Sermon Notes for November 26, 2017
Read Matthew 25:31-46, where Christ separates the sheep from the goats.
When we come to today's passage, we tend to think of it in terms of who we are. Where do we fit in. Who am I? A sheep or a goat? It seems like an important question. Where do I fall on this spectrum? How am I going to end up on the last days?
And it's not a terribly comfortable question is it? Because it's not a comfortable passage. Because if we think about it, we all have days when we're a goat.
There are some days we don't even notice when someone around us is in need. There are some days when we notice, but we're too busy with our own lives to stop and help. And there are even days when we question the motives of the person in need. We all have days when we're goats. Which is really upsetting, because it sounds as though these goat days mean we'll be plunged into the outer darkness.
And yet, I think everyone has days when they are a sheep. Admittedly, some people are more sheep-like than others. But we all have chances to see the people around us who are in need. Who are cold or lonely or hungry or abandoned. And we all have chances to make a difference there. Times when we can offer up a word of carrying. Share what food we had. Stop by and visit someone or even simply pick up the phone. We can all be more sheep like in our days, but we do have days when we get it right. When we help the least.
And there is a third category in this story. We focus so much on whether we are a sheep or a goat that we miss out on the fact that there are also "the least." The least are those who are poor, hungry, cold, thirsty, sick, a stranger or imprisoned. Now, you may not have know what it is like to have real hunger. And in this country, clean water is easy enough to get that I doubt you have known thirst. But perhaps you have had lean times? Or maybe you have been sick. Really truly laid out sick and needed someone else to care for you. And who hasn't at one point of their life been a stranger where they were at? Who hasn't needed the kindness of others to help fit into a place?
Just as we all have been sheep on some days and goats on others, we also all have been the least at some point in our lives. We all have depended on someone else to help, to care. Now, I think in some ways, this category makes some people more uncomfortable than the goats. Okay, banish me to the outer darkness, but don't make me admit that I need help. We can have trouble accepting help and we can have more trouble asking for help. But some days we are the least. And it's okay to for others to help.
Because we all fit in different roles in this story at different times. I think focusing on the answer to "Where do I fit in" leaves us missing a lot of the point.
Say we decide to focus on being more sheep like. It does seem to be the point of this story, doesn't it? We go out and concentrate on treating every person as if they were Christ, because eternal damnation certainly sounds like something we should avoid. But if we do that, we aren't acting like sheep at all.
The sheep are confused when Jesus says that they welcomed him. They weren't treating people well because they might be Jesus in disguise. They were treating people well because you treat people well. It's not about rewards in the afterlife and it's not about treating our King any special way. It's about how you treat other people because they are fellow human beings who matter. Christ's love compelled them to compassionate action. It was the natural, instinctive, uncalculated reaction of a loving heart. It was honest generosity. Francis Clark said, "To feel sorry for the needy is not the mark of a Christian - to help them is."
Even the goats understood that if those least were Jesus they would be happy to treat them better. Treating someone a certain way because they might be Jesus isn't the point of this passage. All of the people understand that that's how they should act, if Jesus is around. This passage is about loving one another for their own sake. About helping others for no other reason than they need help.
Barbara Brown Taylor masterfully evokes the everydayness of being disciples of a Jesus who has promised always to be with us: "Sheep and goats alike, they thought that he occupied one space at a time just as 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 door-to-door magazine salesmen, the nursing home residents, the panhandlers, the inmates, the strangers at the grocery store." Of course, these people matter to God, and Jesus makes this clear in his story. What also matters, she says and God will say, is "how we behaved when we thought God was not around." Not just in church, but in everyday encounters with others, all children of God. (The Preaching Life). It is as simple, and as hard, as that.
Today is Christ the King Sunday. We end one church year and begin another. As we do that we turn to this passage of Matthew of Christ ruling in the end times. And we see how Christ wants us to live our lives. We are called to care about people because they are people. And we are called to help people who need help, regardless of any other factors. And in turn, when we are in need, it's okay to allow others to help us. It's okay to ask.
Now, this isn't just a call for individuals. As we read the passage, we see that whole nations are called before the throne. We as a church are called in this passage as well. We are called and empowered to do these things for others because we are the church, and Ephesians reminds us that as the Church, we are the body of Christ. We are the active agency and activity of God in the world, we are the ones who are fulfilling the role of "shepherd", tending to God’s beloved children, who are, strangely enough, also the Christ. The hungry, the thirsty, the homeless stranger, the naked ones, the sick and suffering, those in prison, all of them are Christ, and our call is to respond to their need with active love and simple compassion.
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he was preaching in front of the Ebenezer Baptist congregation, told them just two months before his untimely funeral how he would like to be remembered. "If Christ is ruler over our lives", Dr. King told them, "then my Nobel Peace Prize is less important than my trying to feed the hungry. If Christ is King, then my invitations to the White House are less important than that I visited those in prison. If Christ is Lord, then my being TIME magazine's 'Man of the Year' is less important than that I tried to love extravagantly, dangerously, with all my being." (I Have a Dream, 191)
If Christ rules our lives, we will be sheep without even realizing it. When we are truly secure in our own places with God, we don't worry about helping because we think we're picking up recognition or eternal merit; we help because we can't stop ourselves, because it's the natural, instinctive, response of a loving heart touched by the love of Christ. And yes, we will have days when we are goats. And yes, we will have days when we are the least. But by following Christ, we will see the people around us and help them.
As you go out into the world you will run across strangers, the sick and the cold. As you go, remember who is your Lord and King. And respond accordingly.
