Sermon Illustrations for Epiphany 7 (OT 7) Cycle C (2019)
Illustration
Genesis 45: 3-11, 15
I’ve always admired Joseph and his response to the situations his brothers created for him — being sold into slavery, being imprisoned, but finally coming into power and influence. My human-self wonders if I would have the grace Joseph does to embrace and express love for his brothers, to understand and accept that God put all this in motion. When difficulties come into my life, I am often not as philosophical about it. I’m more inclined to curse the individuals who moved me into those situations and shake an angry hand at God for allowing it to happen. It doesn’t make me feel any better though.
Just for the record I don’t think God planned for Joseph to be sold into slavery — rather when that happened, God opened a door for something new to begin. In my life, doors are opening all the time. When there is a challenge or I make a poor choice or decision, God often opens a new path for me to take, a new way for me to go. I believe that God is working in my life and the lives of those around me. And I believe that when a door closes, God can open a window. I also know that it can be hell in the hallway. May we walk through open doors, climb through open windows and know God is with us — even in the hell of the hallway.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Genesis 45:3-11,15
John Calvin reminds us that this text about Joseph’s reconciliation with his brothers is a testimony to the fact that God always has the final say in things that transpire on earth:
Meanwhile, it is right to maintain... that whatever men may contrive, yet amidst all their tumult, God from heaven overrules their counsels and attempts; and, in short, does by their hands, what He has Himself decreed. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.I/2, p.378)
In the same spirit Martin Luther speaks of a “game” God was playing with Joseph and his brothers prior to their reunion in order to discipline them of their sin:
For when that game of God is lacking, we snore and are cold. Therefore with this goad, as it were, God pricks and drives the stupid and lazy ass, our flesh, which oppresses us with its huge bulk. (Luther’s Works, Vol.1, p.15)
Luther also comments on the gentleness of Joseph toward his brothers, observing how gentleness poured out on the guilty gives them courage (Ibid., p.52). The results of a 2010 poll conducted by Frazer Institute, to the degree these results are still valid, explain why forgiving gentleness is so powerful. It seems that in 2010, at least, 94% of Americans wanted us to be a more forgiving nation and 62% of us craved for more forgiveness in our personal lives.
Mark E.
* * *
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
One reason Joseph’s brothers had trouble believing him is because of their guilt for selling him. But if Joseph could forgive them, they should be able to forgive themselves.
They were learning about the mysterious ways God works. It is even hard for us to understand Joseph’s forgiveness. He suffered as Christ suffered and forgave as Christ forgave.
Yes, sometimes we need to pay a price of suffering, which even the innocent paid, but there is an end to it. The surprising thing in this story is the great reward that Joseph’s family received because of the sin of hurting him.
Will there be blessings following the suffering America is giving to immigrants? Maybe. But we still have to ask forgiveness for our sins. We have sent many back to suffering in their home land. Will they forgive us? When some are allowed to come back some even serve in our army. There are so many who forgive us for their sufferings.
One prisoner I met had burned down his house and his folks died in the fire. He was deeply sorry, but the estate went to his brother who was able to finish his college and become a doctor. After he graduated he helped his brother in prison.
God can use sinful acts, but we dare not count on them for blessings. There is more benefit from doing good. Our church can help everyone. When sin does hurt us, one of our responses should be forgiveness, hard as that might seem at times.
Bob O.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Sometimes the reason we get the wrong answer is that we ask the wrong question. This can be true of scripture. Rather than trying to squeeze our literal understanding of the physical universe into a skein of seven days the question we ought to ask is “Does God, as creator, control the stars or do the stars and fate control everyone’s destiny, including the gods? What is God trying to tell us about the nature of the universe in Genesis?”
Rather than argue over what kind of fish swallowed Jonah and whether he could survive three days (actual miracles are not boundaried by natural laws, after all) we ought to be asking “Exactly how much does God love those who are lost, like the Assyrians?”
Paul doesn’t want the Corinthians to be drawing answers based on questions about how physically our aging and dying bodies are transformed in the resurrection. The real question is “Just how radically different will our lives in the resurrection be from our live in these bodies we will someday discard?”
Paul uses the analogy of a seed that is planted, dies, and then raised to a totally new and higher existence as a growing plant. But seeds don’t actually die. We do. So it’s good not to push this analogy too far. What matters is that we shall all be changed.
Asking the wrong questions won’t get you answers. Or expecting that you need to literally save the bodies, is also mistaken. We shall all be changed.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Nearly sixty years after Marilyn Monroe’s death on August 5, 1962, she is better known now than she was six decades ago. She has an official Facebook page with more than 3.3 million fans. The messages often focus on fashion, body image and other musings recorded while she was alive, as well as interacting with current celebrities who express adoration for Monroe. Lawrence Schiller is a photographer who knew Monroe well, and did her last on-set photo shoot. He is also the author of the memoir Marilyn and Me. Schiller said, “I think people want to see her now as a real person. They want to see her in a simpler way.”
Ron L.
* * *
Luke 6:27-38
I don’t think I have any real enemies. I know there are people who don’t like me or what I stand for. I know there are people who disagree with decisions I make. I know there are people who don’t like my leadership style. But do I have enemies? I don’t know. What I do know is loving the people who speak badly of me, who proclaim the exact opposite of what I believe, who profess opinions that I abhor, is a real challenge. But it’s a challenge Jesus sets before the faithful.
Anyone can love a friend. Anyone can loan money for interest. Anyone can offer a gift from their own abundance to someone in need if they expect recognition in return. It’s the love of enemies, the giving without expecting anything in return, the humble generosity that sets the faithful followers of Jesus apart from the crowd. I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of follower I want to be. The promises of God are for all God’s children. The gifts and resources of God are for all God’s children — even those who don’t like us, don’t agree with us, or treat us badly. It’s a challenge to love, but it is our calling as faithful people.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 6:27-38
Commenting on this text, famed modern theologian Karl Barth claims that the one who forbids men to judge, who restrains and dispenses them from it, is the one who has come as the real judge (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/1, p.452). Martin Luther made a similar point, reminding us that sins of our neighbor against ourselves is no big deal compared to the forgiving God does of our own sins:
When you hear, see or suffer something that you do not like to hear, see, or suffer, learn to say: Patience, patience! It is an insignificant sin compared with my sins; God sees far more defects in me than I can see in other people; therefore I shall be glad to be quiet and forgive if only God forgives me and is quiet. (What Luther Says, pp.523-524)
Forgiveness is good for your health. Victims who show spontaneous forgiveness show improvements in general health, cardiovascular function, and symptoms of depression or anxiety (Robert Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, p.642).
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 6:27-38
I tell his story often, but it fits this text so well I’ll tell it again:
When I was a missionary to Nepal, I knew old pastor Tir and visited his church. He told me his secret, which is not a secret because it was told 2000 years ago as God’s word.
It was illegal to even be a Christian in Nepal until 1992. Pastor Tir, who was in his 80s, had been sentenced to six years in prison for being a Christian in the mid-1990s. He only served about one year at a time because he forgave the guards who were torturing and beating him. He smiled at them and responded with love. As a result, they freed him after one year because he was converting his guards. Some of his former guards were even in his first church.
When I was a prison chaplain I got to know many prisoners who forgave their treatment, even though a few felt they deserved some suffering.
I have always been a pacifist, so I forgive all our enemies. I have met very few soldiers who forgave those they had shot at and shot back. It is especially hard if they lost a loved one in battle.
Will there ever be love between the Israelites and heir Muslim neighbors? Neither one has this Bible text.
Our job is to convert and not kill. We need more missionaries than soldiers. That is one job for our church to discover the members who have the talent and the calling.
When I was living on the Apache reservation, I was told that if you obeyed the rules given to you, you could reap many benefits even if you hated them.
Only God’s Holy Spirit will give us the motivation he wants. It takes prayer and commitment. We start by loving God!
Bob O.
I’ve always admired Joseph and his response to the situations his brothers created for him — being sold into slavery, being imprisoned, but finally coming into power and influence. My human-self wonders if I would have the grace Joseph does to embrace and express love for his brothers, to understand and accept that God put all this in motion. When difficulties come into my life, I am often not as philosophical about it. I’m more inclined to curse the individuals who moved me into those situations and shake an angry hand at God for allowing it to happen. It doesn’t make me feel any better though.
Just for the record I don’t think God planned for Joseph to be sold into slavery — rather when that happened, God opened a door for something new to begin. In my life, doors are opening all the time. When there is a challenge or I make a poor choice or decision, God often opens a new path for me to take, a new way for me to go. I believe that God is working in my life and the lives of those around me. And I believe that when a door closes, God can open a window. I also know that it can be hell in the hallway. May we walk through open doors, climb through open windows and know God is with us — even in the hell of the hallway.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Genesis 45:3-11,15
John Calvin reminds us that this text about Joseph’s reconciliation with his brothers is a testimony to the fact that God always has the final say in things that transpire on earth:
Meanwhile, it is right to maintain... that whatever men may contrive, yet amidst all their tumult, God from heaven overrules their counsels and attempts; and, in short, does by their hands, what He has Himself decreed. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.I/2, p.378)
In the same spirit Martin Luther speaks of a “game” God was playing with Joseph and his brothers prior to their reunion in order to discipline them of their sin:
For when that game of God is lacking, we snore and are cold. Therefore with this goad, as it were, God pricks and drives the stupid and lazy ass, our flesh, which oppresses us with its huge bulk. (Luther’s Works, Vol.1, p.15)
Luther also comments on the gentleness of Joseph toward his brothers, observing how gentleness poured out on the guilty gives them courage (Ibid., p.52). The results of a 2010 poll conducted by Frazer Institute, to the degree these results are still valid, explain why forgiving gentleness is so powerful. It seems that in 2010, at least, 94% of Americans wanted us to be a more forgiving nation and 62% of us craved for more forgiveness in our personal lives.
Mark E.
* * *
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
One reason Joseph’s brothers had trouble believing him is because of their guilt for selling him. But if Joseph could forgive them, they should be able to forgive themselves.
They were learning about the mysterious ways God works. It is even hard for us to understand Joseph’s forgiveness. He suffered as Christ suffered and forgave as Christ forgave.
Yes, sometimes we need to pay a price of suffering, which even the innocent paid, but there is an end to it. The surprising thing in this story is the great reward that Joseph’s family received because of the sin of hurting him.
Will there be blessings following the suffering America is giving to immigrants? Maybe. But we still have to ask forgiveness for our sins. We have sent many back to suffering in their home land. Will they forgive us? When some are allowed to come back some even serve in our army. There are so many who forgive us for their sufferings.
One prisoner I met had burned down his house and his folks died in the fire. He was deeply sorry, but the estate went to his brother who was able to finish his college and become a doctor. After he graduated he helped his brother in prison.
God can use sinful acts, but we dare not count on them for blessings. There is more benefit from doing good. Our church can help everyone. When sin does hurt us, one of our responses should be forgiveness, hard as that might seem at times.
Bob O.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Sometimes the reason we get the wrong answer is that we ask the wrong question. This can be true of scripture. Rather than trying to squeeze our literal understanding of the physical universe into a skein of seven days the question we ought to ask is “Does God, as creator, control the stars or do the stars and fate control everyone’s destiny, including the gods? What is God trying to tell us about the nature of the universe in Genesis?”
Rather than argue over what kind of fish swallowed Jonah and whether he could survive three days (actual miracles are not boundaried by natural laws, after all) we ought to be asking “Exactly how much does God love those who are lost, like the Assyrians?”
Paul doesn’t want the Corinthians to be drawing answers based on questions about how physically our aging and dying bodies are transformed in the resurrection. The real question is “Just how radically different will our lives in the resurrection be from our live in these bodies we will someday discard?”
Paul uses the analogy of a seed that is planted, dies, and then raised to a totally new and higher existence as a growing plant. But seeds don’t actually die. We do. So it’s good not to push this analogy too far. What matters is that we shall all be changed.
Asking the wrong questions won’t get you answers. Or expecting that you need to literally save the bodies, is also mistaken. We shall all be changed.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Nearly sixty years after Marilyn Monroe’s death on August 5, 1962, she is better known now than she was six decades ago. She has an official Facebook page with more than 3.3 million fans. The messages often focus on fashion, body image and other musings recorded while she was alive, as well as interacting with current celebrities who express adoration for Monroe. Lawrence Schiller is a photographer who knew Monroe well, and did her last on-set photo shoot. He is also the author of the memoir Marilyn and Me. Schiller said, “I think people want to see her now as a real person. They want to see her in a simpler way.”
Ron L.
* * *
Luke 6:27-38
I don’t think I have any real enemies. I know there are people who don’t like me or what I stand for. I know there are people who disagree with decisions I make. I know there are people who don’t like my leadership style. But do I have enemies? I don’t know. What I do know is loving the people who speak badly of me, who proclaim the exact opposite of what I believe, who profess opinions that I abhor, is a real challenge. But it’s a challenge Jesus sets before the faithful.
Anyone can love a friend. Anyone can loan money for interest. Anyone can offer a gift from their own abundance to someone in need if they expect recognition in return. It’s the love of enemies, the giving without expecting anything in return, the humble generosity that sets the faithful followers of Jesus apart from the crowd. I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of follower I want to be. The promises of God are for all God’s children. The gifts and resources of God are for all God’s children — even those who don’t like us, don’t agree with us, or treat us badly. It’s a challenge to love, but it is our calling as faithful people.
Bonnie B.
* * *
Luke 6:27-38
Commenting on this text, famed modern theologian Karl Barth claims that the one who forbids men to judge, who restrains and dispenses them from it, is the one who has come as the real judge (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/1, p.452). Martin Luther made a similar point, reminding us that sins of our neighbor against ourselves is no big deal compared to the forgiving God does of our own sins:
When you hear, see or suffer something that you do not like to hear, see, or suffer, learn to say: Patience, patience! It is an insignificant sin compared with my sins; God sees far more defects in me than I can see in other people; therefore I shall be glad to be quiet and forgive if only God forgives me and is quiet. (What Luther Says, pp.523-524)
Forgiveness is good for your health. Victims who show spontaneous forgiveness show improvements in general health, cardiovascular function, and symptoms of depression or anxiety (Robert Sapolsky, Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, p.642).
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 6:27-38
I tell his story often, but it fits this text so well I’ll tell it again:
When I was a missionary to Nepal, I knew old pastor Tir and visited his church. He told me his secret, which is not a secret because it was told 2000 years ago as God’s word.
It was illegal to even be a Christian in Nepal until 1992. Pastor Tir, who was in his 80s, had been sentenced to six years in prison for being a Christian in the mid-1990s. He only served about one year at a time because he forgave the guards who were torturing and beating him. He smiled at them and responded with love. As a result, they freed him after one year because he was converting his guards. Some of his former guards were even in his first church.
When I was a prison chaplain I got to know many prisoners who forgave their treatment, even though a few felt they deserved some suffering.
I have always been a pacifist, so I forgive all our enemies. I have met very few soldiers who forgave those they had shot at and shot back. It is especially hard if they lost a loved one in battle.
Will there ever be love between the Israelites and heir Muslim neighbors? Neither one has this Bible text.
Our job is to convert and not kill. We need more missionaries than soldiers. That is one job for our church to discover the members who have the talent and the calling.
When I was living on the Apache reservation, I was told that if you obeyed the rules given to you, you could reap many benefits even if you hated them.
Only God’s Holy Spirit will give us the motivation he wants. It takes prayer and commitment. We start by loving God!
Bob O.
