The Message: Matthew’s Second Set of “Blessed Ares…”

Posted on November 23, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Scripture:     Matthew 25:31-46  

Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

Location:      First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale        

Date:             November 22, 2020

Today, we’re reading what has been called the Sermon on the Judgment, or as the preacher that married Kelly and me 37 years ago calls it, “The Sermon on the Last Audit.”[1]   It’s about how all of us will appear before Christ at the end of time and provide an accounting on how we shared our God-given blessings with the everyday people we encounter.  If you will reach back in your mind and remember, you will recall that Matthew’s gospel begins with a list of blessings promised to us by God in the Sermon on the Mount beginning in chapter 5. In the beginning of his Story, Jesus’ first public teaching is when he goes over a list of “blessed ares” like the meek, those who endure suffering, the poor, the peacemakers and the like.  Today’s reading, indeed, Jesus’ final teaching of his ministry, also contain a list of “blessed ares” but they are a bit more subtle to find.  As you hear the text, listen for the “blessed are the” in his final teaching. Hear the Word of the Lord!

Matthew 25:31- 46

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[a] you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”[2]

            Today is the final Sunday for the Christian liturgical year.  In many ways, it the Church’s New Year’s Eve.  Matthew’s Gospel begins in darkness with a baby born in a manger at night and now it ends with that baby-now-Christ-of-God sitting at the fulfillment of time to usher the faithful home. Interestingly enough, there will be those who are grossly disappointed when they learn they didn’t make the cut to move into the sheep line.  Assuming all their lives that they were sheep people, they quickly realize they were basing their assumptions on old, outdated information.

            Our nation is still going through this period of division today. Americans are living lives as proud sheep and goats. One side knows better than the other side and we will see at the end who is right! Today’s text is a good reminder not to make assumptions, beloved, and look for those threads that unite us together in an undivided demonstration of what it means to be Christ-followers in America today. Today’s startling last lesson from Jesus contains the bookend “blessed ares” for his Matthean ministry. The “blessed ares” revealed today show how we can one pull our nation back together again but they also point us to what determines the eternal consequences for our life after this life. I suppose we need to sit up straight, scoot up in our seats and listen to it, then, eh?

            The first radical thing about this judgement scene is what determines which line we fall into; it is not based on a list of “Thou shalt nots…” This is what Jesus has been trying to get across to people throughout Matthew’s gospel; it’s not about loving God with a well-lived life; on the contrary, what brings God joy is a life well-lived in its expression of love for others. Jesus is telling us that our eternal life is based first and foremost on God’s thoroughly soaking grace lavished on us through Jesus. Consequently, one’s eternal life is calculated on how well we continue the flywheel effect and share those graces with others.

            The second radical observation about our future judgement in Matthew’s text is that is doesn’t say it’s determined by our belief in Jesus. Our eternal life is not based on our mental assent that he is Lord and Savior; frankly, anyone can say that! What’s amazing is that one’s belief is not measured in mental acknowledgement and recognition of who Jesus is; on the contrary, Jesus is saying one’s faith and eternal life is based on whether we believed who he is enough to intentionally live like Jesus lived! As one scholar remarks, “Students of the New Testament know that the only description of the last judgment is in Matthew 25. There is nothing in it about ecclesiastical connections or religious practices. There is not a word in this passage about theology, creeds, orthodoxies. There is only one criterion here, and that it is whether or not you saw Jesus Christ in the face of the needy and whether or not you gave yourself away in love in his name.”[3]

Folks, you need to know that I am not saying believing in Jesus is not important; what I am saying, and what Jesus’ teaching is telling us, is that our salvation is with what we do with our belief in Jesus that matters.  I love what Dr. Lindsay Armstrong says, “Matthew lifts up the importance of what we do with our lives. Why? Because how we spend our time and whom we actively love and do not love provide a diagnostic image of our overall health.”[4] 

So, friends, if Jesus were to slap you and me into a heavenly MRI machine, what would it reveal about our spiritual health? What are the rubrics to measure it? I suggest the measurement of our spiritual health, our church’s spiritual health, is best measured with the last set of “blessed ares” in our Story today. Did you hear them?

Blessed are you when you see a stranger and give them food to eat.

Blessed are you when you see someone thirsty and give them water to drink.

Blessed are you when you look at the face of a broken human being and you welcomed them because you are showing hospitality to me.

Blessed are you when you see someone naked and without basic needs and clothe them and see to their basic needs as a human being.

Blessed are you when you cared for me while I was sick and I could give nothing in return for what you did for me.

Blessed are you when you intentionally sought me out and visited me where I was in the dark, remote places,, like a hospital ICU, a food kitchen, or in prison.

Friends, Jesus is telling us that our faith is not rocket science and is pretty simple to grasp.  When we see Jesus in the life, the face, of the person next to us, we love that person as if it were Jesus himself! Dale Bruner exclaims, “These ministries are within the reach of every single person; everyone has access to Jesus through a needy person.”[5]  Bruner reminds us that big, humongous miracles aren’t happening here; little, seemingly inconsequential ministries are. “It is precisely in these little ministries that the miracle of the Big Mystery – eternal salvation – comes.”[6] 

Church, you and I, this nation, all people everywhere, are united and tied together by the little things that hold the undeterminable weight of the key to our eternal life and salvation. Matthew reminds us that it is not about our correct beliefs or doctrines; he reminds us it is not about obeying rules and regulations; no, Matthew has Jesus reminding you and me that our eternal salvation is based upon how we love those around us in the most simple, basic, ways. He begins his gospel with “blessed ares” and he ends Jesus’ teaching with “blessed ares.”  I do believe he is trying to get us to remember something, don’t you?  The eternal question is, “Do we?”  Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder

First Presbyterian Church

401 SE 15th Avenue

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

patrickw@firstpres.cc

patrickhwrisley.com

© 2020 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]From a sermon from the Rev. Dr. B. Wiley Stephens, Dunwoody United Methodist Church in Dunwoody, Georgia, Heaven’s Audit of One’s Soul, November 23, 2008. Accessed on 2/17/09 at http://day1.org/1120-heavens_audit_of_ones_soul.

[2] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by 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] Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Feasting on the Word: Year A volume) by David L. Bartlett,  Barbara Brown Taylor

https://a.co/j1pRcxf.

[4] Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 4: Season after Pentecost 2 (Propers 17-Reign of Christ) (Feasting on the Word: Year A volume) by David L. Bartlett,  Barbara Brown Taylor

https://a.co/6B28YdH.

[5] Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary. Volume 2: The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 570.

[6] Ibid., 567.

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United for a Purpose – Each According to Their Ability, Matthew 25:14-30

Posted on November 16, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Preacher:         Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

Location:         First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale         

Date:               November 15, 2020

         The scene is being set for Jesus’ final days alive. Previously, we have seen Jesus in the Temple having rounds with the religious leaders, scholars, and politicians as they continued to pepper him with questions in order to trap him in his own words.  Well, the scene has changed.  After silencing those officials, Jesus has left the Temple and has descended down a hill outside the walls of Jerusalem and then hiked up a road through an ancient Jewish cemetery to the Mount of Olives which sits across from the Temple Mount on the east. It is most likely the same road he came down a week later riding a donkey on his entry back into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday which in Matthew’s story-time is only a week away.

         Jesus gathers this crowd of disciples and ends his teaching ministry by telling stories of what the disciples can expect in the future.  They are unsettling stories because they are stories of God’s judgement and are a call for the people to be ready to meet their God. Last week, we heard Nic speak of story of the ten bridesmaids and how some were left out of the festivities because they were not prepared with enough lamp oil. Jesus follows up that story with ours today from Matthew 25:14-30.  Listen to the Word of the Lord.

Matthew 25:14-30

“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’[1]

This has never been one of my favorite stories in scripture to be honest. Every time I hear it I cringe a bit as the tone of the parable sounds so unlike the meek and mild, loving Jesus we’ve met in the Gospel thus far.  He sounds harsh and dare I say, a little mean, in today’s text. Casting that poor guy out into the darkness where’s the weeping and pain. Calling him wicked and lazy? Ouch! I always thought that it was a bit of an overreaction for the slave owner to do that to a servant who guarded his master’s money and didn’t lose any of it. What is Jesus trying to say to you and me? What’s he warning us of?

A venture capitalist gathers her three-vice presidents into the board room.  “I’m going away for a while and I want you to handle my money and investments while I’m gone. I’m going to split my portfolio into thirds according to the ability each of you have demonstrated and I want you to care for the portion you have.” One invests her money and doubles it. The second vice-president invests her money and doubles it, too!  The third vice-president thought he was being shrewd. “The boss gave me 15 year’s-worth of her wages and I’m going to make sure it’s secure.  I’ve got an old fireproof gun safe in my basement and I’ll put the money there.”

That seems like a good conservative fiscal strategy, doesn’t it? After all, it is a pandemic and the market is a little all over the place. “I will just place the cash inside my vault and not lose any of it until this political election is over.”

The boss returns and the one vice-president says, “Look, I invested the billion dollars you gave me and made a billion more!” If you were the boss, how would you feel? You’d be thrilled and say, “Awesome! Giddy-up!” The second vice-president said, “I took the half-billion invested it and made a half-billion more!”  If you were the boss, how would you feel? You’d be thrilled and say, “Awesome! Giddy-up!” The third vice-president tells the boss, “I took the quarter billion dollars you gave me and locked it up in a safe! I wanted you to see that you could trust me with your money!”  Now, if you’re the boss, how would you feel?  She looks at the vice-president who locked her money up in a fireproof vault in his basement and says, “You’re fired. Security will escort you out the building! Giddy-on-up-out-of-here!”

Why would Jesus share this Story? Why is the poor guy who buried the money cast outside? Why was that vice-president fired even though he did not lose any money? Why?

Because of squandered ability and opportunity. Verse 15 says each was given according to their ability, their power. The word Matthew uses for ability is the same word we derive our modern word for dynamite.  We each have been given charge over what is not ours because the expectation is we will use the dynamite, the power and ability that we individually have, to do something productive with what we’ve been given! Three people were given charge of a gift they did not own; two invested their gift and doubled their return.  One buried the gift; it simply sat there.

Matthean scholar Dale Bruner invites us to zoom out from this text and look at it from a 40,000 level[2]. Perhaps as we talk about the talents, about our using the aptitude that God gives each of us, we need to first remember what the Master, i.e., God has given us.  Jesus has just come from having debates with old-way thinking scholars and religious leaders. He reprimanded them because they were totally missing the point about what a life with God was meant to be about.  Jesus has been railing on them at the Temple for focusing on the nit-noids of the Law to the exclusion of fulfilling the Law of God which is what?[3] To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. And what else? To love our neighbor as ourself. Yesterday, the confirmands being examined by the Session were asked, “Why do we love others?”  They correctly responded, “Because God first loved us.”

Because God first loved us.

Hear the Story again. The Lord gave each to his three servants according to their ability.  To one, the Lord gave grace.  The Lord went away and while he was away the servant invested the grace and doubled it. The Lord responds by lavishing the servant with even more grace. To another, the Lord gave grace and when the Lord left for a time, the servant invested the grace and doubled it as well.  The Lord is a thrilled and pours out more grace upon the servant to the servant’s joy. To a third, the Lord gave grace and while he was away, the servant took that grace and did not do anything with it but kept in a secret hiding place only he knew about. When the Lord returned, the servant said, “Lord, I kept the grace to myself and did not attempt to invest it in any way.”

Can we better understand and make the connection why Jesus shares this parable?  Jesus is trying to hit home the point that as Christ-Followers, we have been given grace in order to invest it in others so God’s grace can be multiplied. We are given grace in the hopes we will blow it up and let it freely rain upon those who don’t deserve it.  We are not given and extended grace to keep that grace for ourselves and make it solely for “me.” Through this parable, Jesus is telling us that if we want to remain at the party and not be told at the Judgement to leave, then we are to be about investing God’s grace freely given to us and cultivating that same grace in those around us.

Beloved, Christ-followers are united and undivided in our call to be grace sowers, growers and harvesters. Are we?  Surveying the landscape of our nation with its citizens politically thrashing at other people’s necks, with a pandemic that requires all of us to adjust our engrained routines to new ways of living, and with the bifurcating mindset of Us against Them and I’m Right and You’re Wrong, don’t you think we should be more intentional and strategic in investing God’s grace with one another? We act like a culture who is burying the graces bestowed upon us by God and are keeping them for ourselves or “my side.”  Friends, when we do that, it not only makes God sad; our Story today tells us that it makes God angry when grace is not reinvested in order to grow it larger. If we keep it, i.e. grace, to ourselves, it simply means we are spiritual narcissists. If we keep grace to ourselves and withhold it from others, we literally become an anti-Christ.  

The Good News is that we worship and follow a God who lavishes us with grace and who only asks us to do one thing: Invest that grace in and through others in Christ’s Name. Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder

First Presbyterian Church

401 SE 15th Avenue

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

patrickw@firstpres.cc

patrickhwrisley.com

© 2020 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] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by 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] Dale Frederick Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary. The Churchbook, Vol. 2.

[3] See Matthew 23 & 24 for these first-century theological debates.

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The Greatest Commandment, Matthew 22:34-40

Posted on November 5, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        The Greatest Commandment

Scripture:     Matthew 22:34-40

Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL            

Date:             October 25, 2020

            Have you ever been intentionally put on the spot in front of a bunch of others? Someone asks you a question to determine if you really know what you’re talking about?

            I just graduated from seminary, I answered my first call to a serve two small churches in north Georgia. In the Presbyterian system, a congregation calls a pastor and then he or she appears before the entire Presbytery of that region and is “examined” by those attending. The examination is to determine your fitness and ability to run a church. It’s an oral test.

            Seated towards the back of the church, I hear my name called out to please come forward. Nervous. Sweating. I’ve heard about these examinations before and some of the stories were not pretty. I share my statement of faith and now the 150 or so pastors and ruling elders get to grill me. A man stands up and goes to the microphone. He is a visiting pastor from Kenya and with a smile, he asks the first question. “Mr. Reesley, explain for us the relationship between Jeremiah’s book of Lamentations and the Cherokee peoples’ Trail of Tears.” He turns and sits down.  What wall did that come from? I looked at all the faces expecting an answer and tried to keep from getting an anxiety attack. It’s at this point God showed up.

            Spirit said, “Wrisley, you have just been asked a question from a man who has had and has witnessed the abuse of his rights and dignity as a black African male. He is asking you a question about a group of indigenous Americans who have had their rights, way of life, and land taken by the white man and then forcibly marched a thousand miles to Oklahoma to be resettled.”

            I spoke: The Cherokee nation, like the people of Israel and Judah, were forcibly removed from their homeland and taken as slaves, and were exiled to a foreign land. The book of Lamentations is the Jewish book we might even call, “The Trail of Tears.” I realized it wasn’t a trick question at all; if you think about it a moment, it all fits together nicely.

            Today’s text from Matthew 22:34-40 describes a similar scene. Jesus is still in the Temple and he is being grilled by the religious scholars and leaders of the day. They are doing everything they can to trip Jesus up and get him to say something scandalous in order to arrest him. So they ask him one more tough question hoping to entrap him.  Listen to the Story from Matthew 22:34-40.

Matthew 22:34-40

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [1]

            In the eyes of the religious leaders and scholars, Jesus’ behavior appeared to them to play loose and easy on the Torah. Jesus associated with the ne’er do wells of the day – you know, those politicians, women of ill repute, shady business leaders, Gentiles; in essence, if you listen to any of the local or national political ads at how a candidate’s opponents are doing all these horrible things, that’s what the religiously serious scholars and leaders thought about Jesus. They believed Jesus was violating the Torah, the Law, when in fact Jesus was attempting to recast the Torah, the Law, in a way that got to the essence, the heart of it.  They all looked and listened to hear what Jesus would say.  Which one of the 630 some-odd Laws in the Torah would Jesus pick?  You see, the Jews believed that all the Law was important and vital.  If you say one Law is more important than another, you risk demeaning all the Law.  They thought they were tricking Jesus; instead, they tossed him a softball.

            Jesus, being the good Jewish boy that he was, recited a prayer every Jewish person would know by heart. This prayer was the first prayer you were supposed to say upon waking and the last words you speak before sleeping.  He quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 which is called the Shema. Our Jewish friends have that little scroll on the doorways of their homes we call “mezuzahs” that have this scripture and prayer placed inside them.

            The first prayer in the morning is what? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. What’s the last prayer before bed? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

            It’s beautiful isn’t it? The first and last prayer of the day, both in our living and sleeping, is to love God with everything that’s within us! We don’t love with some of our heart, some of our soul, or with some of our mind; we are to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind.  We are to love God with the full range of our emotions. We are to love God within the spiritual depths of our being which even reaches beyond our mortal time. We are to love God with every aspect of our intellect, our imagination.

            If we pause and think about it, this is a prayer that sets the bar pretty high! How many of us can say we truly live this prayer out every day and night? What are the first words you and I say in the morning getting out of bed? What are our last words as we turn out the light?  The greatest command of God’s Law is to put God first in every part of our lives.  In our jobs; we put God first. In our marriages and relationships, what are we to do? We put God first. In the way we raise our children, what are we to do? We put God first. The way we treat a server at our favorite restaurant, what are we to do? We put God first.  When we use a check or a credit card for whatever we are buying, what are we to do? We are to put God first. When we make our household budgets, what are we to do? We are to put God first and not just give God the leftover!

            And then Jesus goes adds a twist to the Shema. He couples it with a scripture from Leviticus 19 taken from a list of edicts God shares with Moses about how to treat the poor and down and out in the community. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  When Jesus put these two scriptures together outlining what is now called the Great Commandment, he silenced all the critics.  They had nothing to say.

            Loving God and loving neighbor are two sides of the same coin. You can’t separate love for God with our love for those about us. It’s a Yen/Yang type of thing. We can’t have one without the other. As scholar Dale Bruner remarks, “(Our) purpose of living is the adoration of God and the cherishing of human beings…(we are to) love the God who love you and cherish the person who meets you.”[2]

            Jesus reminds us that upon these two, the entire love and expression of God hangs. Like the capstone of a stone archway, that if removed, the whole arch comes tumbling down, so are these two commandments, if they are yanked away as the capstone of the Law, the all the words of prophets and preachers come tumbling down if they are not obeyed. Jesus words are evangelical because they point us to God alone.  These words are missional in that they turn us outward to share God’s love with others. Or as Bruner reminds us, “This Double-Love command gives humans a direction to face (i.e. towards God) and a way to be (i.e. loving towards others in our midst).”[3]

            Beloved, what if we in the Christian tradition were to adhere to what our Jewish neighbors do and that is to twice a day utter the words of not only the Shema but the words pointing you and me beyond ourselves to the people we pass on the sidewalk?  What if we were to wake up every morning and the first thing out of our mouth is the prayer, “Today, I will love the Lord our God with all my heart, soul, and mind; I will also love those around me as I love myself.”  What if we were to go to bed every night and the last words on our lips are, “As I close my eyes to sleep, I will love the Lord our God with all my heart, soul, and mind; I will also love those around me as I love myself.” 

            All together now, let’s say, “I will love the Lord our God with all my heart, all my soul and with all my mind; I will love my neighbor as myself!” Now let’s go prove it by the way we live! Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder

First Presbyterian Church

401 SE 15th Avenue

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

[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] Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew. A Commentary. Volume 2: The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 409, 417.

[3] Ibid., 412.

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What’s in your wallet?, Matthew 22:15-22

Posted on October 20, 2020 by patrick h wrisley 

Sermon:      What's in your wallet?
Scripture:   Matthew 22: 15-22
Preacher:    Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min. 
Location:    First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL 
Date:        October 18, 2020

            It’s helpful to realize the context Jesus is in as you hear today’s scripture. Matthew takes two and half chapters to describe for us a singular scene that takes place in the Jerusalem Temple. Beginning at Matthew 21:23 and running through the end of chapter 23, we find Jesus confronting hostile civic and religious authorities while an awed crowd sits back and watches all the drama unfold. The people came to Temple and feast as they always did; who would have expected something exciting would happen “at church”?

Those who have been ensconced in power for so long are feeling threatened by the words, deeds and wisdom this upstart country boy is declaring and displaying. Jesus in his humble, direct way is outlining what soon was to take place in Jerusalem. He is laying the groundwork for reclaiming the Temple for God’s work that will be completed with his upcoming resurrection.

Our Story has four main characters. There is Jesus.  There are the Pharisees, or as Dale Bruner from Whitworth University calls, “the religiously serious” and along with their disciples[i]. Then there is this group of folks known as the Herodians who were the political hacks for Rome. And the final characters are the silent onlookers – people like you and me watching and soaking all this up. We are like a Greek chorus who wants to shout to Jesus, “Watch out! This is a trap!” You see, the Pharisees want Jesus for religious sedition and blasphemy.  The Herodians want Jesus arrested for political sedition because Jesus was a threat to Caesar and Rome. Listen to the Word of the Lord!

Matthew 22:15-22


15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” 21 They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away. [i]

In a perfect example of damning someone with faint praise, the Pharisees begin their conversation with Jesus by appealing to his ego. In their mind, they are softening him up so he will get caught off-guard with a seemingly simple but ever-so-loaded question. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” Well, it kind of depends on who you were.

The Pharisees only saw one answer: No. This is because the Jews are a sovereign people and their god is not Caesar but is the God Almighty. 

The Herodians only saw one answer: Yes, it is lawful to pay taxes to the Roman government because they were the occupying force at the time that was bringing “justice and safety” to Palestine.

Both of these groups knew full well that whatever Jesus says will upset one of the two groups. It would be like having Jesus stand before you and me today and then ask him, “So, Jesus, are you voting for Trump or Biden?”  Whatever Jesus says, he will deeply upset one side or the other. The reality is, both sides wanted to lock him up.

 Jesus’ answer is brilliant and slams both sides knocking them back on their heels.  With a wink in his eye, he asks them, “Show me the coin you will use for the tax?”  They quickly produce a coin that has a picture of the Emperor on it and it is inscribed to the effect, “The Supreme Holy Divine Caesar.” It’s a great scene! We can imagine Jesus looking over the top of his glasses at the ultra-pious, self-righteous religious leaders who keep reminding Jesus that there is no God but the true God of the Jews;  Jesus, meanwhile, is smiling pointing at the picture of Caesar, a Roman god, on the coin the Pharisees are carrying in their pocket!  The implication Jesus is making is, “Why would righteous Jewish religious leaders like yourselves be carrying these miniature idols that speak of Caesar as God?”  Jesus reveals their hypocrisy at this point. In essence he tells them, “Listen, don’t be all high and mighty about worshipping God when you are acknowledging the cultural Roman god Caesar by using a currency that affirms Caesar’s divinity.” I imagine their faces look like a child whose hands have been caught in the cookie jar!

Jesus’ genius does not end there! He goes on to say, “Give back to the emperor what is the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” The Herodians like his answer because Jesus is acknowledging the role of the State. The Pharisees like his answer because Jesus acknowledges the vital importance that for the Jew, God is the only king or sovereign that matters. The Protestant Reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther would look at this text as an example of how we cannot confuse the state, the system, the culture’s way with the way of God and the Kingdom of heaven. Yes, we are to live under the laws we have been given but when those laws, those systems conflict with God’s ways, God’s decrees, God’s just system, we have but one choice and that’s that we side with God. Jesus is declaring the State, the culture, has definite boundaries that can, and at times will definitely, encroach upon the boundaries of the Kingdom of Grace. What do we do about it?  Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees and the Herodians is a reminder to all of us to make sure the realm of God takes precedence over all our political, financial and social matters.

So, Church, does it? 

Years ago, Methodist actress Jennifer Garner made popular the credit card commercial jingle, “What’s in your wallet?”  In essence, this is what Jesus is asking the Pharisees, the Herodians, as well as you and me.  “What’s in your wallet?” In other words, Jesus is demanding, “Show me where your ultimate loyalty lies, pilgrim.”  

Beloved, the object of our loyalty determines how we live. This is the essence of what Jesus is trying to teach us. The Pharisees and the Herodians all said the right things, publicly did the right things but their loyalty was devoted to their own sense of power, rank, prestige, and privilege as compared to the person standing next to them.   

So, what’s in your wallet?  What is the object of your loyalty my friends? As a church, as fellow pilgrims and disciples of the Way, it is vital to God to know where our ultimate loyalty lies.  Church, we are all puzzle pieces that come together to form the identity of Jesus in our city. There’s nothing sadder than to see a beautiful puzzle all completed except for one little piece that’s missing. Jesus is saying he wants your life, your heart, to complete the picture of Christ in Fort Lauderdale and beyond. The puzzle, the picture is incomplete without your piece. Your piece, no matter how large or small it is, is needed to make the portrait complete. Beloved, your personal loyalty to God speaks to the larger loyalty of your church, this church!

I want to close today be leaving you with a question you that may seem to be a non sequitur but it’s not. The question is this:  Why is it, friends, so easy for us that without any thought to drop ten dollars down for a very mediocre hamburger for lunch on Las Olas Boulevard and yet find it so painful to drop a dollar in the offering plate for the work of God in the church?  What’s in your wallet? What do the receipts we have tucked in there say about where our ultimate loyalty lies? Is your piece missing from the puzzle?

Let’s pray.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder

First Presbyterian Church

401 SE 15th Avenue

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

© 2020 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.

[i] Dale Bruner from Whitworth University calls the Pharisees the “religiously Serious.”

[ii] 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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Pastoral Prayer for Sunday, October 11, 2020; First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale

Posted on October 13, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Almighty and Ancient One, the God who is, was and is yet to come, We gather as your expectant people this Lord’s Day.  Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory and majesty; You are Lord over all that is seen and unseen. It is at your feet way place our prayers and petitions.

Holy Spirit, we pray for our nation. As Israel and Judah forsook their love for You, so too have we and we are reaping the consequences of violence, plots against our leaders, illness, mistrust, distrust, inequitable justice practiced among the people, and spiritual blindness that inhibit us from “seeing” that reality. We are at point when our country needs the mighty velvet Hand of Providence to guide her people in the way we should go together as unified and diverse country. Help each one of us to do our part in toning down vitriolic and degrading rhetoric of others who think different from us, and through your Spirit, let us speak as humble sisters and brothers outdoing one another in showing love to those with whom we disagree.

Jesus, we pray for our leaders in government like our President, the Court, the Senate, and the House. We pray for their health, their ethics, and their commitment to equal justice for all. 

We lift to you our local and civic leaders from our governor to our local mayors and county and city commissions. 

We ask you, dear Father, to hold our women and men in blue in the palm of your heart and keep them and their family safe as they seek to bring our communities safety.

We pray for leaders in business and commerce who shape the livelihoods of so many in our community and affect what our community becomes.

And we pray for our Church leaders – Elders and Deacons all – inspiring these ordinary men and women with holy wisdom to lead your Church in such chaotic, unholy times.

Direct your blessing upon those who are worshipping from their homes and are not able to worship in person with us. Some are ill, some are staying safe, some feel grossly alone, and some are yearning for the contact of their blood or church family.

In your power, O God, remove the glorified cape of violence so many in our world have put on. Prick our spirits and conscience that we would stand up and say enough to drive-by shootings like that of a young 31-year-old father in Lauderhill and to extremists on the left and the right who do not reflect who we are as your people.[1]

Lord, there is so much to pray for. Those suffering from the lack of emotional surge capacity and depression. Those struggling to find work and pay their bills.  Those whose bodies are healing from surgery or illness.  Those whose hearts are shattered with grief because of the death of someone they love.  Oh, Lord, God, you know are hearts…deeply search them even now…

…And now we come and pray the prayer Jesus taught his beloved to pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by 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 from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever. Amen!

[1] See the article on Trabis Ward. Trabis is the nephew of an FPC member and was a father of three. Suspects are still at large. See https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-ne-football-trabis-ward-fatally-shot-20201011-xhsjgbya25djzpimkofvlrxoo4-story.html

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