Abundant Life Through the Good Shepherd, John 10:1-10

Posted on May 4, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Abundant Life Through the Good Shepherd
Scripture:     John 10:1-10
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:               May 3, 2020

You may watch the service and sermon here.

Turn in your Bible to John 10.  Let me set up the scene while you’re getting there.  In order for chapter 10 to make any sense, we need to know what’s going on in the chapter before it.  You see, when placed together, chapters 9 and 10 create a drama in three distinct acts.[1]

Act One is from verses 9.1-12.  It’s a Story whereby a man who was born blind was healed with a little of Jesus’ spit that was rubbed on his eyes.  Miraculously, the man could see for the very first time in his life and the crowd was going crazy over it.

Act Two is from verses 9.13-41.  This part of the Story reminds us that no good deed ever goes unpunished.  You see, Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath which was considered a violation of the Law Code for doing any work on God’s day.  The healed blind man was brought before the Pharisees and religious leaders and who demanded an explanation for the violation. Sadly, the Pharisees and others did not like the man’s explanation and called for the healed blind man’s parents to come and testify. The parents, who did not want any problems with the religious officials appeared before the court and said, “Hey, he’s of legal age and isn’t our responsibility so take it up with him!  We had nothing to do with his healing!”  So, the religious officials call the healed blind man back to appear before the court, who by this time was pretty much over having the best day of his life ruined by the religious buzzkills.  He finally told the Pharisees, “If this man, i.e. Jesus, was not from God, he could do nothing.”  Well, the Pharisees got upset for being schooled by the illiterate healed blind man and kicked him out of the community.

Act Three is where we pick up today.  Jesus hears the healed blind man has been excommunicated for giving God the glory for the healing and seeks him out. Jesus asks him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” and the man declares, “I believe it’s you, Jesus!”  Some Pharisees heard this and confronted Jesus about it and unloads on them, “This blind man sees and yet you who are the keepers of the Law are blind as bats about the Ways of God and your sin remains!”  This is where we pick up in the Story today.  Remember, Jesus is speaking to the religious officials in our Story. Listen to the Word of the Lord!

John 10:1-10

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.”  6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.[2]

Some of you may not know but I married a twin. It was only after we started dating that I learned there are certain challenges when dating a twin.  For example, it was hard for me to tell the two of them apart on the telephone whenever I called. I thought I recognized Kelly’s voice from her sister, Kathy’s, but there were a few times in the early stages of our relationship Kathy led me on a time or two.  It was only after getting to know Kelly and spending time with her that I could discern the subtle nuances of each of their voices.

Beloved, this is what Jesus is telling us today. This is what he was telling the Pharisees centuries ago. The religious officials who were to be shepherding the people with the Words and Ways of God corrupted the message ever so subtly. Over the centuries, they transformed God’s covenant of loving relationship with the chosen people into a relationship conditioned on proper spiritual and physical behaviors. The Pharisees made God’s Word to mean that if you do certain things and behave in a certain way, then you can have relationship with God. Jesus turned what they said upside down. Jesus proclaimed that if you have a meaningful relationship God, then a person’s behaviors will naturally fall into place.

Hence, the fact the blind man was healed on the Sabbath was a violation of behavior that there should not be any work on the Sabbath because it pollutes the day’s holiness; Jesus, on the other hand, declared that the healing of a broken man and restoring him to health and relationship with God’s community will prompt the healed man to live a God-honoring life. It’s here that Jesus goes and really stirs the proverbial pudding raising the ire of the Pharisees.  Aristotle’s first rule of rhetoric is to know your audience before speaking to them and Jesus had his audience nailed.  He was speaking to the supposed shepherds of the flock of David. He was speaking to those who were entrusted by God with the care of the Jewish people.

We miss the shock value of Jesus’ words today that were clearly heard by the Pharisees because they knew their Hebrew scriptures. As Jesus spoke, I must believe the Pharisees had churning around in the back of their mind the words of God spoken by Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel some 600 years earlier wrote in Ezekiel 34 the following condemnation from God to the religious leaders of his day.  God declares,

1The word of the Lord came to me: 2Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. 4You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals…10Thus says the Lord God, I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them.

It’s at this point Jesus begins speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd, the gate to a place of safety and the caretaker of the Sheep.  Jesus was announcing that from now on, the voice the sheep will hear is a voice of love and grace, a voice of concern and care, and a voice of protection and solace. It would be a voice of comfort and not a voice of burden.  It would be a voice correction and not a voice of retribution.  It would be a voice of grace and not a voice seeking personal gain.  Jesus’ words were the equivalent of a rhetorical slap across the face of those religious leaders in charge because they knew the rest of Ezekiel 34 where God declares,

15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. 16I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

If we are honest, we will admit it is often hard for us to discern the stranger’s, the thief’s voice, from the voice of the Shepherd who wants to care for us.  On one hand, we hear the stranger’s subtle voice because our lives have been inundated by the din of our world; on the other hand, we hear the subtle voice of the thief within the church itself. Like the times of both Ezekiel and of Jesus, some things just don’t change.

The voices of the culture wooing us away from abundant life are many.

There’s the voice of, “If it feels good, do it.”

There’s the voice of, “Bigger is better.”

There’s the voice of, “The more you have, the happier you are.”

There’s the voice of, “My way is best way” which is similar to the voice that says, “If it does not harm anyone else then what’s the problem?”

But the church also declares strange, thieving voices that compete with the words of the Good Shepherd.  There are elements in the church that have reimagined the voices of the Pharisees like the voice of the Prosperity Gospel that declares God will abundantly bless you with physical and tangible blessings if you have enough faith and give enough money to the church.  These are the ones who forget that Jesus was born surrounded by manure, was homeless, and who did not own a thing other than his clothes.

There’s the strange, thieving voice in the church that says if you don’t believe like I believe or do what I do then you’re not a real Christian at best or you’re going to hell at worst. These are the ones who obviously have not read our Story about the Good Shepherd today.[3]

There’s the strange, thieving voice in the church that dares to lift the so-called charismatic gifts above the supreme charismatic gift all Christ-followers are to demonstrate and that is self-sacrificing, intentional, inconvenient agape love.[4]

There’s the thieving, strange voice in some churches that tell you that it’s okay to believe whatever you want to believe about Jesus but who ignore the Lord’s words in today’s scripture whereby Jesus says he is the gatekeeper and caretaker of the sheep. Jesus is not a way but the Way. How God works that out, I don’t know as that is God’s work. I believe the demise of the American church began decades ago when we ceased to unequivocally declare loud and clear that Jesus is the gate and that whoever enters through that gate will be made healthy and whole.

The Good News of our Story is that Jesus comes to give us abundant life.  We tend to think of abundant life as that when God pours blessings upon blessings in our life.  Friends, our understanding of abundant life is too westernized, too Americanized.  We think abundant life is about more and more when it really is about less and less.

Abundant life is the embracing of the simple gifts of life that God provides. Perhaps this is one of the blessings we can open up during this time of COVID-19.  We are reminded that abundant life is about the simple things in life.  Like being in community. For a phone call from a loved-one you haven’t heard from in a long time.  Abundant life is a family gathered around the dining room table sewing masks for medical personnel and first responders they will never meet but whose lives they are protecting.  Abundant life is seeing beauty in the small, little things in nature or gestures of kindness of those you walk by on the road.

Jesus promised you and me abundant life. If you want to experience it, all you have to do is to listen for and to the Good Shepherd’s voice.  You now know how to tell the difference! Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL  33301
https://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] Bartlett, David L.; Barbara Brown Taylor. Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide (Feasting on the Word: Year A Volume 2) (Kindle Location 16078). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.  Article by Shannon Michael Pater.

[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] Bartlett, David L.; Barbara Brown Bartlett. Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide (Feasting on the Word: Year A volume) (Kindle Locations 16105-16107). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition. Ibid.

[4] See 1 Corinthians 13 en toto. Speaking in tongues is fine but Paul insists that love trumps it in the gifts department.

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The Power of a Well-timed Question, Luke 24:13-35

Posted on April 27, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        The Power of a Well-Timed Question
Scripture:     Luke 24:13-35
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:          April 26, 2020

You may watch the service by clicking here.

Luke 24:13-35

            13Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.[1]

It’s Sunday morning and you leave the church and head north on 15th Avenue until you hit Federal Highway and Sunset.  You continue to head north on 1 and make your way to Imperial Point Hospital. The deal is this: You’re not in your car or riding a bike; you’re walking the seven miles towards Pompano. How long would it take you to walk that far in the hot Florida afternoon? Google says about two and half hours although I’m not sure how accurate that is.

This is the scene in today’s text.  Cleopas and one other person are making their way home from the religious festivities of Passover. They have a hot dusty walk to a little village called Emmaus which many believe is some 7 miles west of Jerusalem. They have just experienced this incredible week-long festival that packed the city with people from all over the world. There was worship. There were celebrations. There was political intrigue and an arrest in the quiet garden just outside Jerusalem’s walls where this so-called anarchist called, Jesus, was taken by force to the city’s religious and political officials. This Jesus had a kangaroo court of a trial and was publicly executed, buried, and then left for dead. The women disciples of his group, who were really the first apostles, discovered an empty tomb and an angel of Light and even saw Jesus himself!  They ran to tell the other disciples what they had experienced and let the others determine what to do with the news for themselves.

It appears that Cleopas and his companion were a part of that group of ‘others’ the women told their story to that day.  Now it was time to go home.  Easter has come and gone.  The Tomb is empty. They haven’t seen Jesus so what else are they going to do about it? They walk home some three hours away.

It’s at this point in the Walk to Emmaus Story Jesus does something that is so simple but very profound in sharing the good news Story.  Like we will see Deacon Philip in Acts where he comes alongside a chariot with an Ethiopian eunuch and asks what he was reading, Jesus matches his gait to this duo and says, “Well, hi!  What are y’all talking about so passionately?”

For over thirty years of ministry people have told me how hard sharing their faith is and they just can’t be evangelists. Perhaps we members in the Church need to learn from Jesus and that is the art of a well-timed question.  Jesus did not approach these two and make a declaration of who he was, what he’s about, and how they should respond to his presence! When people begin a conversation with a declarative statement, they intend for you to pay attention and get the facts right.  However, when a conversation begins with a question, the questioner is inviting the other person to enter into a conversation and dialogue.  It’s in shared conversation and dialogue that trust is built, clarity and understanding can emerge, and the environment for listening is constructed.

During his ministry, Jesus tended to meet people and lead with questions just like he does in today’s Story. “What are y’all talking about?”

Christ-Followers and Church have been getting this whole evangelism thing wrong for several hundred years.  We tell people what to believe, how they should act, and declare the consequences to them if they don’t. Maybe that’s why people of all ages don’t think about Church much these days. Maybe they equate God with the Church in a way we would rather they not, i.e. that God is just grumpy grump abiding someplace “out there” who wants to see and know how we’ll behave. The feeling is expressed by many pre-churched and pre-Christians that all God cares about is how a person acts…can I tick off the right boxes.

I wonder if it might be better to change our methods and follow Jesus’ example of the well-timed question instead.  Instead of declaring our righteous agenda to them, maybe we should instead ask them to share what is going on with them in their life instead. When we represent the Christ this way we are indicating that God is not some Grumphead but is a God who totally understands us through Jesus; Jesus asking us the well-timed question is his way of sharing his ultimate joy, wish, and dream to have an intimate relationship with you and me. Questions are all about relationship building. This is Jesus’ method of relationship building.

Sadly, when the church has asked questions of people in the past, the questions come with pre-loaded declarations. You have heard of those, what I call, old Christian pick-up lines haven’t you? Here’s a few of them.

Are you saved?

If you died today, would you go to heaven or hell?

Have you received the gift of the Holy Spirit?

You see, all these pre-loaded questions come with agendas that the person asking the questions wants to be met. “Are you saved?” usually means the person assumes they are not.  “If you died today, where would you go?” usually means the person thinks you’re going to turn and burn. “Have you received the gift of the Holy Spirit?” usually means the person thinks that if you are a Christian, you’re lacking in some way.  Pre-loaded Christian questions usually have an agenda behind them. I have always believed that if you want to get answers from the questions you’re asking people but aren’t getting the answers you want, then the best thing to do is to change the questions you’re asking them!

Jesus, though, tailored his questions to whomever he was talking with at the time.  His desire was to build relationship first and then get the facts right second.  Jesus’ use of a well-timed question was the way he intentionally got to meet people where they are.  He wants to know the questions of their heart that they are struggling with right at that moment.

Perhaps, Church, we can learn something from this.  Perhaps the Church needs to ask those around her different questions in order to get to know others better. The questions we have been asking aren’t working. If we got to know them better and what their needs are, what their dreams are, what their hopes are, and what their fears are, then we will be better to minister to the needs of those around us more strategically. It’s only after Jesus asked a well-timed harmless question was he able to know what these two travelers were struggling with that moment.  Once Jesus listened to their Story, he was able to respond to their concerns.

Beloved, what are the conversations you are overhearing on the road while you travel through April with its pandemic and economic stress?  What are people around you speaking of in terms of their hopes and fears? Have you listened enough to even know if God or Spirit is in the realm of their thinking? Are we too quick to jump in those conversations with our own agendas, our own answers to their problems, declaring what they should or shouldn’t do, or believe or not to believe?

I think we need to be bold enough to simply ask others, “What are you talking about?” That in turn gives us our Christoformed life a voice as we make our way together with others. Amen.

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.

[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.

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Easter Message: No Fear!, Matt. 28:1-10

Posted on April 14, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        No Fear!
Scripture:     Matthew 28:1-10
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:              Easter, April 12, 2020

You may click here to see the Livestream the service.

Jesus Christ is risen! And the people reply with me, “He is risen, indeed!”

Is it just me or does it feel like Easter is just a little different this year?  For the first time in over three decades of ministry, this is the first time I have not been able to come and be with my church family. It causes me to feel sad on one hand but eagerly excited on the other.  The sadness is that we cannot physically be with one another; the excitement arises from knowing that this season of time will pass and we will be together again; when that happens, what a celebration it will be!

Late this past week in the weekly sermon sneak peek, I threw out a challenge for you to see if you could read Matthew 28:1-10 and discover something you have never noticed before. It was not until this year this small but very interesting fact jumped out drawing attention to itself. One’s context is everything, I suppose.  It’s a reminder that the Word of God and the old, old Story is both the same and very dynamic at the same time. The Spirit is moving all the time to reveal new revelations from God in the midst of our routine readings of Bible stories we have read or have heard many times before. Let us listen and read Matthew 28.1-10 and see if you can discern that which you have never noticed before! Hear the Word of the Lord!

Matthew 28:1-10

28After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” [1]

As you listened to this old, old Story, did you notice something new? You see, just like today, there was not a public Easter celebration! Just like today, people were in lock-down huddled in their homes afraid to emerge and show themselves.  It was not because of COVID-19 but it was for fear of the locals in Jerusalem who may want to herd the Jesus Followers up and give them a kangaroo court trial and kill them like they did Jesus.  In the public’s mind, these Jesus Followers were agitators.  They were disturbing the status quo because they followed a man, Jesus, who held a mirror up to his people, his religion, his culture, the government and showed them how unjust they really were. It was the life of Jesus who reflected to the people that the true way to honor God and neighbor was through willful, extravagant, costly love. Forget public and political displays of self-righteous living and pomp, these Jesus Followers were taught that the conversion of a person to the heart of God begins in the heart – first in God’s and then in a follower’s.  Just like today, people during the first Easter Sunday were not gathered in community but were sheltered at home in fear.  Dale Bruner from Whitworth University writes, “Fear monopolizes (our) attention and paralyzes (our) response.”[2] So, beloved, as you live in lockdown and social distancing, what are the fears that are gripping you?  What are those thoughts that keep you up at night? What does the devil Wormtongue whisper into your ears during your time huddled behind closed doors?

So, what are those whispering fears you hear?  I want you to gather them up, collect them, put them on a list!  Acknowledge the fears of lost job and wages, health, dying alone, or getting behind on rent or mortgage. Point them out in your mind: Call them out!  And beloved, once you and I do, I want you to hold that list of fears up into the Easter morning light and hold them up to what the promise and hope this days provides!

Yes, I am afraid to die alone! But Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!  His resurrection means I am never alone as God is my constant guide and comfort.

Yes, I am afraid of getting the virus! But Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed! His resurrection enables you and me to overcome our fear and strive to live outside of ourselves and love others out of their loneliness.

Yes, I am afraid that as a working parent I will not have the energy to work at my job from my home while watching over my kids undergoing homeschool for the rest of the year! But remember Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! He promises strength, resolve, courage and Spirit that will sustain you through anything life throws at you!

Beloved, our Easter scripture is a resounding call for us not to cower behind closed doors but to go and check this marvelous thing out ourselves!  Come, look, the tomb is empty! No fear! Jesus is telling us to go and tell others about how our fears have been overcome by the power of the resurrected Christ! There is no longer a need to cling to those fears as Easter beckons us to let them go and lift our hands in holy wonder and praise!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!

Easter is different this year and to quote Martha Stewart, “It’s a good thing.” It’s a good thing because we get to experience what the first century church and the first disciples experienced: A dislocation from supportive community and fear. We get to experience the Easter miracle from the inside and behind the door just like Peter, Mary, John, Andrew and the others did.

Let me ask you?  How’s that working for you?  It’s not easy, is it? Perhaps Church throughout the world needed a slap in the face to remind us that our gathered community is precious and we have taken it for granted. Perhaps Church around the world needed the reminder that there is no such thing as solitary Christians but that to be in Christ means to be in Christian community. Perhaps the Church throughout the world had to die to her old ways and habits, get buried behind doors so that it eagerly prepares and anticipates to be released into new life and launched back into the community!

Me? I miss the hats.  Easter is the one time of year young girls and women come to church wearing hats! I love the bright dresses and bright bows in the hair. I miss seeing the young boys who are forced to dress up in suits and a tie with their hair slick back to look good in the family pictures.  I miss Mr. Jackson Easter Bunny at our children’s Easter party in Colee Hammock.  I miss the solemnity of the choir singing their beautiful music helping us to physically enter into the spirit of Lent and Easter.  I miss seeing the Chreasters – those who only show up at Christmas and Easter – because they are now friends asI have come to know them the last few years and I long to see their faces in the pews. I miss breaking bread and drinking from the cup of Holy Communion but I realize its absence in our life will make it that much more powerful when we gather to take it again. What do you miss?

Yet, the more I ask that question, the more I realize that is a sophomoric question, a silly question to ask. The right question we are to be asking ourselves is, “What have I, what have WE gained from Easter this year?”  Already we are learning the preciousness of this life we have been given.  We are remembering the gift of a hot cup of coffee on the patio of Anne’s Florist and Coffee Bar surrounded by friends. We are remembering how in the midst of the lockdown, hundreds of members of this church have been making masks for hospital staff and first responders in Broward County because even if they are locked up at home, COVID-19 cannot lock up the Spirit’s work in helping others sustain their lives while helping others.

Easter, new life miracles are abounding all around us, beloved. It’s just that we, like Mary, have to go and see for ourselves how the Spirit is already moving.  My Easter prayer is that the Spirit of Christ will reveal itself to you and declare very plainly, loudly, and clearly: No fear!  Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed.  Jesus invites you to look at your life with a new set of eyes. He invites you to look and see! He invites you and me to go and tell others.  He also tells us gather everybody up because we will all be together again in Galilee. “I promise,” he says, “you will see me then!”

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
http://www.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] 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, Vol. 2, The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishers, 1990), 787

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Our God Cries, John 11:27-37

Posted on March 30, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Our God Cries: Where is Jesus When it Hurts?
Scripture:     John 11:27-37
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      Virtual First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:              March 29, 2020

You see the Livestream of the service here.

Today we have a story about four friends separated from one another by distance.  Sisters Martha and Mary, along with their brother Lazarus, live in a village just a few miles from Jerusalem.  Jesus was recently there for the Feast of the Dedication but had to make a hasty retreat because the religious officials got upset with him and tried to stone him. Jesus has taken the long, hot road down to the Jordan river and went to gather his thoughts at the place his cousin John baptized people before John was beheaded. In the time between his leaving Jerusalem and getting down to the river, a reasonable two day’s walk, his dear friend, Lazarus had become deathly ill. The sisters sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was dying but explained that if Jesus acted quickly, he might get back to Bethany in time to cure him.

Jesus self-distanced himself thinking about it.

He waited two extra days before he and the other disciples climbed the long mountain road back to Bethany.  By the time he got to his friends’ home two days later, Lazarus was already dead and buried for four days.  We are picking up in the Story as Jesus is walking into Bethany and is met by Martha, Lazarus’ sister.  The first thing she says to Jesus in verse 21 is, “Jesus, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”  In response to her indictment, Jesus levels with her: Do you really believe in the resurrection and the life?  Hear the Word of the Lord!

John 11:27-37

[27] She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” [28]When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” [29] And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. [30] Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. [31] The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. [32] When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” [33] When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. [34] He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” [35] Jesus began to weep. [36] So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” [37] But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” [1]

Jesus is met by Martha, then Mary, and then all the others in the village who were sitting Shiva with family. Sitting Shiva is the Jewish practice of surrounding a family with your physical presence for up to seven days helping them grieve. You speak of the deceased person; you cry and wail for the loss of the one who died on behalf of their family because they may not have any more tears to shed. Death is a social event for our Jewish neighbors just as it was for Jesus in the first century.

So, picture in your mind this very emotional reunion of Jesus with his dear friends; he is surrounded by them as these crying, wailing neighbors keep huddled around the women as they go. This time it’s Mary who falls at Jesus’ feet and reminds him yet again that if he had come sooner, her brother would not have died. It’s at this point, Jesus himself becomes overwhelmed in his own grief and looses it giving us what has been called the shortest verse in the Bible in John 11:35: Jesus wept. His best friend is dead. He looks at the two sisters who now have no one to care for them and he just loses it. The weight of grief is too much.

Reading the text confronts us with Martha and Mary’s gentle dig at Jesus: Why didn’t you come sooner? Jesus, you could’ve prevented all this pain and sadness! We hear the crowds mutter, “He could open the eyes of the blind but he could not save his friend? Why, Jesus, why?”

If we are all honest, we have asked that question, too.  Events have occurred in our lives that we pause and look to heaven and ask God, “Why?” Why did Jesus wait until is his friend was not only dead and buried but wait so long, as we read further along in our story, until the dead body would’ve been at the point of smelling of decay? Why?

Here’s my shot of an answer: In John’s gospel, Jesus was aware of his identity as being the very presence of the Almighty  in the world. His claim as the Great I AM  earlier in John’s narrative affirms that. You see, it’s my contention that Jesus knew that if he was the Resurrection and the Life, the God-among-us in the fleshiness of our humanity, he was going to need to fully relate to our human experience in every possible way. Jesus needed to experience the grief all humanity feels when someone we love dies. Jesus spent his life loving and healing all types of people. These “other people” matter to him, matter to God, because they are created by the Almighty and deserve His love. It’s easy to love “those other people”, those strangers that desperately come up to him and cling to him, begging for mercy and grace in a world that is full of selfishness and pain. But Lazarus was different.  Lazarus was not like “those other people” we read about in scripture.

Lazarus was Jesus’ dear friend. He was a soul brother. The love expressed in the healings of the others in the gospel Stories are Jesus’ expression of agape love – the sacrificial, intentional, and graceful love to those who do not deserve it. Jesus’ love for Lazarus was different than that. Verse 36 has the crowds say, “Look how he (Jesus) loved him.” The word John uses for love is filial love not agape love. It’s the type of love used to describe brotherly love, affection and emotional connection. It is love that describes a personal intimacy within the relationship between people.

Lazarus was not just somebody; Lazarus was a soul brother that Jesus shared an emotional bond. They were tight.  Lazarus wasn’t a part of the masses; he was a special friend akin to family to Jesus.  It was at Lazarus’ house he could be authentically Jesus, authentically himself and let his guard down. So why let Lazarus die? Why not save his best friend?

Passion. You see, to fully relate to all men and women in our common humanity, Jesus not only had to suffer the death all people face; Jesus had to feel the deep pain and pathos of anguish from the loss of someone close to him. He had to experience the searing loss of death of an intimate person in his life, not from a divine point of view as the Christ of God but as Jesus, the man of God living as a human being. God Almighty, Creator of All, would feel the pain of loss for his Son on Good Friday just as Jesus experienced the loss of his beloved friend. It’s only in this way that the Glorious Triune God fully enters into and experience of human death in both its finality and in its overwhelming sense of loss and sadness.

So, Jesus wept. Jesus the man felt the total weight of emotional loss of an intimate friend. Not only would he taste death on Good Friday like every human will encounter death, but in our Lazarus story, Jesus weeps because he feels the human sense of loss and sadness we experience. Jesus, the man of God, feels the sting of death as a human. God the Father feels the sting of death at the loss of his only Son on Good Friday. The whole Godhead, the Trinity, experiences what we humans are experience!

Where is Jesus when in hurts, when life goes amuck and awry? He’s in the midst of it all. It means that as we read the Sentinel, the Times and the Journal, we know God completely relates and empathizes with us as the headlines report the impact of this pandemic we are in at the moment. God is weeping with you in the fears that silently vibrate through your life and in our country right now.

Lent is a time to remind ourselves that our Christian faith is the only faith in the world that draws strength from the fact that God knows how to cry out of pain for and with those he loves. Our God cries for and with us! Christians have the beautiful confidence, power and strength that our God cries. Jesus wept. His tears are a warm rain that overs us when all around us seems so swirly and scary. You, me…we are not alone, beloved. Our God cries out for us! Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
patrickw@firstpres.cc
www.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.

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Becoming Lights in Shadowy Places!, Ephesians 5:8-14

Posted on March 23, 2020 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Becoming Lights in Shadowy Places
Scripture:     Ephesians 5:8-14
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:              March 22, 20207DBF9479-9CB2-4773-B504-F4DF50F37B39

Click here for the Livestream

A friend and colleague of mine, Dr. Michael Christensen, wrote a thesis many years ago about the apocalypse.  In his work, he describes two types of apocalypses. One type of apocalypse is the “Big A” Apocalypse when the culmination of time occurs and our world as we know it is no more. In our Christian tradition, it’s the time Jesus returns.  But Michael said there is a second type of apocalypse, a “little a” apocalypse.

Little “a” apocalypses happen throughout the course of history. They do not necessarily portend the end of time as we know it; instead, they usher in a new time and way of living, experiencing life, relating with others. These little “a” apocalypses are the world events which cause cultural paradigm shifts in the way we see and relate with the world and one another. One apocalypse he cited as the example of forcing the world to sit up and change was his study on the Ukrainian community of Chernobyl. Chernobyl is a nuclear power plant near a small village that had a meltdown in 1986, some 33 years ago. It was an event that challenged our view of sustainable energy, the environment, and the fabric of community. The people in the Ukraine do not overlook the irony of it all. You see in Revelation 8:11, the scripture tells us the, “Waters will be turned into wormwood” in the last days.  In Russian that verse reads, “And the waters will be turned into chernobyl.”

Friends let’s be bold and say that our country and the world we have known is undergoing a little “a” apocalypse.  Everything we were certain of, confident about, and relied upon has been totally upended in the course of a few days. As yesterday’s article that appeared on the AP newswire declared, Taking Stock of Strange Days: The Week that America Changed.[1]

It’s a week when reveling Spring Breakers on the beach were viewed as out of touch and selfish. It’s a week when UPS drivers, mail carriers, grocery store clerks were seen on the front line as being seen as courageous. Medical personnel are today’s super-heroes. The very way we do business is changing. How we relate to one another is changing. Cut off from those we love in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, or even relatives from a different city or state, people all over the world are adjusting to a new way of life called Social Distancing or “lock downs.” Churches are scrambling to meet the spiritual and emotional needs of their parishioners as we learn to do ministry during this little “a” apocalyptic time. Communities are getting creative in how they respond to the needs of those in the hospitality industry who are losing their jobs as servers, cooks, and even corporate leaders at hotels like Marriott are getting furloughed.[2]

The deal is this, beloved: God is sovereign. God’s got the whole world in his hands!  This is not the first little “a” apocalypse humankind has experienced and it will not be the last. What these swirly times do provide, however, is an opportunity for Christ-Followers to step up their game and demonstrate to the culture we are not out of touch and irrelevant and that a vital spiritual relationship with God makes our lives joyful in the midst of turmoil. This is our time as Church to rise up and become once again a beacon of Light in a very shadowy world.

Today’s scripture is from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. We will be looking at chapter 5:8-14.  Our reading comes from a section of the letter where Paul is talking about what it means to be in Christian community. He speaks of the necessity of the unity in the Body of Christ. He is comparing one’s old way of life with the new life found in Christ and grounded in God. Following today’s reading, Paul goes on to talk about how relationships in the family and in business should work. Today’s verses from Ephesians 5:8-14 is in the midst of the section Paul is talking about how you and I are to relate with the world around us.  Listen to the Word of the Lord!

Ephesians 5:8-14

8For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— 9for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.[3]

Paul is speaking of a spiritual apocalypse in the life of a believer. When a person encounters Christ, he or she is dramatically changed and can no longer see, relate with, and experience the world and life the same way.  Once we were in darkness.  Now we are not only in the Light, Paul says we are Light! Everything has changed! Our old life has been turned on its head and we each become beacons of life-giving Light to those around us. People of Jesus are children of Light! Light stands out in darkness.  Light gives direction when culture’s shadowy duskiness begins to fall. It reveals Truth, Beauty, Goodness and God’s Presence.

I received a text from a friend Friday that highlights this notion of revealed Light. It’s written by an older man with mobility issues.  He writes, “Instead of standing in line at Publix, (I can’t stand that long )…I decided to have my breakfast at the Plantation Diner…and then go back to Publix…I sat at a table outside, and when they brought my food, the owner ( who I know) came outside to talk to me…We chatted and told him that I couldn’t stand in the Publix line…I was just going there for  a quart of milk…He left and in a few minutes came back with a quart of milk and gave it to me.

Reflecting on this he says,

I was amazed …
What goes around…comes around…
There’s so much good in this world …
More positive energy is coming through …
I’m home and the mockingbirds are still singing.
Stay well…
Stay safe.

This dear man encountered a child of Light! Friends, we are living in a time of crisis but crisis in and of itself is not a bad thing nor is it a good thing. A crisis is just what it is, i.e. an event that has disrupted the status quo and calm of our life.  What determines the outcome of crisis on whether it is “good” or “bad” is how we each relate to it. For me, I personally choose to relate to this crisis the world is in, this little “a” apocalyptic moment, as a child of Light. My faith and trust in God tells me to look for good and the beauty and the truth in the midst of the swirliness. I invite you to embrace your relationship with God in Christ and intentionally live as a child of Light.

Let me share with you what some may call a cheesy way to remember how to live as a child of Light right now.  Let’s use the anacronym, CARE. If we live in CARE, we will be dual-beam halogen lights shining radiance everywhere!  So, what does CARE stand for?

C – is for calling. Friends now is the time to go old school and analog in our relationships. As a culture, we love our smart phones for texts and movies but now is the time to start using them to call and connect with people. In your mind, I want you to scan the seats of where you normally sit in worship and look at the faces of the people you normally see there. Who are those people you had dinner with on Wednesday nights in the church’s fellowship hall? Who are those people in our Bible studies, AA Groups, sports teams? Who are those folks you have not seen in a while?  Pick up the phone and call them!  See how they are doing! If C is for calling, then…

A – is for asking. It’s fine to have chit-chat and catch up on things but to be a child of Light means to look beyond ourselves and ask how others are doing. Do they need anything? How are they feeling? Are they scared about their job? We won’t know unless we ask. Children of Light show their love by asking how the other is doing. Children of Light demonstrate Jesus when we purposefully ask, “What would you like me to do for you?” C is for calling.  A is for asking.

R –  is for reading. Use this time, friends, to be reading the Scriptures.  Sure, it’s fun to binge-watch Netflix but how is that going to shape you and me so our lives reflect a Christoform character of Light onto others?  We say we are a Christian nation but we are a people of religion who do not know our Holy Scripture.  Now is a wonderful time to begin doing that and learn the character of God by reading the Stories of God! C – Call others. A – Ask others their needs.  R – Read the stories of God to yourself and to your children. And finally,

E – Extend grace.  Children of Light extend grace to others. Have you gone to a grocery store lately? You try going to Wal-Mart or Target? It’s a reminder of the darkness we are living in! People are fighting over the last rolls of toilet paper or hand sanitizer.  People are hording supplies. We are driving distractedly and all the stress is causing us to be sharp and annoyed with others. Those of us who are typically mild-natured have invented new ways to use the King’s English as we shout at people.  Friends, we are children of Light.  As children of Light we are to shine and extend grace onto others and into situations that are hurtful or stressful. Do we mimic the world and live in its frenetic frenzy of “me first” or do we slow down and shine light by showering grace in ungraceful situations?

Children of Light CARE for others. We call and reach out to others. We ask how they really are and what their needs are. We regain our habit of reading Scripture which will form our character into Jesus’.  We extend grace to others as God has extended grace to us.

Let’s be shining Lights in shadowy places by being CARE-full! Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
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] Ted Anthony, Taking stock of strange days: The week that America changed, March 21, 2020. Located at https://apnews.com/a82294fc0723630d850603dd7b016ad5.

[2] See https://www.wsj.com/articles/marriott-to-furlough-thousands-of-corporate-jobs-in-u-s-and-abroad-in-response-to-travel-collapse-11584834631.

[3] 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.

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