Sermon Illustrations for Proper 24 | Ordinary Time 29 (2020)
Illustration
Exodus 33:12-23
John Ortberg, in his book I'd Like You More If You Were More like Me: Getting Real about Getting Close, shares a story about his encounter with a small, young surfer.
“A few weeks ago, when I was out surfing, there was no one else in the water. In fact, there was no one around at all, except a guy the size of Goliath doing tae kwon do on the beach. After I’d been out a little while, a tiny wisp of a kid came paddling up out of nowhere — I couldn’t believe he was out there by himself. He pulled his little board right up next to mine.
He started chatting with me like we were old friends. He told me his name was Shane. He asked me how long I’d been surfing. I asked him how long he’d been surfing. He asked me about my kids and my family. Then he said, ‘What I like about surfing is that it’s so peaceful. You meet a lot of nice people here.’
‘You’re a nice guy, Shane,’ I said. ‘That’s why you meet nice people.’
We talked a while longer. Then I asked him how he got here. “My dad brought me,” he said. Then he turned around and waved at the nearly empty beach. The Goliath doing martial arts waved back. Then I knew why Shane was so at home in the ocean. It wasn’t his size. It wasn’t his skill. It was who was sitting on the beach. His father was always watching. And his father was very big. Shane wasn’t really alone at all.”
In the text for today, Moses wanted and needed the Father’s presence. Five words in verse 16 express the essence of this passage and Moses’ desire, and ours, too. What are those words? They are “unless you go with us.” That’s the heart of the matter for Moses, God’s people then and God’s people now.
Bill T.
* * *
Exodus 33:12-23
Every generation of believers, indeed every believer, must rediscover God for themselves. Moses, who was raised in the household of Pharaoh, in some ways had more ground to make up. He is not sure what to make of the burning bush and had to ask after the identity of the God who spoke to him. When Moses asked for greater knowledge of God, he referred to “us” and “your people.” By doing so he is including Israel — and us — in the number of those who need this greater knowledge. Part of that knowledge is greater involvement in God’s leadership of the people, and part comes from the intense experience Moses receives in standing in the cleft of the rock while God’s indirect presence, God’s back if you will, is revealed.
Frank R.
* * *
Exodus 33:12-23
John Adams, a Harvard-trained lawyer, was the first vice-president under the constitution adopted in 1789, and the second president of the United States. Adams was unitarian in belief. He believed that God, whom he called “Providence,” was involved in all human affairs. Following this belief, on July 3,1776, the day after delegates had agreed to the Declaration of Independence, he wrote the following to his wife Abigail:
“It is the will of Heaven that the two countries, Britain and the United States, should be sundered forever. It may be the will of Heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more wasting and distress yet more dreadful. If this is to be the case, it will have this good effect at least: It will inspire us with many virtues which we have not, and correct many errors, follies, and vices which threaten to disturb, dishonor and destroy us. The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals.”
Ron L.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
As I reflect on the journey of ministerial leadership I have taken, I think back to the communities of faith in which I engaged. I should write them. I should write the local church where I came to know and acknowledge my call to be a pastor and teacher, the church that inspired me, that supported me, and that still connects with me across time and space. I should write the church where I served my first called pastorate. I should offer them gratitude for letting me make mistakes and for their loving me anyway. I should thank them for their willingness to try new things and the strength of their spirit and faith. I should write the church I served as an interim and thank them for releasing me from a role that didn’t fit me or them, the wisdom to know how different we were. I should write the church that supported me as I completed my doctorate, who traveled that journey with me, who celebrated by bussing to graduation and dominating the audience at graduation with their numbers and their cheers of joy. All these congregations offered their gifts to me; shared their faith with me; were examples of faithful people spreading the good news. I think I’ll sit down and write them each and all letters.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
How wonderful when we see love among Christians, even within our own communities of faith! But we dare not become too preoccupied with thinking that we must love. To focus on what we need to do gets in the way of love. This has been made evident in comments by the famed 20th-century British novelist Iris Murdoch, as she observed that “Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.” It’s too hard to love on your own. Mother Teresa, quite an expert on the subject once observed that “People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.”
John Calvin offers a penetrating comment about why we need God to get us to love:
For unless we are stirred up to the hope of eternal life, the world will quickly draw us to itself. For as it is only confidence in the divine goodness that induces us to serve God, so it is only the expectation of the final redemption that keeps us from giving way. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXI/2, p.246)
Mother Teresa makes similar points:
As we remember and notice His love for us, we just begin to fall in love with Him because He is so busy with us — you just can’t resist Him... I’m a little pencil in the hand of God, who is sending a love letter to the world.
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 22:15-22
The IRS has a budget in excess of eleven billion dollars a year just to collect taxes. There are four operating divisions and more than 70,000 employees. They maintain computer banks that are cross indexed to have all the data they need on every citizen of the United States, and the whole reason for all of it is to make sure they can collect taxes.
Collecting taxes is a big thing. Paying to Uncle Sam what is owed to Uncle Sam matters. Now, we love our country, and we realize that if we didn’t pay our taxes, our country would come to a halt. The services that our country renders to us would no longer be able to be rendered.
However, there is a certain perception many have about tax collectors. It’s seen in this little anecdote. A man on vacation was strolling along outside his hotel in Acapulco, enjoying the sunny weather. Suddenly, he was attracted by a woman’s screams. She was kneeling in front of a child. The man knew enough Spanish to determine that the child had swallowed a coin. Seizing the child by the heels, the man held him up, gave him a few shakes, and a quarter dropped to the sidewalk.
"Oh, thank you sir!" cried the woman. "You seemed to know just how to get it out of him. Are you a doctor?"
"No, ma'am. I'm with the United States Internal Revenue Service.”
In the text for today, the Jewish religious leaders wanted to trap Jesus. If he were willing to pay the census tax (a denarius), he could be seen colluding with Rome. If he didn’t, then the Romans would see him as subversive. Jesus’ answer thwarts his enemies. Give to the emperor what is his. More importantly, though, give to God what is his. Will we do both?
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 22:15-22
Because of the second commandment against graven images, Herod the Great, reviled in his homeland but admired in the larger Roman Empire, chose not to allow his image to be portrayed on coins in Judea. Neither were there statues erected in his honor in the country he ruled. However, it is clear that there were magnificent statues honoring him in the empire at large, although strangely enough only the feet or the pedestal of these monuments have survived. The statues themselves were melted down and re-purposed as the political winds changed.
This same abhorrence of graven images drives this particular story. The tax was very unpopular and it could only be paid with a Roman coin featuring an image of an emperor who declared himself divine. The religious authorities attempt to trap Jesus into either saying pay the tax, which would make him look like a Roman collaborator, or refuse to pay it, which made him a seditious revolutionary. Instead, Jesus responds with the request that he be shown a coin. The Pharisees can only come up with a Roman coin, with that graven image. He was demonstrating that those asking the question had already made up their mind who they supported.
(For more on the Herodian statues see “Searching for Portraits of King Herod,” November/December 2019 Biblical Archaeology Review)
Frank R.
* * *
Matthew 22:15-22
After the death of George Floyd, on Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, as a police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes, causing him to suffocate, there was outrage across the nation. The incident caused society to examine and admit to the systemic racism that has prevailed in our country for centuries. There was a new awakening. The awakening just did not come from college protesters, as one would expect; but, businesses, sport franchises, city officials, state governors and college administrators all began to examine their racial heritage. And, what may have been for the first time in our history, they all banded together to make meaningful changes. One of their many pursuits was to remove the names of buildings of individuals who, even they had contributed much to society, they also promoted racist views and agendas.
One individual who has come under new scrutiny is Margaret Sanger (1879-1966). Sanger was one of the first proponents of birth control, especially for the poor. She conducted seminars to teach birth control. She mailed flyers with information on birth control. The United States Post Office considered these leaflets to be pornography and had her arrested several times for it. In 1916, Sanger established the first birth control clinic in the United States at 46 Amboy Street in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. From there, she began to establish birth control clinics across the city. Though the first clinic is not named after her, it is always referred to by her name. Next to the clinic is a street named after her.
In July 2020, Sanger was reevaluated as one of our nation’s “heroes,” and has lost her status. She supported eugenics, breeding out those with disabilities, immigrants, and people of color. She advocated the sterilization of individuals who had disabilities that could not be treated. She also introduced a policy that would place so-called illiterates, paupers, unemployables, criminals, prostitutes, and dope fiends on farms and in open spaces as long as necessary for the strengthening and development of their moral conduct. She associated herself with the Ku Klux Klan. For these reasons, New York City has disavowed Margaret Sanger.
Ron L.
John Ortberg, in his book I'd Like You More If You Were More like Me: Getting Real about Getting Close, shares a story about his encounter with a small, young surfer.
“A few weeks ago, when I was out surfing, there was no one else in the water. In fact, there was no one around at all, except a guy the size of Goliath doing tae kwon do on the beach. After I’d been out a little while, a tiny wisp of a kid came paddling up out of nowhere — I couldn’t believe he was out there by himself. He pulled his little board right up next to mine.
He started chatting with me like we were old friends. He told me his name was Shane. He asked me how long I’d been surfing. I asked him how long he’d been surfing. He asked me about my kids and my family. Then he said, ‘What I like about surfing is that it’s so peaceful. You meet a lot of nice people here.’
‘You’re a nice guy, Shane,’ I said. ‘That’s why you meet nice people.’
We talked a while longer. Then I asked him how he got here. “My dad brought me,” he said. Then he turned around and waved at the nearly empty beach. The Goliath doing martial arts waved back. Then I knew why Shane was so at home in the ocean. It wasn’t his size. It wasn’t his skill. It was who was sitting on the beach. His father was always watching. And his father was very big. Shane wasn’t really alone at all.”
In the text for today, Moses wanted and needed the Father’s presence. Five words in verse 16 express the essence of this passage and Moses’ desire, and ours, too. What are those words? They are “unless you go with us.” That’s the heart of the matter for Moses, God’s people then and God’s people now.
Bill T.
* * *
Exodus 33:12-23
Every generation of believers, indeed every believer, must rediscover God for themselves. Moses, who was raised in the household of Pharaoh, in some ways had more ground to make up. He is not sure what to make of the burning bush and had to ask after the identity of the God who spoke to him. When Moses asked for greater knowledge of God, he referred to “us” and “your people.” By doing so he is including Israel — and us — in the number of those who need this greater knowledge. Part of that knowledge is greater involvement in God’s leadership of the people, and part comes from the intense experience Moses receives in standing in the cleft of the rock while God’s indirect presence, God’s back if you will, is revealed.
Frank R.
* * *
Exodus 33:12-23
John Adams, a Harvard-trained lawyer, was the first vice-president under the constitution adopted in 1789, and the second president of the United States. Adams was unitarian in belief. He believed that God, whom he called “Providence,” was involved in all human affairs. Following this belief, on July 3,1776, the day after delegates had agreed to the Declaration of Independence, he wrote the following to his wife Abigail:
“It is the will of Heaven that the two countries, Britain and the United States, should be sundered forever. It may be the will of Heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more wasting and distress yet more dreadful. If this is to be the case, it will have this good effect at least: It will inspire us with many virtues which we have not, and correct many errors, follies, and vices which threaten to disturb, dishonor and destroy us. The furnace of affliction produces refinement, in states as well as individuals.”
Ron L.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
As I reflect on the journey of ministerial leadership I have taken, I think back to the communities of faith in which I engaged. I should write them. I should write the local church where I came to know and acknowledge my call to be a pastor and teacher, the church that inspired me, that supported me, and that still connects with me across time and space. I should write the church where I served my first called pastorate. I should offer them gratitude for letting me make mistakes and for their loving me anyway. I should thank them for their willingness to try new things and the strength of their spirit and faith. I should write the church I served as an interim and thank them for releasing me from a role that didn’t fit me or them, the wisdom to know how different we were. I should write the church that supported me as I completed my doctorate, who traveled that journey with me, who celebrated by bussing to graduation and dominating the audience at graduation with their numbers and their cheers of joy. All these congregations offered their gifts to me; shared their faith with me; were examples of faithful people spreading the good news. I think I’ll sit down and write them each and all letters.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
How wonderful when we see love among Christians, even within our own communities of faith! But we dare not become too preoccupied with thinking that we must love. To focus on what we need to do gets in the way of love. This has been made evident in comments by the famed 20th-century British novelist Iris Murdoch, as she observed that “Love is the difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.” It’s too hard to love on your own. Mother Teresa, quite an expert on the subject once observed that “People are unrealistic, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.”
John Calvin offers a penetrating comment about why we need God to get us to love:
For unless we are stirred up to the hope of eternal life, the world will quickly draw us to itself. For as it is only confidence in the divine goodness that induces us to serve God, so it is only the expectation of the final redemption that keeps us from giving way. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XXI/2, p.246)
Mother Teresa makes similar points:
As we remember and notice His love for us, we just begin to fall in love with Him because He is so busy with us — you just can’t resist Him... I’m a little pencil in the hand of God, who is sending a love letter to the world.
Mark E.
* * *
Matthew 22:15-22
The IRS has a budget in excess of eleven billion dollars a year just to collect taxes. There are four operating divisions and more than 70,000 employees. They maintain computer banks that are cross indexed to have all the data they need on every citizen of the United States, and the whole reason for all of it is to make sure they can collect taxes.
Collecting taxes is a big thing. Paying to Uncle Sam what is owed to Uncle Sam matters. Now, we love our country, and we realize that if we didn’t pay our taxes, our country would come to a halt. The services that our country renders to us would no longer be able to be rendered.
However, there is a certain perception many have about tax collectors. It’s seen in this little anecdote. A man on vacation was strolling along outside his hotel in Acapulco, enjoying the sunny weather. Suddenly, he was attracted by a woman’s screams. She was kneeling in front of a child. The man knew enough Spanish to determine that the child had swallowed a coin. Seizing the child by the heels, the man held him up, gave him a few shakes, and a quarter dropped to the sidewalk.
"Oh, thank you sir!" cried the woman. "You seemed to know just how to get it out of him. Are you a doctor?"
"No, ma'am. I'm with the United States Internal Revenue Service.”
In the text for today, the Jewish religious leaders wanted to trap Jesus. If he were willing to pay the census tax (a denarius), he could be seen colluding with Rome. If he didn’t, then the Romans would see him as subversive. Jesus’ answer thwarts his enemies. Give to the emperor what is his. More importantly, though, give to God what is his. Will we do both?
Bill T.
* * *
Matthew 22:15-22
Because of the second commandment against graven images, Herod the Great, reviled in his homeland but admired in the larger Roman Empire, chose not to allow his image to be portrayed on coins in Judea. Neither were there statues erected in his honor in the country he ruled. However, it is clear that there were magnificent statues honoring him in the empire at large, although strangely enough only the feet or the pedestal of these monuments have survived. The statues themselves were melted down and re-purposed as the political winds changed.
This same abhorrence of graven images drives this particular story. The tax was very unpopular and it could only be paid with a Roman coin featuring an image of an emperor who declared himself divine. The religious authorities attempt to trap Jesus into either saying pay the tax, which would make him look like a Roman collaborator, or refuse to pay it, which made him a seditious revolutionary. Instead, Jesus responds with the request that he be shown a coin. The Pharisees can only come up with a Roman coin, with that graven image. He was demonstrating that those asking the question had already made up their mind who they supported.
(For more on the Herodian statues see “Searching for Portraits of King Herod,” November/December 2019 Biblical Archaeology Review)
Frank R.
* * *
Matthew 22:15-22
After the death of George Floyd, on Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, as a police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes, causing him to suffocate, there was outrage across the nation. The incident caused society to examine and admit to the systemic racism that has prevailed in our country for centuries. There was a new awakening. The awakening just did not come from college protesters, as one would expect; but, businesses, sport franchises, city officials, state governors and college administrators all began to examine their racial heritage. And, what may have been for the first time in our history, they all banded together to make meaningful changes. One of their many pursuits was to remove the names of buildings of individuals who, even they had contributed much to society, they also promoted racist views and agendas.
One individual who has come under new scrutiny is Margaret Sanger (1879-1966). Sanger was one of the first proponents of birth control, especially for the poor. She conducted seminars to teach birth control. She mailed flyers with information on birth control. The United States Post Office considered these leaflets to be pornography and had her arrested several times for it. In 1916, Sanger established the first birth control clinic in the United States at 46 Amboy Street in the Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn. From there, she began to establish birth control clinics across the city. Though the first clinic is not named after her, it is always referred to by her name. Next to the clinic is a street named after her.
In July 2020, Sanger was reevaluated as one of our nation’s “heroes,” and has lost her status. She supported eugenics, breeding out those with disabilities, immigrants, and people of color. She advocated the sterilization of individuals who had disabilities that could not be treated. She also introduced a policy that would place so-called illiterates, paupers, unemployables, criminals, prostitutes, and dope fiends on farms and in open spaces as long as necessary for the strengthening and development of their moral conduct. She associated herself with the Ku Klux Klan. For these reasons, New York City has disavowed Margaret Sanger.
Ron L.
