Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

Palm/Passion Sunday

April 8, 2001

THE SEASONS OF LIFE

Scripture: Matthew 20:17-19, 21:1-12; Hebrews 11:8-12

Some years ago, Dr. Glendon Harris, a Methodist preacher and author out on the West Coast, wrote an article in a Christian magazine about "getting older." At the beginning of the article, this is what Dr. Harris said:

Faced with these figures, and faced with the fact that you will someday be – if not already – in the category of the aged, the old or the elderly, how do you look upon the final chapter in your book of life?

Some look at life philosophically, like Jack Benny, who said, "Age is a matter of mind. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!"

Some look at it sarcastically, as Bob Hope said on his 80^th birthday: "You know you’re old when the candles cost more than the cake."

Some view old age evasively, like the elderly couple in California who were stopped for speeding in their El Dorado Cadillac, and when asked where they were going in such a hurry, replied, "We’re escaping from leisure world!"

Some look at age shrewdly, like Agatha Christie, who quipped that she married an archaeologist so that "the older she became, the more her husband would appreciate her."

And some look at age responsibly, as did the 105 year old woman in Indiana who said that she was finally ready to die because all of her children were safe and sound in nursing homes." (From Pulpit Resource, 1985)

I.

Although Jesus was around thirty when He began His ministry on earth (Luke 3:23), it was just three years later that He was thrust into the winter by the actions of adversaries who conspired against Him.

The 20^th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel reports that as Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem, He told His disciples that the Son of man…will be condemned to death and delivered to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified…and He will be raised on the third day (Matthew 20:17-19). And by the time He entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, with time running out, Jesus decided that having done His best, He would leave with God all the rest.

When the winter comes in your life and in mine, we can make that same decision. We’re talking now about what someone once described as "The Golden Years" of retirement, when we let go of the pressure-packed pace of commuting to the office, keeping to a tight schedule, dealing with daily deadlines and working for a living…and lean into a less demanding way of life wherein we finally have the time to pursue other interests, to focus on our families and friendships, and to enjoy the fruits of our labors.

Back in the late 1970’s, an Englishman named Ronald Blythe wrote a book entitled "The View in Winter" which tells the stories of people in Great Britain whom Blythe interviewed to find out what it was like to face and embrace the winter of life.

A 77-year-old farmer says, "I don’t find retirement difficult – not really. I was farming and wouldn’t have retired in the ordinary way, but then I was so ill that I practically had to…the only retirement feeling I have is one of relief. I feel that I can go off whenever and wherever I like and be independent. I like to be out, I like to be away, here and there and everywhere. That’s me!…Being out and about helps me to feel free."

Listen now to an army major who dedicated his life to the military: "When I retired, I ran the Citizens Advice Bureau and I still spend a great deal of time visiting the geriatric wards in the local hospital, listening mostly. When you are old and sick, you need someone to listen. On Sundays, I go to the early service to say my prayers and to see my friends. But I always take a nap before I go, so I won’t nod off while I’m there. My wife used to say, ‘I never worry about Tom getting into mischief. I know he’ll fall asleep at the dangerous moment!’"

And this from a couple, still living in the home they built before the First World War: The husband Owen says, "How did we meet? We met by appointment. She was a student teacher when I first saw her, and what do you think I fancied about her? Her legs! We went for a long walk, and we have been walking hand in hand ever since then." The wife, Megan, says, "I ought to have a medal for living with him. I think sometimes it is very wonderful to have had all these years and not to have gotten tired of him…and it is wonderful. It really is."

And finally from Father Luke, age 75, an Anglican Priest who lives in Oxford: "One of the best things which all these new changes have brought about is this notion of waiting upon God. We used to chatter to Him all the time (when we were young), never giving Him a chance to say anything…talking, talking, talking. But praying? Well, someone once wrote that ‘It is no longer a question of saying ‘Listen Lord, for Thy servant speaks’ but rather, ‘Speak Lord, for Thy servant is listening.’" (From "The View in Winter" by Ronald Blythe, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979)

The one thing I find in common with all of those older people is that living in the winter season, they were able to acknowledge, as did Jesus Christ, they were not keeping to a relentless schedule, but rather living a life which was pleasing to their Father in heaven. And so can we, when the time comes, when our careers are finished and our work is accomplished – we who live by faith can say that having done our best, we will leave the rest with God.

II.

And yet, with all of that said, I do not mean to imply that the winter of life is non-productive, sedentary or the end of the journey. To the contrary, older adults who have done their best have the opportunity, as the philosopher William James once wrote, "to invest their life in something that will outlast it."

The late New York City restaurateur Billy Rose had a different point of view. He said, "Never invest in anyone or anything that eats or needs to be re-painted." My friends, from the Christian perspective, in the winter of life, William James was right and Billy Rose was dead wrong. Because older adults hopefully have years of their lives left to live and a great deal to give to those who are in need and to the generations that will follow after them.

Think of Sarah and Abraham, whom the Bible describes as a husband and wife well into the winter season of life. The book of Genesis (chapters 12-24) tells their story about picking up stakes and heading for the Promised Land, about how God blessed them with a son when they had all but lost hope of having one, and about how they believed in the promise of God’s Covenant that if they were faithful to Him, God would give to them a long line of descendants who would become a great nation.

The eleventh chapter of the New Testament Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that the promise came true. It says that by faith, Abraham obeyed God…and by faith, Sarah received the power to conceive…Therefore, from them were born descendants, as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. (Hebrews 11:8-12)

You see, in the winter of their lives, Abraham and Sarah were empowered to be productive people. By faith, they invested all that they were and everything they had in a vision for the future, and through them, God created and blessed a nation called Israel.

So it has been down through the ages of history. Did you know that Emmanuel Kant wrote his most important theological treatises when he was 74? That Goethe finished Faust at 80? That Tennyson penned his best-known poem, Crossing the Bar when he was 83? That Verdi composed his oratorio Stabat Mater at 85? And that Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was still writing brilliant legal opinions at the age of 90? (From "Here is Help for You" by Langdon Gilkey).

I know people right here in this church, and you know them too – people who in the winter of their lives are investing themselves in ministry and in mission. They are taking meals on wheels to those who are homebound and staying overnight in our shelter with women who are homeless. They are serving as leaders on our Session and Board of Trustees and reaching out with their time, energy, wisdom and resources to help others who are in need.

Each and every one of those older adults is an inspiration to all of us. Why? Because by faith in Jesus Christ, they are willing to invest their life in something which will outlast it. And we who follow after them, we have been called to do the same.

In the winter of life, having done our best, we can leave the rest to God. In the winter of life as older adults, we can invest our lives in others, and the Lord has promised to bless our efforts. And finally this – when the season of winter settles in, it is inevitable that at some point along the way we will be put to the test by suffering that we did not want, by betrayals which we did not expect, by physical and emotional trouble we tried to avoid and by spiritual crises we though we would be able to deflect. When winter comes and we are put to the test, and when we finally face the reality of our own death as Jesus did, then let us remember and never forget that He has been there too, and that He has already walked that way before us.

That is what E. Stanley Jones discovered in his seventies. He was a missionary to India and he had a stroke that left part of his body paralyzed. He went on to write a book entitled "The Divine Yes" and in that book, this is what E. Stanley Jones wrote:

E. Stanley Jones discovered that promise when he was put to the test and so can we. As we look to Jesus, as we trust in Jesus, as we seek to follow Him, He will help us find faith instead of fear, joy to conquer our sorrow, forgiveness and love instead of bitterness and resentment and the ability to take hold of hope which will overcome our despair.

And then, my friends, we will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that what Robert Browning wrote a long time ago is still true:

"Grow old along with me!

The best is yet to be.

The last of life for which the first was made;

Our times are in His hand, who saith:

‘A whole I planned, youth shows but half.’

Trust God, see all, nor be afraid."

(Robert Browning, from the poem "Rabbi Ben Ezra")

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.