Sermon Illustrations for Proper 26 | OT 31 (2022)
Illustration
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
A poll taken earlier in the year revealed that 54% of us had lost confidence in our American legislative system. Another poll by McCourtney Institute for Democracy revealed that 84% of us are very or moderately worried about the future, and only 1 in 4 of us has hope. The mental attitudes of the people addressed by Habakkuk are not completely unlike our own. Like them, we need a word of hope as we consider alternatives in the upcoming elections. We need what Barack Obama once called us to do (regardless of your assessment of his politics) to have “the audacity of hope.”
Our lesson finds this audacity in a vision of faith that can challenge the violence and lack of justice in our time. Writing on this text, John Calvin claimed the word of God is itself the ladder to this tower [of hope] (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XV/1, p.59). Modern German theologian Jürgen Moltmann laments the unwillingness of our institutions to change, and yet he tells us that faith and hope prod the faithful to work to make them more elastic and change for the better, something to keep in mind in the upcoming election:
The reason why Christian hope raises the “question of meaning” in an institutionalized life is, that in fact it cannot put up with these relationships and sees the “beneficial unquestioningness of life” in them only as a new form of vanity and death... It will therefore endeavor to lead our modern institutions away from their own immanent tendency toward stabilization, will make them uncertain, historify them and open them to that elasticity which is demanded by openness toward the future which it hopes. (Theology of Hope, p.330)
Perhaps the vision of hope our former President called for 15 years ago is still relevant for the upcoming election and for our nation, that we seek candidates who lead us to “a new kind of politics, one that can excavate and build upon... shared understandings that pull us together as Americans.” (The Audacity of Hope, p.9). Voting that way, working for a nation like that, certainly seems in line with Habakkuk’s vision.
Mark E.
* * *
Psalm 119:137-144
Commenting on v.139 and our sinful condition, John Calvin wrote:
We are too tender and delicate in bearing wrongs; and hence it is that if we are but touched with a finger, we are instantly inflamed with anger, whilst at the same time we are but coldly affected at the most grievous offences committed against God. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VI/2, p. 19)
In a similar commentary, Martin Luther made clear that God’s righteousness is greater than the claims of human righteousness:
It matters little to me that I am despised by those who are pleased with their own righteousness, their own truth, their own opinion, their own wisdom, I know that all these things may quickly disintegrate and become nothing. But Your righteousness [God], by which You justify me... will not fail. (Luther’s Works, Vol. 11, p. 507)
On this eve of the reformation, it is good to consider what Luther means by righteousness of God, for his view corresponds to the largely accepted insights of Old Testament scholars regarding what our text means (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp. 373, 376ff.):
Carefully note this point: When you find the phrase “the righteousness of God” in scripture, do not think that it means the essential, inner righteousness of God... Know rather that according to the usage of scripture it means that the grace and mercy of God poured out into us through Christ, whereby we are considered pious and righteous before him. (What Luther Says, p. 1227)
Mark E.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
When Paul says he is boasting about the Thessalonians, he is referring to the Macedonians who gave generously, beyond their means, to the work of providing relief to the Jerusalem Christians, the mother church, in contrast to the more prosperous Corinthians who lived to the south, and whom Paul had to remind, and even admonish, in the eighth and ninth chapters of the second letter to the Corinthians, that they were fulfilling their pledges. Generosity is sometimes practiced more freely among those who can least afford it, as compared to the prudent — stingy? — behavior of those who are wealthier.
Frank R.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
I had not heard of the term “albedo” before but spent some time looking at it this week. It is commonly used in astronomy to describe the reflective properties of planets, satellites, and asteroids. Sid Perkins writes, “The word albedo derives from an ancient language (in Latin, albus means white), but the term’s use in science has a relatively modern origin: It first appeared in a 1760 treatise on optics by Swiss polymath Johann Heinrich Lambert. Since then, the term has become especially useful in astronomy, planetary science, and climatology. In the strictest sense, albedo — or whiteness — is defined as the proportion of light reflected from a surface."
Despite reading a couple of articles about the term “albedo,” I wouldn’t say I know a lot about them. The word refers to the ability of an object to reflect light. In verses 11 and 12 of 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul is commenting on the “albedo,” or the ability of the Thessalonian Christians to reflect the glory of Jesus Christ. He writes, “To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12). Will you reflect the glory of the Lord with your life?
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 19:1-10
America continues to be a land in which the rich get richer and the poor fall further behind. Based on 2021 statistics, billionaires in America garnered a profit of $637 billion during the pandemic. The tax collector’s repentance in the lesson provides an opportunity to preach a biblical, grace-oriented vision of repentance. In his first of his famed Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther reminds us we need to be repenting daily: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’ (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Archibald Alexander, an important late 19th-century Presbyterian theologian put it this way:
But however long you may have continued in rebellion, and how ever black and long the catalog of your sins, yet if you will now turn to God by a sincere repentance, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall not be cast out.
Repentance can have implications in the economic arena. Reflecting on Zacchaues’ pledge to restore what he had embezzled and to give to the poor, an eminent theologian of the early church, Clement of Alexandria offers a profound insight for the 2022 mid-term elections:
Riches, then, which benefit also our neighbors, are not to be thrown away. For they are possessions, inasmuch as they are possessed and goods inasmuch as they are useful and provided by God for the use of men. (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, p. 595)
Mark E.
A poll taken earlier in the year revealed that 54% of us had lost confidence in our American legislative system. Another poll by McCourtney Institute for Democracy revealed that 84% of us are very or moderately worried about the future, and only 1 in 4 of us has hope. The mental attitudes of the people addressed by Habakkuk are not completely unlike our own. Like them, we need a word of hope as we consider alternatives in the upcoming elections. We need what Barack Obama once called us to do (regardless of your assessment of his politics) to have “the audacity of hope.”
Our lesson finds this audacity in a vision of faith that can challenge the violence and lack of justice in our time. Writing on this text, John Calvin claimed the word of God is itself the ladder to this tower [of hope] (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XV/1, p.59). Modern German theologian Jürgen Moltmann laments the unwillingness of our institutions to change, and yet he tells us that faith and hope prod the faithful to work to make them more elastic and change for the better, something to keep in mind in the upcoming election:
The reason why Christian hope raises the “question of meaning” in an institutionalized life is, that in fact it cannot put up with these relationships and sees the “beneficial unquestioningness of life” in them only as a new form of vanity and death... It will therefore endeavor to lead our modern institutions away from their own immanent tendency toward stabilization, will make them uncertain, historify them and open them to that elasticity which is demanded by openness toward the future which it hopes. (Theology of Hope, p.330)
Perhaps the vision of hope our former President called for 15 years ago is still relevant for the upcoming election and for our nation, that we seek candidates who lead us to “a new kind of politics, one that can excavate and build upon... shared understandings that pull us together as Americans.” (The Audacity of Hope, p.9). Voting that way, working for a nation like that, certainly seems in line with Habakkuk’s vision.
Mark E.
* * *
Psalm 119:137-144
Commenting on v.139 and our sinful condition, John Calvin wrote:
We are too tender and delicate in bearing wrongs; and hence it is that if we are but touched with a finger, we are instantly inflamed with anger, whilst at the same time we are but coldly affected at the most grievous offences committed against God. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.VI/2, p. 19)
In a similar commentary, Martin Luther made clear that God’s righteousness is greater than the claims of human righteousness:
It matters little to me that I am despised by those who are pleased with their own righteousness, their own truth, their own opinion, their own wisdom, I know that all these things may quickly disintegrate and become nothing. But Your righteousness [God], by which You justify me... will not fail. (Luther’s Works, Vol. 11, p. 507)
On this eve of the reformation, it is good to consider what Luther means by righteousness of God, for his view corresponds to the largely accepted insights of Old Testament scholars regarding what our text means (Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, Vol.1, pp. 373, 376ff.):
Carefully note this point: When you find the phrase “the righteousness of God” in scripture, do not think that it means the essential, inner righteousness of God... Know rather that according to the usage of scripture it means that the grace and mercy of God poured out into us through Christ, whereby we are considered pious and righteous before him. (What Luther Says, p. 1227)
Mark E.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
When Paul says he is boasting about the Thessalonians, he is referring to the Macedonians who gave generously, beyond their means, to the work of providing relief to the Jerusalem Christians, the mother church, in contrast to the more prosperous Corinthians who lived to the south, and whom Paul had to remind, and even admonish, in the eighth and ninth chapters of the second letter to the Corinthians, that they were fulfilling their pledges. Generosity is sometimes practiced more freely among those who can least afford it, as compared to the prudent — stingy? — behavior of those who are wealthier.
Frank R.
* * *
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
I had not heard of the term “albedo” before but spent some time looking at it this week. It is commonly used in astronomy to describe the reflective properties of planets, satellites, and asteroids. Sid Perkins writes, “The word albedo derives from an ancient language (in Latin, albus means white), but the term’s use in science has a relatively modern origin: It first appeared in a 1760 treatise on optics by Swiss polymath Johann Heinrich Lambert. Since then, the term has become especially useful in astronomy, planetary science, and climatology. In the strictest sense, albedo — or whiteness — is defined as the proportion of light reflected from a surface."
Despite reading a couple of articles about the term “albedo,” I wouldn’t say I know a lot about them. The word refers to the ability of an object to reflect light. In verses 11 and 12 of 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul is commenting on the “albedo,” or the ability of the Thessalonian Christians to reflect the glory of Jesus Christ. He writes, “To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12). Will you reflect the glory of the Lord with your life?
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 19:1-10
America continues to be a land in which the rich get richer and the poor fall further behind. Based on 2021 statistics, billionaires in America garnered a profit of $637 billion during the pandemic. The tax collector’s repentance in the lesson provides an opportunity to preach a biblical, grace-oriented vision of repentance. In his first of his famed Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther reminds us we need to be repenting daily: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent’ (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Archibald Alexander, an important late 19th-century Presbyterian theologian put it this way:
But however long you may have continued in rebellion, and how ever black and long the catalog of your sins, yet if you will now turn to God by a sincere repentance, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall not be cast out.
Repentance can have implications in the economic arena. Reflecting on Zacchaues’ pledge to restore what he had embezzled and to give to the poor, an eminent theologian of the early church, Clement of Alexandria offers a profound insight for the 2022 mid-term elections:
Riches, then, which benefit also our neighbors, are not to be thrown away. For they are possessions, inasmuch as they are possessed and goods inasmuch as they are useful and provided by God for the use of men. (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, p. 595)
Mark E.
