Attending to the organization and development of a sermon’s content into a message which is experienced in real time honors the nature of our God-given humanity.
As a sermon is preached, the hearers listen, think, feel, repent, believe, resolve, pray, and plan in real time. Biblical anthropology invites us to take into account the fact that we are preaching to neither disembodied souls nor cognitive processing machines shoved into skulls. Just as the Word became flesh and lived and died and rose fully human, our pews are full of real people. Your people have rational brains as well as emotional longings. They have eyes as well as ears. They have the capacity for imagination as well as for logic. This is how God made them. Such capacities are not incidental to being human. Attending to the organization and development of a sermon’s content into a message which is experienced in real time honors the nature of our God-given humanity.
I shared three options for developing main ideas in last week’s post: Narration, Image, and Serial Depiction. This week I would like to offer three more: Character, Dialogue, and Enactment.
One could organize a sermon based on Luke 24 like this:
- The disconnect between God’s promises and our perception can be discouraging.
- All the promises of Scripture point us to Jesus.
- Faith clings to God’s promises and so we receive Christ.
Preachers have a number of tools at their disposal to bring this movement to life. Each main idea could be developed with any of the three options from last week or this week, or by simply explaining the truth with straightforward teaching. Let us explore how we might develop #2 (All the promises of Scripture point us to Jesus) by using character, dialogue, and enactment.
Character
I do not have a theatre background and do not consider myself an actor. I have never worn a costume in preaching. I have never stood in the sanctuary and said, “Hi, my name’s Peter, and I would like to tell you about the time me and Jesus...” Some people may be able to pull that off. I cannot. But I do utilize this method of development regularly. My transition “into character” is often something like, “You can imagine how Peter must have told his friends about the miraculous catch of fish. Picture him walking into the house that evening and saying...” At this point I pause a second, take a step or two to a different location, and then continue speaking in my own voice in my own wardrobe, but in the first-person as if I were Peter.
For Luke 24, it might look like this:
On the evening of the very first Easter, two people are walking the seven-mile journey to Emmaus. They knew about Jesus. They heard what had happened to him on Friday evening, and they felt discouraged. But after a long walk with an unknown person, everything changed. You can imagine the scene when Cleopas bursts into the room back in Jerusalem to tell the eleven what happened. [pause, step to new location, start a bit out of breath as if you had just added an excited seven miles of walking to your day]: Guys! We missed it! I don’t know how we missed it, but it was there all along. Jesus! I’m talking about Jesus. It has always been about Jesus! All of it. The descendant of Eve? That is Jesus! The Passover Lamb? That is Jesus! The Temple? That is Jesus. [pause to listen]. Because He told me. Just give me a second. A king like David? That is Jesus. A prophet coming back from the depths like Jonah? That is Jesus! [pause to listen]. Because He told me! He showed me from the Scriptures. He is alive! We spent the day together and He showed us how every person, every office, every milestone, every institution... all the promises of Scripture point to Jesus! [take a breath, step back to original position for preaching, and continue the sermon as yourself, maybe with a transition like, “What a day for Cleopas and his friend to discover that all the promises of Scripture point to Jesus”].
Jesus! I’m talking about Jesus. It has always been about Jesus!
Dialogue
I employ the use of dialogue much like I do with a character: No accents, no costumes, no introductions. Instead, I will set up the scene and use some simple body posture as blocking to differentiate the characters in the scene. In practice, the “blocking” tends to break down after a couple lines and the content of what is being said clarifies who is speaking. I have found that a subtle head-turn in either direction is often enough.
As it relates to Luke 24 and the truth that “all the promises of Scripture point to Jesus,” there are several dialogues you could imagine: Jesus talking with one of the two travelers; the two travelers talking with each other on the way back to Jerusalem; one of the eleven talking with Cleopas. It could be an inner monologue as someone talks with themselves and wrestles with the truth. Or you could craft a contemporary dialogue in a setting your hearers may have experienced.
I would like to imagine a sixth grader talking to her Sunday school teacher [gesture left and right to establish the two characters], coming to the very same realization Cleopas and his friend discovered when they met Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Imagine a sixth grader [gesture left] and her Sunday school teacher [gesture right] celebrating together the fact that all the promises of Scripture point to Jesus.
- Ms. Patty, you talked about Jesus last week [with a slight whine].
- Good job remembering Sarah! I love how Noah’s ark points us to Jesus.
- But you said Abraham and Isaac are about Jesus.
- Exactly! Abraham and Isaac are about Jesus.
- [thoughtful pause] What are we going to talk about next week?
- Next week we will look at King David.
- [a bit suspicious] Is King David really about Jesus too?
- What’s your guess?
- Uh... probably?
- Yes, King David points us to Jesus too.
- Are there Bible verses that are not about Jesus?
- Well, Genesis tells us Esau was a hairy man...
- I don’t see how that points us to Jesus.
- I don’t either. But the story of Esau and his brother Jacob definitely does.
- What about Jonah?
- Yep.
- Crossing the Red Sea?
- Yep.
- Adam and Eve?
- Yep.
- Daniel and the lion’s den?
- Yep.
- [exasperated] The Babylonian captivity and the release of Jehoiachin king of Judah in the thirty-seventh year of exile?!!?
- Uh... I’m not sure, but probably.
- [slowly] Wow.
- Yep. Sarah, all the promises of Scripture point to Jesus.
- [slowly] Cool.
Enactment
With enactment, the preacher provides a more concrete experience in the room which brings the point to life. The congregation could passively or actively experience it. It might involve something typical of a church setting (singing, praying, standing, kneeling, passing the peace), or it might be a bit out of the ordinary. Pastoral discretion and a sensitivity to your context are of the utmost importance here. That being said, I have found God’s people are often more flexible and open than we sometimes give them credit for.
How might we enact the truth that “all the promises of Scripture point to Jesus” in the moment?
Maybe you print out people, places, institutions, moments, and offices onto pieces of paper shaped in an arrow which you distribute as people enter the sanctuary. Then, at this moment, you usher people forward like you would for Communion distribution, and they place their arrows on the floor, up-front pointing towards the cross.
Maybe you have an improvised interaction with the congregation and invite people to share a favorite character or episode aloud, and you will help them see how it connects to Jesus.
You might distribute a handout or prepare a slide that lists lots of people, places, institutions, moments, and offices. Then, in the service you say:
“Here is what we are going to do. When you came into worship this morning, you received a handout like this. What I want you to do is to turn to your neighbor, or a couple people near you, and take turns sharing aloud how you think some of these point to or are fulfilled in Jesus. You might have no idea for some, you might have a guess for some, you might even be surprised at how clearly you can see and share the connections for others. If you have no idea how any of them connect to Jesus, no problem! That is why we are here! Two people who grew up with the Scriptures and were literally living in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, they did not see the connections either, until Jesus himself in the flesh connected the dots for them. By the Spirit’s work, as we walk together, we will continue to grow in faith and understanding to see how all the promises of Scripture point to Jesus. So, let us take two minutes and see how it goes.”
The goal is not to entertain or just to hold people’s attention a bit longer. The goal is to preach Christ, God made flesh, crucified, and risen for flesh and blood people. You can make the true assertion that, “All the promises of Scripture point to Jesus.” You can quote chapter and verse to prove the point, but you also have freedom with respect to how you communicate that truth and invite your people to embrace and experience it.
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out our previous articles on Luke 24:13-35.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Luke 24:13-35
Text Week-A treasury of resources from various traditions to help you preach Luke 24:13-35.
Lectionary Podcast-Dr. Art Just of Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, IN walks us through Luke 24:13-35.
