Sermons

Don’t Leave–Transfiguration Sunday

2 Kings 2: 1-12

Mark 9: 2-9

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

When I started as pastor of a small church some time ago, I wanted to kick off with an officer’s retreat that dealt with some of the issues that the congregation had left over from when the previous pastor left. I had a conversation with the Christian educator, who’d been there several years and was quite sharp. He explained to me that people were extremely angry and felt betrayed that the previous pastor had left them. We agreed that a Biblical look at betrayal and abandonment would be a good start. Read more →

Secret Agenda: Mark 1: 40-45

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher
February 12, 2012

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church
Fort Worth, TX

Our friend Sharon Curry, who went in December to serve as a missionary in the South Sudan, had to be evacuated almost as soon as she arrived because of ethnic violence. She has been frustrated by this, obviously—not only because she has been interrupted in the mission work she intended to do, but even more because she’s been in her placement in Akobo just long enough to get to know people. Now she is in a major city, Malakal, far from the fighting, hearing second-hand how overwhelmed her friend the local doctor is, and how all the families she’d just gotten to know are experiencing deaths and hiding in the forest, afraid to go to the hospital for fear that they’ll be killed by guerilla fighters.

While she’s stuck in Malakal, she’s finding her own way to do ministry—reaching out to the homeless, as she has done for years here in Fort Worth, and finding a Sudanese church that’s glad to welcome her, scheming with another displaced missionary about other ways they can serve the community. Sharon’s very resourceful that way. She just blooms where she’s planted—rather than get frustrated that her plans have been thwarted, she just figures out what God needs her to do in the place God has put her. My personal suspicion is that Sharon is able to do that because she’s always been quite clear on what’s important: she seeks first the Kingdom of God. She puts being a disciple of Christ before anything else. If that’s what’s important to us, we’ll discover that no matter what happens, there’s always some way to serve Christ in any situation, even the most unpredictable and unexpected.

In our Gospel today, Jesus has big plans. He and his disciples have set out from their base in Capernaum and begun a mission to preach the Gospel to the major cities in Galilee. But just as he’s off on this major mission, it gets interrupted. Jesus is confronted by a leper in the road. The leper begs Jesus to heal him. “If you choose, you can make me clean,” he says.

The Scripture says, Jesus “was filled with compassion.” But take a look at the footnote at the bottom: some texts say Jesus was “angry.”

Whenever translators run across a serious variation in text like that, they have a tough call to make. Which was the original word, angry or compassion? In this case, they’d have several rules of translation to weigh and consider. One would be: how many ancient texts say “compassion” versus “anger”? Another would be: how old are those texts? It’s a general rule that the older the text, the more reliable it is as a source.

But there’s another that comes into play: What’s the most embarrassing translation? That’s actually a very important rule that scholars use. Many of the stories of scripture show the apostles or other heroes of the Bible in an embarrassing light. Scholars generally consider those more authoritative because, Why would the biblical authors tell embarrassing stories about themselves, or about biblical heroes, or about Jesus himself, unless they were true?

Apparently, scholars have decided that the best texts say ‘compassion,’ not ‘anger’—but there’s strong enough evidence in favor of “angry” that it can’t be ruled out, so they leave it as a footnote.

It’s embarrassing to admit that Jesus might have been angry. We don’t like to think of Jesus as angry, or for that matter having any “negative” emotions. But Scripture shows Jesus in an abundance of embarrassing situations. In a couple of cases it takes him a few times to heal someone. We catch him displaying a very prejudiced perspective toward Gentiles when he calls a Syro-Phoenician woman a dog. He is verbally abusive of scribes and Pharisees. He seems fearful about his fate as He prays right before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” while on the cross. So sure, Jesus could be angry.

Why would Jesus have been angry about the leper asking to be cleansed?

Actually, the reason is quite practical. If Jesus cleanses the leper, he has to abort his plan to visit the cities in Galilee. In order to heal the leper, Jesus has to touch him, which will make him ceremonially unclean. If word gets out that He’s touched a leper, then he won’t be allowed to visit the cities. He’ll have to stay out of public places for a set period of time to make sure He has not contracted leprosy. His plan will be thwarted.

What’s a messiah to do?

This is hardly a rare situation for Jesus, by the way. We often find him in the middle of attempting to do something, only to be interrupted by some particular person needing a miraculous intervention. Jesus has to make a choice, and note how important Jesus’ ability to choose is to this story. The leper says, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Jesus replies, “I do choose. Be made clean!” In all the situations in which Jesus is interrupted, no matter how he may feel either about the interruption, the person who interrupts, or the importance of what He has been doing, Jesus almost always chooses to help the person in need, even if it means that his other plans are thwarted. Why is that?

Ultimately, because Jesus has a secret agenda. His secret agenda is to display God’s compassionate love so that the wounded and the sick may be healed and the lost may be rescued. Because of that, he has chosen never turn away anyone who is in need, no matter how much it frustrates his own plans or personal needs. So Jesus may be frustrated or angry; he may have had an exhausting day; he may feel sidetracked by the need of someone who comes to him out of the blue while he’s doing something else. Certainly we have the impression his entourage of disciples felt like there were people who were wasting Jesus’ time, like beggars who demand his attention, or parents bringing their children for a blessing, or the Samaritan woman at the well. These are all people who his disciples try to turn away. But Jesus chooses to welcomes them. He chooses to reach out to them. He chooses to show God’s love for them.

This is, I suspect, one reason the translators chose “compassion” over “anger” for this passage. Because sometimes Jesus was angry, frustrated, tired, or impatient with the people who constantly demanded his attention and caused him to put aside all his best-laid plans. But he didn’t choose to act out of his anger, frustration, exhaustion, or impatience. He chose to act out of compassion. Jesus was just like all of us—he had needs, he had personal problems, he had strong emotions. He didn’t like to get sidetracked. But He knew what was important. What mattered most was serving the Kingdom of God, showing God’s love and compassion. He could put aside his personal agenda because he knew what was important: He sought first the Kingdom of God. No matter what the situation, Jesus could choose the Kingdom of God.

And so can we.

There’s a lesson here for all of us Christians about knowing what’s important. Most of us are pretty ambivalent about our feelings. Sometimes we feel like emotions are bad and need to be controlled. Other times we say, “Hey, I can’t control how I feel!” and so we just act out of whatever we’re feeling.

Jesus felt how He felt. He’d sometimes even say it out loud, much to the embarrassment of His disciples. But He never let his feelings control Him. He knew what was important, and He always chose that over all the other things that He was tempted to choose instead. He knew that what came first was his calling to serve God, and to serve the Kingdom of God. He knew His calling was to “seek and save the Lost, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” With that clear priority, Jesus could rise above His own personal feelings, which might just as easily be the result of what he ate for breakfast or a bad night’s sleep, as anything else.

But here’s what’s really amazing. Here is a guy with an even bigger secret agenda: he is the messiah, the Son of God, sent to save the world! Jesus is “the Most Important Man in the World”! Here’s the one person who apparently has a completely justified messiah complex! He could easily justify saying to the leper, “Listen, buddy, sorry, my first priority is to save the world! If I save you, I won’t be able to save all the people in those cities I’m planning to visit! So, sorry, man, but my plans are too important–I’m too important for this!”

He doesn’t.

It’s a witness to all of us who believe our great plans are all-important. This is a personality trait to which those who feel called by God are especially prone: we feel like God’s anointment has made us all-important, and that our plans are therefore God’s plans. We become impatient, emphatic, narrow-minded, and insistent on our own way.

Really, if the Son of God was willing to allow His plans to be thwarted by a nameless homeless leper, who do we think we are?

What it finally came down to for Jesus—and for us all—is our willingness to trust that God is present in the unpredictable and the uncontrollable–that, as Scripture says, Our ways are not God’s ways, and our plans are not God’s plans. God has a secret agenda, a big plan to which we are not privy. We can plan as best we can, and as faithfully as we can; but things can change at the drop of a hat.

And when they do, the important thing is to have it clear what’s important: Christ’s compassion, love and healing.

Christ’s mission: seek and save the lost.

Christ’s top priority: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.

If that’s what’s important to us, we’ll discover that no matter what happens, there’s always some way to serve Christ in any situation, even the most unpredictable and unexpected.

Calling–1 Samuel 3: 1-10; John 1: 43-57

By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

January 15, 2012

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth, TX

The Saturday Evening Post recently ran a story that checked up on another story they published over 100 years ago: an article written in December of 1900 predicting what will happen in the 20^th Century. The old article got a lot of predictions right. It predicted that the average American would be 1 to 2 inches taller. It predicted digital photography: “Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China, a hundred years hence, snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later.” It even predicted wireless technology. All in all, pretty amazing. Read more →

Beginnings: Baptism of the Lord, 2012

Genesis 1: 1-5

January 8, 2012

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth, TX

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

What with the ongoing concerns about the end of the world so often dominating Christian conversation, we often forget that Christianity is not about endings. It’s about beginnings.

Even the so called “end times” are not about endings, per se, but beginnings. The “end times” also known in the Bible as “The Day of the Lord”—in other words, the day when God’s reign, which has always been reality even though we did not see it, is at last officially inaugurated. The “end times” are not the end of the world, as we are often taught—they are the beginning of the new, true world, the new heaven and the new earth. Read more →

Being Joseph: Christmas Eve, 2011

Matthew 1: 18-25

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth, TX

By Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch

We spend a lot of time celebrating and remembering Mary’s role at Christmas. What about Joseph?

Joseph’s role was simple but powerful. He was supposed to accept responsibility for one of God’s children who was not his own child. Read more →

Now In Flesh Appearing

John 1: 16-30

December 11, 2011

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

The Christian message, simply put, is this: Jesus shows us everything we need to know about God.

Is there more to know about God than Jesus? Absolutely. But everything that matters about God we learn through Jesus. We learn it though His teachings. We learn it through his life. We learn it through his death. We learn it through his resurrection. In Jesus, God is distilled to God’s essence.

Here’s what we learn about God, through Jesus. Read more →

“Tell Us, When Will This Be?”–Everyday Apocalypses

Mark 13: 24-37

November 27, 2011

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

I’m sure we all remember the big billboards a few months ago announcing that The Judgment was coming on May 23, 2011, so we all better be ready. And of course, it didn’t, and then the purveyor of this idea, evangelist and radio host Harold Camping, said he’d made a slight math mistake—don’t we all make math mistakes?–and actually the day of the Lord was to arrive on October 21, and of course, it didn’t again, but I don’t think people were paying as much attention, so I suppose it could have come and nobody noticed it. Read more →

THE NINETY-NINE AND THE ONE

Rev. Dr. Warner Bailey, Preacher
Ezekiel 34.1-24 Psalm 100 Ephesians 1.15-23 John 10.11-16
November 20, 2011

Before I go any further, I owe you a word of full disclosure. You may remember that you were told prior to the reading of the Old Testament lesson that what you would hear would be coming from the New Jerusalem Bible. If you were following the reading from your pew Bible, you were reading the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. The Jerusalem Bible comes from the work of scholars who are part of the Eccole Biblique in Jerusalem. The Eccole Biblique is an internationally respected school of biblical study founded by French Roman Catholic scholars. I chose the Jerusalem Bible over the pew Bible for today’s text because of what the Jerusalem Bible says God will do with the fat sheep when the new shepherd comes in judgment and salvation. The Jerusalem Bible says that the shepherd will watch over the fat sheep. The watching over is part of the overall plan to save the entire flock. Your pew Bible says that the savior-shepherd will destroy the fat sheep. Watch over or destroy. Those are pretty big alternatives. Read more →

To Have and To Have Not

Matthew 25: 14-30

November 13, 2011

St. Stephen Presbyterian Church

Fort Worth, TX

Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Pastor

One of the great things about Facebook is the ability to get back in touch with people you haven’t seen in decades. Yes, decades. Like my high school friends. It’s kind of cool to see how they’ve turned out. Some of them are pretty much what I’d expect—the guy who I thought would be a preacher is a preacher; the guy who I thought would be a no-good ne’er do well is indeed a no-good ne’er do well. Most people grew up just to be themselves, but grown up—the same basic personalities and quirks and gifts and foibles, only now on an adult stage, with jobs, families, so on; and with adult problems, like unemployment, divorce, kids with problems.

There are some exceptions, though, like my friend Connie. Read more →

Know Your Place!–Children’s Sabbath Sermon

Matthew 20: 20-28
Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch, Preacher

It may be disturbing to members of St. Stephen how easily your pastor can come up with a topic for a sermon on Children’s Sunday. My topic this morning is the movie “Thor,” about the Norse Thunder God. And since our Old Testament reading today was the Ten Commandments let me assure you that the movie makes clear that Thor is not a god, but an extra-dimensional being, and so I’m not in violation of the First or Second Commandments.

I went to see “Thor” not expecting much. I was never a big fan of the comic book when I was a kid—all these Norse gods running around spouting “thees” and “thous” like bad actors in a high school Shakespeare play. Read more →