What should we do with stories that are very familiar to our listeners?  For example, a friend of mine recently preached the crucifixion account in Matthew 27.  How should he approach a passage that is so familiar and is a subject addressed every week in his church in one way or another?

1 – Know your audience.  For some groups, more emphasis on explanation or proof of the passage would be necessary.  In this particular case the people would generally understand the passage (apart from the miraculous events as Jesus died).  They also have little need of proof.  This leaves the majority of the focus on application.

2 – Retell familiar stories, but help people feel them.  It is easy for people to hear something often and be familiar with it.  This does not mean the passage should not be preached.  People often know Biblical stories, but rarely feel them.  Take the opportunity to tell the story in a gripping way, helping people to feel as if they were there.  You cannot force this to happen.  It doesn’t help to keep haranguing people with phrases like, “Imagine you were there, come on!”  It takes the skill of vivid description and effective story telling to achieve this.  Perhaps a slightly unusual angle could help.  Since the text eventually brings in the centurion’s perspective, why not tell the whole story from where he is standing, still keeping to the details in the text?

3 – Apply, apply, apply.  Don Sunukjian teaches preachers to give only as much explanation and proof as necessary, then apply, apply, apply.  This is good advice.  It is easy to give redundant explanations and exegetical details.  As preachers we are prone to do information dumps on our people (after all, we worked hard on this message!)  But people can always benefit from more application.

4 – Apply specifically.  What does the crucifixion story mean to a Christian working in a factory this week?  What does the familiar story mean to a mother of small children and sleepless nights?  What difference could this make tomorrow morning at 10am?  It is easy to preach a “church” sermon, and easy to listen to one, but get the Word into real life by being as specific as possible.