November 23, 2014
Sheep and Goats and Judgment, Oh My!
- Matthew 25:31-46
- Rev Ruth Chadwick Moore
For the past two weeks Teri and I have been preaching from the 25th chapter of Matthew. We have been talking about some difficult parables and we have another one this Sunday. And I know it seems like I’m whining, but I’m not real crazy about what Matthew has to say to us today – or Ezekiel for that matter!
Today’s parable is a judgment parable. Actually it’s about the final judgment and what happens to us when Jesus comes again in his glory and all the angels with him and he is sitting on the throne of his glory. But what’s he’s doing on that throne is judging who gets into God’s kingdom of eternal life and who doesn’t and is instead sent into eternal punishment. Not a pretty picture is it! Judgment makes us uncomfortable doesn’t it?
And is that because religion often gets a bad name because it’s perceived that religious folks harshly judge the behavior of others? Or is it because Jesus tells us in other gospel passages not to judge others – especially before we judge ourselves first. Or maybe we are uncomfortable with judgment because we believe that a God that loves us unconditionally will not judge us harshly.
Now we have to remember that the bible is not a book with the answers in the back. So we’re going to have to wrestle with this text. And that’s OK; we can do that, because we have a deep foundational belief and a deep trust in the goodness and grace of God. So taking that grace with us, let’s look at how we can participate in the unfolding reign or kingdom of Christ.
To begin with, we have the freedom to make choices and we can choose to participate in God’s kingdom, or we can choose to do nothing. That’s what’s going on in this gospel parable – the goats in the story did nothing. They weren’t sinners in the conventional sense of doing bad things – they didn’t steal something or murder someone. They just didn’t do anything when they saw their sisters and brothers suffering. So while today might be the Reign of Christ Sunday, or as we used to call it Christ the King Sunday, the emphasis in the story doesn’t seem to be on Christ’s throne of glory, but instead on something more down to earth – to the example Christ set for us – noticing people in need and responding.
I interpret this gospel reading as a reminder that all of God’s children are deserving of our kindness and generosity. This loving kindness is the kind that we extend to our family and friends, but also calls us to the more difficult concept and practice of extending hospitality - even to strangers. Hospitality, which was so important in Jesus’ time and culture, is still at the heart of how we practice our faith as Christians. As difficult as it can be, Jesus calls us to welcome and care for all – because no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey Christ welcomes you. And we are called to that same practice of extravagant hospitality.
Earlier in Matthew’s gospel, in the Beatitudes, we learned how Christians ought to be identified - with the weak of the earth who are more likely to be found in hospitals and prisons than on thrones in a palace. And this is where this text challenges us. We’re not to define ourselves as “good” Christians or “good” members of Northminster Church because we come to worship and we pray and we make occasional contributions to a worthy cause or volunteer some of our time to help others. The words of Jesus illustrate that being a Christian transforms our lives. It opens our eyes to encounter the sacred – to encounter Jesus himself – in our everyday lives. And these words also encourage us to see the sacred – once again to see Jesus – within our brothers and sisters.
I do think it’s ironic that neither the sheep nor the goats saw Jesus in the suffering and needy – it’s just that the sheep somehow responded as Jesus would, because they grasped the essence of discipleship – or what it means to be a Christian. It seems to be part of the sheep’s DNA to respond to the needs of others, while the goats were looking for a neon sign directing them to the right thing to do.
But let’s be clear here. Feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick and visiting those in prison is not our ticket into heaven. Doing these things is not works righteousness – or earning our salvation. Instead, feeding the hungry welcoming the stranger, giving a drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick and visiting those in prison is what followers of Jesus do to respond to the needs of others. And we do this because we know no other way to respond to God’s amazing love and grace.
Lindsey Armstrong, who’s a Presbyterian pastor in Atlanta, explains God’s love this way. God created the world out of an abundance of love. Like a bubbling fountain, God is love and overflows with love. In creation God gives something of God’s self, and in sending Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God repeatedly and generously pours love out upon all people – showing us God’s own self as well as who we are. So we who are created in the image of this freely given God freely share, because this is what it means to be created in God’s image. In particular we love those who are conventionally considered unable to give back. And we do this not to earn God’s love or to get favors from God or to make sure we are saved and go to heaven at the end of time. We do this, we care and we give, as an expression of the love that is inside us, bubbling up, spilling over and flowing out.
Barbara Brown Taylor, who is my favorite sermon writer, says that both the sheep and the goats thought that Jesus occupied one space at a time just like they did and that the way they behaved in his presence was all that really counted. Meanwhile, that left them lots of free time for being with the other people in their lives, including the ones who did not count – the little ones, the least ones – the waitresses, the children who sell candy at your door, the nursing home residents, the panhandlers, the inmates, the strangers at the grocery store. But these people matter to God and Jesus makes that clear in this story. And Ezekiel makes it clear too – God cares for those who are wounded by the selfish actions of others. God seeks out the weak who have been butted around on their way to the feeding trough. What also matters Rev. Taylor says – and this is what God says too – what really matters is how we behave when we think God is not around. Not just in church, but in everyday encounters with others – with the children of God. We are called into relationship even when that relationship is unlikely, momentary or sad. We are called to look at each other and see Christ. (The Preaching Life) It is as simple and as hard as that.
On this Sunday before Thanksgiving – this time of harvest and abundance – and before we enter the season of Advent, I wonder how we as a church will extend the kind of hospitality Jesus is talking about here. How can we imagine another world in which the needs of the least are met? Who are the people to whom you might reach out? And in doing so what surprises might you learn or receive? How do we share this call to compassion and respond to it?
I think if you look in your bulletin today you might find some ways that you can clothe the naked and feed the hungry. And in the healing service that follows this sermon, you might ask for prayers to heal a hurt or sickness that you have or be anointed for healing and wholeness for someone else.
I had a seminary professor who believed that God created us to do the things that God could not do. As he said, God cannot make a peanut butter sandwich and give it to someone who is hungry – but we can. God cannot give a drink of water to someone who is thirsty, or clothe someone who is cold, or take care of the sick, or open the doors of his/her church to the homeless. But we can. And when we do, we not only serve Christ, we have the honor and the privilege and the obligation of being Christ in the life of another.
Another liturgical year has ended and we will now begin to prepare for Advent. And as we do, maybe our stories of sheep and goats and even judgment can help to prepare us for this holy time – to prepare us for the surprising way that God will come to dwell in us – in the form of a poor, helpless, naked, hungry and homeless child of peasant parents. God came to us as ‘one of the least of these’ – and still does. Thanks be to God, Amen.
Resources:
Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 4, (Reign of Christ).
www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3282, “Imagining Christ,” by Kathleen Norris.
www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/november-23-2014.html, Reflection by Kathryn Matthews.