patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        The Velvet Tight Grip of Jesus
Scripture:     John 10:22-30
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:               May 12, 201

Once upon a time, a fierce Greek commander become known as Alexander the Great who eventually became ruler of a territory that extended from Greece, South into Egypt and spread East through Palestine, Mesopotamia and into India. When he died at the age of 32 some three hundred years before Jesus was born, four his is leading generals divvied-up his conquered lands into four sections: Egypt, Greece, what we call the Middle East today, and India.  The general who took command of the areas of Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Iran was Seleucus who founded what is known as the Seleucid Empire.

In 174 BCE, Antiochus Epiphanes became the brutal king in this family lineage of monarchs in the area and is the one who set up a statue of the Greek god Zeus in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem that caused the great Jewish revolt by the Jewish family known as the Maccabees.  In 164, the Jews retook control of the Holy City Jerusalem, immediately went to the Temple and destroyed the statue of Zeus. The Jews began a rebuilding program for the Temple and removed stone by stone all the building materials used for the alter in the Temple and replaced them with fresh hewn stones that were not defiled by the presence of the Greek god. The Jewish people celebrated for eight nights in a row a dedication ceremony for the new alter and refurbished and purified Temple. This is called the Feast of Dedication, or as we perhaps know it better, the Festival of Hanukkah. Palestine was fully liberated in the 140’s and now for the first time in several hundred years the Jews began to operate as an independent nation for some 80 years until the time they invited the Roman mercenaries in to come and help establish peace in a growing world of turmoil.

Why say all this?  Because it helps us better understand the Story in John today.  Stories do not and are not recorded in a vacuum. Authors of stories choose and weigh all the words he or she uses. In good writing, there are no wasted words and John’s description in John 10.22 and following are a good example of this.  Up to this point in the John’s gospel, a Jesus has healed a blind man on the Sabbath which has raised the ire of the religious officials. We find Jesus in a conversation with various Jewish folks who are upset with his work on the Sabbath and Jesus begins to talk about being the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherd. Jesus goes on to describe what a good shepherd is and what the good shepherd does.  If you were a Jewish religious leader of the day, you would be fully aware that Jesus was holding Ezekiel 34 in his mind which is a diatribe against the false shepherds of Israel, i.e. the corrupt religious officials of the system.  We pick up in verse 22.  Listen to the words of the Lord and make special notice of how John places Jesus in a very particular context.

John 10:22-30

 ²²At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. ²⁴So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’ ²⁵Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; ²⁶but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰The Father and I are one.’[1]

Let’s make sure we get the full image. It’s December and the Jews are celebrating the Festival of Hanukkah which is a celebration of victory and redemption from the hands of the oppressors. It is a time when the Jews remembered how God swept out the corrupt Seleucid leaders and replaced them with a period of peace and stability as a bona fide independent nation for the first time in centuries. In many ways, it’s their Fourth of July!

John the author has placed Jesus teaching in Solomon’s Portico adjacent to the Temple. This is the place where the former kings of Judah and Israel would hold court and make judgements for the people, kings like Solomon of old.

Furthermore, Jesus is comparing how the current religious system is defiling the purpose of God; the Temple needs a new cleansing and dedication. It has replaced God’s Law of Grace with the Law of Compliance to rules. The people are looking for the new Messiah who would liberate them from Roman rule as Judas Maccabeus liberated the Jews from the Seleucids some 150 years earlier. They press Jesus, “So, are you the Messiah?  Are you the new Judas Maccabeus who will lead us to victory and liberation from Roman rule and tyranny?”

This is one of those times in history where people were excelling in missing the point of what was going on around them. They were looking for temporal salvation from the Romans.  Jesus was offering salvation that had eternal consequences.  The people wanted a warrior leader.  Jesus was offering them something more profound: The Good Shepherd who intimately knows his little flock. The people were looking for a human being to be Messiah, Liberator for them and their country.  Jesus is declaring that God himself is leading the people from Solomon’s portico and his leading is like the faithful shepherd who knows the needs of the flock.

It is helpful to remember that sheep are not the brightest bulbs in the box. They have poor eyesight.  They’re not too bright and have a herd mentality that they’ll go following other sheep blindly. They’re dirty and smelly. But, they have good hearing. They listen out for the shepherd’s voice to lead them in the direction they are to travel. They may not see the shepherd well but they know the tone and tenor of his or her voice. They will follow that voice for nourishment, for safety and shelter, and for the care of their daily needs.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd is reminding the people that when they hear his voice, they are hearing the voice of God.  He is saying that as the Good Shepherd, he will watch out for all those who respond to his voice.  He will protect them with a velvet hand of love. Jesus the Good Shepherd promises that no one, no thing, no circumstance or situation, can pluck them away from the protection, care, and love of God.

Beloved, are you able to hear the words of liberation and celebration from the mouth of Jesus the Good Shepherd? What continues to hold you through worry, doubt, addiction or despair, preventing you from entering into a new eternal life this moment? Jesus reminds us in verse 28 that eternal life is a present reality and that those who hear the Shepherd’s voice will experience a peace and quality of life right this moment they have not yet experienced and neither shall they not be snatched away from the Presence of God the Father. Our Lord calls us from the courts of the King and bids us follow him into new life, Easter life, because he is risen…and he knows us by name!  Let’s come to the Table to be fed by the strong velvet hands of the Good Shepherd! Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15^thAvenue
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.

Sermon:           He is Risen!
Scripture:        John 20. 1-18
Preacher:         Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:         First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:                John 20.1-18

John 20:1-18

^20.1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. ⁴The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples returned to their homes.

¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; ¹²and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.[1

He is risen! (He is risen, indeed!)

Once upon a time a priest, a pastor and a Rabbi walk into a bar.  They’re good friends and they occasionally get together to decompress from their lives in the parish. The Rabbi asked the two Christian clergy, “Say, imagine you’re at your own funeral and you can see what’s going on around you. You see the people, you hear their conversations, and you can see how they’re acting with your loss.  What would you want to hear them say about you as they filed past your casket?” Now that’s quite a question, isn’t it? It’s interesting to think about our own funerals and try to guess what people would say.  What would you want to others to say about you at your funeral?

Anyway, Father O’Malley thought for a moment and said, “I’d like to hear them say, ‘Here lies Father O’Malley, devoted priest and a lovely friend who was there with me in thick and thin.’”

The Presbyterian pastor, Pastor Bob, says, “I would love to hear my people say, ‘Here lies Pastor Bob who now rests from his labors as a tireless shepherd of his little flock.’”

Now it was the Rabbi’s turn. He stroked his beard and leaned forward towards his friends.  Raising his right eyebrow with a glint in his eyes he says, ‘I want to hear my people say, “Ah, here lies Rabbi Schwartz…and look!  He’s moving!”

Oh my friends, the Rabbi is the one who figured out the power of the Christian message and promise:  He is Risen! (He is risen, indeed!). Father O’Malley and Pastor Bob would appear to have become too familiar with the Easter promise; their everyday work in the lives of their parishioners – counseling parents on the baptism of their children, running a finance meeting, saying an invocation at City Hall, visiting patients in the hospital or even simply trying to keep gossip down among church members – all these dalliances of life obscure the real meaning of their purpose and work which is to point others to the hope and promise of what Easter Day is all about! It took the Rabbi to remind them that, “Hey! Look! He’s moving!” or as those in the Christian tradition proclaim, “It’s that He is risen!” (He is risen, indeed!)

This morning, the one issue, the one question that emerges for me from this text is in verse 15:  Woman, whom are you looking for? John’s Gospel is silent on why Mary Magdalene ventured out in the dark and came to the tomb that first Easter morning. Other gospels mention her coming with an entourage of others to help give Jesus a proper burial since they were so rushed on Friday evening as Sabbath began. John’s gospel is different in that it doesn’t mention the other women directly except with an obscure “we” in verse 2. It is silent on why she came so early. All we know is that her love and devotion to Jesus caused her to climb out of bed and explore the possibilities awaiting her at the tomb.

            What got you out of bed this morning to come here to worship?  Whom are you looking for?  What are you looking for?

Peter and the others did not bother to get out of bed. They were not looking for anyone or anything; they were huddled behind locked doors.  When Mary runs to let them know the stone has been rolled away (we don’t know if she realizes Jesus is gone yet as the text is silent), Peter and John, also known as the one who Jesus loved, ran to the tomb to see if what Mary said was true. John, the faster of the two arrives first but hesitates to go inside.  Peter finally blunders up and charges straight into the tomb.  Peter looks around and sizes things up and is silent.  John looks around and sees the evidence of the two sets up wrappings where the body once was.  One wrapping was for Jesus’ head and the other was for his body. Peter ponders and John believes.  Both are appropriate responses. Whom were they look for that morning? A dead Jesus. What they discovered was an empty tomb. And then they do something I never understood very well.  They simply went home.  They didn’t linger at the empty tomb.  They didn’t engage any bystanders as to what might have happened. They just went home.

What got you out of bed this morning?  Whom or what did you expect to see?  Peter pondered. John believed in something. Yet, they both simply went home.

And then there’s Mary Magdalene, who in our Story this morning becomes the first apostle, the first ‘sent one’. Her love was too deep.  Her pain was so visceral. It was only after Peter and John left for home did she in her solitude and her heart’s interior castle of tears peer into the tomb and saw that it was empty. For the first time she is asked, “Woman, why are you weeping?” by two angels inside the tomb. At this point in the Story, Mary only knows that Jesus is gone.  She seems to be oblivious to her angelic messengers as well because in most other New Testament accounts, people are falling all over themselves in fear when an angel shows up.  Mary, however, is nonplused. She then turns around and walks smack into Jesus himself but again, her sadness is too heavy. For the second time in a matter of minutes, Mary is asked, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”  Once again, Mary is so focused on her own pain that she fails to see Jesus. Thinking it’s the cemetery gardener she pleads, “If you have taken him away, please tell me where!”  And it’s right here that the action grinds to a stop and time is suspended. One arresting word was spoken that penetrated the sobbing woman’s broken heart, grief, and spirit. Jesus spoke her name, “Mary.”

The empty tomb did not cause her to see Jesus.

Seeing the tangible proof like John did was not able to penetrate her psyche so that she could Jesus.

Encountering two angels shining in white was not able to get through her pain.

The very resurrected presence of the Lord himself did not help Mary realize what was going on that morning.  It was only after God softly spoke her name that the proverbial scales fell from her eyes and she saw Jesus for the first time.

Mary.

Beloved, whom are you looking for this Easter morning? Some of you may be like Peter and John and wish you were still back in bed if it wasn’t for the woman in your life who drug you to church this morning! But even Peter pondered once he arrived there and John saw the evidence and believed.  I believe that God will use whatever means possible to get us out of bed and face to face with the empty tomb.

Some of you may come this morning and experience something like Peter and you will leave pondering what all this hubbub is about. Some of you like John will have an experience where your love will be rekindled for the Lord and will have a new hope instilled in your life that you have been missing for some time. But what I really want to urge each of you this morning is to pay attention and listen.  Listen for the Lord to gently speak your name.

Jesus will meet you where you are and speak your name. Jesus will take you in whatever condition he finds you in and will speak your name. Are you sad or depressed?  He’s calling your name.

Are you lonely and despondent?  He’s calling your name.

Are you in pain or are feeling miserable in the midst of your treatments?  He’s calling your name.

Is your life stuck in a professional Groundhog Day where you’re bored sick and hate what you do?  He’s calling your name.

Are you at a critical juncture in your life where you need direction?  He’s calling your name!

Beloved, names are powerful things!  When someone knows your name, they can grab your attention and speak directly to you in the midst of a crowd.  If a person knows your name, there is a conduit for a relationship that’s already there. When a person calls out your name, they are exerting a gentle power of you because they can command your attention and you or I cannot help but listen.

The promise of Easter is that the Great I Am, the God who is, was, and is yet to come, knows each of us by our names!  If we would be but still enough to listen, we will hear the resurrected Christ speaking to us in the radio transmitter of our hearts, reminding us, NAME (inserting names from congregation), I am with you even now; I got this for you.

He is risen! (He is risen, indeed!) And let’s add one more thing: this time, say, He is risen, indeed and calls me by my name!

Happy Easter, Beloved.

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

© 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.

Sermon:           Examine Yourself
Scripture:        1 Corinthians 11:23-29
Preacher:         Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:         First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:                 April 18, 2019, Maundy Thursday

1 Corinthians 11:23-29

^23-26 Let me go over with you again exactly what goes on in the Lord’s Supper and why it is so centrally important. I received my instructions from the Master himself and passed them on to you. The Master, Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, took bread. Having given thanks, he broke it and said,

This is my body, broken for you.
Do this to remember me.

After supper, he did the same thing with the cup:

This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.
Each time you drink this cup, remember me.

What you must solemnly realize is that every time you eat this bread and every time you drink this cup, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. You will be drawn back to this meal again and again until the Master returns. You must never let familiarity breed contempt.

^27-28 Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Master irreverently is like part of the crowd that jeered and spit on him at his death. Is that the kind of “remembrance” you want to be part of? Examine your motives, test your heart, come to this meal in holy awe.[1]

Please humor me a moment as I am going to teach you two similar-sounding words that have very dissimilar meanings.  The first word is anamnesis. Try it.  The second word is one you have heard before, amnesia.  Anamnesis and amnesia.  Two very similar-sounding words that come from the same Greek root word but have two drastically different meanings.

Let’s start with the easy one, amnesia. We know that people who suffer amnesia are people who struggle to remember things. People with amnesia have forgotten certain facts about their lives.  Well, if amnesia means to forget, anamnesis is the word for ‘remember.’ Jesus uses this word in our scripture today.  “When you eat this bread and drink from this cup, do so in anamnesisof me.” It’s a word that means more than recollecting a fact or memory; anamnesismeans to re-member, to reattach ourselves, to the original event as though we are living it all over again in the present moment. Pastorally, there are times when I think the Church collectively and Christ-Followers individually, are more inclined to have spiritual amnesia as opposed to spiritual anamnesis with regards to the Lord’s Supper.  What makes me say that?

We come to the Table without thoroughly examining ourselves and our walk in Christ.

We talk to our pew-mates, text message or make calls during Communion.

We grumble because we want to be served in our seats as opposed to coming up and having to dip our bread in the chalice.

We’re apt to check our watches to see if it’s time to be done with the service so as to beat the Baptists and Methodists to lunch or dinner.

Yet, as we read in verse 28 of the Scripture tonight, we’re implored to “Examine our motives, our hearts, and come to this meal in holy awe.”   But my friends, do we?

Beloved, I want us to take a moment and look at the Lord’s Supper.  As I read these words of Christ directed through Paul, I find myself asking, “What, Lord, what is it that you want me to remember? What is it that you want me to relive and experience as though I was with you that night with the disciples?” Looking at and sitting with this question, I have come to some conclusions.

            First, note verse 24:  This is my body, broken for you.  Do this to remember me.  You see, as we eat of the bread, we remember the way Jesus lived his life as well as how he died.  His life was a continuous breaking of himself as he distributed himself to the people he loved: The Leper, the Prostitute, the Roman, the Greek Woman’s dying son, the Pharisee’s dying daughter, and the socially and spiritually outcast woman whose twelve-year menstrual flow was healed.  Jesus lived his life on the edge of cultural norms in order to ensure the Presence of God was brought into the shadows of everyday existence.  We’re to remember that just as Jesus gave himself totally to those he taught and cured, he ultimately gave himself broken and despised at the same hands of the people he taught and cured.  It is through his brokenness that you and I are given the gift of Easter Life.  So tonight, we’re to remember that our new life was bought with a price of the broken and distributed life of Jesus of Nazareth.  The baby we heralded into the world just four months ago at Christmas has had his wooden manger fashioned into a wooden cross.  We’re to remember the way he lived his life and each of us are called to follow by way of his example.

            Second, though, note verse 25: After supper, he did the same thing with the cup: This cup is my blood, my new covenant with you.  Each time you drink this cup, remember me.

What are we to remember here?  Whereas verse 24 describes that way Jesus lived his life, verse 25 calls us to remember the purpose of his life.  It’s all about the new covenant.

We don’t use the word covenant in our vernacular much today.  A covenant can spell out a list of boundaries on what is and is not acceptable but it also has another meaning.  It means making a promise.

When Jesus is saying that we are to remember the new covenant between God and ourselves, we’re not so much remembering a list of do’s and don’ts; rather, we’re to remember that on this night when Jesus was betrayed and commuted a death sentence, we are to remember the promise  and hope his death provides.  Jesus is telling us to remember that from now on, when we drink of the cup, we are remembering that God has, in and through Jesus the Christ, instituted a new promise between God and His created.  And that promise is a promise of life, of hope, and of peacefulness. We’re to remember that God’s new agreement with us through Jesus’ Passion is not based on a list of do’s and don’ts and musts; Jesus’ Passion, God’s commitment to us His beloved, is based on reckless, lavish grace.

Third and finally, as we come this night, we are to remember that we too, both as a Church and as individual disciples, have in some way betrayed our Lord Jesus.  Paul tells us to examine ourselves. As he says in verse 26, “We must not let familiarity breed contempt.”  Indeed, we must examine ourselves!  How can we remember and reflect on the way Jesus lived and died and contemplate on why he did it and not honestly stop and look into the mirror?  The breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup forces you and me to ask ourselves how we are living our faith.  As a church, we’re to be honest on whether we are being the hands and feet of Jesus out in the world where we’re called to be!

If we’re honest, we come this night when our Lord hosts this dinner and have to admit we have betrayed him

…with our words,

…with our reluctance to use our talents and spiritual gifts,

…with broken promises,

…with divided loyalties,

…with lackadaisical commitment to discipleship,

…with our stinginess of our financial resources,

…with our convenience-based faith.

…and with our lack of love we show each other or to those in the world who are considered “The least of these.”

My beloved, this night, come to the Table and remember.  Remember what tonight and tomorrow means to God.  Remember the life Jesus lived.  Remember how Jesus died.  Remember the new promise of the blood covenant.  Remember how you, how I, have betrayed Jesus.  And don’t forget to remember this one important reality as the night slips into darkness.  Remember who you are:  You, my beloved, are a child of God.  Let it be.

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

© 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]Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Sermon:        Do we, like the disciples, fully realize what Palm Sunday means?
Scripture:     Luke 19:28-40
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:             April 14, 2019

            This morning’s sermon title is not what it was originally.  I sent the original title to the people who send out the E-Pistle each week and they wrote back, “This is way too political and will stir people up. We suggest changing it. Please explain the meaning of this!”  What was the title that was so controversial? I originally entitled this message as, “What do Jerusalem and Charlottesville Have in Common?”

Yes, it’s rather arresting and will cause you to sit up a bit and pay attention. Yes, it captures what is really going on in our text this morning as we have forgotten the gravity and controversy the Triumphal Entry represented and caused. It was the time in human history when two opposing forces came face to face and the people present were left to choose which direction they would go.  On one hand, there were the forces of hate, separation, and oppression. On the other hand, riding down the hill on a young donkey is Jesus who represents the Force of love, light, inclusion, and reconciliation.  When those forces came together in Charlottesville, Virginia, the situation got volatile and ugly. It was a highly charged political situation. We tend to forget it was no less as volatile and ugly the week Jesus paid a visit to Jerusalem. We tend to forget that Jerusalem was set on the edge of exploding into a riot the entire week we call Holy Week.  You see, Jesus was coming home to the Holy City and claiming what was his.  His presence and message were revolutionary, incendiary and challenged the Jewish religious system, the Roman legal system and the way the larger culture treated one another; indeed, the first thing he did was enter into the Temple area and start flipping tables of the moneychangers because their expression of their Jewish faith had become so off track. So, I’ve changed the title to make it more palatable for people. Today, I will build my words around the whether or not we truly understand Palm Sunday any better than the first disciples. Hear the Word of the Lord from Luke’s Gospel!

Luke 19:28-40

²⁸ After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹ When he had come near Bethpage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, ³⁰ saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” ³² So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴ They said, “The Lord needs it.” ³⁵ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. ³⁷ As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, ³⁸ saying,

“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” ⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”[1]

Let’s unpack what Jerusalem was like when Jesus entered the Holy City.  Just like today, there were people who split into groups based on interpretations of faith, politics, economics and who “your people” were and where you were from. You had your groups of religious conservatives and progressives.  There was the vast divide between the financial haves and have-nots just like there is today; even in the first century there were those “1-percenters” and then the rest of us. Politically, even one of Jesus’ disciples, Judas, was thought to be a member of a highly nationalistic group, the Zealots, who wanted to overthrow the Roman government and rule of the day.  In the first century, there was rampant national, ethnic, physical, and religious discrimination between those who were in the “out group” as compared to the Divinely loved ones of the purity “in group.”  Just like today, there were back room deals and powerbrokers who made decisions for their own personal gain that affected the overall unsuspecting masses. Some things in human nature and behavior never change I suppose. And though human behavior and nature may not change, we come this Palm Sunday and are reminded that there is another way to live our lives in a mixed-up-muddled-up world. He calls us to be humble, revolutionary leaders for change and transformation in the world.

On Palm Sunday, we often come with over-sentimentalized notions of Jesus coming into Jerusalem for the final week of his life. This morning, I want to evolve our thinking a bit on this Palm Sunday event and see it from a different angle from what we are accustomed. If we listen to the text, we will discover how Jesus was ushering in a revolutionary alternative for living in community.

The first understanding we need to remember about Palm Sunday is that Jesus’ descent from Mount Olives is an overtly political declaration.  We see his procession as a parade like we view the Fourth of July or Veterans Day when in reality, his entrance into the city was more along the lines of the march through Selma.  It was not a parade remembering past glories; Jesus’ coming on a colt was an act of social, political, and religious disobedience in the eyes of his contemporaries. In today’s twelve verses, there are at least three clues as to Jesus’ political statement of purpose for the people.  There is the reference to the prophet Zephaniah, a psalm of victory over one’s enemies, and a reference from the prophet Habakkuk about how the very stones of the ground cannot maintain their silence in the presence of God’s anointed. The Jews always understood that the Messiah was to approach Jerusalem from the east coming down the Mt. Olives to reclaim Jerusalem.  The spreading of palm branches and cloaks were indicative of how the crowds perceived Jesus: He was the new king. He was the new leader.

Stephen Shoemaker cites biblical scholars who remark that on that Palm Sunday there were two processions into Jerusalem. He writes, “From the west came Pilate draped in the gaudy glory of imperial power: horses, chariots, and gleaming armor. He moved in with the Roman army at the beginning of Passover week to make sure nothing got out of hand. Insurrection was in the air with the memory of God’s deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. From the east came another procession, a commoner’s procession: Jesus in ordinary robe riding on a young donkey. The careful preparations suggest that Jesus has planned a highly ritualized symbolic prophetic act (described in)…the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9–10, the coming of a new kind of king, a king of peace who will dismantle the weaponry of war.”[2]

Shoemaker then goes on to say that there are two choices in front of the people:  Pax Christior Pax Romana. He says, “Our challenge is to show how the gospel of the kingdom has political implications but transcends our everyday political loyalties.”[3]  In other words, Beloved, if we take  the gospel we actually profess and then actually live like it will make a difference in the world, our collective  Kingdom living can and will change the broken structures of our communities.

Today our nation is faced with the battles between Pax Republican or Pax Democrat.  More often than not, our politics shapes our faith rather than our faith really shaping our politics and collective civitas. Our Palm Sunday text reminds us that just as in Jesus’ time, we are still being called into the realm of a third way and that’s the way of Pax Christi.  Whatever our personal political loyalties are, we are still to live out our faith, literally enflesh our faith, as though it transcends political loyalties to one party or another. The church in the first through fourth centuries was a part of creating huge religious, cultural, and political changes in the world. In our own lifetimes, we have seen how the church was the revolutionary actor in claiming civil rights for our brothers and sisters of color.  In our own lifetime, we have witnessed how the underground church caused what’s been termed, “The Velvet Revolution,” which brought down oppressive political and military powers of the Cold War.  Jesus descending the mountain was his way of starting a revolutionary event of both present and eternal consequences.

Church, do we live with that same passionate spirit for transformation or have we grown too comfortable with the status quo? What is driving our culture and behavior at the moment?  Are our loyalties tied to economic, military, or nationalistic gains of one party or another or our decisions being influenced by the cultural, spiritual, economic declaration that we serve one Lord, Jesus the Christ? It does not matter how you and I vote in any election if we have not first expressed our cultural concerns as citizens of Jesus’ Kingdom in our world right now.

Beloved, Jesus demonstrated to us on Palm Sunday how we are to live in our world today.  We are to base our civics and express our personal and collective civitas, not with the planks of the Republican or Democratic platforms but on the ethics and planks that make up our Christ-Following platform found in Matthew 5-7 in what we call the Beatitudes! Christ’s revolution for establishing the reign of God begins when we live and actually believe –

…blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven.

…blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

…blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

…blessed are those who hunger for righteousness, for they will be filled.

…blessed are the merciful, the they will receive mercy.

…blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

…blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

…blessed are those who are persecuted for doing the right thing for God, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

…blessed are you who are persecuted and reviled for standing up for what Jesus believes in and stands up for because your reward is great in the kingdom of heaven.

Beloved, are you ready to be a revolutionary like Jesus was and turn the world upside down for God? Shall you live under Pax Christior Pax Americana? Let’s start a movement, shall we? Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15^thAvenue
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]Bartlett, David L.; Barbara Brown Bartlett (2009-10-12). Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide (Kindle Locations 5617-5622). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.

[3]Bartlett, David L.; Barbara Brown Bartlett (2009-10-12). Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide (Kindle Locations 5631-5632). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.