November 21, 1999
On the last Sunday of the Church year, we always focus on the theme of Christ the King, and this year the king is the judge. In this Gospel story, Jesus reveals that the Son of Man is the King of Creation. He also reveals who are the righteous and who are the unrighteous. It's a difficult story because it makes us squirm. As I read through it today, several things strike me.
First is that everybody in the story is surprised. They are surprised both at the criteria for righteousness, as well as the accomplishments (or lack of accomplishments) of righteousness. The criteria that separates the sheepfold of salvation from the goat pen of fire can be expressed in the phrase, "faith in action" — doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do, not necessarily being successful, not necessarily being showy in doing things for headlines, but just doing the right thing, unselfconsciously, without thinking about it, because it is the right thing to do.
As Jesus tells the story, the righteous people were not feeding the hungry, clothing the naked or visiting the sick in order to be righteous. They were not doing those things in order to get to heaven. They did those things because it needed to be done and because they happened to have the resources to do it. They were surprised when they were acclaimed by the king for doing them.
It's also important to note that the goats were equally unselfconscious. They were not thinking either, but in their lack of awareness of who was around them and what the needs were that surrounded them, they did not even see the need to do anything. The suggestion of the story is that they probably had faith, strong faith. They probably worshiped according to the standard of the time, like the priests and the Levites in the good Samaritan story. They did important things for God and they avoided unpleasant things because they would get in the way of doing righteous things. But, what the unrighteous group (the goats) didn't do were the little things that got in their way. They did not take care of the little things that appeared to be in their way, around them and at their feet. They were like the rich man in the story of the rich man and Lazarus — going in and out in the busyness of the world and not noticing the beggar at the door, not just not taking care of him, but not even noticing.
The goats also wondered what Jesus was talking about in this story. They wondered, "When, Lord, did we see you hungry or thirsty; when did we see you a stranger or naked; when did we see you sick or in prison and not take care of you? How could we have missed that?" The Lord replied, "Look around, you had opportunity, not just for me, but for lots of folks, lots of opportunities." And he said to both of them, "When you do it to one of the least members of my family, you have done it to me."
One of the points of this story today is that knowledge of the Lord, as revealed in Scripture and the breaking of the bread, as wonderful as it is, is simply not enough. We have to put feet on our faith. Jesus calls us today to open our very being to his transforming grace, and to recognize ourselves not only as the beloved of God but as the Christ bearers in the world. We are the ones he has chosen to take his love into the world around us. So we, as Christ's disciples, are being called today in very pointed ways to be the embodiment of the love of God to this generation.
Jesus calls us today to feed the hungry, not because it is their right, but because he fed the multitudes. They didn't have the right to be fed out there, either. They were negligent in not bringing food with them. They were imposing upon him by demanding that he continue to teach them even when he was trying to go off in retreat, to get a little refreshment for himself. But, he fed them anyway, and he calls us to feed them too, whether it is physical hunger or spiritual hunger.
We are called by this story of our Lord to give drink to the thirsty, not because they impose on us and ask for a beverage, but because God provided water in the wilderness to the wandering Hebrews as they left Egypt. We are called by Jesus today to welcome the stranger, not in order to make the church larger, and certainly not to balance the budget, but to welcome the stranger because God has called the stranger to this place and to our midst. If God has called people here, it behooves us all to make sure that we have the welcome mat out, the red carpet, the loving embrace and the welcoming word.
We are called to visit the sick, not because
we know them personally, but to bring the healing power of the
community of Christ to bear in their lives, to heal them body
and soul. We are called by Jesus today to visit the imprisoned,
not out of pious compassion, but because, as Paul would say,
"Nothing in all creation (including our own sinfulness) can
ever separate us from the love of God in Christ. As the bearers
of Christ in this world, we are called to take that love to those
who are in prison, whether it is a prison run by the Federal
Government, the state government, the city, or whether it is a
prison we have built for ourselves, the prison of hopelessness,
to free people's spirits and souls.
We are called to be Christians, to be Christ bearers in the world — to not even think about it, to just do it, because it's what we do to bring others to the nearer presence of God. To visit the sick, to go to the places of sickness and loneliness and homelessness and the prisons, to bring others the source of all life and light. We are called to go to those places to bring others to the place we know as the place of healing and freedom. We are called to do these things because Christ first loved us, we know Christ and so we take Christ with us and bring others back.
We are bidden today to be in the sheepfold of salvation by caring for God's people who do not even know that there is a sheepfold.
AMEN
The Rev. Dr. Robert Certain
rgcertain@stmargarets.org
21 November 1999