I had a friend in seminary with whom I mopped floors for work-study hours. One day we were talking about judgment and he told me that growing up in a conservative church the Day of Judgment loomed large in his life. He even said that for a time he worried that it would be a day when the chosen would gather together and watch his life shouting things like, “Look, he’s being mean to his brother!” or “Oh my! He’s doing ‘it’ again!” My friend’s view of judgment does not feel that far off from today’s Gospel lesson.
Jesus appears to play into this dire scene of the End of Days saying, “Sheep over here and goats over here.” One group marches off to eternal life, while the other gets herded into the forever burning flames of Hell. I cannot help but find myself falling into a narrow way of reading this passage, such that there is no good news, no hope, no grace; only a very vengeful God. But, that’s not God. That is not who God is, and I believe that is not what this lesson says.
When we get into our minds a certain way of hearing a story, we may find it impossible to hear the tale in any other way. Jesus is two days from his betrayal, torture, and death. He can clearly see the urgency with which he must testify to the birthing of God’s Kingdom. He has just told the parable of the ten bridesmaids and the parable of the talents. He is desperately trying to get across to his followers that the decisions that they make impact the building up of the reality of God here and now. And yet, they will fail miserably. The disciples will betray Jesus. They will abandon him. They will sit helplessly by while he dies on the Cross.
These are the same disciples that would rather send people away empty, then figure out a way to feed them. The very same people who had no faith that Jesus would not let them perish in a storm. Even after being with Jesus from the start they could not put following him, loving others, and becoming the servant of all before their own needs and concerns.
There’s a bumper sticker I am sure you have seen. It reads: “Look busy, Jesus is coming.” The righteous ones in today’s Gospel did not follow this bumper sticker. They did not serve others because they knew that Jesus might be making a list and checking it twice. Neither did the accursed ones intentionally walk around seeking to harm others. Rather, both the sheep and the goats were unconscious of their choice. We are not so blinded. We have heard these words, and thus we are forced to wake up.
The day when Jesus comes in fullness may not ever happen in our lifetimes, but Christ is always coming into our lives. The concept of judgment is necessarily scary because regardless of how hard we try to be a sheep we will almost always find a way to at some point be a goat. God through Jesus has given to us this startling news that one day all will come together; however, I’m not so certain that it will be replaying our worst moments. Rather, I trust that as we walk this life momentarily shifting from sheep to goat we might wake up and recognize the larger Truth that we must rely not on our own times of getting it right or impressing Jesus in disguise, but living our lives completely giving over our highlights and lowlights to Jesus.
In a moment during the Offertory we will offer up not just our financial contributions, but our entire lives. Ourselves, our souls and bodies are put upon the altar and they are altered. We are broken along with Christ and we are transformed through his self-offering. Then we are sent back out into the world but in a way we are changed. We are changed by God’s love. Judgment is scary. However, nothing, not even judgment, gets between God and us. As we wake up to this truth may our lives be transformed, so that whatever we do we do it in the love of Christ. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment