Don’t Be Tempted to Hit the Snooze Button, Matthew 24:36-44

Posted on December 1, 2025 by patrick h wrisley

A Sermon Delivered on November 30, 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.

Business guru Stephen Covey tells us in his book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, to begin with the end in mind. In other words, to best plan where you want to go, picture what it looks like if you were to succeed and plan your next steps accordingly. Well, this is what the first Sunday in Advent is all about.  We are beginning with the end in mind and that means we start by looking at the second advent first. It will serve as a waypoint for us throughout the rest of the year. So, gather around and let me tell you a Christmas story! It’s a Story whereby Jesus calls for us to set the alarm clock and be awake and alert. It’s from Matthew 24:36-44.  Listen carefully!

Matthew 24:36-44

36“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, 39and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.44Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.[1]

How’s that for a scripture text to get you ready for Christmas! It seems a little odd to begin this season of preparation by looking at what many people call, The Rapture, but this is where we start our journey. Episcopal priest and author, Fleming Rutledge, reminds us that this season of Advent forces us to look at God through the lenses of the past, the present, and the future. She reminds us, that

Advent calls for a life lived on the edge all the time…proclaiming his death to the be the turn of the ages “until he comes again.2 

The first Sunday in Advent begins by looking into the imminent future when Jesus comes again in judgment.

Alas, people in Church today really don’t like to talk about God’s judgment; it sounds so harsh and very un-good-newsy. But beloved, we need to pause and remember that when the season of Advent asks us to remember the coming judgment of God, it’s always on the Sunday when the Church lights the candle of hope! For some reason, we have translated ‘judgment’ to mean ‘condemnation’ thereby losing all concept of hope. Think about it: Who is hopeful for being condemned?

Rutledge writes,

The Christian hope is founded on the promise of God that all things will be made new according to his righteousness. All references to judgment in the Bible should be understood in the context of God’s righteousness – not just his being righteous but his ‘making right’ all that has been wrong.3

Consequently, Advent is the season of the church year we remind ourselves that Immanuel, God-with-us, whom we celebrate on Christmas Day is the one and the same Divine Logos who stands at both the beginning of time as well as its end. Advent is a time for us to honestly remember that all of God’s creation, all our concept of time, is lovingly embraced and encircled by the loving arms of Christ and for that, we are hopeful.

English playwright, critic, and poet, W. H. Auden, refers to Advent, as this time of waiting, The Time Being, when you and I are awaiting the return of the Child Immanuel. He writes,

The Time Being is, in a sense, the most trying time of all.”4 

He’s right; this time of simply being and waiting is indeed very difficult and it takes effort.

This Time Being is what Jesus is speaking of today in Matthew 24. We tend to forget that when Jesus is speaking of the future time of judgment, he uses it as a foil for his disciples to reflect upon their lives in that very moment, in the current Time Being. 

So, Jesus talks about the days of Noah before the great flood when people were eating and drinking, getting married, and living life when, after ignoring Noah’s call to prepare for the coming flood, they were all swept away. Eating, drinking, and getting married are mentioned to remind us that in the midst of our everyday life, at a time least expected, God returns. 

Jesus then goes on to share how men and women will be about their everyday routines of going to work and doing their chores when suddenly, “one will be taken and the other will be left.” Those people who are taken to appear before the judgment seat of Christ are not judged by whether they believed the right things about God with correct doctrine but each person will be measured by the standard of how well he or she loved God and their neighbor as we have loved by God ourselves. It’s the rubric Jesus set in John 15.5 The rapture, as it is popularly called and so grossly misunderstood, is not so much about personal piety as it is about our personal and social ethics; in other words, are we loving others as God is loving us? 

One commentator says,

Believers are judged not so much by how well they are prepared to enter heaven but by how much they have been attending to the concerns of others in the community. Along those lines, discipleship is not an event or a phase but a constant state of being prepared and committed to fellow humans.6 

Once again, we are reminded of Auden’s understanding of our Time Being. How are we living our lives with love and justice in our time of simply being ourselves in our everyday humdrum of eating, drinking, getting married, working the farm, or preparing food for dinner? Sometimes we need a reminder to be fully present and aware of our Time Being.

Years ago, someone gave me a giant Harley Davidson wall clock. Each hour was represented by a picture of a different type of vintage Harley motorcycle. The beauty of this magnificent clock is that a loud revving motorcycle engine would be the chime for each hour! All day long, Harleys were roaring through the entire office area. Personally, I loved it but my other colleagues – well, not so much. I knew it was time to get rid of it when during one emotional pastoral counseling session as this person was pouring their heart out when all of a sudden, the hour ‘chimed’ and the engines revved at the worst possible moment of their story. We both jumped at the intrusive alarm.

            Twice in three verses, Jesus reminds the disciples to keep awake. Stay alert and ready. Set your alarm to get yourself out of bed because the Lord is coming at an hour we do not know or expect. Dale Bruner, a retired professor at Whitworth University says two Protestant Reformers remind Christian disciples to be awake. John Calvin said, “Jesus wished them (the disciples) to be so uncertain of his coming that from day to day they should be intently waiting.” Bruner then cites Martin Luther who quipped that Christians should live as if Jesus died this morning, rose this afternoon, and is coming back home this evening.7

Jesus is asking us to wake up and stay alert. He is asking us to be ready for the time he comes in judgment. He is telling us he is coming again and as such we are to have hope. Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary of Defense who had a way with words tried to say the same thing Jesus was saying at an intelligence briefing during the Iraq War. He said,

As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.8

Personally, I think Jesus says it better when he reminds us to stay awake – set our alarm and don’t hit the snooze button…be alert!” 

Beloved, this is a text of great hope. God is coming again and will welcome us home for good. Yes, there will be judgment but not condemnation. There will be a review of how we spent our Time Being awake. Advent is the time we are to reflect upon how we are preparing for the Lord’s return. Are we preparing for our Lord’s return with lives expressing justice and mercy to those we rub shoulders with every single day? In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So be it.

© 2025 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls and shall 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 Fleming Rutledge, Advent. The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018), 7.

3 Ibid, 23.

4 W.H. Auden, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio. See https://www.thepoetryhour.com/poems/for-the-time-being-a-christmas-oratorio. Accessed 11/23/2022.

5 John 15:12-17: 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other. (NIV)

6 Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship: Year A, Volume 1, Advent through Epiphany by Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, et al.

7 Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary. The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28, Revised and Expanded (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 523.

8 Feasting on the Gospels–Matthew, Volume 2: A Feasting on the Word Commentary by Cynthia A. Jarvis, E. Elizabeth Johnson https://a.co/inDssr8

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Sacred Pauses in a Noisy Season, Psalm 46

Posted on November 24, 2025 by patrick h wrisley

A Sermon Delivered on November 23, 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.

This morning, I am building my thoughts around creating sacred pauses in a noisy season. To help me do that, we are going to be looking at scriptural poetry. Poetry is all about rhythm and rhyme, cadences of words, and pauses. Today we are going to look at those pauses and those pauses in poetry have a name: it’s called a caesura.

A caesura is a purposeful metrical break in poetry or music that pauses the sound to draw attention to the piece by way of a pause. Usually noted with two vertical parallel lines drawn at the location of the pause or interruption, a caesura is the natural end to a poetic or metrical phrase, especially when the phrase ends in the middle of a line of poetry. The word “caesura” comes from the Latin caedere which means “to cut”.[1] For example, listen for it in Hamlet’s famous line, “To be || or not to be || that is the question.” 

Hebrew poetry and music also used caesura in their writing lyrical or metrical rhyme. We experience it in this morning’s scripture from Psalm 46. Open your Bible or pew Bible and let me show it to you.

Psalm 46 (NRSV)

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,

    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

3 though its waters roar and foam,

    though the mountains tremble with its tumult.                        Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

    the holy habitation of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;

    God will help it when the morning dawns.

6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;

    he utters his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord of hosts is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our refuge.                                                Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;

    see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

    he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;

    he burns the shields with fire.

10 “Be still, and know that I am God!

    I am exalted among the nations,

    I am exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord of hosts is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our refuge.                                                Selah

Today is Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday of the Christian year. It’s the day we arrive at the culmination of the story we’ve been walking through since last Advent.

We began last November preparing our hearts for God’s inbreaking on Christmas. We moved into Epiphany, when people finally began to understand who Jesus really is. Then we made that long Lenten journey with him toward the cross, toward sacrifice, toward the redemption of God’s people.

The darkness of Lent gave way to the brilliant light of Easter. We celebrated the risen Christ, and weeks later we celebrated the Spirit’s fire on Pentecost, the Church’s birthday.

We trudged all summer long in what is called Ordinary Time as we reflected on what it means to live as God’s people in the world. And today we full circle in on this sacred drama with the declaration that this child of Mary, who was crucified, has risen, and ascended to heaven now reigns Sovereign over all creation. Christ holds the whole world in his hands.

And the people say, Selah!

“Selah?” you may be thinking. Hold onto that as we’re coming back to it.

Psalm 46 is a text many of us know even if we aren’t sure where we heard it. Martin Luther used it as the foundation of A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. This psalm contains that beloved line that has comforted countless souls: Be still, and know that I am God.

So, what did this psalm mean for ancient Israel and what does it mean for us today?

The psalm begins with a declaration which is at the very heart of Israel’s faith: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Everything that follows grows out of this truth.

Verses 2 and 3 paint a picture of unimaginable environmental upheaval like mountains shaking and seas roaring. To ancient ears, this wasn’t just poetic language. Mountains were understood as the pillars that held up the heavens. If the pillars fell, everything fell. The sea symbolized chaos, danger, and the unknown. So, the psalmist is describing the unthinkable when creation itself appears to be becoming undone. It reads almost like the imagery from the book of Revelation.

At the end of verse 3 you’ll see a small, mysterious word: Selah. It appears 71 times in the psalms. We don’t know exactly what it means, but most scholars believe it’s a caesura: An intentional hard stop to take a pause.[2]

It’s a sacred rest. A moment to breathe. A space to let the truth sink in. And what truth is that? That no matter what shakes, rattles and rolls us around from Mother Nature, God is, was, and ever shall be our refuge and strength.

            Stop a moment. Reflect on what verses 1–3 mean to you in your life right now.

1 God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.2 

2 Therefore I will not fear,[3] though the earth should change,

    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

3 though its waters roar and foam,

    though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah

Verses 4 and 5 shift the imagery. Instead of roaring seas, we see a gentle river flowing from the city of God; it is a symbol of God’s refreshing, life-giving presence. Even if the world outside Jerusalem trembles, Zion, the people of God, will not be moved because God is in her midst.

Verses 6 and 7 widen the lens: nations in uproar, kingdoms tottering, political powers rising and falling, and Constitutions bring ignored or threatened. Yet over all of it stands this assurance: The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. And again, there is that word: Selah.

Another holy pause. A pause that whispers, “Remember, the nations may rage, but they are not in charge of the world’s destiny. God is.”

Our world is mired in international and political swirliness now. Pause and reflect how verses 4–7 apply to how you’re feeling about all that is in our news cycle.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

    the holy habitation of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;

    God will help it when the morning dawns.

6 The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;

    he utters his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord of hosts is with me;

    the God of Jacob is my refuge. Selah

The final section of the psalm does two things. First, verses 8 and 9 remind us that God is sovereign over all history — over wars and rulers and the fragile structures we build to protect ourselves. God breaks the bow, shatters the spear, burns the shields. Then comes verse 10, the only line set in quotation marks, as God in Godself speaks directly:

            “Be still, and know that I am God.”

This is more than an invitation to peaceful meditation. In Hebrew, it is a command, a direct imperative. Think of it as a holy cease-and-desist order. “Drop what you’re clinging to. Stop struggling! Lay down your weapons, your fear, your frantic activity. Know who is truly God.”

The words are written for Israel reminding them who holds them through every storm. And they are written for the rulers and nations both to remind them and command them to recognize God’s authority.

Take a breath. Listen to verses 8 through 11 and apply them to where you are this morning.  

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord;

    see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

    he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;

    he burns the shields with fire.

10 “Be still, and know that I am God!

    I am exalted among the nations,

    I am exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord of hosts is with me;

    the God of Jacob is my refuge. Selah

Beloved, as we step into what we call “the holidays,” we are confronted with two very different paths.

The first is the cultural path; it’s the rushed, noisy world of buying and cooking and traveling and stressing, where our worth seems tied to how much we accomplish and consume.

The second is the path of the Church’s holy days which invite us to walk slowly, thoughtfully, prayerfully into Advent. This path asks us to pay attention to little things, to breathe deeply, to watch for God’s presence breaking into our ordinary days.

My prayer for all of us this week is that we carve out Selah moments, those sacred pauses in our days to remember what God has done, what God is doing, and what God promises still to do.

For those for whom the holidays are hard, may your Selah moments hold space for comfort and healing. For those who love this season, may your Selah moments overflow with gratitude. And for all of us, may we find moments to “be still,” to cease our worrying and striving long enough to hear the heartbeat of God. Amen.

© 2025 A sermon preached by Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, New York and shall not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] See https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/caesura.

[2] Jason Soroski, What Does Selah Mean in the Bible and Why Is it Important? Updated August 12, 2025. Accessed at https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/what-does-selah-mean.html#google_vignette on November 20, 2025.

[3] In this and the following psalm stanzas, I have changed the tense from third person to first person for rhetorical emphasis. 

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Your Story Matters, Luke 21:5-19

Posted on November 17, 2025 by patrick h wrisley

A Sermon Delivered on November 23, 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.


Luke 21:5–19

5Some people were talking about the Temple, saying how wonderfully it was decorated, with its beautiful stones and dedicated gifts.

“Yes,” said Jesus; 6“but the days will come when everything you see will be torn down. Not one stone will be left standing on another.”

7“Teacher,” they asked him, “when will these things happen? What will be the sign that it’s all about to take place?”

8“Watch out that nobody deceives you,” said Jesus. “Yes: lots of people will come using my name, saying I’m the one!’ and The time has come!’ Don’t go following them. 9When you hear about wars and rebellions, don’t be alarmed. These things have to happen first, but the end won’t come at once.

10“One nation will rise against another,” he went on, “and one kingdom against another. 11There will be huge earthquakes, famines and plagues in various places, terrifying omens, and great signs from heaven.

  12“Before all this happens they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will hand you over to the synagogues and prisons. They will drag you before kings and governors because of my name. 13That will become an opportunity for you to tell your story. 14So settle it in your hearts not to work out beforehand what tale to tell. 15I’ll give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.

16“You will be betrayed by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will kill some of you. 17You will be hated by everyone because of my name. 18 But no hair of your head will be lost.19 The way to keep your lives is to be patient.”[1]

Our journey through Luke’s Gospel is drawing to a close. The church year ends next Sunday with Christ the King, and we’ll soon turn to Matthew’s gospel for a new season of readings.

Over the past months, we’ve been on the road with Jesus — starting in the Galilee, following him down along the Jordan River through Jericho, and now into the crowded, electric atmosphere of Jerusalem during Passover. Imagine the sights, sounds and smells: lambs bleating, doves cooing, people shouting, vendors selling. The air itself hums with anticipation; it’s a carnival. Jesus has drawn a crowd, and they are eager to see what he’ll say or do next while still others are maliciously waiting to trap him in his words.

It’s at this moment, near the temple courts where people come to give their offerings, that Jesus notices a widow who gives out of her poverty, and he begins to speak.

Picture yourself there for a moment. You and I are taking in the beauty of the city, soaking everything in; look at all the white school-bus-sized stones of the temple gleaming in the sun, the gold catching the light so brightly that we have to shield our eyes. 

“Jeee-sus,” we sigh, “just look at this place!” He then turns to us with that look; you know the one where he cocks his head sideways and says, “Really?”

We were talking about architecture and aesthetics. Jesus was talking about reality, the hard reality that this temple, this symbol of God’s presence, will one day fall. His words hush the crowd; the noise of the festival fades as the weight of what he says settles in.

Jesus’ message is not simply about stones and walls. It’s a story about the life of living out our faith in the here and now; it’s about what it means to live as his followers when the world we inhabit begins to crumble around us. He makes several predictions.

First, he warns that others will come in his name, claiming authority and truth they do not have. “Keep your eyes on me,” he says. “Don’t be led astray.” We’ve seen how easily people are pulled in by charisma and fear. Both ancient and modern history are filled with false prophets and messiahs.

Next, Jesus tells of wars and uprisings, kingdoms clashing, nations in turmoil.

Third, he speaks of natural disasters like earthquakes, famines, plagues, and dreadful signs in the heavens.

And finally, as if that weren’t enough, he tells his followers that they will face persecution and betrayal even by those closest to them all because they bear his name.

At this point, I want to hit the pause button. You see, typically when we hear words like these from our text this morning our minds often leap to the notion that these words are about somebody else. We imagine some far-off apocalypse, something for “those people” in the future to worry about. But what if Jesus wasn’t just talking about “them”? What if he was talking to you and me today?

Luke records these words not just to describe a future event, but to prepare the Church to live faithfully in the present moment, today in our own personal and national seasons of upheaval, betrayal, and fear.

We don’t have to look far to see what he means. In this week’s news headlines, we read and heard of stories of wars erupting and government leaders abusing their power. We’ve watched the earth tremble, storms rage with horrible flooding, mud slides, and fires burning. There are stories of injustice, famine and genocide. Every generation has its own share of chaos including our own.

The point is this: The presence of disaster does not mean God is absent. The point is that these are the very moments when God’s people are called to bear witness.

Verse 13 says, “That will be an opportunity for you to tell your story.”

Nancy Wakefield of Wabash College writes, 

Testimony is usually reserved for the stories that declare how God brought the faithful out of slavery into freedom, how God made a way when there was no way. But here Jesus tells us that when we experience destruction, betrayal, and loss, we are to see these times as opportunities to testify.[2]

What is your testimony? Your testimony is your personal Story of how God walked with you in the trials of your life and how those experiences shape who you are today. All of us have a testimony. Every one of us knows something about pain. Every one of us has experienced loss, disappointment, or betrayal. And Jesus invites us to bring those wounds not in order to hide them but rather to let them become part of our Christian witness.

When the world seems to come apart, we tell other how Christ held us together.

When others see and experience only despair, we speak of and point to the hope that took root in our own personal suffering and how we managed to get through it.

When death seemed to win, we point to the empty tomb and remind them why that gives you hope and comfort.

So, I ask you:

Where might Jesus be using your story of struggle to speak hope into someone else’s darkness? Where has God taken something broken in your life and brought resurrection from it? What word of witness might you offer to someone who’s searching for meaning right now?

Jesus closes this passage with a promise: “Not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance, literally, your patience will gain your souls.”

Yes, false prophets will arise.

Yes, wars will rage and creation will groan.

Yes, suffering will come.

But the promise of Jesus still stands firm: not a hair of your head, my head, will perish because we base our faith not in mortal life but in eternal life.

Hold steady, beloved. Stand firm in your faith. Tell your story. Share your witness. Because when you do, you don’t just survive the chaotic swirly storms battering us today but you will find the deeper, fuller, more abundant life that only Christ can give. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.


A sermon preached by © 2025 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, New York and shall not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] N.T. Wright, The New Testament for Everyone. Third Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2023).

[2] Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) by David L. Bartlett, Barbara Brown Taylor, https://a.co/6EcqIy6.

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Sunday, November 9th’s Pastoral Prayer

Posted on November 10, 2025 by patrick h wrisley 
Lord of the Seasons, you who place the planets in their places, causes our tides to rise and fall, and food to flourish to feed us, we gather this morning and thank you.

As the temperatures turn colder, we are mindful of warm places to sleep, hot food to eat, and adequate clothing to stay warm.
	
Spirit, make us mindful and diligent in addressing the causes in our nation that prevent that for all people.

Our Sustainer, for the food on our tables, for the opportunity to purchase it and the grace to eat it safely, each of us are reminded of how blessed we are.

Our Rock and Refuge, burn in our hearts a searing compassion for those 42 million facing food scarcity in our country and give us a vision to meet their need both as the Church but also as a nation.

God of Peace and Shalom, on this day, we give thanks for those men and women who have selflessly served our nation in its defenses for their families who waited at home and worried,and commend to you those who did not return.

Holy Spirit, Inspire our national leaders to work for peace and justice wherever there is conflict – with whomever we can partner with to ensure peace; let our leaders seek the good of all, forgetting that which is politically expedient.

Lord of the Heavenly Reign, you came and showed us the Kingdom with its promises, its potential, and its purpose.

Jesus, there are many in our nation who are not experiencing that abundant life because of partisan bickering, scapegoating, and gross pursuits of power-grabbing; federal workers are not getting paid but are expected to continue serving, patrolling, screening, and coordinating essential services for their countrymen and women.

Holy Spirit, haunt all the leaders in Washington and drive them to work for the common good of all, even unto the least of these, and restore the essential services of our government; make them entirely uncomfortable that while they are getting paid, able to play golf, and not suffer want, their fellow citizens are struggling and losing livelihood. 

Spirit of healing, rest upon those whose bodies are frail or ill;
comfort those whose hearts are broken and confused; instill hope with those drowning in despair.

As we make our way through the week, help us to remember the 69,000 dead in Gaza and the 2,900 Jews from October 7th, the atrocities occurring to the children and women in Sudan; and all those in war zones from Eastern Europe and Africa.

So now we come, and we pray the prayer our Lord taught us, as we pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy 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. Amen.

                                                                                      

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How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?, Luke 20:27-40

Posted on November 10, 2025 by patrick h wrisley

An illustration for “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” (Sora)

A Sermon Delivered on November 9, 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley


It was a hard day at the office, and I had come home and crashed in the first chair that greeted me when I walked in the door. I just wanted to enter my cave, be alone, and turn everything off for a while. John Gray, author of the famous 1992 book Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus, describes the need for men to decompress in those first moments after coming home from work, i.e., to refrain from talking, tasks, or anything that might disturb that time of letting the day settle. Gray asserted the men needed that time of transition from work-mode to home life.  It never dawned on me back then that my wife Kelly was ready to run into a cave of her own by the time I came home in the evening! She quickly reminded me that Gray’s thesis was flawed; both men and women need “cave time” after a long day.

So, there I was trying to sit in my quiet cave-space while our two girls and Golden Retriever puppy tore through the house. After a while, things grew quiet and I began to relax and soon slipped into a pre-dinner nap. No sooner had I closed my eyes when I felt a plop on my lap. My youngest, Katie, had joined me in my chair and was looking up at me. All of five or six at the time, she began chatting up a storm. Then it came out of the blue. From what wall this non sequitur emerged is still a mystery, but in retrospect, it was clearly a glimpse into her future as a Ph.D. in Medieval Historical Theology.

“Daddy, what is hell?”

I just kind of stared at her a few moments, trying to formulate an answer she might understand. I had no idea what images she had running around her little mind when she asked me this question. Here was this little human of five, looking at me with Cindy-Lou Who eyes, wanting an answer to a serious question. I took a breath, stroked her hair, and said, “Honey, that’s a good question. In fact, that’s a great question and it deserves a really good answer! I’ll tell you what: Hey Kelly! Katie has a question for you! Go ask your momma and let me know what she says, ok?”

Oh, those hard questions that come out of left field; we all have them, don’t we?

What’s heaven like?

Well, it’s more incredible than we have words to describe.

What’s hell like? 

Why do we ask that? Do we think we want to book a ticket?

Is there a heaven or hell at all?

Look at your life and the world around us. You tell me the answer.

Why is there suffering if there is a good God?  

God might look at all the good Christians in churches worldwide and dare to ask us the same question.

Why did this happen to me?

Because you and I live in a broken, fallen world right now. It could happen to any of us.

Say, Jesus, how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?  

Jesus cocks his head and sardonically says, “Oh come on! Really?”

What are your questions for God? If Jesus were taking a bus tour through town and stopped here this morning and you could ask him any question, what would it be?

Well, this is what’s happening in our scripture from Luke 20 today. Jesus has entered Jerusalem and has been fielding a barrage of questions from the religious leaders, the strict keepers of orthodoxy and moral purity, who are trying to trip him up in front of the people. They were trained by the greatest religious minds of their time, so who was this country bumpkin from backwater Nazareth to school them in theology?

In today’s text, we meet a group we haven’t encountered before in Luke’s Gospel: the Sadducees. They were the ones who took care of the Temple and ensured the Torah was kept. They were scholarly, ultra-conservative in their strict interpretation of Jewish Law, and live as wealthy religious aristocrats. The Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife; they believed this life was all we get, so we ought to live it well. They only held to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah. The Pharisees, by contrast, embraced the Torah, the Prophets, the Wisdom writings, and loved the vibrant oral tradition passed down through generations. Compared to the Sadducees, the Pharisees almost looked like free spirits.

Now, the Sadducees come to Jesus with a question, not really wanting to learn anything but rather to mock him and stir the theological pot between Jesus and their rivals, the Pharisees. Listen to the Word of the Lord from Luke 20.

Luke 20:27–40 (NRSV)

            27 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28 and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. 32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

            34 Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

            39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 For they no longer dared to ask him another question.

This was their way of asking Jesus, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” They didn’t care about resurrection because they didn’t believe in it! For the Sadducees, eternal life was simply about family lineage continuing through their descendants. It’s all about ancestry; resurrection for the Sadducees was nonsense.Yet, despite their ridiculous question, Jesus provides two profound lessons about eternal life.

Lesson One: We believe in eternal life, not immortal life. To be immortal means never dying at all; in other words, immortal life means heaven is just an upgraded continuation of life here, with better houses, better cars, and, in my case, maybe a few extra inches of height! But that’s not what Jesus teaches. Jesus the mortal man died. He took his last breath on the cross. The soldiers even pierced his side to make sure. What Jesus tells us is that though our bodies decay and life itself brings pain, loss, and loneliness, those things do not have the final word. God gives us new life as re-created children of the resurrection.

Lesson Two: In the life to come, things will be both familiar and radically new. Our earthly urges and needs will fall away. We will be like angels: whole, pure, radiant children of God. All those things we think matter now like college degrees, houses, money, health – none of that will matter then any more than knowing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. When we live in the direct presence of God, the questions that trouble us now won’t even cross our minds then.

Remember what the Apostle Paul said about that day in 1 Corinthians 13:

Love never ends. But as for the gift prophecy, it will come to an end; as for the gift of speaking in tongues, they will cease; as for gift of knowledge, it will come to an end. At this moment, we know only in part… but when the complete comes i.e. the Day of the Lord, the partial will come to an end. At this moment, we see as in a mirror, dimly, but when the Day of the Lord comes, we will see face to face.[1]

In other words, beloved, resurrection is when we finally become fully who God intended us to be eternally. The time for ridiculous questions will end. We will know, even as we have already been fully known. One day, we will see everything clearly, face to face – not with earthly eyes, but through the eyes of eternity.

So, here’s the takeaway: the moment we receive eternal life, which is the moment we ask for it, our questions will and should change. The saying is spot on: If you want to know different answers you must begin asking different questions. The questions we ask on this side of eternity come from our yearning to know and our curiosity. So, maybe our task isn’t to pepper God with unanswerable questions but rather it is our task to begin living into that eternal life now with lavish faith, courageous hope, and generous love for God and one another.

And who knows? When that day comes, we might finally learn just how many angels can dance on the head of a pin and we’ll respond, “Who cares?”

© 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801 and shall not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1] My personal paraphrase.

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