“Focused on Community Needs”Faith In Real Life Blog (FIRL)
Third mark of the Vital Congregations Intitiative
Rev. Vernon Gramling
Decatur Presbyterian Church
August 24, 2022
Matthew 25:31-46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’46 And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.”
It is tempting to only read this passage in terms of judgment, reward and punishment. It says in plain English (or should I say Greek) who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. It promises ‘blessing’ for the mindful and ‘eternal fire’ and banishment from the presence of God into ‘eternal fire’ for the self centered. There is no in between, no gradient of meaning. All we have to do is follow the directions and our future with God is assured. If only we and life were so simple. This parable is much more complex than a morality tale or a story about end times.
In real life, the discussion of this passage moves rapidly toward trying to identify if we have done enough to qualify for God’s kingdom. Stories are told about homeless people on the street. We are being approached constantly. The needs of the world far outstrip our ability to respond. How do we decide whether or not to give and then how do we decide how much to give and finally how do we decide how often to give. Everyone has a story but none of us has an answer. The parable stirs up alot of anxiety and guilt. Are we enough? The parable, however, is far more about God than our adequacy. If we can skip the dramatic scary language about eternal fire for a moment, we will discover that this parable relocates where to look for God.
Please note that neither the goat nor the sheep know what the king is talking about. Both ask ‘When did we see you…? Neither had considered that mindfulness, regard and care for others might be the experience of the Holy. After all, God is almost, by definition outside of our ordinary lives. Thinking of God within our ordinary encounters a radical concept and is hard to grapple with. It has a variety of implications for our faith.
1. God is in places we do not expect. In FIRL, when asked where we have experienced God, the list included contemplation, nature, music, scripture, relationships…to name a few. But, no matter how wonderful ‘mountain top’ experiences are, how deeply peaceful and nurturing the various spiritual disciplines can be or how awe inspiring and majestic the natural world is, all of them are self indulgent exercises if they do not lead us out of ourselves. That is the unexpected kick in the tail in this parable.
Receiving and cultivating regard for self and others is the point of all of our spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are not ends unto themselves. They are pathways to one another. They are pathways to God.
2. The experience of God is often difficult and uncomfortable. It is hard to be with people. They will annoy you and they will inconvenience you. But it is remarkable what happens when we seek to support others without primarily focusing upon what we will receive or how we are received.
3. It requires a new discernment to see God in the mirror as well as in the face of those we encounter. Then, more discernment to respond with care. In real life, we rarely actually know what is helpful. That is true in our families and it is true in our encounters with others on the street. We can only be mindful and offer our best guess. Whether or not our care actually helps is very rarely certain.
4. The world’s needs far outstrip our ability to respond but that should not deter us from adding our bit of care. We believe that living a mindful connected life is the life that gives life. Living primarily for ourselves will miss that life. This is the warning in the passage. We need direction to live meaningful lives and we need guard rails against our own foolishness. Simply put, the Christiian faith claim is that we will find what is most important in life by living mindfully and connected. Failure to do so may lead to acquisitions but will end in isolation.
5. You will suffer more if you follow this path. If you care for others and they are in pain, you will feel that pain— and, as often as not, you will not be able to ‘fix’ it. If you need to feel adequate in any secular sense, don’t sign up for Christianity. If you want to receive love and you want to love, I haven’t found a better way to live.
6. Holiness is in the ordinary. As I’ve already mentioned, it is far more common to think of the Holy as something outside of our ordinary experiences that bursts into our lives. This passage places the Holy in the most ordinary daily encounters. Christianity does not provide an escape from living. It draws us into the uncertainties and ambiguities of ordinary encounters. It is difficult and it is costly but we live in the faith that this is where we find God. Deep connections are the holiness of life. They are found in sharing joy and in sharing sorrow. If you’ve had such a connection—anywhere—you know they are transformative and healing. We can not learn that if we make life about: ‘What about me?’
Our faith calls us into ordinary life—not out of it. It calls us into community with the promise that within such a life, we will discover unexpected joy. The sheep in this passage were certainly surprised. A vital church needs to be reminded of these faith claims.
Any vital church will struggle with this passage. But a vital church will share this good news in word and deed because that is where God is. It is the way to unexpected joy, the way to meaning for our lives and, ultimately, the way to God.
What more could we ask for? Let it be so.
