Matthew 25:31-46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
“Come, You Blessed”
We all know that words can be cheap.
We all know that faith which is not lived is hollow, empty, meaningless; that without love faith is nothing. I Cor. 13:1-3
We also know that we fall far short of being who we say we are.
Jimmy and Tammy Baker are not the only hypocrites in the world.
So we come here again, not to gloat, but to be kept on course.
Just as the rocket to the moon has to constantly be adjusted lest it miss the mark.
Today we come to the end of the Church year and we hear a word of hope from Ezekiel and Paul.( Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Ephesians 1:15-23) The story is complete; we can live in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection and in the confidence that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Then the Gospel turns our eyes back to life in the here and now, with a strong reminder that what counts is not just dreaming about what will be, but loosing ourselves in what is. Not just star gazing, looking for the coming of the Glorious Kingdom, but seeing the places and people whom God has placed in our path, through whom we are given the opportunity to live out our words, and make our faith active in love. Not because we are trying to gain heaven, but because we are being led by, and are open to the nudging of the Holy Spirit. This makes us vulnerable to the real human needs which cross our paths and call for our compassion.
We don’t always know we are doing it. It is not trying to be religious; it is being open to what comes our way and responding with something which has in it the love of God. Did you notice, both those who were affirmed and those who were rejected, didn’t know why! The depth of our goodness and badness can often best be seen when we think no one is looking.
Sometimes we are being evil and don’t know it.
i.e. Scott Peck story of the father who gave his second son the gun his older brother used to committed suicide, as a Christmas present.
Is it possible that whenever I evade my responsibility to stand up for my brother or sister in need, turn my back, pretend I don’t hear, can’t see, become indifferent, it is a sign of the evil within me, which keeps God from loving through me?
Likewise, when ever I stop to help, to care, to live in some small way, the love of God is there to do its powerful thing. As Mother Teresa says,
“All gestures of love, however small they be,
in favor of the poor and the unwanted.
are important to Jesus.”
This makes God glad, for God’s Kingdom is still coming on earth as it is in heaven. Then God can say what God wants to say:
“Come ye blessed (of my Father),
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you,
from the foundation of the world.”
“The Least of These”
Two things stand out in these words of Jesus.
1. The Kingdom of God has a lot to do with the nobodies of this world. It always has and it always will.
Life in the Kingdom is forsaking greatness for smallness,
property for people,
one’s own religiosity for others needs,
the protection of respectability for the vulnerability of compassion.
“It is (our) care and love and service of ‘the very least’ of the human race , the helpless, the presumed ‘godforsaken’ the lawbreakers, the ‘little ones’ which are the marks of the righteousness expected of the authentic children of God. “
This is where God looks to see what it is we really believe!
2. We do this best when we don’t know we are doing it. We do this best when
we lose ourselves in being kind and doing good, not because this is
the way to get to heaven, but because this is what naturally flows out of a life touched by the love, grace, and mercy of God.
When he was a wise old man Aldous Huxley wrote: “It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with human problems all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than try to be a little kinder.”
It is as a Western Mystic who said, ”Do you want to be a saint? Be kind, be kind, be kind.”
And it was Mother Teresa who said:
“At the end of life we will not be judged by
how many diplomas we have received
how much money we have made
how many great things we have done,
We will be judged by
‘I was hungry and you gave me to eat
I was naked and you clothed me
I was homeless and you took me in.”
“Hungry not only for bread - but hungry for love.
Naked not only for clothing - but naked for human dignity and respect.
Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection.
This is Christ in distressing disguise. What we do to them we do to him! “
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