Why Sermon Exegesis Matters Deeply
Here’s another thing I’ve heard Tom Long say: “Come sum- mer time, everyone wants to feel the cool of an air condi- tioner, but no one wants to hear the HVAC rumbling right beside their ear.”
I think of this advice nearly every time I begin panel number two, the exegesis panel.
Balancing Depth and Clarity in Sermon Exegesis
Every congregation wants—or at least, every congre- gation should want—to know that their preacher has done serious research and exegetical work in preparation for the sermon; but no congregant wants to be immersed in the minutia of ancient Near East arcana or intramural scholarly debates. It should therefore be clear to congregants by what we do present in our sermons that we are speaking from a wealth of background information, but we must also be hip to what benefits the sermon’s thesis and moves it forward and what only serves to bog it down.
iF we are being responsible and are engaging seriously and critically with the text, we should be spending at least two to three hours each week on sermon prep.
Key Questions That Drive Quality Sermon Exegesis
I personally consult four different commentaries each week (sometimes more), and I print the Scripture in four different transla- tions so that I can look at them side by side. Among the most critical questions I try to answer are:
- What is the sociohistorical context of this passage?
- What is the larger theology in which this passage is embedded?
- What biblical allusions or cross-references appear in
(or could be applicable to) this passage?
- What have various scholars and pastors made of this passage throughout the centuries?
- What key words could prove fruitful if subjected to a
Greek or Hebrew word study?
Distilling Insight Without Overwhelming
These questions are by no means exhaustive, nor are they meant to be prescriptive. I simply cite them as exam- ples that I myself use in order to arrive at a deeper back- ground knowledge of the passage at hand. That said, no matter what resources we use in our exegetical work and no matter what critical questions we put to them, what mattersmost is our ability to distill this overload of information into a few key points. Then, of equal importance is knowing how to insert these key points into the sermon in such a way that they will draw as little attention to themselves as possible— cooling the air without causing a distracting rumble.
Once we have compiled all the requisite information about our Scripture passage, it is helpful to list the items worthy of making it into the actual sermon. Make no mis- take: all of this information is important, but all of it is not equally important for the point we’re trying to make. So, make a list and then cross out the items that seem to be superfluous or beside the point. Likewise, cross out any items that would be too inflammatory or offensive for your congregation. Finally, cross out all items that you can still reference in the sermon without overtly naming them.
Making Sermon Exegesis Invisible in the Delivery
The key in the exegesis panel is to let the congrega- tion sense the background information without realizing they are being presented with it—to insert it into a larger gloss on the Scripture in such a way that, if you were later to share a piece of background detail you chose not to use, they’d nonetheless see how it helped inform the sermon you wrote.
And that’s it for the exegesis panel.
It is the part of the sermon that demands the most time, energy, and emotional engagement, but it’s the part of the ser- mon that nonetheless needs to be the least conspicuous.
