Christmas Eve Message: Pondering, Luke 2:8-20

Posted on December 31, 2019 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Pondering
Scripture:     Luke 2:8-20
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:             December 24, 2019, Christmas Eve, Year A

 Luke 2:8-20

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.[1]

The older I become, the more I realize that Christmas is like an oak-barrel-aged fine wine or bourbon: The longer they sit in the casks, the finer they become. They become smoother and one’s maturing palate can distinguish flavors he or she could not when they were younger. So it is with Christmas; Christmas gets better and mellows with age! What reminded me of this fact was spending time among our ornaments and Christmas decorations this year. God used those ornaments and decorations as angelic massagers reminding me of the treasures of Christmases past and pondering how over the years those treasures have evolved in their meaning and have shaped me in ways I could never imagine.

One of the things about putting up a Christmas tree is that every year, the ornaments are carefully unwrapped from their tissue paper and fawned over before they are put on the tree. There are the tatted snowflakes Ms. Nell Lewis made us back in 1988 and every year since I throw them like Ninja stars to see where they will land on the branches. There’s a well-worn paper plate Christmas angel my youngest daughter Kate made when she was in kindergarten that finds its special home on top of the tree each year. Kelly has her favorite which is a little crystal in the form of a Hershey’s Kiss given by her preschool class when she taught at Decatur Presbyterian Church’s preschool in 1987. My favorites are not ornaments per se but are the giant hand-knitted stockings my mother made for each of our girls when they were born. For years I chided my mom for making such huge stockings Santa had to fill up each year and each year my oldest daughter would remind her little sister, “Nana made me the bigger stocking!”

The whole process of decorating is a time of reflecting over the years to the time when the ornament was made or the Creche’ made out of olive wood from Jerusalem was given to us from the grandparents. What many people would call trinkets or tchotchkes are what your family calls treasures. We cannot help but hold one of these treasures and think back over and through the years on the memories of the person who made or gave us the ornament years ago; we look backward and ponder upon how our lives have gone with all the twists and turns of relationships, health issues, job changes, or physical moves and how these changes – for what we perceive as good or bad – have shaped us. So for me, I cannot help but hold those little priceless ornaments my daughters made in Sunday school decades ago and not reflect upon all that has happened to make them the women they are today.

Beloved, this is what is happening in our Story tonight. First, an angel appears to Mary in Luke 1 telling her she will have a baby who will reign on the throne of King David (Luke 1.31-33). Now, a group of ragamuffin shepherds come from nowhere seeking the Holy Family out so they can peer at the face of this baby in the manger who is promised to be Messiah and Lord. And like collecting ornaments, treasures from so many sources reminding her of who and what this baby is, Mary treasures and ponders these things in her heart. She hears the shepherds’ Story of angels proclaiming the good news of her baby’s birth.  She sees the faces of strangers coming to peer into the stable who have heard these stories and have come to see for themselves what it was all about. Mary’s understanding of who Jesus was grew over time and years. She knew God’s hand was upon him, she watched him grow up and later saw him teach others and do amazing things showing love to her Jewish neighbors and to the most vulnerable people of the day. And she pondered.

The writer Luke uses two different words in his gospel for the notion of pondering. The first is in Luke 1.29 when the angel tells Mary that she will bear a son. We read how she pondered over those words. In this instance, Luke uses the word for ponder which means a person has an internal dialogue about something. But Luke intentionally changes the Greek word for ponder in our Story tonight; the word he uses for Mary’s pondering is more than a mental dialogue about what the shepherds reported; rather, the word Luke uses this time to describe her pondering means to get down and really wrestle with something. It’s a much more active form of pondering than the word he used in chapter one.[2] Whereas Mary had an internal debate about what the angel promised her in chapter one, now Mary is engaged in a mental battle to understand what these shepherds and others are saying to her. Her understanding of God’s intentions with this little baby is growing, adapting, and evolving. The more she treasures the ongoing experiences of God’s revelation to her from a variety of sources, whether from angels, shepherds or the strangers who come, the more intense Mary’s pondering becomes. The more God reveals to her, the more intense her wrestling with what God is trying to say evolves and grows.

Beloved, tonight is the world’s spiritual reset and reboot button to treasure and ponder over all God is doing through this baby boy Jesus in your life and in the life of this church. Like old ornaments on a tree whose meaning and power evolve and grow over the course of years of wrapping and unwrapping them, so too does our understanding of who Jesus is in each of our own lives. The young people who sang for us at 5:00 o’clock will ponder upon Jesus and wrestle with Christmas totally different from our college students who are back home on Christmas break right now, or, even from those older members whose lives have been seasoned with life’s cumulative joys, sorrows, let downs, and celebrations! Each of us treasures Jesus from where we are right now at this moment in time based on how we have treasured him or not in our past.

What do you treasure about Christmas? The decorations, the food, the parties, and the gifts, or, do you travel back in your mind to those earlier days before when you held a more innocent, simple understanding of what took place this night centuries ago? Has the weariness of life turned your ecstatic gasps of Christmas’ holy wonder into tired sighs of unholy indifference, or is the coo of the baby calling you back to the manger’s side?

The Lord God is calling us to ponder the real meaning of Christmas this night. God is calling us to really wrestle and grapple with it. God promises you and me that if we will but slow ourselves down and carefully unwrap the gift we are being given, we will both remember back and presently wrestle with the miracle of God’s power in our life this day born in that cold manger centuries ago. It’s a power and life God wants to be born in you this very night. Shall we actively ponder it along with Mary? Will you and I receive the gift? Amen.

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

© 2019 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] Luke 1:29 uses dialogizomai whereas Luke 2:19 uses the Greek word, symballo.

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The Message: The Best Laid Plans, Matthew 1:18-25, Advent No. 4

Posted on December 23, 2019 by patrick h wrisley

You may watch the service by clicking here!

Sermon:        The Best Laid Plans
Scripture:     Matthew 1:18-25
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:             December 22, 2019

Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.[1]

A country carpenter from a small village considered to be a backwater no-nothing town in northern Israel. His expectations for life would have been simple and straight forward. He would grow up to learn a trade, find a girl, get married and live near home.  He would start a family and grow old with his wife living a simple life, in a simple village, with simple but similar surroundings. He knew he would never grow to become rich and famous; simplicity was his lot and he gladly accepted it; like all men, he just hoped he could provide a decent living for his future family.  You see Joseph is not different from any working-class man you or I know.

We are not certain if his engagement to Mary was arranged as was Jewish custom or not; all we know is that his fiancée was pregnant, and he had nothing to do with it whatsoever. We learn that Joseph is a good man, too. Scripture describes him as a righteous man. Whereas it was his male right to publicly parade his teenaged fiancée before the public authorities and declare her unfaithful, Joseph made a personal decision not to do that; Nazareth was a small town; this is where he was going to live and create a life with all these people he had grown up within the village. So before Spirit even told him about Mary’s “situation”, Joseph had decided to handle things quietly, discreetly. There must have been love in his heart for her already because being a good man, he did not want to throw Mary under the bus of shame in their small town; it would have been easy enough to do.

No, Joseph took stock of his life, his plans and his new predicament and he goes to bed to “sleep on it.” It is there in the depth of his dreaming unconscious the Lord God speaks to him about all that is about to take place. “Joseph, it’s going to be okay. Things are not what they appear to be on the surface. Mary has been faithful to both you and me and she has a call to fulfill, just as you, I may add, have a call to fulfill as well. I know you thought your life was going to go and end up a certain way. Joseph, I’m sorry, that’s not going to happen.  What is going to happen is that you are going to be a daddy and you will name your son, God Loves and Saves His People – you will call him Jesus. I know the plans you have made have been dumped on their heads, but I want you to remember that even though the course of your life has changed and has been altered, my love and presence with youth will never fade away. Trust me: I’ve got this.”

In the course of his dream, Joseph is reminded of an obscure text written centuries before by the prophet Isaiah (7:14) during a time when things were not going well for Israel. It was written at a time when the country was divided into two and the world and ways, they had grown accustomed to were about to fall about them. In this midst of Isaiah’s chaos, God promises a young girl, a virgin, would give birth to a son and would call him, Immanuel – God is with us. God told Isaiah that when things look their bleakest, look for the improbable and for the impossible because that is where God is going to show up.

God is telling Joseph the same thing. As Joseph sleeps and his mind is churning away seeking understanding, the Spirit of God tells him that his life is about to take an unexpected turn. God tells Joseph that just as things are looking their bleakest, Joseph is to look for the improbable and for the impossible because that’s exactly where God with us will show up.  In the midst of chaos, God, through this developing baby, is forging an improbable, impossible pathway of hope.

Joseph and Mary, both of whose lives are seemingly rolling along without any problems as they are innocently trying to plan a future for themselves like any modest, simple Jew of the first-century world that they begin to get peppered with life’s interruptions and intrusions causing them to readjust their plans. Have you ever had a plan in mind and then for whatever reason you had to change courses in mid-stream? Well, take heart!  It’s a biblical reality!

Years ago, in Mrs. Richter’s English class in high school, we had to read poems from old, dead obscure authors and we wondered out loud, “Why am learning this? It doesn’t make any sense!”  It’s only after the smoothing of my teenaged hubris through almost sixty years of life’s tumblings around in unfulfilled plans, redirected paths, and unforeseen events from health to poor judgments that I finally understand Mrs. Richter’s purpose for exposing us to these bards. One of them I had to learn was from Robert Burns, a Scottish poet from the late 1700s. It is called simply, To a Mouse.

The beauty of this poem I can see today (that I could not recognize as a young man who was trying to get the captain of the cheerleaders, Marian Chan, to notice me) is this: We are to pause and look at life’s interruptions and learn from them. The poem is about a time when Burns is out walking in a newly plowed field and notices a mouse scampering about. Burns places himself into the life of this little mouse and imagines what it must be like to have one’s house, all neatly arranged and stocked for the winter to be ripped up and destroyed by a farmer’s plow in late fall. Let me share a few stanzas from Burn’s To a Mouse:

Little, silky, cowering, timid beast,
Oh, what a panic is in your breast!
You need not start away so hasty
With bickering prattle!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering paddle!

I’m truly sorry man’s dominion
Has broken Nature’s social union,
And justifies that ill opinion
Which makes you startle
At me, your poor, earth-born companion
And fellow mortal!…

…Your small house, too, in ruin!
Its feeble walls the winds are scattering!
And nothing now, to build a new one,
Of coarse green foliage!
And bleak December’s winds coming,
Both bitter and piercing!

You saw the fields laid bare and empty,
And weary winter coming fast,
And cozy here, beneath the blast,
You thought to dwell,
Till crash! The cruel plough passed
Out through your cell.

That small heap of leaves and stubble,
Has cost you many a weary nibble!
Now you are turned out, for all your trouble,
Without house or holding,
To endure the winter’s sleety dribble,
And hoar-frost cold.

But Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Often go askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy![2]

“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go askew.” Joseph may not have known Burn’s poem in the first century, but he sure knew what Burns was talking about!  Joseph’s life gets plowed over in ways he neither asked for, could imagine, or consciously wanted at the time. And it is right here we discover the Advent promise and hope, beloved:

When our lives have taken a hard turn when our plans fall through, relationships fail, or our health deteriorates, we hear Spirit’s voice to Joseph as though God were speaking to you and me. We hear God speaking to us in our own plowed-over dreams, “No fear.  I got this. Even though life and its circumstances seem out of control, even though everything seems uncertain and swirly right now, regardless of whether you think you even believe in me…Immanuel! God is with you!

And that is the power of Christmas: When things seem so beyond our control, that’s precisely the place we are to look for God’s presence. When things seem most improbable, when life seems too impossible, that’s where we look for Immanuel, God with us. Let’s be honest: The best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray and off the rails. And we know that we know that we know that in the midst of it all, God is with us!  Immanuel!  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.net

© 2019 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] See original at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43816/to-a-mouse-56d222ab36e33. The poem used in the sermon is an English version and does not contain all the stanzas of the original.

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Advent Week 1: Are You Ready?, Matthew 24:36-44

Posted on December 4, 2019 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Are You Ready?
Scripture:     Matthew 24:36-44
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:              December 1, 2019, Advent #1

You may watch the service Livestream by clicking here.

There are two types of people in the world.  Those people who use PCs and the rest of us who are Mac users. We are fiercely loyal to Mac computers and are the adherents of “once you go Mac, you never go back.” Well, that was the case up to two weeks ago.

As PCs have the dreaded Blue Screen of Death which appears when the system freezes up, Macs have the Swirly Pinwheel of Death that starts swirling around and around when its system freezes.  I’ve been seeing a lot of Pinwheels lately. This is unusual for a Mac and lately, it’s become so bad that the only way out is to manually turn off the computer and then restart it. This is known as the dreaded hard reboot of a system.

When you do a hard reboot of a computer, you are going to lose something you have been working on whether it’s the plane reservations you have been making or the term paper or sermon you have been working so hard on. When you do a hard reboot on the computer, you hold your breath and painstakingly wait to see if your work has been saved.

Today’s scripture is about a hard reboot to a system, namely humanity’s understanding of time. Whereas Christmas looks at God’s first advent or coming to us in the baby Jesus, the first Sunday in Advent asks us to pause and reflect upon the second coming of Jesus, not as a little baby but as the Prince of Peace and King of Creation. We begin with the second advent of Jesus this season to remind ourselves God will make good on God’s promises never to leave us alone and orphaned.  It’s a reminder that when we look to the sky, shake our fists, and tell God, “Life isn’t fair!” God smiles and says, “You’re right, beloved. Hold on because I’m coming to get you soon!”

Like a computer, our life and world have a bug that has slowed down our performance and causes us to crash a lot. The “bug” infecting us is sin. What is sin? Sin is a part of our human condition that generates our propensity to deface the image of God in God, in our neighbor, in ourselves and in our environment. Jesus comes and demonstrates God’s perfect plan for how we are to live but we see how far that got Jesus, don’t we?  Jesus was sent to save the system so that when it crashes, there is still hope.

Well, today is about Jesus’ hard reboot to the system. Some call it the second coming. Others call it ‘the rapture.’ We all know it as the apocalypse.  The apocalypse is God’s hard reboot. It’s when everything is quickly turned off and then fully restored.

Let’s take a look at this reboot and look at a fresh perspective on how we get ready for it. Hear our words today from Matthew 24:36-44.

Matthew 24:36-44

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

This is an unusual apocalyptic text from Matthew. Unlike the Apostle John’s famous apocalyptic story, Revelation, where all those fantastic cosmic events occur that we cannot understand, Matthew is much more subtle on how the second advent of Jesus takes place in humanity’s total everyday ordinariness. Jesus is telling the disciples that they do not need to waste their time looking for ‘signs’ that the redemption of Creation is about to happen; rather, disciples are called to live our lives in expectant hope that whenever the fateful day arrives, we are prepared.

Jesus walks up to a farmer at harvest time, taps him on the shoulder and says, “Excuse me.  It’s me.  It’s that time.”

A woman is pushing a grocery cart at Publix, turns down the spice aisle, bumps her cart into Jesus’, and he tells her, “Guess what time it is?”

You are fast asleep in the middle of the night and the hi-tech Simply Safe alarm you picked up at Best Buy on Black Friday failed to detect Jesus as he entered the house.  He gently shakes you on the shoulder and says, “Hello! Wake up! It’s time to go!” You anxiously ask, “Um, go where?” and with a poker face he replies, “Oh – you’ll see.”

Matthew paints the picture of humanity wrapped up in everyday activities when the time of judgment arrives. We will be out at dinner enjoying fine wine and a fillet and then it’s time. We will be at the Super Bowl party when the really bad halftime show fades away to meaninglessness and you are immediately brought face-to-face with a glorified Christ. Then again, you may be at the Premier wedding event of the season when all of a sudden, the fulfillment of all times takes place; and there you are in the midst of judgment.

The deal is this: we look for signs as to when these things will take place and the word Matthew is spelling out to you and me is this: God will show up in the most mundane events of our everyday lives so be ready now. Matthew is not so much about sign-reading as Matthew wants us to be more life-living in a state of readiness. Furthermore, it’s a word that’s not directed solely to individual followers of Jesus; unlike today’s American Christianity that thinks one’s faith is “all about me,” Matthew is directing his words to the Christian community as a whole. We read how Jesus is speaking to “you” in the singular but he’s not; when Jesus declares “You also must be ready!” he is using the plural, ‘all y’all!’

He is asking us, “Church, what are you as a Christian community doing to help each other get ready for the moment of the second coming? Are you doing your own thing or are you working together to ensure that you’re ready. Are y’all ready for when I return?”

The church has done a pretty poor job of letting people know about the coming judgment. We need to rethink what we understand of judgment because we have painted it with a lot of coats of different colored paint and it’s difficult to make out what it really is. We have acquiesced its real power and story to the people or to the fringes who have made a spectacle of Christ’s return.

Those on the theological left have ignored the whole concept and have buried it in the sands of antiquity and have widely ignored the fact that all of us will have to appear before the judgment seat of God. For them, it’s an intellectual exercise. Those on the theological right, however, are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good and they totally forget that new life in Christ begins the moment one says, “I believe” and a result, we are called to live like that now. Judgment for them is God behind the judge’s bench when we get to heaven and God will let us in or tell us to take the escalator down to the lower level.

Today is the day we are to ask ourselves, “Are we ready?”  Church, we mistakenly think God’s first question to us at judgment will be, “Did you love me?” when in reality, the question will be, “Did you demonstrate your love for me by loving and caring for those around you?” The question is not so much what I have done in my life to get myself into heaven; rather, the issue is how much have I sacrificed my life to help others get there like Jesus did for me! I truly believe when we come to God face to face, God will not ask you and me, “What did you do to get here?” I think God’s question will be more along the lines of, “I gave my son so others may have life. So who, Christian, who Church, did you bring with you in Jesus’ winsome wake of love?”

One of the striking moments in the blockbuster movie from years ago, The Titanic, is the scene when the ship is going down and people are trying to outrun one another to the lifeboats. They are physically jostling others out of line or they make demands that because they are first-class passengers, they deserve to be saved first. This chaotic scene is juxtaposed to another moment on the boat when bandleader, Wallace Hartley, continued leading his eight-member band to play music as the ship was going down. Hartley and his friends wanted to bring a hopeful, peaceful calm to the passengers as the horrible tragedy took place. So, in the midst of panic, they gently played, “Nearer my God, to Thee.”

Being ready is not about our securing a seat on God’s lifeboat.  Being ready means stationing ourselves as a church along the way to help others get their seats.

Today’s text is our Lord’s clarion call to be ready and to be focused on what we are supposed to be focused on before the hard reboot comes.  Are we?

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

© 2019 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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Because of His Name; Luke 21:5-19

Posted on November 20, 2019 by patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Because of His Name…
Scripture:     Luke 21:5-19
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:              November 17, 2019

You may watch the entire service here.

Turn in your Bible to Luke 21:5-19. Jesus has entered Jerusalem for his last week alive and thus far he has been having to defend himself from the leading religious authorities in town.  Now he is reflectively speaking with his disciples as they pause to soak in their beautiful surroundings.  The ancient historian Josephus wrote roughly 40 to 50 years after Jesus died and describes the setting which will help us better appreciate the scripture story. Josephus reflects upon what the Temple in Jerusalem looked like in its glory. He writes,

The exterior of the building wanted nothing that could astound either mind or eye. For, being covered on all sides by massive plates of Gold, the sun was no sooner up than it radiated so fiery a flash that persons straining to look at it were compelled to avert their eyes, as from the solar rays.[1]

            Now listen to the Word of the Lord!

Luke 21:5-19

5When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, 6“As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

7They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” 8And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them.

9“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” 10Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

12“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17You will be hated by all because of my name. 18But not a hair of your head will perish.  By your endurance you will gain your souls.[2]

This Sunday’s text has Jesus talking with his disciples about what to expect when he has gone. Granted, at this point, they are too obtuse to realize Jesus is about to “go away” via a cruel death, and Jesus is trying to give them a heads up. He tells them,

When I’m gone there will be wars and rumors of war.

When I’m gone, family members will turn against one another and stab each other in the back.

When I’m gone, you will be run out of all your social and civic clubs.

When I’m gone, you are going to be expelled from the Temple as well as the synagogues.

When I’m gone, you will be mocked and made fun of because of me.

When I’m gone, you are going to be seen as a threat by the religious officials and civic government and arrested because you know my Name.

When I’m gone, you are going to be hunted down like wild animals, beat, tortured, and killed because of me.

When I’m gone, your friends will throw you under the bus and will leave you high and dry to figure out life’s hardships on your own.

I wonder if our Christ-followership would have more meaning if all Christians had to sign an indemnity clause before they joined a church and professed their faith.  Indemnity clauses are signed when one party agrees to hold harmless another party in case there are problems or bad consequences while undergoing an activity or experience.  You have signed one of those before, haven’t you?

Years ago, I went on a thrill ride in Orlando called the Skycoaster invented by a church member and friend of mine, Bill Kitchen. Three people are strapped into a harness which is then attached to a cable on your back.  You are then hoisted straight up into the air 300 feet high coming to an abrupt stop causing you to rock and sway totally exposed some thirty stories up in the air. If that wasn’t scary enough, one of the three riders has to pull the ripcord which causes the trio to fall over 120 vertical feet reaching terminal velocity before you began to arc out and over the crowds below. Even though he was a motorcycle riding buddy of mine and a member of my church, I still had to sign an indemnity clause releasing him from responsibility if the cable snapped. Indemnity clauses are sober reminders to us to really reflect and think upon what we are about to do and sign up for on the dotted line.

What if Christians had to sign an indemnity clause before we followed Jesus promising not to hold him responsible for any harm, discomfort – mental or physical – or any other liability we may encumber as we follow him?

Now, some may laugh at that thought.  I mean, how hard is it to be a Christian in our western culture today?  Well, in our culture’s eyes, not very hard at all.  Christian discipleship today is marked with rugged utilitarian individualism; who needs the church or a community of people to be close to God when I can do it by myself?  People crow, “The church is full of hypocrites!” and I smile and respond, “And we’ve got the room for one more just like you to join us!”

The reality is, Jesus tells his disciples that before the signs of the end appear before the Temple is torn down and wars and rumors of war emerge, disciples will be persecuted. He did not say they would be inconvenienced but they would be persecuted.  Why? Because of his name. Twice in a short few verses, Jesus reminds us that the faith we hold onto in his name will bring us in confrontation with authorities and will cause people to hate us.  All because of his name. But we protest, “I don’t like confrontation and I want to be liked!”

When we follow in Jesus’ name it means our professed faith in Christ matches our outwardly lived allegiance to him in the world. It means when we say they will know we are Christians by our love that our praises in worship will not turn into snippy, snarky, grousing, backbiting attacks about other church members by the time you reach the parking lot.

When we sign up to follow Christ, we don’t sign up to follow a list of rules; however, there does need to be congruence to what we say we believe and how we live and relate with God and each other. Why? Because we are sharing in his name.  Professor Alan Culpepper notes, “Truth is tested and faith is confirmed not in idle speculation but in the crucible of adversity.  Those who wish to find a more vibrant religious experience, therefore, should not look for a sign of the future but for signals that it is time to live by Jesus’ call for obedience here and now.”[3]

Perhaps Christians in America need an indemnity clause to sign to remind us of what we are agreeing to get involved with when we say, “I believe in Jesus.”  Perhaps the Christian Indemnity Form reads like this and we are being asked to check these boxes in agreement.  From the comfort of your seats, see if you can honestly complete this indemnity clause for being a Christ-follower.

Do you agree to be personally responsible for all actions encumbered or enacted by you or someone else if you accept Jesus Christ and Lord and Savior?

Do you acknowledge your new life in Christ will cause you hardship at best and hardship at worst?

Do you acknowledge that by checking the box you hereby relinquish all personal control of your tangible and financial assets?

Do you acknowledge you will be discriminated against because of your fealty to Jesus Christ?

Do you acknowledge that by signing this form you publicly agree that there will be congruence in your life between the faith you profess and the quality of life you lead at home, work, play, or in any social arena, online or otherwise?

By checking this box, do you acknowledge public shame, mockery, imprisonment or possible death may occur because of the faith you proclaim?

Just maybe, beloved, our faith should cost us something as it did Jesus his final week before he died because of the congruence of what he said and lived for the sake of his name.  This week, our homework is this:  Does the quality of my faith even demand an indemnity clause?  Amen.

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

© 2019 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]R. Alan Culpepper, The Gospel of Luke, The New Interpreters Bible, Vol. IX, (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 399.

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

[3] Culpepper, 403

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

Posted on November 13, 2019 by patrick h wrisley

You can watch the whole service or the sermon by clicking here.

Sermon:        Dear Jesus, How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?   
Scripture:     Luke 20:27-40
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:             November 10, 2019

It was a hard day at the office, and I had come home and crashed in the first chair that greeted me when I walked into the door. I wanted simply to enter my cave and be alone and turn everything off for a while. John Gray, author of the famous 1992 book, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus, describes the need for men to decompress in those first moments walking in the door from a busy day of work and refrain from talking, tasks, or anything else that would disturb their time for letting the day settle. It never dawned on me back then Kelly was ready to run into a cave of her own by the time I walked into the door in the evening. She quickly reminded me Gray’s thesis was flawed; I was soon tutored that both men and women need ‘cave’ time after a long day!

Well, there I was trying to sit in my quiet space and our two girls and Golden Retriever puppy were tearing through the house. It grew quiet after some time and I began to relax and soon slipped into a pre-dinner nap. No sooner had I closed my eyes when I felt this plop on my lap.  My youngest Katie had joined me in my chair and was looking at me.  All but 5 or 6 at the time, she began chatting up a storm. Then it came from out of the blue. From what wall this non sequitur emerged from is still a mystery and in retrospect, it was clearly a glimpse into her future as a Ph.D. in Medieval Historical Theology.

“Daddy tell me about hell. What is it like?”

I just kind of stared at her a few moments trying to formulate an answer she might understand. There was no telling what images were going through her mind…flames of fire…devilish looking creatures with pitchforks poking people… Here this little human of five was looking at me with Cindy Loo Hoo eyes wanting an answer to a serious question.  I took a breath, stroked her hair and said to her, “Honey, that is a good question.  In fact, that’s a great question and it demands a really good answer!  I’ll tell you what: Why don’t you take that question and ask your momma!”

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

What’s heaven like?

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

What’s hell like?

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

Is there a heaven or hell at all?

Look at your life.  You tell me the answer.

Why is there suffering if there is a good God?

God looks at all the good Christians in churches worldwide and dares to ask us the same question.

Why did this happen to me?

Because you and I live in a broken, fallen world at the moment.  It could happen to any of us.

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

Really?

What are your questions for God?  If Jesus was having a bus tour in South Florida and was here this morning and you could ask him any question, what would it be? Well, this is what is happening in our scripture from Luke 20 today. In Luke’s storytime, Jesus has entered Jerusalem and has been having the religious leaders – the keepers of orthodoxy and moral purity – peppering him non-stop with comments and questions trying to trip Jesus up in front of the people. They were trained by the greatest religious minds of their community so who was this country-bumpkin from backwater Nazareth to school them in issues of life and theology?

In our text, we are introduced to a group of people we have not met before in Luke’s Gospel, the Sadducees. From on old, they were the ones who took care of the Temple and made sure the Torah was kept.  They were scholarly.  They were ultra-conservative in their strict interpretation of the Jewish Law and were seen as wealthy religious aristocrats. The Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife but understood we are to live our best life now as that is all we get. The Sadducees only held to the first five books of the Jewish Bible, the Torah.  The Pharisees embraced the Torah as well as the prophets and other wisdom literature in the Old testament. The Pharisee loved a vibrant oral tradition passed on from one generation to another in the form of Midrash, commentary added over the centuries that help explain the biblical text. Pharisees would almost appear libertine when placed next to a Sadducee.

We meet our Sadducee in Jerusalem trying to trip Jesus up. His question was not so much as to learn any deep truths but rather was a way to show up Jesus and stir the pudding between their religious rivals, the Pharisees. Listen to Luke 20:27-40.

Luke 20:27-40

27Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him 28and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; 30then the second 31and the third married her, and so, in the same way, all seven died childless. 32Finally the woman also died. 33In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” 34Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; 35but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

39Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40For they no longer dared to ask him another question.[1]

This was their way of asking Jesus, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” They did not care about resurrection because they did not believe in it themselves! For the Sadducee, eternal life was related to the concept of a family guaranteeing there would always be a progenitor to pass on the family line. So, if something happens to me as Kelly’s husband, when I die she would then become the wife of one of my brothers and bear them children as though they were ours. It was a way for the family to continue.[2] The concept of resurrection was absolute silliness to them. Yet, even in their absurd question in whose answer they did not really care about in the first place, Jesus schools them and provides you and me two lessons of what our eternal life is like.

Lesson one: We believe in eternal life, not immortal life.  To be immortal means we don’t die. It means when I “die” things will continue on in heaven as things are here in our earthly existence. It’ll be pretty much the same old, same old except hopefully, we all get an upgrade on our cars and houses and with any luck, I won’t be so short and squatty.

Friends, the man Jesus died. He took his last breath on the Cross and died. The soldiers speared him just to make sure. Jesus is telling us in our Story that though we will face physical decay and corruption, we will face pain and loss, we will cry and feel alone, but that this less than perfect life of ours is not the last word. God provides us the ability to live eternally as a re-created child of the resurrection!

Lesson number two: Jesus says that in the life to come, things are similar but are also radically different. At the moment, you and I have earthly urges and needs that will not matter in our heavenly life. Jesus says we will be like angels of light and will be children of the resurrection. We will be the same but different…uncorrupted and whole while in the Presence of God. We live eternally with the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  What matters to us now – degrees, motorcycles, homes, health, money – will not matter to us any more than knowing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin! When you and I are in the direct Presence of God eternally, the questions that matter most to us now will not even be ones on our mind then. Do you remember what the Apostle Paul says about that time? He reminds us that

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.[3]

In other words, beloved, it’s at the resurrection we become wholly who God means us to be. The time for absurd questions will come to an end.  We will know as we are already fully known. One day, we will see it all with our own eyes, face to face – not with our earthly eyes but with eyes of angels.

So, here’s the takeaway for you and me. If when we receive eternal life on the other side of the grave, it’s helpful to remember that the questions we ask God will change. The questions we yearn to have answered now are a result of our yearning to know the answers; frankly, on this side of eternity, I don’t believe you or I have the ability to live with the answers we would get. So perhaps our real lesson today is not to pepper God with questions we can’t handle the answers to but instead, let’s begin living that eternal life in the present with lavish displays of faith in God, hope in God and in one another, and love for the Lord as we love on the least of these in our world.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
patrickhwrisley.net
wrisley@outlook.com

© 2019 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.
[2] So, Ruth and Boaz in the book of Ruth.
[3] So 1 Corinthians 13.8-13.

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