after the war to become a superstar quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. Staubach started for the Cowboys in four Super Bowls, winning two of them. He had a Hall of Fame career and, in November of 2018, President Donald Trump bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Staubach. Staubach was the epitome of success. There is, though, one interesting aspect of Staubach’s football career that is sometimes not mentioned. He never called his own plays. The plays always came in from Coach Tom Landry. While that is the norm in the NFL today, it wasn’t when Staubach played. Staubach called it “a source of trial.” No one would dispute Staubach’s intellect or ability. Landry, though, told him what to do. Staubach has since said, “I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory.”
Jesus, as we see it in Psalm 50, was submissive to the will of his father. He wasn’t calling the plays, God was. Jesus followed the game plan. Aren’t we glad he did? At a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered a prayer that powerfully depicts submissiveness. He prayed, “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.”
That’s what Jesus did. Will we do the same?
Bill T.
* * *
Isaiah 50:4-9a
These words of Isaiah’s suffering servant, in addition to speaking to the prophet’s time, are also interpreted by Christians through the experience of Jesus. It’s worth noting that the speaker makes no complaint against God, despite the suffering, nor does the speaker suggest that faithfulness results in averting further suffering. Pain is a part of life.
What is especially appropriate in reflections on the sufferings of Jesus are the role of both speaking and listening. The speaker praises God for having been given “the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.” To be able to speak a word in season with authority and insight is essential with regards to our shared ministry with those in pain.
Part of what gives this speaker authority as a teacher is the ability to listen. The Lord God “wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.” In other words, we don’t have all the answers. We need to be partners in both teaching and learning. We cannot rest upon a pedestal acting as if we had all the answers. We must be as willing to learn as to teach.
Frank R.
* * *
Philippians 2:5-11
Palm Sunday is all about how our beloved Jesus emptied himself for our sakes. Martin Luther put it this way in a sermon, as he notes what all this means for us:
Fifth: “He humbled Himself,” or debased Himself. In addition to manifesting His Servant form in becoming man and faring as an ordinary human being, He went further and made Himself lower than any man. He abased Himself to serve all men with the supreme service... (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/1, p.178)
As Jesus gave it all up for us, we’ll want to empty ourselves into him too. Medieval mystic Meister Eckhart beautifully describes such a way to live:
The soul should remain in nakedness, without any needs, for God is thus in nakedness and without any needs, In other words, it is stripped of matter that the soul attains to God... The soul attains to perfect beatitude only in throwing itself into the desert of the Godhead... (O’Brien, Varieties of Mystic Experience, p.128)
Emptying ourselves into God is not so difficult after all. It is more like an ecstatic response to the passion. Luther put it this way in a sermon:
Who would not love, praise and thank God is return for His goodness, not only be ready to serve the world, but gladly to embrace the extremity of humility? Who would not do so when he is aware that God Himself has such precious regard for him, and points to the obedience of His Son as the pouring out and evidence of His fatherly will. (Complete Sermons, Vol.4/1, p.179)
Mark E.
* * *
Philippians 2:5-11
Humility is hard for most of us. We are proud of our accomplishments, the results of our efforts. Yet, God’s grace pours over us, enabling us to become, to move into the places of joy and accomplishment. Paul reminds us that even Jesus, God-With-Us, was humble, loving enough to sacrifice his life for you and me, for each and all of us. I like to think that my success is the result of my own efforts and some of it likely is. Yet, my whole life is a gift from God, a blessing laid out for me to journey. The path I am on may require my efforts, but God pours blessings into me and the world around me. That is the gift. And I am humble enough to know nothing I have accomplished could have been done without those blessings.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Mark 14:1--15:47
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? That’s what the hymn asks. And all of us who have suffered and struggled and remained faithful through the worst of it can say — yes!
There’s an odd verse in Mark’s description of the arrest of Jesus. After the apostles desert him in the Garden of Gethsemane, we read: “A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.” (14:51-52)
Some people think this is Mark’s way of saying “This is me. I was there. I was scared. I’m not proud of this, but my story intersects the good news of Jesus.”
Why would Mark be there? Because the upper room Jesus used for the Passover he celebrated with his apostles was part of a house owned by Mark’s mother. This same upper room is where the apostles waited while Jesus was in the grave. It was where they met Jesus after the resurrection. It’s where over a hundred disciples were gathered when the Holy Spirit descended into their midst at Pentecost. Its where the disciples gathered to pray for Peter while he was imprisoned, and where he greeted them after an angel released him.
John, who was younger, might well have been present at the last supper. A child was supposed to ask the four questions including “Why is this night so different from all other nights?” I can imagine John Mark ask his mother questions about this Jesus, who no doubt was famous by word of mouth among the people of Jerusalem. He may have asked permission to see what was happening. Or he may have taken part in his family’s Passover but followed the men upstairs when they went downstairs out to the Garden of Gethsemane, which made him a witness to history.
Where do we see ourselves in the story of the passion? That’s a good question to ask of the congregation, and of yourself.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 14:1--15:47
John Ortberg writes in his book Who is this Man? “During a recent holy week a cross with a mocking sign ROFL (a texting abbreviation for “rolling on the floor laughing”) was placed on Cross Campus at Yale. It stirred considerable conversation about free speech and respect for religion and whether Christians are privileged or persecuted. Some Christians complained that they are the one group allowed to be bashed in public, a complaint that—even if it were true — sounds oddly unlike the response of the early church.”
Mocking words have always come with the cross. The inscription of the charge against Jesus was nailed to the cross. “The King of the Jews;” it is a statement of mockery and derision, both for Jesus and possibly the Jews as well. Churches often place the Latin acronym for what Pilate had written on crosses: Jesus-Nazareth, King-Jews, using the Latin letters INRI.
The world will not understand the cross. To them, the idea of God giving his life in sacrifice is a preposterous, outdated notion. The first half of 1 Corinthians 1:18 notes this. “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” For us who know Jesus, the last half of the verse resonates. “To us who are being saved it is the power of God.” May we lift up the cross of Christ as the hope for all mankind.
Bill T.
