Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.11UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.11UNLIKELY
Fear
0.1UNLIKELY
Joy
0.56LIKELY
Sadness
0.57LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.78LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.76LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.78LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.9LIKELY
Extraversion
0.19UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.94LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.69LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
A Different Resurrection Sunday Message
We are all familiar the the resurrection story.
And there’s another story we’re probably all familiar with, but seems to get less attention this time of year.
lk 24 13-4
The same day that Jesus rose from the dead, two of his disciples were on the road.
I’ve spent a fair amount of time on the road in my life.
And I’ve frequently had time to think and consider as the miles went by.
Here we see two men,
They apparently were there when the women came back from the tomb describing what had happened.
Scripture says “their words seemed like idle tales, and they did not believe them.”
Now, as they travel, they were talking over the things that had happened.
They had a lot to talk about.
Jesus died.
Now some were saying He was raised from the dead.
Yes, they had a lot to talk about.
When we’re confronted with something we don’t understand.
Our natural reaction is to try to understand.
We talk with others.
We use our reason.
Too often, we try to make the facts conform to how we want things to be.
We look for others to confirm our beliefs.
But we should be trying to find those who will help us find the truth.
And make our reasoning match the facts.
This focus on ourselves, on our point of view can often blind us Jesus.
Even when Jesus is standing right next to us, we cannot see Him.
Why is it some people are sad when talking about Jesus, especially His death?
Could it be because we don’t truly understand His death and resurrection?
Looking back through 2000 years of history, it’s probably easier to put things in perspective.
We can look at this death with the rational view of history
As opposed to the emotions of the moment.
These two men were still processing what had happened.
There was little precedent for someone coming back from the dead,
And even less after three days.
It made more sense that the women were wrong,
But after all the miracles Jesus had done, could it be possible?
lk 24 18
Have you been living under a rock?
That seems to be the tone of Cleopas.
Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem?
These things have been going on and you have no clue?
Yet how many of those sitting in pews today have little or no clue of what is going on today?
Not just around the world, but in their own nation, state and town?
Ironically, they were talking to the one person who really knew what had happened in recent days.
They were the ones who didn’t understand what had happened.
Sadly, many of the people we will encounter have little if any understanding of the resurrection.
They see it as a myth, an impossibility.
And even more sadly, our natural reaction is the jump to the defense of our belief.
Jesus answers with a question.
We were told the it is impolite to answer a question with a question,
But questions are wonderful ways to open people up within their own expectations.
Like the mother who’s young son came running in from school and announces, “We learned how to make babies in school today!”
Preparing herself for a very difficult conversation, not just with her child but with their teacher,
The mother asks her son, “How do you make babies?”
To which he answered, “Change the ‘y’ to an ‘i’ and add ‘es’!”
Perhaps, before we answer the questions of the skeptic, we should follow Jesus’ example, and understand the context and worldview of the asker.
lk 24 19-
Oh, those things!
You see, there was this guy named Jesus,
Too often, we see Jesus the way we want Him to be,
And then tell others what we think about Him, rather than what He actually says.
He was a prophet,
They saw Him as someone God had sent to deliver His message to them.
He was might in deed and word.
He knew what He was talking about,
And did many good works.
Before God and all the people.
Not just secretly, before God, but before everyone.
He was condemned to death and crucified.
But you see, then He was condemned and crucified.
That isn’t what they had planned for the saviour of Israel.
But, we were hoping He was going to redeem Israel.
We were hoping that He would come in and restore Israel to its former glory.
They had an expectation of what Jesus would do,
But that’s not what happened.
And besides, today is the third day.
Oh, did we forget to mention, that He said he would rise on the third day?
What was that all about?
Did they expect a big showy resurrection?
You see, these women came and told us this ridiculous story,
They went to the tomb, but did not find His body.
They said they saw angels who said He was alive.
Some of our group went to the tomb, and surprisingly enough, the women were correct.
BUT, they did not see Him.
We look for a Christ that meets our expectations.
And when we find the Christ that is true, we are often astonished.
How could this be?
Why don’t you do this?
How could there be a God like this?
Do we, like these two men, look for a Jesus who meets our expectations rather than finding out what He expects?
Isn’t it nice how polite and inoffensive Christ was when dealing with others?
“Of foolish ones” - Literally “mindless”.
“slow of heart” - Literally “dull”.
How would you like to be called a mindless dullard?
“Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things”?
We try to make Jesus fit our expectations.
We present Him as a nice guy who hangs out with children and sheep.
He was nice, and never called people names.
Bad things never happen to good Christians.
Yet here He is,
Calling people mindless and dull.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9