Sermon

A sermon is an extended spoken address that delivers religious instruction, exhortation, or proclamation to an assembled audience, and in Christian use most often a discourse on Scripture given in the setting of worship. Linguistically, the English word comes from Latin sermo, "conversation, discourse," and functions as a retrospective label: the Gospels narrate such speeches in abundance without naming them as a distinct form.

The text says that Jesus' public teaching was at times deliberately indirect. Asked why he addresses the crowds in parables, he answers, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them" (Matthew 13:11), and Matthew 13:14-15 applies Isaiah's prophecy of people who "will in no way understand" what they hear, the parallel in Mark 4:12 adding "lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them." The manner is shown as well as described: "the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid" (Matthew 13:44), a single image pressed on the hearer rather than an argument developed to a conclusion. One way to read this is that the Gospel writers present preaching as an event that discloses and conceals at once, its effect depending on the condition of the hearer.

Other Gospel speeches are direct address with plain ethical demand. "But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (Luke 6:27); blessing is pronounced on those hated and excluded "for the Son of Man's sake" (Luke 6:22); the hearers are told "Be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful" and "Don't judge, and you won't be judged" (Luke 6:36-37). The discourse ties speech to character — "out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45) — and closes by making the hearer's obedience part of the message: "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and don't do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).

Historically, the sermon became a fixed element of Christian worship, and the word "homily" (from Greek homilia, "conversation") names a running exposition of a scriptural text within the liturgy. Traditions differ over what a sermon chiefly is. In Catholic and Orthodox practice the homily is normally given by an ordained minister inside the liturgy and understood as part of the church's liturgical action, with the Eucharist as its summit; in Reformed and evangelical churches the sermon is often the center of the service, its ideal being exposition of a text; in Pentecostal and charismatic settings preaching is frequently understood as Spirit-inspired prophetic exhortation, not always bound to a fixed text. Some traditions treat preaching as a means of grace through which God acts, others stress the hearer's responsibility to respond, and the Gospel tension between revelation and hardening (Matthew 13:11-15) has been read both as a warning about callous hearts and as a statement about God's freedom in revealing himself.

AI-generated reference entry, grounded in the passages where this term appears — history and Scripture stated as such, interpretation labeled as interpretation. Not a substitute for the text itself.