But the other nine, where are they? Luke 17:11-19

Posted on October 10, 2022 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered by Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min on October 9, 2022.

This morning we immediately pick up where we left off last week and we are going to learn about what it means to give God glory and praise. Last week, Jesus told his disciples not to fret about the faith they don’t have; rather, they are to focus on the faith they’ve got and put it to work. Today’s scripture has the group on the move.

We learn this morning that Jesus and his companions were heading south moving from Galilee in the north towards Jericho and ultimately, Jerusalem in the south. Our text has him walking along this boundary line between the Jewish-populated region of boundary lineGalilee and the land of the Jewish pariah, Samaria. Our scripture this morning not only reminds us Jesus was heading to Jerusalem one final time, but it also shines light upon Luke’s writing in Acts about where the Church is supposed to go following Jesus’ resurrection; specifically, the community of faith is to reach out to “those other people”, that impure collection of people called the Gentiles. Who were the Gentiles? Everyone but the people of Israel. Listen to the Word of the Lord.

Luke 17:11-19

17.11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten men with a skin disease approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? So where are the other nine? 18 Did none of them return to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.” [1]

Misery does indeed make strange bedfellows because what we have is two groups of people who normally despised one another huddling together to create a community of ceremonially unclean exiles. On the one hand, it would appear there are at least nine Jews in the group because Jesus tells them to follow the edict spelled out in Leviticus 14 and be declared clean and free of disease by a priest. On the other hand, we are flat-out told there was a Samaritan in the bunch as well. Jews and a Samaritan formed their own community bound together by their mutual illness and the need for safety. What binds them together is their mutual misery and cultural ostracization that transcends ethnicity and nationality. Think of it in today’s terms: You have nine Jews who were formerly in the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, and a lone Palestinian Muslim from the Gaza Strip forced to live together on the margin of society because they are despised by their own people.

Following proper social protocol, the ten maintained their respectful distance away from Jesus and the others so as not to make Jesus and the disciples ceremonially unclean as well. It would be like you and me going to visit the doctor but having to speak to her through a speaker and bulletproof glass at a drive-through window. It’s at this point the ten cry out a request, a prayer, each and every one of us have prayed in our life at some point: Oh Jesus! Have mercy upon me!

If we let the text speak for itself, we note the ten afflicted men did not specifically ask to be healed per se; no, they simply ask for mercy. To show mercy to someone means to pause and express compassion while attempting to alleviate hardship. Luke doesn’t tell us what they wanted exactly but he does tell us what Jesus perceived they needed: restoration back with their community. They needed to be reunited with their families and friends and have the opportunity to engage others in the marketplace. Jesus saw they needed to be pulled from the ranks of the marginalized and be re-established as an equal to everyone else. We know this by Jesus’ simple command to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Jesus does not say, “Be healed!” but rather he tells them to go show the priests they are okay. The priest then checks off their healed condition and pronounces them ceremonially clean and that was the ticket for their life to get back to normal.

If you were Jewish, you would hear Jesus’ words as sensible words. The Jewish people had priests they could go to and get the clearance to rejoin the community. But who does the Samaritan go to? He surely would not be welcomed by the Jewish priest for a declaration of purity because his just being a Samaritan made him unclean in the priest’s eyes, to begin with.

We read that the ten were made clean while they obediently followed Jesus’ instructions. All ten lepers did exactly as Jesus told them. “Jesus tells me to go show myself to a priest for reasons unbeknownst to me so I’m going to go!” In their expression of their obedience, they were healed. In their process of being healed, they were once again engrafted into their Jewish culture. But what did that mean for the Samaritan? Now that the nine were eligible to be declared pure by the priests, their newly declared ritual purity would demand they part ways with their Samaritan colleague. In other words, they could be sick together without any problem, but they could not live a reconciled life with each other. The marginalization of the other did not disappear in the eyes of the nine. Bob may be healed but Bob still is a Samaritan, one of “those people.”

What we see is that those who are marginalized by the world perhaps understand their faith the best. Bob the Samaritan leper may not have had a priest to go to and see but he was aware enough to go back to Jesus and say thank you and praise what the Lord had done.

The great Oxford don, C.S. Lewis, observed the relationship between people who expressed gratitude and their positive well-being. He writes, “I noticed how the humblest and at the same time most balanced minds praised most: while cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least. Praise,” he says, “seems to be (one’s) inner health made audible.”[2] I like that! One’s outpouring of praise to God is a barometer of a person’s spiritual and emotional health!

If we slow down at this point and look at our story more carefully, we can also see the essence of what a Christ-follower’s life is to be all about. First, the Samaritan stopped and turned around. He changed his orientation and his direction. Second, he gave God glory and thanked God for the obvious blessing he received. Isn’t that a summary of what the Gospels are saying to us? From the very beginning of the Story in Luke, John the Baptist called people to “turn around” and reorient their life back to God. The lowly shepherds who were the first witnesses of the baby Jesus’ birth went about glorifying God thanking God for all the things they had seen and heard. Turning around and thanking, glorifying God for God’s mercy. It’s pretty basic, beloved. The reception of a blessing should lead to a transformed life of both blessing and gratitude which leads to an enhancement of one’s spiritual depth.

Fred Craddock, former professor for preaching at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta comments on this story by saying, “What we have, then, is a story about ten being healed and one being saved.”[3] All the men in their obedience were healed but it’s only in the Samaritan’s turning around and thanking God he was healed in the spiritual sense. Jesus’ last words in verse 19 of the Story today literally reads, “Resurrect yourself and go; your faith has healed you, literally, saved you.” All ten in their obedience were cleansed but only the one Samaritan knew to yoke together obedience to faith and give credit to where credit was due: To God. When he fell at Jesus’ feet, he acknowledged his healing was from beyond himself and that it truly was an act of mercy. His act of obedience and his faithful response not only reconciled him to his community but more importantly, declared his reliance upon God’s gifts and mercy and restored his relationship with God.

Beloved, for 110 years, people have given themselves and their gifts to demonstrate their gratitude to God for all the blessings we as a church has enjoyed. You and I are sitting in a room that was literally built from the DNA and the raw material of other disciples’ joyful thankfulness. It’s because of their joyful thankfulness that we have been given and entrusted with the saving hope and grace of Jesus Christ.

Beloved, how are we both individually and corporately, not only obeying God but turning back around in thankfulness and glorifying the Lord with praise? You have heard me tell you how we can do it many times over the last five years.  We give God glory when we like the Samaritan fall at Jesus’ feet and truly worship him. 

We glorify God by becoming wholly uncomfortable with where we are in our faith and truly desire to grow deeper and wider. If you are practicing your faith and still understand God as you did 5, 10, 15 or so more years ago, then you have a problem. You’re stuck and your spiritual life is stunted.  We glorify God when we grow the faith we have.

We glorify God when we intentionally care for one another, look out for each other, and seek the best in our brothers and sisters.

We glorify God when we actively become the hands and feet of Jesus and serve others, the marginalized in the community, with acts of service and compassion.

We glorify God when we share what we have experienced in our faith in the community and invite others to partake in what we have experienced.

And yes, friends, we glorify God through our financial giving. If we like the Samaritan know that all we have is a result of God’s gracefulness to us, then we hold those resources loosely and look for ways to invest in Kingdom work. The measure of your giving is a measure of your spiritual maturity.  You know, people don’t think about dropping $200.00 for a dinner for two on Las Olas Boulevard but when the offering plate goes by, people wonder, “Do I drop the in ones I have or the $20.00 bill?” Giving is a spiritual issue, folks.

Our homework as we leave today is to reflect on the many ways God has blessed us individually and as a church. How well are we glorifying and praising God like the Samaritan? I have just provided you with the yardstick now it’s up to each of us to start measuring. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

© 2022 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.

[2] Feasting on the Word— Year C, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Feasting on the Word: Year C) by David L. Bartlett, Barbara Brown Taylor https://a.co/cqn5ZmM. Originally cited from C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms (London: G. Bles, 1958), 78-81. The word in parentheses was added by me for rhetorical clarity.

[3] Fred Craddock, Luke. Interpretation. A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990), 203.

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There are some things we simply must do for ourselves; Luke 17:5-10

Posted on October 6, 2022 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered October 2, 2022, by Patrick H Wrisley, D.Min.

This morning is world communion Sunday. It’s a day the catholic, i.e. universal church pauses to remember it does not operate in an isolated vacuum. Today Christians of all types from around the world cease talking about their differences with other Christian faiths and come together and share communion celebrating our common family DNA and genealogical ties to Jesus. We meet each other at the common space we share called the communion table.

Communion, particularly worldwide communion, is all about relationships. God’s relationship with us, our relationship with God, and our relationship with one another. Our scripture text today comes from the Gospel of Luke. It’s a text that highlights these three interconnected relationships.

As I stuck my hands into the mud of this scripture, I quickly discovered that Luke 17:1-10 are not four disparate, non-related stories but are instead woven together to highlight these three relationships of God with us, of us with God, and each of us with one another. So, although the lectionary directs us to look at verses 5-10, we are going to look at the whole unit of these four teachings Jesus provides. It will help the lectionary text make more sense.

Before hearing the scripture, I want to remind you that Jesus is once again using the rhetorical technique of hyperbole in order to get his point across. He is exaggerating in each of these teachings to get his point across to even the most clueless of his followers. Hear the Word of the Lord beginning with 17:1.

Luke 17:5-10

17.1 Jesus said to his disciples, “Occasions for sin are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come! 2 It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck, and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Be on your guard! If a brother or sister sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. 4 And if the same person sins against you seven times a day and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
7 “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? 8 Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me; put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? 9 Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”[1]

Don’t be the source of someone’s moral failure.

Our well of forgiving another person is bottomless.

To these two commands, the disciples throw up their hands and exclaim, “Jesus! Increase our faith!” To which Jesus replies, for all practical purposes, “You’ve got all the faith you need, just obediently get about using it.”

Our passage this morning is about God’s relationship with us. Jesus is asking you and me to stop and understand that God is not asking us to do anything God has not already done for us which is God actively blessing and forgiving us.

Our passage this morning is about our relationship with God in that we are called to be obedient and live the life we are directed to live, not because we will get any special spiritual perks, but solely because we are fortunate enough to be a part of the family and covenant people of God.

Our passage this morning is about our relationships with one another and how we are not to be one of those people, one of “those Christian hypocrites” that says one thing but acts in a totally different way altogether. We are to help one another walk a smooth spiritual path and not lead people down trails where they will stumble and fall. These are relationships with other people we don’t like, agree with, understand, or even tolerate and yet we are to open up our wells of forgiveness and grace to them as God has opened up the heavenly wellspring of grace and forgiveness to us.

The disciples cried, “Increase our faith!” And Jesus replies, “Put some feet under your convictions and live obedient lives listening to the voice of the Holy One.”  It’s right here we are to pause and understand a person of faith is not a person who achieves of destination – I’ve arrived at faith! No, faith is a life-long journey where we are daily exercising our belief through obedience to God.

Faith the size of a mustard seed is demonstrated when we forgive those people in our lives who have caused us much hurt and pain. Forgiveness is not the same as forgetting. I cannot forget the incidences of abuse I suffered in my younger years, but I can unhook myself from them. The word Jesus uses for forgiveness in our text literally means to let go, to send away. It’s the same word used for a couple divorcing one another. The pains of repeated insults and abuse a person may experience cannot be forgotten; those scars become a part of who we are. We can, however, choose to put the feelings of hate, animosity, and revenge down and walk away from them. We can consciously let them go and divorce, separate ourselves from their toxicity.

Faith the size of a mustard seed is committing to daily waking up and living a life God expects of us as we build and work towards a loving relationship with our neighbor.

Faith the size of a mustard seed is when a person continues to press ahead even though he or she does all the right things, lives a good, decent life, and tries to follow the Lord but feels their prayers are going unanswered.

Faith is a noun but putting faith to work means living out one’s steadfast belief. Believing is a verb and it’s a word that has feet under it! The late Southern author Flannery O’Conner, in her short story, “The Habit of Being,”  writes, “What people don’t realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.  It’s much harder to believe than not to believe.  If you feel you can’t believe it, you must at least do this: keep an open mind. Keep it open toward faith, keep wanting it, keep asking for it, and leave the rest to God.”[2] 

Beloved, faith is a loving, generous gift from God given to us. But hear this: God cannot use our gift of faith for us; no, we have to exercise and practice that faith both as a community known as the Church and individually in the manner in which we live. Faith is a gift given to us for our relationships with God and others. There are some actions in our life we simply have to do ourselves; no one can do them for us.

But how? How, Jesus?

And Jesus replies, “Take, eat. This is my body which if broken and shared with you. Take, drink. This is the cup of the new covenant of sacrificial love and forgiveness given for you. This table is nourishment for the life-long journey ahead where we discover faith by simply living out the life we are called to live. In the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. So let it be.

© 2022 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]Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[2]  As quoted in For All the Saints. A Prayer Book for and By the Church, Volume III: Year 2, Advent to the Day of Pentecost by Frederick Schumacher with Dorothy A. Zelenko (Dehli, NY: The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 2006), 963.

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Sometimes, God, Has Us Do Things That Just Don’t Make Sense; Jeremiah 32:1-3, 6-15

Posted on September 28, 2022 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon preached on September 25, 2022 by Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley

Sometimes, God has us do things that just don’t make a lot of sense. This is the first word I must say in regard to this morning’s scripture from the lectionary. Turn in your Bible to Jeremiah 32:1-3, 6-15. As you’re turning there, let me give you some context.

Jeremiah was known as the Weeping Prophet because frankly, almost all of his prophecies were of the gloom and doom variety. He foretold how the Lord God, because of Judah’s rampant lust to pursue foreign gods and flagrant disregard of the covenant made with Moses, was going to let the Babylonians lay siege against the city of Jerusalem and take her people into exile.

The regular folks looked at Jeremiah as we would look at a street corner preacher carrying a sign that said, “The end is near! Are you ready?” The political establishment was grossly annoyed at Jeremiah and were tired of his constant complaining about the spiritual and ethical state of things in the southern kingdom of Judah. The king of Judah at this time is Zedekiah. With respect to Jeremiah? He’s not a fan. Not only did Jeremiah stir up angst among the people of the city, Jeremiah was thrown into jail because he dared to tell the king in affect, “Listen, the city is going to fall and you, O king, will be taken prisoner of war and marched down to Babylon and await for whatever punishment the Lord God has waiting for you.” These are not the words that will endear yourself to those in charge.

The year is is thought to be 588 years before the time of Jesus and at the time of Jeremiah’s prophecy, the Babylonians were building siege mounds up against the walls of Jerusalem. In antiquity, an attacking force would build up earthen works that built a giant ramp up to the top of a city’s walls so the opposing army could march up the ramp and take charge of the city literally from the top down. This is what was happening to Jerusalem at that moment. The siege works were under construction and Jeremiah was held prisoner in the King Zedekiah’s palace court. Listen to the Word of the Lord and see if it makes any sense to you.

Jeremiah 32:1-3,6-15

32.1The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. 2At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, 3where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him. Zedekiah had said, “Why do you prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord: I am going to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it…

 6Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: 7Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.” 

8Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. 

9And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. 10I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. 11Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; 12and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. 13In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, 14Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. 15For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.[i]

Let’s make this real: You are hunkered down in Kiev listening to the explosions around you caused by Putin’s missiles. In the midst of the bombardment, you decide to buy from a relative a piece of land in eastern Ukraine that is already under Russian occupation. This relative of yours sneaks through enemy lines and come to see you in Kiev with the offer. So, with the sounds of war all around you, you gather some cash, a notary public, and several witnesses to watch and back-up what is taking place. You then give the signed deed and bill of sale to a trusted colleague and friend for safekeeping.

Now, just ask yourself, “Does it make any sense to do a land sale in the middle of siege warfare for a plot of ground behind enemy lines?” You would think there are other issues more pressing as a result of the shelling. Those around you are scratching their heads as the earth shakes from the bombardment, “What the heck are you doing?”

Friends, what are we to make of this Story? This Story reminds us, Church, how we as people and as a community of faith respond to chaotic times. It’s a Story that beckons us to look for the presence of God in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. It’s a Story that reminds us we are to share our Story for the sake of the Church that has yet to be born.

It’s a Story that beckons us to look for the presence of God in the midst of chaos and uncertainty.In 1946, renowned Austrian psychologist and prisoner of war Viktor Frankl who being held in Auschwitz, wrote a memoir about his experiences in that horrible Nazi concentration camp during WWII. Surrounded by brutality and death all around him, Frankl was reduced to trying to make sense of the suffering and asked the existential question: In the midst of the sea of suffering around him, he began looking at how do people get their sense of meaning and purpose from?

Frankl believed you and I get our meaning from three places: Purposeful work, love, and courage in the face of despair. He noted that every person, every single day, has an opportunity to make a purposeful decision to determine whether or not he or she capitulates and gives up to whatever is trying to rob of us of our personal sense of self. I am so mindful of what my wife Kelly taught me and the girls throughout her life. “I can let cancer and heart failure define me and who I am, or I can choose to define what cancer and heart failure is to me.” She never let her illness define who she was a wife, mother, sister, friend, and woman of God.

Viktor Frankl says it this way: Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.[2]  

Jeremiah chose to hear God’s voice in the midst of war and chaos in order to declare a word of hope to a hopeless despairing people whose city was about to taken by the enemy. In order to communicate that sense of hope, Jeremiah bought land to keep it in the family and to show God is not done with us yet. He knew he would never see the plot of land he purchased. But he made sure his secretary and assistant Baruch kept the deeds in a safe location for the future because God promises, “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land” (vs. 15).

The late British Old Testament historian, Ronald Clements, noted about our text, “All the more significant therefore was Jeremiah’s concern to ground hope on a deeper and more lasting foundation (than wishful thinking). Hope was no longer the short-lived possibility of averting or postponing disaster, but rather (hope is) a discovery that there was no disaster that could take away a hope founded on God.”[3] In other words, our hope comes from beyond ourselves and crashes into our lives as the “word from the Lord.” Our hope is grounded in the sovereign, gracious heart of God and bestowed to us as a gift. We are to be aware of the fact that it is the Spirit of God that births the hope within us that we know that we know that we know that the power of the Holy Trinity has our future held gingerly in Its hand. Hope acknowledges that we live in between the already and the not yet and that in the end, regardless of what assails us, we are God’s beloved and we know God holds our hand when we walk through the turbulent waters and the fire; we shall not drown or be burned by fire, because as Isaiah reminds us,

I will strengthen you; I will help you;

I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.[4]

Yet, beloved, our text not only reminds us of how we find meaning in troubled times, but it reminds us of that we each have a duty to share that hope and entrust it to a new generation. Jeremiah entrusted the land’s bill of sale and deed to Baruch for safe keeping. Jeremiah knew he would not see the restoration of Israel, but he wanted to share hope with the following generations of Jews to remind them of God’s faithfulness.

The question that haunts me and is the same question that I want to haunt you is this: Who am I leaving this deeded word of hope to so they will know and experience God’s faithfulness as I have? Yes, the world and church in America feel like they are getting sucked down a drain, but do communicate to those around us? Do we show our children, our grandchildren, our community that we are throwing our hands up in despair or capitulation, or do we point out God’s presence in the unexpected and help others learn how to see and experience hope-full grace?

Think, Church, and reflect Beloved, and ask yourself, “Can I look for hope given by God in the midst of today’s swirliness?” And then ask yourself, “Who is my Baruch? How am I passing the faith and certainty of God’s hope to a future generation?”  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

© 2022 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, 401 SE 15th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33301 and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

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

[2] See https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/03/26/viktor-frankl-mans-search-for-meaning/. Accessed on 9/23/2022.

[3] R.E. Clements, Jeremiah, Interpretation (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988), 195. Words in parentheses were added by me for rhetorical purposes.

[4] Isaiah 41:10

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The Essence of the Winsome News We are to Share!, 1 Timothy 2:1-7

Posted on September 19, 2022 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered on September 18, 2022, by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley

Our text this morning comes from one of three pastoral letters written by the Apostle Paul to aspiring leaders in the early church. The Pastoral Epistles comprise 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. They contain sage advice from an older, seasoned pastor written to the new generation of leadership that is beginning to emerge in the early church. It’s analogous to me, having moved away, sitting down to write Nic a letter on what’s important to this faith community and how to lead this church. The Pastorals are Paul’s notes of encouragement to younger leaders.

Paul’s focus in 1 Timothy is to help Timothy learn how to deal with difficult, divisive members of the church who are using their leadership in the church as a means to teach inaccurate information about the Gospel.[1] Paul’s words to Timothy leading a church in Ephesus are reminding him how to live and act in the community called Church. He’s asking Timothy to step up and into vital leadership in order to ensure the pure Gospel message is communicated. Turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy 2:1-7. Listen to the Word of the Lord.

1 Timothy 2:1-7

2.1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,4who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6who gave himself a ransom for all—this was attested at the right time. 7For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.[2]

Our portion of the letter today contains two crucial lessons for us. Lesson 1: Paul reveals the first priority of any Christian community. Lesson 2: This lesson outlines in seven short verses four foundational spiritual truths that comprise the Gospel message Timothy is to use.  You see, some people in the church were pushing their way into leadership, teaching patently false notions about Jesus, and giving a distorted view of the grace-filled Gospel Story. Lesson 2 in our text is Timothy’s rebuttal to those false teachers.

So, what is the most important thing for the people of the Church to do according to the Apostle Paul? The foundational truth Timothy must learn is that the Church is to make prayer its number one priority.

Honestly, Paul is giving Timothy, he’s giving us, a helpful reminder as to what the content of our prayers is to be. Most often, our prayers are directed heavenward for our personal benefit. We pray for a better job, a better paycheck, a better relationship with our spouse or kids, a successful winning game…add your own.  Think of your prayers, Church. For whose benefit and behalf are they directed to God? Is it solely for you or is it for everyone else? Paul says it to be for everyone else. I’m not suggesting we are not to pray for our particular, individual needs; I am saying that our pattern for prayer needs to follow the Jesus model of living: He lived to share love with others. He humbled himself as a servant of others. He sacrificed himself so that others, people like you and me, can live. The Knox translation of the Bible says it this way in verses 1 and 2:

This, first of all, I ask; that petition, prayer, entreaty, and thanksgiving should be offered for all mankind, especially for kings and others in high station, so that we can live a calm and tranquil life, as dutifully and decently as we may!

Now we may be tempted to break down the four different prayers Paul writes about, i.e., supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving, and understand what those mean. The problem is that when we do that, we are engaging in an exercise of missing the point. Paul is saying the church’s number one priority is to pray all different types of prayer as a foundation of its worship. Furthermore, they are prayers directed on behalf of certain people.

Church, who are we to pray for? We are to pray for all humankind as well as those who are leaders in our society and political sphere. Did you notice who was excluded from the list? Ourselves. The Church’s prayers are directed for the benefit of others. The Church isn’t praying for itself but for everyone else in the world who are part of the Church or for those who are not. The Church’s number one task is to pray for all people. We are to pray for people we like and for those we dislike. We are to pray for those of like minds as well as for those who think contrary to what we believe. We are to pray for the Ukrainians and at the same time, we are to pray for the Russian soldiers and mercenaries who are brutally torturing innocent people. We are to pray for everyone.

We are also to be specific and pray for our leaders in society even if we believe they are jerks and are acting out of their own self-interest. He’s telling the Ephesians to pray for Caesar and the Roman guards. He’s telling the Jewish believers to pray for the Gentile believers in power. He’s telling you and me to pray for Putin and Zelensky. Democrats are to pray for their Republican counterparts and vice-versa. We are to pray for our police and fire chiefs, mayors, and city council members. And why are we to pray for them?

We are not praying for their cause. We are not praying for their success and prosperity. We are not praying for them because we agree with them or disagree with them and want them to see things our way. No, we lift all types of prayers for humankind and those in charge and rulers so that we, the Church, the Body of Christ, may live quiet, peaceable lives in a manner God finds appealing and beneficial. We are to pray for our Kings, Presidents, governors, and the like so that under their leadership, the Church can quietly be about the business of doing the ministry of Jesus to the people in the world. We pray for our leaders so that the environment is conducive to sharing the love of Jesus Christ.

So why is this important? Because verse 4 reminds us God, “desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Paul calls the Church to pray for society’s leaders for the sole, evangelistic purpose of sharing the Good News of Jesus to those who are deaf to whispers of the Spirit. Beloved, this church, the Episcopal church across the street, First Baptist, First Methodist, and St. Anthony’s Catholic Church are to be praying for our leaders so that we can live unhindered Christian lives in order to share the Gospel and radically burn this town down with the flames of the Holy Spirit.

Now, switching our gears a little bit, we will look at Lesson 2. If we slide our finger back a few paragraphs to the first chapter, we note that Paul was encouraging Timothy to teach sound doctrine to the Church with love as its foundation. Our scripture today not only tells the Church to pray for an environment where we can winsomely share the Good News but in verses 5 and 6, Paul gives us the kernel, the essence of what that winsome news is. He gives Timothy the answer to those false teachers referenced in the first chapter. Paul is reminding Timothy and the Church, that the Winsome News of the Gospel is to share with others that –

There is only One God, and his Savior is Jesus;

There is but one mediator standing in the gap between the Divine and all humankind;

That Jesus was indeed a true human being, a flesh and blood man; and,

This man Jesus humbled himself in love for us in order for him to be the ransom, the payoff, for all people.

So, beloved, this is the essence of the Christian message.  There is One God and Savior who became a human being in order to hold heaven and Earth together by ransoming, giving up his rights as God so that you and I can live to tell others the Winsome News of salvation.

Church, Paul gave us our marching orders this morning. We are called to pray for everyone we see in the world, including our civic leaders, so that we can share the Winsome News of God’s presence and work in Jesus of Nazareth, the man who is also the Beloved, God himself. So, let’s all say that we will commit to doing this as a church. Can you do that? Amen?

© 2022 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] See 1 Timothy 1:3-11.

[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.

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110 Years and Counting!, Luke 15:1-10

Posted on September 12, 2022 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. Patrick H Wrisley, September 11, 2022

This morning, it’s helpful if we begin right where we left off last week. Immediately preceding our text this morning are two pivotal Stories.  First, Jesus tells the Story of a man who tells his servants to go out into the community and invite his friends to a banquet. When all those on the guest list make excuses as to why they cannot come, the man then tells the servants to go out again and compel any and every single person on the street or in the allies to come to the feast. The upshot is the community’s most marginalized are invited to the feast and banquet.  The parable of the banquet is quickly followed by last week’s teaching of Jesus telling his would-be followers what is required of us if they decide to join his group and become a disciple. We noted how Jesus used hyperbole to get the point across that in order to follow him, each of us will need to place every little aspect of our lives under his Lordship. This all sets up for our Story today.  Listen to the Words of the Lord from Luke 15.1-10.  

Luke 15:1-10

15.1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinner and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable: 4“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”[1]

What we have this morning is Jesus doing rounds with the ensconced religious status quo telling two parables of similar structure that speak to lost items that are found — A single sheep and a single coin. If we are not careful readers, we will fall for Luke’s sleight of hand and focus on the lost and found but totally miss the point of the parables which are actually about the character and ways of God.

The first parable about a lost sheep is in and of itself quite puzzling. A shepherd who has 100 sheep has one sheep go astray. We read how this shepherd left unattended and unprotected 99% of his capital, i.e., his sheep, in order to recoup a potential 1% loss. Think about that: This shepherd is willing to risk his or her entire flock of food, clothing, and sustenance in order to backtrack and locate one single sheep.  Add to that is the genuine possibility that the entire flock of sheep is not even his but someone else’s who has hired the shepherd to do this grunt work for them. Shepherds were, after all, a cagey and suspect bunch of people in those days and often were not seen as the most reliable of people. So here is a guy who was probably picked up early that morning at the daily labor pool and then was left in charge of 100 sheep. He’s got one job: Watch the sheep. One job. Watch the sheep.

And what does our hapless shepherd do? He leaves the entire flock unattended while he goes in search of one wayward lamb. What would happen if the flock’s owner decided to pop in and check on matters. He sees the shepherd has left his post and then he becomes absolutely livid. We can hear him ranting on the hillside, “I gave that guy one job and that was watching over my sheep and this jerk left his post exposing my entire flock to danger!”       

Then there is the story of the woman who has lost 10% of her savings and then tears the house up to find it. Like the shepherd, she is dauntless in her effort to find that coin.  She stops everything she is doing and throws herself into the task of reclaiming that one coin.

So, what are we to make of this Story? What are we supposed to get out of it? Why did Jesus tell these stories to begin with? Let’s remember the scene: Jesus is surrounded by what would be considered first-century low-lives.

It was a bunch of tax collectors who were despised because the overall Jewish population felt that they had sold out and were working for the Romans exploiting their own people. Then there is that catch-all term ‘sinners’. The best way to understand who the sinners are is for you to think of a group of individuals that immediately pop into your mind that just rankle you at the thought of them. Maybe it’s the homeless guy working the intersection of Broward and Federal who is using the beat-up handwritten sign asking for money. Maybe it’s those people who voted for “Brandon” or it’s those who voted for Trump. Maybe it’s the illegal alien, undocumented worker, or migrant in our midst we feel is leeching off the system. Maybe it’s the dishonest developer who used inferior products in your condo building and whose neck you want to ring. Maybe it’s “that group” that is other-sexed than you and you just can’t understand why they are who they are. Who are the people you count as ‘sinners’ that would be part of Jesus’ audience that day?

The beautiful trick this parable plays on us is that whoever we think a sinner is in God’s sight and we place them in that category, we have to immediately stop and place ourselves in line next to them. Honestly, who are you and I to determine who is a bona fide ‘sinner’ or not? Friends, as soon as we choose to determine who sinners are according to our personal criteria, then we automatically become a sinner in our own right because our hubris declares us a sinner as well.

Yet, along with the sinners gathering around Jesus to experience Jesus are the grumpy, grumbling, stodgy, uptight, religious old guard who is complaining off to the side griping about how “we surely have never done this before!”

And it’s at this point the power of the parable’s point comes crashing on top of us! Jesus is telling the uptight leaders of the synagogue “who have never done it that way before” that they have a small view of God. I mean, really, what idiot would leave 99% of their capital investment unprotected to go find that one wayward sheep? God would! And furthermore, who has the audacity to compare Mighty God, Yahweh, to a fretful woman tearing her house inside out looking for a coin?  Jesus would.

Beloved, the wonderful, winsome news of our Story today is that Jesus is describing a God who is not wrathful or vengeful. He is painting a picture of a God who does what no one expects in the search of those stray sheep like you and me. God will illogically leave the 99 to find the one. And the power of this parable is that as we hear the Story and assume we are one of the 99 that are left behind, the implication of Jesus’ words indicts us indicating that we too are the wayward ones, we are the dukk. We are the lost coin God is anxiously searching for.

God is the lover pursuing his beloved and when the beloved is found, he or she is brought back to the community of the other sheep, added back to the purse with the other coins. It’s not just that we are rescued and found but it’s about our reintroduction and reconciliation with the larger community of God that’s called the Church. The single sheep isn’t rescued for its own sake; the lone sheep is rescued for the sake of the whole flock. The party over the found coin is not about just the coin; it’s about adding the coin back to the purse which makes the whole purse more valuable.

One hundred ten years, Church. For 110 years God has been using this community called First Presbyterian to search for that one wayward lamb in our midst and bring him or her back into the community of Christ-followers. Fort Lauderdale would be diminished if over the last 110 years this church was not here making a difference in southeast Florida in her ministries of service and compassion. This morning as we come to the Table of the Lord, we are joining with all those members who have come before us and have established this faith community.  Today we come, we come to celebrate their hope, faith, and efforts as we pledge along with them that we will do the same. Come, let’s eat from the Table of the Lord! In the Name of the One who Is, Was, and Ever shall be. Amen.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

© 2022 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, 401 SE 15th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33301, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

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

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