Pastoral Prayer for Sunday, June 25, 2023

Posted on June 26, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity, we mark out time this day and ask you to hallow it as we worship, celebrate, and reunite with you and to one another. As you have called Abraham to build a great nation, you have called us through Jesus Christ to build your realm among the neighborhoods and communities in our world.

You have called us to build a realm of justice…

You have called us to build a realm whereby all people are to be treated and loved as children of Light of the Almighty God –

  • gay people,
  • old people,
  • young people,
  • colored people,
  • rich people,
  • dumb people,
  • poor people,
  • homeless people,
  • ugly people,
  • smart people,
  • ostentatious people, and
  • straight people.

Lord, it is so easy in a place like Fort Lauderdale flush with wealth, beauty, style, and large boats and fancy cars to get lost in the extravagant trappings of this world; convict us, Spirit, to turn the rug over so we can see the knots and mistakes on the underside of our community where your ministry is called to go and make a difference. Light a fire under your churches and faith communities to invest in the social fabric and capital of our city.  Let the people see and know that the Church of Jesus Christ is full of and known for our love as opposed to radical nationalism, bigotry, or political zealousness.

  • We pray for single parents trying to navigate work as well as how to care for their children this summer.
  • We pray for our teachers and professors who wonder if they can navigate all the bureaucracy and scrutiny they are under while attempting to help our students think critically.
  • We pray for the executives in our city’s board rooms and city hall that their decisions will be done ethically and for the good of the larger community.
  • Lord, we are mindful of those who serve in the hospitality industry in our community upon which much of our economy derives its strength.
  • There are those struggling with decisions relating to their job and employment, give them eyes to see and hope to buoy their dreams.
  • Watch over those who watch out for us – those in law enforcement, fire departments, sanitation, and our women and men serving in harm’s way.

Hold tenderly the hearts of those who have lost a dear one in death and grant strength and healing to those who are ill or who are waiting for medical test results. Oh, Merciful One, there are so many prayers yet so little time to offer them. Search our hearts and hear them all as we now turn ourselves to you and pray the prayer Jesus taught his followers…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, they will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom, the and the glory forever. Amen!

Posted in Prayers | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Essence of a Call, Matthew 9:9-13,18-26

Posted on June 12, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered on June 11, 2023, by the Rev. Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

As the church calendar moves into the rhythm of Ordinary Time, our Gospel selections running from now through the end of November come from Matthew. If you will remember, Matthew chapters 5 through 7 contain Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount which includes the Beatitudes. In that sermon, Jesus lines out how people in the church are to live together in community. Jesus then spends the rest of the Gospel physically demonstrating what it means to live out the teaching he’s given. He gives the lesson in the sermon and then shows what he means by living what he preached. This morning’s text is a perfect example of his doing this.

            Turn in your Bible to Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26, and listen to the Story. This morning we are going to learn about the essence of what it means to follow Jesus’ call.

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

9As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. 10And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.13Go and learn what this means, (from the prophet Hosea 6:6) ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” …

18While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. 20Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, 21for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” 22Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. 23When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24he said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26And the report of this spread throughout that district.[1]

            We miss Matthew’s genius in his writing if we fail to see the potpourri of characters thrown into this one scene. You have the ultra-pious religious hoi poli sprinkled in with a group of first-century rogues and villains smattered with the ritually impure like a dead little girl and a woman who has a 12-year-long period. Irony is laced through our passage from the outset. Here we have Matthew, whose name literally means, “Gift from God,” juxtaposed to Pharisees who both look at and treat him as though he was scum. What we begin to see is that those who think they are in the in-group are really on the outs and those who are on the outs are being invited inside to sit at the Master’s table.

            Jesus meets Gift from God sitting at a tax booth and simply says, “Matthew, follow me.” Jesus chooses a hated social pariah and invites him on a journey. Matthew then demonstrates a spiritual person’s foundational quality for a life with God: Obedience. He heard the call to follow, and he got up and went. On an unconscious level, we think Matthew following Jesus would mean he would be associating with a new group of friends. Yet, we see Jesus call Matthew right back into the circle of ne’er-do-wells he has just agreed to leave. Jesus seems to be okay around ne’-er-do-wells unlike the Pharisees, or as scholar Dale Bruner refers to them, the religiously Serious.

            The Pharisees, the Serious, are all about following the Law, the Rulebook.  In Matthew’s gospel, they act like a Greek chorus off to the side of a play’s action yelling directions to actors on the stage. Today, they are on the periphery commenting on what they are witnessing with Jesus and are now sowing dissension and murmuring against him. Instead of having the guts to ask Jesus directly, they pull some of Jesus’ brand-new disciples aside and start grilling them on Jesus’ inability to follow the religious and social rules. “Why is your Rabbi rubbing elbows with THOSE people?”

Jesus, fully aware of what is going on addresses the Pharisees directly, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor; sick people do.” He then pulls a page straight from their fundamentalist playbook, looks at them in the eyes, and then he quotes scripture to them. “Go and learn what this means – “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”” And since they were Pharisees, the Jewish Ph.D.’s of Religious Studies back then, they would know that Jesus just quoted Hosea 6:6 which was written to the apostate spiritual and political leaders of Israel and Judah centuries before. And no doubt, since they were the know-it-alls of all things Jewish, the Pharisees would know the next line that follows in Hosea 6:7 which reads, “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant, there they dealt faithlessly with me.” Jesus has metaphorically just dropped the mic and has publicly schooled them.

Right at this moment, Matthew shows Jesus physically living out what he was teaching. He has the audacity to touch a dead girl’s body and raise her up while showing mercy to a poor woman who for over a decade has been socially and religiously outcast because of her illness. He is physically demonstrating that the essence of following a call from God is lavishing mercy on those who deserve it the least.

The essence of following God’s call in your life and mine is to lavish mercy on those who deserve it the least. You see, beloved, it wasn’t enough for Matthew to obediently follow Jesus when he called; it was to obediently follow Jesus right back into the people he formally hung out with and show them the mercy he received from the Lord. The Pharisees and the Serious were obedient in following the rules. They knew what it took, they knew the right ritualistic sacrifices that would keep God happy. What they didn’t know how to do was to show people mercy. Let’s face it, sacrificing a dead goat is so much easier than actually showing mercy to those people who deserve it the least. That, my friends, takes hard work!

Sadly, Pharisees were not good students of practical theology. They were not open to having their spiritual, political, economic, and cultural views challenged. It was so much easier just to kill a goat than learn and show mercy. How do we know they were lousy students? Because those first-century religious fundamentalists had Jesus arrested on trumped-up charges and hung on a Cross.  And once again, here’s a flash of Divine Irony and Comedy: The Pharisees and officials thought they snuffed out the problem when Jesus was put to death; yet, it was in Jesus’ death that he actively demonstrated his obedience to the Father and showed us mercy.

Beloved, this is what the Lord’s Supper is all about. It’s about Jesus’ sacrificial mercy shown to us on the Cross. He gave his body for us. He shed his blood for us. This simple meal reminds us and also lets us participate in Jesus’ act of mercy. I want us to leave with Jesus’ words from verse 13 echoing in our minds as we come to the table. He tells us: Go and learn what this means – I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Obedience in following Jesus is important but as we learned today, without demonstrating mercy to those who are most undeserving, obedience is a vacuous puff of smoke. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So be it.

Prayer: May this meal, O Christ, help us to hear your call, and be obedient to it, but most importantly, may it enable us to show others the mercy you have shown us!

© 2023 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, 401 SE 15th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33301.  Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Posted in Sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

God’s Border Collie, 1 Corinthians 12:1-13; Pentecost Sunday

Posted on May 30, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered by the Rev. Patrick H Wrisley, D.Min. on May 28, 2023

In a church I served in north Georgia decades ago, there was a dear older woman who invariably would come up and hug me each week saying, “Thank you, preacher, for the message!” It was awfully sweet of her, but she had this proclivity to go overboard on the gardenia-scented perfume and it clung to me long after she left as the gardenia scent followed me around all day long like a dog waiting to get fed.

            Have you ever met a Christian whose sense of Christian piety carries the odor of a Christian know-it-all who definitively knows exactly how Jesus votes and which books should be in a school’s library, knows for sure who is going to heaven and who is not, makes moral pronouncements about other people’s behavior, and who reminds us of what a good Christian they are from all their prayer, Bible study, and worship attendance?   Have you ever met one of these uber-Christians whose Christianity is so odiferous that it makes pre-Christians think, “Why would I want to follow Jesus if they act like THAT!”[1]

            Well, this is what Paul was experiencing and addressing in the churches in the city of Corinth, a crossroads for merchants traveling by land or sea. As pastor and professor, Greg Cootsona writes, “Only two decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Christian community in this cosmopolitan center are a confused mayhem of competition.”  It was a church whose membership had a high opinion of themselves and there were divisions in the church based on wealth, class, social respectability, and of course their outward display of the spiritual expression of speaking unintelligible tongues no one could understand. Those people who spoke in tongues firmly felt they were more special and closer to God compared to those who simply handed bulletins out at the door. Paul had to address this spiritual elitism that was wreaking havoc in the church. The Corinthian church was structuring itself hierarchically just like the culture around it where the privileged, family-connected, and specially gifted are at the top of the pecking order and the rest of us are clamoring for various gradients below them.

            Paul spends three chapters of his letter to Corinth addressing this culturally formulated hierarchical mindset that was sifting itself out around spiritual behaviors and gifts. Today’s passage is setting up the next three chapters. Specifically, today Paul is addressing the fallacy of congregational hierarchy based on status or one’s spiritual endowment. He is reminding them, alas – he is reminding us, Jesus doesn’t structure our faith and Church like the culture does and yet we forget that. Too often the church imports the hierarchical models of our surrounding culture instead of exporting the flattened, egalitarian way of organizing the church community as Jesus did. The Church, we learn, has a level playing field where all members matter and are needed to contribute to making a difference for Jesus. Hear the Word of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:1-13

            Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.

            4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gift of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kind of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

            12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.[2]

            What can we learn about the Spirit, the Church, and spiritual gifts from our text?

            First, what is important is not the gift or its expression; what matters is the Source from whence the gift comes. It’s not about Patrick’s spiritual gift of preaching; it’s about whatever gift you and I have, it comes from the Spirit of God. You and I have nothing to do with it. The Bishop of Jerusalem, Cyril in the year 350 says it beautifully. He describes it like this:

            “One and the same rain comes down on all the world, yet it becomes white in the lily, red in the rose, purple in the violets and hyacinths, different and many, colored in manifold species. Thus, (rain) is one in the palm tree and another in the vine, and all in all things, though it is uniform and does not vary in itself. For the rain does not change, coming down now as one thing and now as another, but it adapts itself to the thing receiving it and becomes what is suitable to each. Similarly, the Holy Spirit, being One and of one nature and indivisible, imparts to each one his grace “according as he will.”[3]  It’s about the rain and not about the tree or plant. It’s about the graciousness of the God-giving Spirit; it’s not about the gift itself.

            Second, Paul reminds us that all of us are needed to have an impact in ministry for Jesus. In Paul’s day, the body metaphor was a popularly used one. For the Greeks, they would talk about the polis, the city, as a body, and some parts of the body, the community, and society were more important than others. Paul takes this well-worn metaphor and gives it a twist. Instead of saying some parts are more important than other parts of the body (like the city’s mayor is more important than the garbage man), Paul is saying all parts of the body, the Church, are important because each of us has been baptized with the Spirit of Christ. This is Paul’s way of describing how the Church is differentiated from the rest of how the world works. Sure, the mayor is important but if your trash isn’t picked up in weeks, the importance of the garbage man rises to the top! Paul is telling us how hierarchy has been flattened when it comes to the Church. As we are reminded in verse 13, “For in the one Spirit we are all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and we are all made to drink of one Spirit.”

            Beloved, hierarchy has been flattened. For all people who have confessed by word and action “Jesus is Lord” are baptized by the One Spirit; we’ve all been equally adopted as brothers and sisters of God whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, white or black, straight or gay, and dare I add Republican or Democrat – we are all children of the King, and the Lord needs your gift to be put to work!

            Third, it reminds us that there is no “I” in Team. Verse 7 declares, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” This was a tough thing for the Corinthians to hear. They were priding themselves that some in the community were more important than others based on their particular spiritual gift. Paul is hammering home the point that each of our particular gifts is not for our personal benefit and edification; it is for the benefit of the rest of the community.

            Saint Basil in the mid-third century wrote, “Since no one has the capacity to receive all spiritual gifts…the grace of the Spirit is given proportionately to the faith of each. When one is living in a community with others, the grace privately bestowed on each individual becomes the common possession of the others…One who receives any of these gifts does not possess it for his own sake but rather for the sake of others.”[4]

            So, if you have been given the gift of leadership, it’s not solely to advance your career; God is expecting you to use it for the Church. Do you have the gift of the Midas Touch in that you know how to make business decisions that make great revenue? Well, guess what, God blessed you with that gift to apply that touch and your wealth for the common good of your faith community. Do you have the gift of empathic listening and do people experience safety with you? God is expecting you to use it for the common good of your fellow brothers and sisters in the church. Do you have the simple gift of being perceived as a friendly human being? God wants you to use that gift whether it’s handing out bulletins and greeting people at the door or making a call to welcome a guest to church. You get the point. Your job is to figure out what your gift is and how, or even, if you are even using it for the body of Christ or not.

            My brother-in-law, Rick got a border collie a few years back. His name is Bear and he’s about 30 pounds, has a blue eye and a green one, is brown and white, and has boundless energy. Border collies are bred for one thing: They herd. Not only are they the smartest dog breed, but they are also one of the most active. They must be exercised and run hard. Bear herds anything that moves!

            One morning when Bear was still less than a year old, he was on the second floor of their house when he spied Rick’s two cats downstairs sauntering at the base of the stairs; Bear instinctively went into action. He launched himself through the air from the top of the stairs and miscalculated the angle of descent and crashed into the front door below. He then got up and began herding the cats! Never mind he fractured his front leg! A border collie has to do what a border collie does- herd! As pastor and author Heidi Haverkamp says, “The Holy Spirit is like God’s border collie – trying with boundless energy to herd us together into groups, to testify in word and action to all the world that “Jesus is Lord!” and that God is love!”[5]

            Beloved, over lunch today, ask those who are with you, “Do you see a spiritual gift in me? If so, what is it? Am I using it for the common good of our church?” If so, praise God. If not, why not? In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

© 2023 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, 401 SE 15th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33301.  Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship: Year A, Volume 2, Lent through Pentecost by Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, et al. https://a.co/6ZohXYd

2 New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

[3] Cyril of Jerusalem, The One Spirit Adapts to Personal Diversity from the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, VII, Thomas Oden, General Editor (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p 117.

[4] St. Basil from the Long Rules 7 from the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, VII, Thomas Oden, General Editor (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p 118.

[5] Heidi Haverkamp, Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship: Year A, Volume 2, Lent through Pentecost by Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, et al. https://a.co/75kIJV9

Posted in Sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pastoral Prayer for May 21, 2023

Posted on May 30, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

Almighty God, the One who is, who was, and whoever shall be, praise you as we glorify you this morning in our prayers, attentiveness, and worship! You have made this day, and we rejoice and glorify you in it!

Today we celebrate your divine ascension into heaven, Jesus, making way for the Holy Spirit to be gifted to your followers. Help prevent us from naval gazing into the heavens wondering what you are up to but instead convict us to go, baptize, make disciples, teach, and serve others in the loving name of Jesus.

This morning, we lift up the family of Van Lloyd as they grieve her death early yesterday. We pray for all who feel the searing sting of pain from the grief of a lost spouse, child, parent, or friend. Remind us in those shadowy moments that you have conquered death and we dine with the saints of heaven each time we break bread with you at the Lord’s Supper.

There are those in our midst whose lives teeter on the precipice between life or demise. We pray for those who are in the position of having to make very difficult decisions regarding healthcare for themselves or for a dear loved one. Give them peace and assuage any doubts they may have.

We pray for our world leaders, not only the G7 but for leaders in the majority 2/3 world who do not often make the headlines. In particular, we pray for our national leaders in Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Oval Office. Partisanship has infiltrated all branches of our government which is destroying civitas, sowing disunity and distrust, and sowing fear among their constituents.  The eyes of many of our citizens have developed cataracts preventing us from seeing the legitimate needs and concerns of those people who are different from me. We dare to judge another human being’s worth based on their party affiliation, the color of their skin, sexual identity, economic standing, or by the type of books they read. O sweet Lord, we have become a nation of narcissists where “my agenda and moral beliefs are more superior than your agenda or moral beliefs.” Sadly, in the process, we’ve become an amoral people.

Yet, we sit eagerly awaiting Pentecost when you breathe upon us your Holy, Live-giving, Spirit of joy, love, peace, reconciliation, and unity. Prepare our hearts this week to receive the gift you so eagerly want to bestow upon us. Hear us now as we lift up these people to you…

For those dying…

For graduates…

For their teachers and professors…

For those who work in hospitals and in the medical sector…

For the janitors and custodians who serve us in our places of work or enjoyment…

For the men and women, along with their families, who serve our nation…

For the homeless children, women, and men of Broward County…

And finally, for our community’s faith leaders who are trying to remind a diffident world that You, O Lord, are alive and well and that we are to love and serve in Your name.

Now hear us as we pray the prayer Jesus taught his beloved centuries ago…

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom comes, they will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom, the power,  and the glory forever. Amen!

           

Posted in Prayers, Sermon | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Who IS This? Matthew 21:1-11

Posted on April 3, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered on April 2, 2023, Palm Sunday, by Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

How many of you can tell me what this means? (I hold my hand making a Peace Sign).  It means, “Peace!” to you.  It means, “Hey dude, peace and love.”  It’s become a universal symbol of sorts for “it’s all good” and “let’s just get along.”  But you know what?  When people in our country started using the peace sign it meant something different.  Emerging in at the end of WWII as a sign of Allied victory, the peace sign was co-opted in the 1960s and used as a counter-cultural symbol to show one’s protest against the war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Once a sign of victory over a vanquished enemy, in the 60s it was a protest symbol.  It was as much a political statement as it was a cultural one.  It’s interesting to note how over time the meaning of the symbol has evolved from its original meaning of vanquishing our enemy to a simple gesture of “love each other.” This is what happens when more and more generations are removed from the original use of a sign or symbol.  The meanings can become diluted at best or simply forgotten at worst.

This, my friends, is exactly what has happened to Palm Sunday and our waving of the palm branches.  We see the waving of branches and placing them upon the road as a way to throw Jesus a parade and celebrate his arrival in Jerusalem. Like the peace sign of the 60s, the meaning of the waving branches needs to be reexamined and we all need reminding that waving palm branches was a revolutionary and politically loaded symbol back in Jesus’ day.

Catholic and Orthodox Bibles contain writings from the intertestamental period between the writing of the Old and New Testaments called the Apocrypha. The Apocryphal writings of 1 and 2 Maccabees describe the battles between the Jews and the former generals of Alexander the Great’s warring armies dating about 160 years before Jesus. The history describes how the Jews under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus and his sons, retook Jerusalem from the Greek king, Antiochus, and his successors.  When the Jews overthrew their warring occupiers, they paraded into Jerusalem waving palm branches of victory over their oppressors.[1]  It was a political statement of Jewish sovereignty. It was a spiritual statement that God is king over the city of Jerusalem and her people. That was the last time palm branches were waved in Jerusalem.

With this in mind, let’s read Matthew’s version of Palm Sunday in Matthew 21.1-11.  Listen to the Word of God!

Matthew 21.1-11

21 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet (s Zechariah and Isaiah), saying,

5 “Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
    humble, and mounted on a donkey,
        and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting (from Psalm 118),

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”[2]

By studying historical narratives from the first century, biblical scholars Borg and Crossan have postulated that perhaps there could have been two parades that day entering Jerusalem.  On the one hand, the parade we just read about from the east was largely composed of peasants from the perceived backcountry of Galilee chanting out to Jesus, “Save us!” as he rode down the slopes of the Mount of Olives on a donkey.  But on the other side of the city, coming in from the Mediterranean seaport of Caesarea came riding the new Roman governor, Pontus Pilate, entering the city on a war horse at the head of a column of Imperial cavalry and foot soldiers.  He was coming to ensure that there would be order in Jerusalem as the city would swell from roughly 40,000 to a quarter of million people during Passover.  So, if you were in Jerusalem walking on her walls, you would see the glittering armor of a conquering army to the west and you would see throngs of everyday folks waving branches and paving the path with palms and their clothing on the east. What would you make of that?

On one side come the oppressive occupiers and on the other side comes a gentle self-proclaimed liberator followed by peasants. Coming from the western side comes stability and status quo even at the cost of oppression from the Romans.  Coming from the eastern side gathers what you might see as a populist protest march coming up against an entrenched political system. You’re used to oppression and that oppression has become routine in your life and can even seem secure at times; it’s predictable. Yet, your heart yearns to join the protestors marching in from the other side promising liberation.

To one side you see Domination: You see nothing but a mass of crimson, gold, steel, and imperial power.

On the other side, you see humble Liberation. You see the masses of peasants waving palms and paving the road with their clothes as they make their way down from the Mount of Olives from whence the Messiah is supposed to come.  

As a Jew watching all this unfold, you have one of those internal Uh-oh moments because you realize the potential for trouble is brewing. There’s trouble on the left and right; you’re caught in the middle. You want to get excited but you’re fearful because you have seen the Roman brutality used to “keep the peace”.  But what makes you think there is going to be trouble? Well, note in verse 10 we read, “When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and in turmoil.”  Using the same word we get our English word seismic from, it can be literally read, “the whole city was actually shaking like an earthquake.”

To say there was electricity in the air would be a gross understatement.  I imagine the game the electric football game I grew up with. You placed the players opposite each other on this metal grid like a football field and then hit the button. All the players began to shake violently toward one another in a mass of vibrating steel and plastic. This is what is in my mind as I think of these two parades coming together. Borg and Crossan write, “Jesus’ procession proclaimed the Kingdom of God” while Pilates proclaimed the powers of the imperial empire.”[3] It’s no different today, really. Even today, the tension is between the powers of the empire pitted against the powers of the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, my friends, place yourself on Jerusalem’s wall and see and feel this entire spectacle unfold before your eyes.  Looking to the west, you can easily see the one riding the magnificent battle horse, but as you turn and look east, you spy this motley procession coming down the side of the Mount of Olives through an ancient Jewish graveyard and you mumble to yourself, “Who is this?”

Beloved, this is the question I want to weigh on us this Palm Sunday. I want you to place yourself atop Jerusalem’s walls and ask yourself who is it you see riding that donkey – that biblical emblem and image of the humble Messiah – making his way into the city by the Beautiful Gate below the Temple Mount? We easily place ourselves in the mindset that, “Of course, I would know who it was coming on that donkey down the hill!” but would you if you were there in the midst of the frenzy?  I wonder if that isn’t the real challenge facing the Church of Jesus Christ today…we think we know who it is riding on that beast of burden but is there a possibility we have it all wrong? 

American Christianity tends to hold onto the sweet baby Jesus notion we gained at Christmastime. We’ve made Jesus into the image of a God that is personally pleasing and satisfying to us – a Savior that is all sweet, meek, and mild and will answer my prayers when I cry out in need of something.  Palm Sunday, today, is the day we are rudely awakened and are reminded that the image of God riding humbly on an ass is a man about to turn the city, dare I say the world, upside down and cause people to choose which side of Divine history and life they were going live: The life of the empire, or, the life of the Kingdom of Heaven.

And so there you are in one of those two crowds. Much will happen over the next few days in the city of Jerusalem and members from both crowds will turn on and condemn this humble rider on a pale grey donkey. Everyone has assumptions about who this is riding into town from the east and what he will do.  Soon, everyone’s assumptions will be shattered.  Soon, everyone will begin to run and desert him because when asked, “Who is this?” they will say, “He is one who did not fit my expectations.”  They will say, “It’s too dangerous to follow him.” They will say, “Following him will upset the way I live my life…no thank you.”

I suppose the real question is that when you are asked, “Who is this?”, what shall you say? In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

© 2023 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1] See 1 Maccabees 13.49-52 and 2 Maccabees 10.1-8.

[2] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[3] Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus’ Final Days in Jerusalem (San Francisco:  HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), 2-4.

Posted in Sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments