Sermon Illustrations for Lent 1 (2025)
Illustration
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
The people of Israel celebrated together in worship. Sociologists have noted that the experience of sharing a legacy like common worship nurtures a sense of fidelity to oneself which in turn enhances character and is good for society (Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character, pp.145-148). Worship also gives you a sense that there is something else going on in life in addition to what you accomplish. It helps you to recognize that what we have is undeserved, by the grace of God. Famed modern theologian Karl Barth explained things well. He wrote:
There is a people like this, a people of Jesus Christ, elected and called by God. But there are no men who have any right of claim to be this people. They can be what they are, namely this particular people, only by free grace. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/3 Second Half, p.726)
Sharing a common heritage makes you a bit more humble.
Mark E.
* * *
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
When we talk to the church about money, people get really uncomfortable. Yet, the idea of offering a gift, bringing the first fruits of our labors, this is an important practice. While wandering the wilderness with nothing, God provided to the Israelites. When they had something to offer, they brought their gifts to the priest, in honor of the gifts God had given them. Lent isn’t usually stewardship time. And yet, the idea that all we have comes from the blessing of God can be proclaimed in every season — and should be.
Churches have buildings and staff and programs and ministries and missions. In our world, all those things cost money. Maybe we need to speak more freely about bringing our gifts to God — and not just at the time of offering in worship. No one should give more than they are able to give, but I have found that God provides. When I went to seminary, I pledged to tithe. People thought it was silly to do so. After all, I had the responsibility for tuition, books, fees, on top of my living expenses. Yet, I was always about to keep my promise. God always provided for me — just as for the Israelites. God is a God of abundance, not of scarcity. This Lent we may need to remember that.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Romans 10:8b-13
I read about a television program that was shown during the 1988 Winter Olympics. It featured 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 shouting, "Left!" and "Right!" As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line. The website for The American Blind Skiing Foundation also discussed this practice.
In many ways, this is a good description of what having faith in Jesus is all about. Christians proclaim the “word of faith” with their mouths (vs. 8). Faith in Jesus brings salvation. Believing and trusting in Jesus is the essence of life for the Christian. We have to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). It all comes down to this. Will you trust Jesus and surrender your life to him or will you continue to make your own decisions in the dark?
Bill T.
* * *
Romans 10:8b-13
I suppose every preacher has a missing sermon they’d like to find in order to reuse some insight from a previous era in their lives, because you can’t quite remember why you thought it was so good.
Mine begins a particular translation of Isaiah 28. I’ll start by quoting Isaiah 28:16 “…therefore thus says the Lord God, “See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: ‘One who trusts will not panic.’” Which, after having been filtered through the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures is quoted here in Romans 10:11, “The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”
As often happens when you dig a little deeper, you find this is a sleeper verse. Now according to the practice of the time it was assumed that when someone quoted a scripture verse that the ones hearing would have enough familiarity to know the larger context. The apostle is describing how the salvation offered through Jesus is available to all. The context of the Isaiah scripture which is quoted here is there are people who are deliberately misusing the word of God, so God’s word to them will be become meaningless to them.
The people have a choice of hearing the message that one who trusts in God will not panic, or tremble, or fear (I’m quoting from the NRSV, Common English Bible, and Jewish Publication Society translations here), while those who deliberately misuse God’s Word will just as deliberately discover that to them it has become nonsense and therefore useless.
Just sounds.
The Common English Bible tells us as a result they hear “’tsav letsav, tsav letsav, qav leqav, qav leqav,’ a little of this, a little of that.” And states in the notes “A Hebrew version of baby talk or gibberish.”
In Robert Alter’s they choose to hear “filth-pilth, filth-pilth, vomit-momit, vomit-momit, a little here, and little there.” In his notes, he points out the connection between the Hebrew words and the words for “filth or excrement,” and “vomit,” pointing out the words “have been turned into gibberish by these drunkards.”
In the JPS translation they hear, “Mutter upon mutter, murmer upon murmer, now here, now there.” And so they will march, but they shall fall backward, and be injured and snared and captured.” The notes identify this as “…the drunkards’ reaction to Isaiah’s reproof.”
The prophet warns that if they insist on hearing baby talk, or drunken filth and gibberish, they’re doomed. But if they stand by the cornerstone that God has lain stone by stone, they can trust God’s word without fear.
So when Paul quotes this last bit, after a string of prophetic statements about trusting in God’s word, promises, and salvation, he reminds us that there is a universal salvation that comes from studying God’s word and using God’s word as intended. Don’t misuse it.
Paul knows the Isaiah passage well, and may expect that the person reading his letter aloud to the Roman house churches will also know the context, and explain it. That’s what rabbinic teaching was like. And certainly we can share that there’s a choice being offered between gibberish that leads to doom and God’s word that leads to safety and salvation.
This is where I got revisiting these scriptures now. But that missing sermon I mentioned at the outset? I remember being excited about this passage back in the 80s, and typing out my sermon notes into an article I sent to our denominational magazine without making a carbon copy (are you old enough to remember those?). I never heard back regarding that article, and had no copy to remember how clever I think I was. Who knows if it was all that clever?
Frank R.
* * *
Romans 10:8b-13
Are you ever ashamed of being a Christian? I am not. I can remember being shunned and ridiculed as a young woman going to church every Sunday, praying regularly, singing in the church choir. All that and more rained down on me. I also remember the surprise of my classmates when I became a pastor in my 50s. They thought I was a little crazy to go back to school, to study, to preach, to proclaim gospel truths — even though some of them believed those same truths.
God is my shield in all of this. God knows the motivation of my heart. God enters into my pastorate and into the work I do, and I don’t feel shame. I feel joy. Do I feel saved from all the earthly comments? No. But I know that my redeemer walks with me, that God pours blessings over me and that my words are strengthened through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. That is enough.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 4:1-13
Shakespeare stated that the devil can quote scripture to suit his purpose. I’m sure the reference was to this passage. In the temptation of Jesus, the devil quotes Psalm 91:11-12.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
By the way, these were very popular verses in the early Christian church, for they were written on strips of papyrus to be worn as amulets, bracelets that had a prayer meant to protect someone from disease or injury.
To me this is a great example of the danger of proof-texting, of pulling a verse or two to assert a point without taking into account genre and context. A psalm is a song, a lyric that expresses strong emotions poetically. The poet is expressing a belief in God’s love and protection.
At one point this poet asserts, in the midst of plague, “A thousand may fall by your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” (Psalm 91:7) No doubt at the time people are dying. Not everyone who recited these verses would be saved from calamity, but the people would survive. It’s not always about us, nor should we focus our prayers solely on our safety.
If you think about it, every believer who recited or sang this psalm over thousands of years has died. God’s protection against the ravages of circumstance, disease, misfortune, and old age only went so far. So this song is not going to always come to pass in a literal way.
More to the point, for Jesus to take a flying leap off a building because of a misinterpretation of Psalm 91 would put God to the test — which is why Jesus replied by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16 — “Do not put the Lord your God to the test…,” a verse that called to mind the grumbling and complaining by God’s people in the desert.
Psalm 91 addresses plague and pestilence among other catastrophes. Masks and vaccines did not provide perfect protection during the recent pandemic, but they provided more protection than going without. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost because some people refused to observe what protections were available. The Lord has given us smarts — and we’re called to take advantage of our perfectly good brains. Jesus used his smarts when he refused to jump.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 4:1-13
Temptations are part of life. French scholar and social analyst Alain de Botton provides a penetrating insight into the source of our temptations. He claims that political power is the ultimate temptation, for the ruling ideas of every age are the ideas of the ruling class. Those with political power get us to want/desire what they say is important. It is their values that tempt the working classes (Status Anxiety, pp.209-213). Martin Luther noted how Christ’s temptation in this lesson is a great comfort to us. Over dinner one time he claimed that
Christ, who was tempted in our flesh, is the best Intercessor before God in all temptations. (What Luther Says, p.1347)
Because Jesus is God, it means that our God has experienced our temptations. How great to live with an empathetic God who knows and has experienced the temptations we face.
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 4:1-13
A.W. Tozer once wrote, “One compromise here, another there and soon enough the so-called Christian and the man in the world look the same.” Compromise and temptation often ride together with the goal of wrecking people’s lives.
In the musical The Music Man, people laugh when Professor Harold Hill warns that the boy who buckles his knickers below the knees is “on the road to degradation,” but despite the laughter there is a truth. There’s no harm, directly, in most of life’s little misdemeanors, but they grow. An ancient raid, “Sin begins as a spider’s web and becomes a ship’s rope.”
Jesus demonstrates how to live a life of faith. Just after his baptism, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness. It was a time of testing and temptation. Jesus fasted forty days and nights and was potentially vulnerable. Satan came at Jesus hard and did all he could do to get him to compromise. He tried to misuse scripture and appeal to Jesus’ pride. Jesus, though, would not compromise. He did not give in compromise with wrong only leads to trouble. May we always recall these words, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” and stand strong against temptation and compromise.
Bill T.
The people of Israel celebrated together in worship. Sociologists have noted that the experience of sharing a legacy like common worship nurtures a sense of fidelity to oneself which in turn enhances character and is good for society (Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Character, pp.145-148). Worship also gives you a sense that there is something else going on in life in addition to what you accomplish. It helps you to recognize that what we have is undeserved, by the grace of God. Famed modern theologian Karl Barth explained things well. He wrote:
There is a people like this, a people of Jesus Christ, elected and called by God. But there are no men who have any right of claim to be this people. They can be what they are, namely this particular people, only by free grace. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/3 Second Half, p.726)
Sharing a common heritage makes you a bit more humble.
Mark E.
* * *
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
When we talk to the church about money, people get really uncomfortable. Yet, the idea of offering a gift, bringing the first fruits of our labors, this is an important practice. While wandering the wilderness with nothing, God provided to the Israelites. When they had something to offer, they brought their gifts to the priest, in honor of the gifts God had given them. Lent isn’t usually stewardship time. And yet, the idea that all we have comes from the blessing of God can be proclaimed in every season — and should be.
Churches have buildings and staff and programs and ministries and missions. In our world, all those things cost money. Maybe we need to speak more freely about bringing our gifts to God — and not just at the time of offering in worship. No one should give more than they are able to give, but I have found that God provides. When I went to seminary, I pledged to tithe. People thought it was silly to do so. After all, I had the responsibility for tuition, books, fees, on top of my living expenses. Yet, I was always about to keep my promise. God always provided for me — just as for the Israelites. God is a God of abundance, not of scarcity. This Lent we may need to remember that.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Romans 10:8b-13
I read about a television program that was shown during the 1988 Winter Olympics. It featured 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 shouting, "Left!" and "Right!" As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line. The website for The American Blind Skiing Foundation also discussed this practice.
In many ways, this is a good description of what having faith in Jesus is all about. Christians proclaim the “word of faith” with their mouths (vs. 8). Faith in Jesus brings salvation. Believing and trusting in Jesus is the essence of life for the Christian. We have to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). It all comes down to this. Will you trust Jesus and surrender your life to him or will you continue to make your own decisions in the dark?
Bill T.
* * *
Romans 10:8b-13
I suppose every preacher has a missing sermon they’d like to find in order to reuse some insight from a previous era in their lives, because you can’t quite remember why you thought it was so good.
Mine begins a particular translation of Isaiah 28. I’ll start by quoting Isaiah 28:16 “…therefore thus says the Lord God, “See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: ‘One who trusts will not panic.’” Which, after having been filtered through the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures is quoted here in Romans 10:11, “The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”
As often happens when you dig a little deeper, you find this is a sleeper verse. Now according to the practice of the time it was assumed that when someone quoted a scripture verse that the ones hearing would have enough familiarity to know the larger context. The apostle is describing how the salvation offered through Jesus is available to all. The context of the Isaiah scripture which is quoted here is there are people who are deliberately misusing the word of God, so God’s word to them will be become meaningless to them.
The people have a choice of hearing the message that one who trusts in God will not panic, or tremble, or fear (I’m quoting from the NRSV, Common English Bible, and Jewish Publication Society translations here), while those who deliberately misuse God’s Word will just as deliberately discover that to them it has become nonsense and therefore useless.
Just sounds.
The Common English Bible tells us as a result they hear “’tsav letsav, tsav letsav, qav leqav, qav leqav,’ a little of this, a little of that.” And states in the notes “A Hebrew version of baby talk or gibberish.”
In Robert Alter’s they choose to hear “filth-pilth, filth-pilth, vomit-momit, vomit-momit, a little here, and little there.” In his notes, he points out the connection between the Hebrew words and the words for “filth or excrement,” and “vomit,” pointing out the words “have been turned into gibberish by these drunkards.”
In the JPS translation they hear, “Mutter upon mutter, murmer upon murmer, now here, now there.” And so they will march, but they shall fall backward, and be injured and snared and captured.” The notes identify this as “…the drunkards’ reaction to Isaiah’s reproof.”
The prophet warns that if they insist on hearing baby talk, or drunken filth and gibberish, they’re doomed. But if they stand by the cornerstone that God has lain stone by stone, they can trust God’s word without fear.
So when Paul quotes this last bit, after a string of prophetic statements about trusting in God’s word, promises, and salvation, he reminds us that there is a universal salvation that comes from studying God’s word and using God’s word as intended. Don’t misuse it.
Paul knows the Isaiah passage well, and may expect that the person reading his letter aloud to the Roman house churches will also know the context, and explain it. That’s what rabbinic teaching was like. And certainly we can share that there’s a choice being offered between gibberish that leads to doom and God’s word that leads to safety and salvation.
This is where I got revisiting these scriptures now. But that missing sermon I mentioned at the outset? I remember being excited about this passage back in the 80s, and typing out my sermon notes into an article I sent to our denominational magazine without making a carbon copy (are you old enough to remember those?). I never heard back regarding that article, and had no copy to remember how clever I think I was. Who knows if it was all that clever?
Frank R.
* * *
Romans 10:8b-13
Are you ever ashamed of being a Christian? I am not. I can remember being shunned and ridiculed as a young woman going to church every Sunday, praying regularly, singing in the church choir. All that and more rained down on me. I also remember the surprise of my classmates when I became a pastor in my 50s. They thought I was a little crazy to go back to school, to study, to preach, to proclaim gospel truths — even though some of them believed those same truths.
God is my shield in all of this. God knows the motivation of my heart. God enters into my pastorate and into the work I do, and I don’t feel shame. I feel joy. Do I feel saved from all the earthly comments? No. But I know that my redeemer walks with me, that God pours blessings over me and that my words are strengthened through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. That is enough.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 4:1-13
Shakespeare stated that the devil can quote scripture to suit his purpose. I’m sure the reference was to this passage. In the temptation of Jesus, the devil quotes Psalm 91:11-12.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
By the way, these were very popular verses in the early Christian church, for they were written on strips of papyrus to be worn as amulets, bracelets that had a prayer meant to protect someone from disease or injury.
To me this is a great example of the danger of proof-texting, of pulling a verse or two to assert a point without taking into account genre and context. A psalm is a song, a lyric that expresses strong emotions poetically. The poet is expressing a belief in God’s love and protection.
At one point this poet asserts, in the midst of plague, “A thousand may fall by your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” (Psalm 91:7) No doubt at the time people are dying. Not everyone who recited these verses would be saved from calamity, but the people would survive. It’s not always about us, nor should we focus our prayers solely on our safety.
If you think about it, every believer who recited or sang this psalm over thousands of years has died. God’s protection against the ravages of circumstance, disease, misfortune, and old age only went so far. So this song is not going to always come to pass in a literal way.
More to the point, for Jesus to take a flying leap off a building because of a misinterpretation of Psalm 91 would put God to the test — which is why Jesus replied by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16 — “Do not put the Lord your God to the test…,” a verse that called to mind the grumbling and complaining by God’s people in the desert.
Psalm 91 addresses plague and pestilence among other catastrophes. Masks and vaccines did not provide perfect protection during the recent pandemic, but they provided more protection than going without. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost because some people refused to observe what protections were available. The Lord has given us smarts — and we’re called to take advantage of our perfectly good brains. Jesus used his smarts when he refused to jump.
Frank R.
* * *
Luke 4:1-13
Temptations are part of life. French scholar and social analyst Alain de Botton provides a penetrating insight into the source of our temptations. He claims that political power is the ultimate temptation, for the ruling ideas of every age are the ideas of the ruling class. Those with political power get us to want/desire what they say is important. It is their values that tempt the working classes (Status Anxiety, pp.209-213). Martin Luther noted how Christ’s temptation in this lesson is a great comfort to us. Over dinner one time he claimed that
Christ, who was tempted in our flesh, is the best Intercessor before God in all temptations. (What Luther Says, p.1347)
Because Jesus is God, it means that our God has experienced our temptations. How great to live with an empathetic God who knows and has experienced the temptations we face.
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 4:1-13
A.W. Tozer once wrote, “One compromise here, another there and soon enough the so-called Christian and the man in the world look the same.” Compromise and temptation often ride together with the goal of wrecking people’s lives.
In the musical The Music Man, people laugh when Professor Harold Hill warns that the boy who buckles his knickers below the knees is “on the road to degradation,” but despite the laughter there is a truth. There’s no harm, directly, in most of life’s little misdemeanors, but they grow. An ancient raid, “Sin begins as a spider’s web and becomes a ship’s rope.”
Jesus demonstrates how to live a life of faith. Just after his baptism, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness. It was a time of testing and temptation. Jesus fasted forty days and nights and was potentially vulnerable. Satan came at Jesus hard and did all he could do to get him to compromise. He tried to misuse scripture and appeal to Jesus’ pride. Jesus, though, would not compromise. He did not give in compromise with wrong only leads to trouble. May we always recall these words, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” and stand strong against temptation and compromise.
Bill T.
