Sermon Illustrations for Epiphany 3 (2024)
Illustration
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
In the Hebrew Bible Jonah is part of the Book of the Twelve, which we sometimes call the twelve minor prophets. There’s nothing minor league about these prophets, however. They’re just shorter in length. I’ve also seen it published as an add-on to the Five Megilloth, or Five Scrolls, a classification which includes Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, and Esther, which in turn are part of the writings, that third part of the Hebrew Bible that follows the Torah and the Prophets. Jonah is included with the prophets, but is radically different, containing not the collected pronouncements of one of the prophets by his disciples, but a story about a reluctant prophet. Jonah is a story book. It is like one of the parables of Jesus. It need not have happened historically in order to tell a true story. And the true story is this – even a bloodthirsty nation of atrocity-drenched sadists – the well-deserved reputation which the Assyrians proudly maintained – can change and repent, and if they do so, God will forgive and relent from whatever judgement was planned.
Frank R.
* * *
Jonah 3:1-5,10
The lesson about the mutual resentment between the ancient Hebrews and their Gentile neighbors seems written for our times and the present Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Of course, it also pertains to present American attitudes towards immigrants. The Anti-Defamation League found that 93% of Palestinians hold anti-Jewish beliefs. And a 2019 American Muslim Poll found that 13% of American Jews have negative attitudes towards Islam. (The hopeful tones are that 53% of Jews repots positive views of Muslims and 45% of Muslim Americans are open to Jews.) Americans are not much better on welcoming immigrants according to a late 2022 poll conducted by Chicago Council of Global Affairs. Nearly a majority of Americans reject current level of immigration (though some groups of Americans support present levels).
This biblical text makes clear that God will not let our petty hatreds and dislikes get in the way of caring for the people we don’t like. And against our wishes, the power of that love can have its way with us, make us do the right thing by our enemy even if we would rather not (sort of like Jonah conduct a ministry to repentance among the Ninevites (even though he would have rather seen them damned). This wonderful love of God for others probably accounts for what positive attitudes we could report among some adversaries.
The Medieval Mystic John of the Cross nicely explained these dynamics. He spoke of “Love’s urgent longings” (Ascent, Bk. 1; Prologue). The great reformer John Calvin offered similar reflections about how God’s love changes us even against our will. Concerning Jonah and us he wrote:
Hence the more anyone has found the kindness of God, the more courageously he ought to discharge his office and confidently to commit to God his life and his safety, and resolutely to surmount all the perils of the world. (Calvin’s Commentaries. Vol.XIV/2, pp.94-95)
Commenting on v.5 of the Lesson, Martin Luther observes how no one has to tell Christians what to do about their adversaries. Caught up in the midst of the urgent warnings of God’s love, we can’t help but do the right thing. The reformer added:
For if faith in the heart is sincere, it does not have need for any teacher of good works; it knows in itself what must be done... After a man has been justified by faith, it is inevitable that the fruits of justification follow... (Luther’s Works, Vol.19, p.23)
God’s forgiving love is dangerous. Let’s pray that it might change America and the conflict in Palestine, just as it compelled and changed Jonah.
Mark E.
* * *
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Though there is now some controversy surrounding the story and lawsuits are still pending, I was moved and remained enamored with the story of Michael Oher. Sandra Bullock won the 2010 Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Leigh Ann Tuohy in The Blind Side which chronicles Oher’s story. Oher not only avoided the difficulties of an inner-city upbringing but became the first-round NFL draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens in 2009.
Sean Tuohy noted that the transformation of his family and Michael all started with two words. When they spotted Michael walking along the road on a cold November morning (the movie depicts it as night) in shorts and a T-shirt, Leigh Ann Tuohy uttered two words that changed their world. She told Sean, “Turn around.” They turned the car around, put Michael in their vehicle, and made him a part of their family.
Those two words matter. “Turn around.” That is at the heart of what repentance is. Realizing one is going the wrong way, stopping, and going the right way is a way many define repenting. Nowhere were those two words more important than in Nineveh during the time of Jonah’s preaching. The king of Nineveh’s decree makes it clear. “All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands” (Jonah 3:8). When God saw how they turned from their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not send the calamity on them (vs. 10).
“Turn around.” It was good advice for Nineveh. It’s always good advice.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Times change. Life changes. Those are certainties. Paul reminds the church in Corinth to cease clinging to whatever is, for it will change. Yes, we should have time for mourning and for praising, for dealing with the world. Yes, we should pay attention to today. Yet, we cannot cling to what is or what has been. The time for doing so is past. Things are changing. Or as Bob Dylan would sing, “The times they are a’changin”1 It doesn’t do us any good to cling to what was. Rather we must prepare for what will be, in our lives, in our families, in our faith. January is a good time to focus on what will come next. As Paul says, “For the present form of this world is passing away.”
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Our lesson and Shakespeare had it right about life. He put it this way:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
John Calvin had it right when he commented about this lesson claiming:
All things connected with the enjoyment of the present life are sacred gifts of God, but we pollute them when we abuse them... [For] we always dream of continuance in the world, for it is owing to this that those things which ought be helps in passing through it become hindrances to hold fast. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XX/1, p.257)
When we have these points in mind, we will be ready to do like Billy Graham (and St. Paul) once said:
There comes a moment when we all must realize that life is short, and in the end the only thing that really counts is not how others see us but how God sees us.
Paul refers to the end coming soon (v.31). In fact, the end is already present, Augustine says, for God is in time, and for God all time is a single day, entailing that the end is now present, for God ever present in our time. As Augustine put it:
You [Lord] are before all the past by the eminence of your ever-present eternity: and you dominate all the future in as much as it is still to be: and once it has come it will be past... Your years [Lord] neither go nor come: but our years come and go that all may come... Your years are as a single day... (Confessions, XI.XIII)
No wonder we are to live with the things of the world as if they were not. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (the idea that at the speed of light there is no time) bears out these insights.
Mark E.
* * *
Mark 1:14-20
I think there’s a message in the arrangement of these two incidents. After his baptism, Jesus responds to his temptation in the wilderness and John’s arrest by proclaiming the special nature of the good news (the literal meaning of the word translated as Gospel). As he puts it: “The season is fulfilled.”
We are now in the season of God’s special presence in our midst and in us. God’s kingdom is near in the sense that it’s on the way but has not arrived yet, but it is also in our midst, if not yet apparent to the rest of the world. Turn away from the path you are walking down and head back in the other direction for as long as it takes you. This is a process. Believe in God’s good news, and demonstrate you believe by acting like you do.
That’s how I unpack the words of Jesus. But one thing sometimes overlooked is product placement. Sometimes you put one thing on the shelf next to another to increase sales of both. So, look at what follows the proclamation of the good news – Jesus goes out to find and commission collaborators. As American Christians, we act on our own. Whoever is called to be head of the maintenance committee, for instance, (or whatever you might call it in your church) ends up doing all the maintenance tasks that come up without asking others on the committee to help. This leads to burnout and departure from the church. The head of finance might think she or he has to produce all the figures and make sure everything adds up. The pastor may think she or he needs to do everything, or they haven’t justified their existence.
But Jesus, who is actually the Son of God who can heal the sick and raise the dead, nevertheless seeks collaborators to share in the ministry of the good news! If it’s essential for Jesus, it wouldn’t hurt us either.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 1:14-20
Donald Miller, in his book Blue Like Jazz, shares this story. A long time ago I went to a concert with my friend Rebecca. … I heard this folksinger was coming to town, and I thought she might like to see him because she was a singer too. … Between songs, though, he told a story that helped me resolve some things about God.
The folksinger said his friend was performing a covert operation, freeing hostages from a building in some dark part of the world. His friend’s team flew in by helicopter, made their way to the compound and stormed into the room where the hostages had been imprisoned for months. The room, the folksinger said, was filthy and dark. The hostages were curled up in a corner, terrified. When the SEALs entered the room, they heard the gasps of the hostages. They stood at the door and called to the prisoners, telling them they were Americans. The SEALs asked the hostages to follow them, but the hostages wouldn’t. They sat there on the floor and hid their eyes in fear. They were not of healthy mind and didn’t believe their rescuers were really Americans.
The SEALs stood there, not knowing what to do. They couldn’t possibly carry everybody out. One of the SEALs put down his weapon, took off his helmet, and curled up tightly next to the other hostages, getting so close his body was touching some of theirs. He softened the look on his face and put his arms around them. He was trying to show them he was one of them. None of the prison guards would have done this. He stayed there for a little while until some of the hostages started to look at him, finally meeting his eyes. The Navy SEAL whispered that they were American and were there to rescue them. Will you follow us?
The hostages did follow the SEALs to safety. That question, “Will you follow?” is a poignant one. Jesus seems to ask that question in the first chapter of Mark. Simon, Andrew, James, and John trusted Jesus enough to follow him. Will you?
Bill T.
1 https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-the-times-they-are-a-changin-lyrics
In the Hebrew Bible Jonah is part of the Book of the Twelve, which we sometimes call the twelve minor prophets. There’s nothing minor league about these prophets, however. They’re just shorter in length. I’ve also seen it published as an add-on to the Five Megilloth, or Five Scrolls, a classification which includes Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, and Esther, which in turn are part of the writings, that third part of the Hebrew Bible that follows the Torah and the Prophets. Jonah is included with the prophets, but is radically different, containing not the collected pronouncements of one of the prophets by his disciples, but a story about a reluctant prophet. Jonah is a story book. It is like one of the parables of Jesus. It need not have happened historically in order to tell a true story. And the true story is this – even a bloodthirsty nation of atrocity-drenched sadists – the well-deserved reputation which the Assyrians proudly maintained – can change and repent, and if they do so, God will forgive and relent from whatever judgement was planned.
Frank R.
* * *
Jonah 3:1-5,10
The lesson about the mutual resentment between the ancient Hebrews and their Gentile neighbors seems written for our times and the present Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Of course, it also pertains to present American attitudes towards immigrants. The Anti-Defamation League found that 93% of Palestinians hold anti-Jewish beliefs. And a 2019 American Muslim Poll found that 13% of American Jews have negative attitudes towards Islam. (The hopeful tones are that 53% of Jews repots positive views of Muslims and 45% of Muslim Americans are open to Jews.) Americans are not much better on welcoming immigrants according to a late 2022 poll conducted by Chicago Council of Global Affairs. Nearly a majority of Americans reject current level of immigration (though some groups of Americans support present levels).
This biblical text makes clear that God will not let our petty hatreds and dislikes get in the way of caring for the people we don’t like. And against our wishes, the power of that love can have its way with us, make us do the right thing by our enemy even if we would rather not (sort of like Jonah conduct a ministry to repentance among the Ninevites (even though he would have rather seen them damned). This wonderful love of God for others probably accounts for what positive attitudes we could report among some adversaries.
The Medieval Mystic John of the Cross nicely explained these dynamics. He spoke of “Love’s urgent longings” (Ascent, Bk. 1; Prologue). The great reformer John Calvin offered similar reflections about how God’s love changes us even against our will. Concerning Jonah and us he wrote:
Hence the more anyone has found the kindness of God, the more courageously he ought to discharge his office and confidently to commit to God his life and his safety, and resolutely to surmount all the perils of the world. (Calvin’s Commentaries. Vol.XIV/2, pp.94-95)
Commenting on v.5 of the Lesson, Martin Luther observes how no one has to tell Christians what to do about their adversaries. Caught up in the midst of the urgent warnings of God’s love, we can’t help but do the right thing. The reformer added:
For if faith in the heart is sincere, it does not have need for any teacher of good works; it knows in itself what must be done... After a man has been justified by faith, it is inevitable that the fruits of justification follow... (Luther’s Works, Vol.19, p.23)
God’s forgiving love is dangerous. Let’s pray that it might change America and the conflict in Palestine, just as it compelled and changed Jonah.
Mark E.
* * *
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Though there is now some controversy surrounding the story and lawsuits are still pending, I was moved and remained enamored with the story of Michael Oher. Sandra Bullock won the 2010 Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Leigh Ann Tuohy in The Blind Side which chronicles Oher’s story. Oher not only avoided the difficulties of an inner-city upbringing but became the first-round NFL draft pick for the Baltimore Ravens in 2009.
Sean Tuohy noted that the transformation of his family and Michael all started with two words. When they spotted Michael walking along the road on a cold November morning (the movie depicts it as night) in shorts and a T-shirt, Leigh Ann Tuohy uttered two words that changed their world. She told Sean, “Turn around.” They turned the car around, put Michael in their vehicle, and made him a part of their family.
Those two words matter. “Turn around.” That is at the heart of what repentance is. Realizing one is going the wrong way, stopping, and going the right way is a way many define repenting. Nowhere were those two words more important than in Nineveh during the time of Jonah’s preaching. The king of Nineveh’s decree makes it clear. “All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands” (Jonah 3:8). When God saw how they turned from their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not send the calamity on them (vs. 10).
“Turn around.” It was good advice for Nineveh. It’s always good advice.
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Times change. Life changes. Those are certainties. Paul reminds the church in Corinth to cease clinging to whatever is, for it will change. Yes, we should have time for mourning and for praising, for dealing with the world. Yes, we should pay attention to today. Yet, we cannot cling to what is or what has been. The time for doing so is past. Things are changing. Or as Bob Dylan would sing, “The times they are a’changin”1 It doesn’t do us any good to cling to what was. Rather we must prepare for what will be, in our lives, in our families, in our faith. January is a good time to focus on what will come next. As Paul says, “For the present form of this world is passing away.”
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Our lesson and Shakespeare had it right about life. He put it this way:
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
John Calvin had it right when he commented about this lesson claiming:
All things connected with the enjoyment of the present life are sacred gifts of God, but we pollute them when we abuse them... [For] we always dream of continuance in the world, for it is owing to this that those things which ought be helps in passing through it become hindrances to hold fast. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.XX/1, p.257)
When we have these points in mind, we will be ready to do like Billy Graham (and St. Paul) once said:
There comes a moment when we all must realize that life is short, and in the end the only thing that really counts is not how others see us but how God sees us.
Paul refers to the end coming soon (v.31). In fact, the end is already present, Augustine says, for God is in time, and for God all time is a single day, entailing that the end is now present, for God ever present in our time. As Augustine put it:
You [Lord] are before all the past by the eminence of your ever-present eternity: and you dominate all the future in as much as it is still to be: and once it has come it will be past... Your years [Lord] neither go nor come: but our years come and go that all may come... Your years are as a single day... (Confessions, XI.XIII)
No wonder we are to live with the things of the world as if they were not. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity (the idea that at the speed of light there is no time) bears out these insights.
Mark E.
* * *
Mark 1:14-20
I think there’s a message in the arrangement of these two incidents. After his baptism, Jesus responds to his temptation in the wilderness and John’s arrest by proclaiming the special nature of the good news (the literal meaning of the word translated as Gospel). As he puts it: “The season is fulfilled.”
We are now in the season of God’s special presence in our midst and in us. God’s kingdom is near in the sense that it’s on the way but has not arrived yet, but it is also in our midst, if not yet apparent to the rest of the world. Turn away from the path you are walking down and head back in the other direction for as long as it takes you. This is a process. Believe in God’s good news, and demonstrate you believe by acting like you do.
That’s how I unpack the words of Jesus. But one thing sometimes overlooked is product placement. Sometimes you put one thing on the shelf next to another to increase sales of both. So, look at what follows the proclamation of the good news – Jesus goes out to find and commission collaborators. As American Christians, we act on our own. Whoever is called to be head of the maintenance committee, for instance, (or whatever you might call it in your church) ends up doing all the maintenance tasks that come up without asking others on the committee to help. This leads to burnout and departure from the church. The head of finance might think she or he has to produce all the figures and make sure everything adds up. The pastor may think she or he needs to do everything, or they haven’t justified their existence.
But Jesus, who is actually the Son of God who can heal the sick and raise the dead, nevertheless seeks collaborators to share in the ministry of the good news! If it’s essential for Jesus, it wouldn’t hurt us either.
Frank R.
* * *
Mark 1:14-20
Donald Miller, in his book Blue Like Jazz, shares this story. A long time ago I went to a concert with my friend Rebecca. … I heard this folksinger was coming to town, and I thought she might like to see him because she was a singer too. … Between songs, though, he told a story that helped me resolve some things about God.
The folksinger said his friend was performing a covert operation, freeing hostages from a building in some dark part of the world. His friend’s team flew in by helicopter, made their way to the compound and stormed into the room where the hostages had been imprisoned for months. The room, the folksinger said, was filthy and dark. The hostages were curled up in a corner, terrified. When the SEALs entered the room, they heard the gasps of the hostages. They stood at the door and called to the prisoners, telling them they were Americans. The SEALs asked the hostages to follow them, but the hostages wouldn’t. They sat there on the floor and hid their eyes in fear. They were not of healthy mind and didn’t believe their rescuers were really Americans.
The SEALs stood there, not knowing what to do. They couldn’t possibly carry everybody out. One of the SEALs put down his weapon, took off his helmet, and curled up tightly next to the other hostages, getting so close his body was touching some of theirs. He softened the look on his face and put his arms around them. He was trying to show them he was one of them. None of the prison guards would have done this. He stayed there for a little while until some of the hostages started to look at him, finally meeting his eyes. The Navy SEAL whispered that they were American and were there to rescue them. Will you follow us?
The hostages did follow the SEALs to safety. That question, “Will you follow?” is a poignant one. Jesus seems to ask that question in the first chapter of Mark. Simon, Andrew, James, and John trusted Jesus enough to follow him. Will you?
Bill T.
1 https://genius.com/Bob-dylan-the-times-they-are-a-changin-lyrics
