Sermon Illustrations for Proper 28 | Ordinary Time 33 (2017)
Illustration
Judges 4:1-7
I remember how excited I was when I realized that one of the judges of ancient Israel had been a woman. This concept seemed most foreign to me, as there were so few women in positions of power in the Roman Catholic church in which I was raised. In fact, I can remember telling the sister leading my CCD class that I wanted to be a priest. I was nine at the time. She, of course, informed me that I could not be a priest because I was a girl. She assured me that I could be a nun. I was just as clear as I could be that what I wanted to be was a priest, not a nun. I wanted to stand at the table and celebrate and stand at the pulpit and preach. We didn’t get along very well the rest of the year.
Well, it took me 40 years, but I completed seminary and was ordained as a minister in the United Church of Christ at the age of 49. Along the way I met many women who had been called into ministry, some ordained and some not. I saw their strength and their gifts. I recognized their ministry to the church universal. I was thankful for their presence in my life.
Every time I read about Deborah I am reminded about the strong women in our Judeo-Christian history. I am grateful for the paths thy have made for people like me. I hope I am leaving a path for others to follow.
Bonnie B.
Judges 4:1-7
Rather than reinvent the wheel, I will quote a few paragraphs from a book I co-authored.
Unlike the conquest tradition in Joshua where the indigenous nations appear to be wiped out, the early chapters of Judges suggest that many different people remained in the land for many different reasons.... Judges 4 and 5 contain some of the oldest narrative and poetic material found in the Hebrew Bible. They were composed close to the events they describe. (p. 26)
Consistent with the theme of Judges, the one who appears to be weak demonstrates the strength of God in driving away the oppressors. A woman, Deborah, is the one who takes initiative and tells the commander Barak to take a position on Mount Tabor. God has revealed that the troops of Jabin will be given into his hand. Barak demurs and says, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go” (4:8). These are not the words of a courageous leader, but the words of a fearful and dependent man. (p. 27)
Regarding the ignominious end of Sisera the mighty general, who seeks a hiding place in the tent of Jael, a Bedouin woman who seems to breach a fundamental tenet of hospitality by driving a tent peg through his head in his sleep, we also wrote:
The lowest brings down the lofty. What seems to be the act of a traitor... can be interpreted as the act of an oppressed person who finds common cause with Israel. A poor Bedouin woman brings down the oppressor. The least likely agent becomes the avenue for freedom.” (p. 29)
(From Holy War or Just Peace: Voices from Joshua, Judges, and Ruth,by Robert W. Neff and Frank Ramirez [Brethren Press, 2012])
Frank R.
Judges 4:1-7
It seems that whenever Israel had a chance, they did evil. It’s a common thing that when there is only one to look after us, we want to get away with whatever we can.
If a child doesn’t have his parents to look after him or her, they will do whatever they want to do -- and it is most often what their folks told them not to do. That was true of me when I was a kid! When the boss is not around, do the employees take time off at the drinking fountain like Dagwood? When the teacher leaves the room, do the kids talk with each other and maybe even get into little fights?
Everyone has things they would like to do when no one is looking. The comic strips are full of them. Do we not think of the consequences of our actions?
It seems like almost every day I read in the paper that some businessman or politician has been having sexual problems or siphoning money from their business.
If I had to suffer for 20 years, I might do anything to change it.
The thing that is surprising is that God still cares about his people. He even has one of his people raise an army to answer his people’s cry for help. Evidently the Lord is not a pacifist. That always surprises me, because I would never want to kill anyone -- even an enemy who meant to do me harm. I thought we were supposed to love our enemy! Maybe Jesus changed all those Old Testament solutions.
The message for me is that even if I mess up and sin, the Lord still hears me when I cry to him for help. Maybe my church can help me resist temptations -- and also help me cry out for help.
Bob O.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Many people have speculated and guessed as to when the second coming of Jesus would happen. While the Bible makes it clear that no one knows, many have tried to nail down the date. William Miller was one who did that. After 14 years of studying the Bible, he became convinced that Christ would return in 1843. When Miller announced April 3 as the day, some disciples went to mountaintops, hoping for a head start to heaven. Others went to graveyards, planning to ascend in reunion with their departed loved ones. Philadelphia society ladies clustered together outside town to avoid entering God's kingdom amid the common people. When April 4 dawned as usual the Millerites were disillusioned, but they took heart. Their leader had predicted a range of dates for Christ’s return. They still had until March 21, 1844. The devout continued to make ready, but again they were disappointed. A third date -- October 22, 1844 -- was set, but it also passed. Jesus did not come back in 1843 or 1844. Though the Millerites were excited about and prepared for Jesus’ return, he didn’t come.
The flaw in the planning of the Millerites was not in the preparation part, but in the choosing of a date. Paul notes in the passage for today that we are to be prepared for the Lord’s coming because it will come as a “thief in the night.” He urges the Christians in Thessalonica and us today to be awake and sober. We are to encourage each other and build each other up as we await the Lord’s return. We can learn something from the Millerites of old. Being ready for his coming every day is a good plan.
Bill T.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
A 2016 Time magazine poll found that Americans are more fearful of the future than at any time since 9/11. We are not certain about the future, though we know Jesus is coming. John Calvin says that “Christ deigned that the day of his coming should be hid from us, that, being in suspense, we might be as it were upon watch” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XXI/2, p. 285). Yes, some uncertainty about the future is a good thing; it is good that we do not know when Christ comes. American author Ursula K. LeGuin put it this way: “The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.”
On the other hand, 17th-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal comforts us with a reminder that Christians have some certainty: “It is not certain that everything is uncertain.” In fact, Christians have a certainty about the future that Corrie ten Boom, the woman who saved thousands of Jews from Hitler, tells us: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” The importance for faith that such a future hope affords is a major theme of the famed theologian of hope, Jurgen Moltmann: “The hope thereby kindled spans the horizons which then open over a closed existence... without faith’s knowledge of Christ, hope becomes a utopia and remains handing in the air. But without hope, faith falls to pieces, becomes a fainthearted and ultimately a dead faith. It is through faith that man finds the path of true life, but it is only hope that keeps him on that path” (Theology of Hope, p. 20).
Mark E.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Patricia Lockwood is a poet and the daughter of a Catholic priest. Her father, Greg, was a married Episcopal priest when he decided to join the Roman Catholic church. The pope allowed the married man to be ordained into the Catholic order. In May 2015, Patricia published her memoir titled Priestdaddy. The title of the book comes from the fact that her father was a Roman Catholic priest. In her book, she recounts how the image of the church has changed with the movie The Exorcist instead of the sunnier days depicted in Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary’s. In her book, she recounts the first time her father saw the movie The Exorcist. Greg was on board a nuclear submarine, and there was not enough room for him to leap out of his own skin with fear. Patricia recounts his experience with these words: “Put yourself in his place. You’re a drop of blood at the center of the ocean.... All of a sudden you look up at a screen and see a possessed 12-year-old with violent bedhead vomiting green chunks and backwards Latin. She’s so full of demon that the only way to relieve her feelings is to have sex with a crucifix. You would convert too. I guarantee it.”
Application: We do wait for the Second Coming when Satan will be conquered and destroyed.
Ron L.
Matthew 25:14-30
I’ve never really liked this passage of Matthew’s gospel. I get the point and I understand not burying our gifts in fear, but the master is so harsh and unforgiving. If we view the master as God, this story just doesn’t work for me. The God I know is just and merciful, loving and compassionate, slow to anger. This judgmental master of a God seems foreign to me.
That being said, I do get the point of being required to use our gifts and our talents for the glory of God, our responsibility to act in the world based on the potential God has placed within and around us. The reality is, however, that a lot of people live in fear, in so much fear that they cannot or maybe will not step out in faith to use their gifts. Do we need to be punished harshly for that? I don’t know, but I think helping people along the journey of living out their faith is more about hope and courage and trust than it is about punishment. It’s something to grapple with as we encounter those able to share their gifts and those unable to share them. Who will we be in these encounters, the harsh master or the loving God?
Bonnie B.
Matthew 25:14-30
You can find several different equivalencies when it comes to the monetary value of a talent, but perhaps the best description is “More money than you’ll ever have at one time.” One estimate is that during the lifetime of Jesus a talent equaled 20 years worth of income for a day laborer. Of course, the day laborer would be spending pretty much all that money when it was given just to keep the family alive, and there would be many days when there was no work to be had.
The question has to be asked -- would any rich person trust a penniless slave with one talent, two talents, or five talents? The answer is yes. Part of being rich was not having to sully your hands with labor of any kind, including financial.
Another question has to be asked -- would the Almighty Creator of the Universe trust us with the environment, world hunger, global justice, and care for each other? And if we tremble at the responsibility, how important is it that we be found faithful at our post?
Frank R.
Matthew 25:14-30
I shouldn’t mention politics, but I couldn’t help thinking of our president wanting to reduce the taxes of the very rich, and take away from the poor even the little they have. Forget it!
God has given great talent and ability to some. If they use it wisely for him, they will be rewarded.
It is up to us to measure the talent the Lord has given us. If we don’t have talent enough to be a pastor or missionary, we can at least use what we have like teaching in Sunday school or even cleaning up the church after service. Even for this there is the Lord’s blessing. It may be even as great as for the one who has used his great talent wisely.
But if you have very little talent, you should at least come to church for worship and thank the Lord for that little talent that may only get you out of bed on Sunday morning.
No matter how little the Lord has endued us with, if we use it wisely, even if we give part of our small income to the Lord, like the lady who gave her last penny, we may find a great reward in the end.
Our church should encourage all the members to contribute whatever they have in time or money; then, if nothing else, they will all find happiness from the Lord.
Bob O.
I remember how excited I was when I realized that one of the judges of ancient Israel had been a woman. This concept seemed most foreign to me, as there were so few women in positions of power in the Roman Catholic church in which I was raised. In fact, I can remember telling the sister leading my CCD class that I wanted to be a priest. I was nine at the time. She, of course, informed me that I could not be a priest because I was a girl. She assured me that I could be a nun. I was just as clear as I could be that what I wanted to be was a priest, not a nun. I wanted to stand at the table and celebrate and stand at the pulpit and preach. We didn’t get along very well the rest of the year.
Well, it took me 40 years, but I completed seminary and was ordained as a minister in the United Church of Christ at the age of 49. Along the way I met many women who had been called into ministry, some ordained and some not. I saw their strength and their gifts. I recognized their ministry to the church universal. I was thankful for their presence in my life.
Every time I read about Deborah I am reminded about the strong women in our Judeo-Christian history. I am grateful for the paths thy have made for people like me. I hope I am leaving a path for others to follow.
Bonnie B.
Judges 4:1-7
Rather than reinvent the wheel, I will quote a few paragraphs from a book I co-authored.
Unlike the conquest tradition in Joshua where the indigenous nations appear to be wiped out, the early chapters of Judges suggest that many different people remained in the land for many different reasons.... Judges 4 and 5 contain some of the oldest narrative and poetic material found in the Hebrew Bible. They were composed close to the events they describe. (p. 26)
Consistent with the theme of Judges, the one who appears to be weak demonstrates the strength of God in driving away the oppressors. A woman, Deborah, is the one who takes initiative and tells the commander Barak to take a position on Mount Tabor. God has revealed that the troops of Jabin will be given into his hand. Barak demurs and says, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go” (4:8). These are not the words of a courageous leader, but the words of a fearful and dependent man. (p. 27)
Regarding the ignominious end of Sisera the mighty general, who seeks a hiding place in the tent of Jael, a Bedouin woman who seems to breach a fundamental tenet of hospitality by driving a tent peg through his head in his sleep, we also wrote:
The lowest brings down the lofty. What seems to be the act of a traitor... can be interpreted as the act of an oppressed person who finds common cause with Israel. A poor Bedouin woman brings down the oppressor. The least likely agent becomes the avenue for freedom.” (p. 29)
(From Holy War or Just Peace: Voices from Joshua, Judges, and Ruth,by Robert W. Neff and Frank Ramirez [Brethren Press, 2012])
Frank R.
Judges 4:1-7
It seems that whenever Israel had a chance, they did evil. It’s a common thing that when there is only one to look after us, we want to get away with whatever we can.
If a child doesn’t have his parents to look after him or her, they will do whatever they want to do -- and it is most often what their folks told them not to do. That was true of me when I was a kid! When the boss is not around, do the employees take time off at the drinking fountain like Dagwood? When the teacher leaves the room, do the kids talk with each other and maybe even get into little fights?
Everyone has things they would like to do when no one is looking. The comic strips are full of them. Do we not think of the consequences of our actions?
It seems like almost every day I read in the paper that some businessman or politician has been having sexual problems or siphoning money from their business.
If I had to suffer for 20 years, I might do anything to change it.
The thing that is surprising is that God still cares about his people. He even has one of his people raise an army to answer his people’s cry for help. Evidently the Lord is not a pacifist. That always surprises me, because I would never want to kill anyone -- even an enemy who meant to do me harm. I thought we were supposed to love our enemy! Maybe Jesus changed all those Old Testament solutions.
The message for me is that even if I mess up and sin, the Lord still hears me when I cry to him for help. Maybe my church can help me resist temptations -- and also help me cry out for help.
Bob O.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Many people have speculated and guessed as to when the second coming of Jesus would happen. While the Bible makes it clear that no one knows, many have tried to nail down the date. William Miller was one who did that. After 14 years of studying the Bible, he became convinced that Christ would return in 1843. When Miller announced April 3 as the day, some disciples went to mountaintops, hoping for a head start to heaven. Others went to graveyards, planning to ascend in reunion with their departed loved ones. Philadelphia society ladies clustered together outside town to avoid entering God's kingdom amid the common people. When April 4 dawned as usual the Millerites were disillusioned, but they took heart. Their leader had predicted a range of dates for Christ’s return. They still had until March 21, 1844. The devout continued to make ready, but again they were disappointed. A third date -- October 22, 1844 -- was set, but it also passed. Jesus did not come back in 1843 or 1844. Though the Millerites were excited about and prepared for Jesus’ return, he didn’t come.
The flaw in the planning of the Millerites was not in the preparation part, but in the choosing of a date. Paul notes in the passage for today that we are to be prepared for the Lord’s coming because it will come as a “thief in the night.” He urges the Christians in Thessalonica and us today to be awake and sober. We are to encourage each other and build each other up as we await the Lord’s return. We can learn something from the Millerites of old. Being ready for his coming every day is a good plan.
Bill T.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
A 2016 Time magazine poll found that Americans are more fearful of the future than at any time since 9/11. We are not certain about the future, though we know Jesus is coming. John Calvin says that “Christ deigned that the day of his coming should be hid from us, that, being in suspense, we might be as it were upon watch” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XXI/2, p. 285). Yes, some uncertainty about the future is a good thing; it is good that we do not know when Christ comes. American author Ursula K. LeGuin put it this way: “The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.”
On the other hand, 17th-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal comforts us with a reminder that Christians have some certainty: “It is not certain that everything is uncertain.” In fact, Christians have a certainty about the future that Corrie ten Boom, the woman who saved thousands of Jews from Hitler, tells us: “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” The importance for faith that such a future hope affords is a major theme of the famed theologian of hope, Jurgen Moltmann: “The hope thereby kindled spans the horizons which then open over a closed existence... without faith’s knowledge of Christ, hope becomes a utopia and remains handing in the air. But without hope, faith falls to pieces, becomes a fainthearted and ultimately a dead faith. It is through faith that man finds the path of true life, but it is only hope that keeps him on that path” (Theology of Hope, p. 20).
Mark E.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Patricia Lockwood is a poet and the daughter of a Catholic priest. Her father, Greg, was a married Episcopal priest when he decided to join the Roman Catholic church. The pope allowed the married man to be ordained into the Catholic order. In May 2015, Patricia published her memoir titled Priestdaddy. The title of the book comes from the fact that her father was a Roman Catholic priest. In her book, she recounts how the image of the church has changed with the movie The Exorcist instead of the sunnier days depicted in Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary’s. In her book, she recounts the first time her father saw the movie The Exorcist. Greg was on board a nuclear submarine, and there was not enough room for him to leap out of his own skin with fear. Patricia recounts his experience with these words: “Put yourself in his place. You’re a drop of blood at the center of the ocean.... All of a sudden you look up at a screen and see a possessed 12-year-old with violent bedhead vomiting green chunks and backwards Latin. She’s so full of demon that the only way to relieve her feelings is to have sex with a crucifix. You would convert too. I guarantee it.”
Application: We do wait for the Second Coming when Satan will be conquered and destroyed.
Ron L.
Matthew 25:14-30
I’ve never really liked this passage of Matthew’s gospel. I get the point and I understand not burying our gifts in fear, but the master is so harsh and unforgiving. If we view the master as God, this story just doesn’t work for me. The God I know is just and merciful, loving and compassionate, slow to anger. This judgmental master of a God seems foreign to me.
That being said, I do get the point of being required to use our gifts and our talents for the glory of God, our responsibility to act in the world based on the potential God has placed within and around us. The reality is, however, that a lot of people live in fear, in so much fear that they cannot or maybe will not step out in faith to use their gifts. Do we need to be punished harshly for that? I don’t know, but I think helping people along the journey of living out their faith is more about hope and courage and trust than it is about punishment. It’s something to grapple with as we encounter those able to share their gifts and those unable to share them. Who will we be in these encounters, the harsh master or the loving God?
Bonnie B.
Matthew 25:14-30
You can find several different equivalencies when it comes to the monetary value of a talent, but perhaps the best description is “More money than you’ll ever have at one time.” One estimate is that during the lifetime of Jesus a talent equaled 20 years worth of income for a day laborer. Of course, the day laborer would be spending pretty much all that money when it was given just to keep the family alive, and there would be many days when there was no work to be had.
The question has to be asked -- would any rich person trust a penniless slave with one talent, two talents, or five talents? The answer is yes. Part of being rich was not having to sully your hands with labor of any kind, including financial.
Another question has to be asked -- would the Almighty Creator of the Universe trust us with the environment, world hunger, global justice, and care for each other? And if we tremble at the responsibility, how important is it that we be found faithful at our post?
Frank R.
Matthew 25:14-30
I shouldn’t mention politics, but I couldn’t help thinking of our president wanting to reduce the taxes of the very rich, and take away from the poor even the little they have. Forget it!
God has given great talent and ability to some. If they use it wisely for him, they will be rewarded.
It is up to us to measure the talent the Lord has given us. If we don’t have talent enough to be a pastor or missionary, we can at least use what we have like teaching in Sunday school or even cleaning up the church after service. Even for this there is the Lord’s blessing. It may be even as great as for the one who has used his great talent wisely.
But if you have very little talent, you should at least come to church for worship and thank the Lord for that little talent that may only get you out of bed on Sunday morning.
No matter how little the Lord has endued us with, if we use it wisely, even if we give part of our small income to the Lord, like the lady who gave her last penny, we may find a great reward in the end.
Our church should encourage all the members to contribute whatever they have in time or money; then, if nothing else, they will all find happiness from the Lord.
Bob O.
