Sermon list

"Helping Jesus"
Matthew 25:31-46
Christ the King Sunday	November 24, 2002
Ascension Lutheran Church	Jackson, MS
A sermon by Pastor Tom Clark

 

"Then the Lord will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. 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.'

[And they will say], '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?' 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.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matt. 25:41-46

 

As young person this passage gave me a lot of trouble. I was worried that somehow I could possibly miss Jesus if he came. I was sure that if I knew it was Jesus who needed my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I would gladly hand it over. If Jesus needed a shirt, I'd give him the one I was wearing. (Though I wondered if it would fit him.) And if Jesus walked into our church, I was sure I would go welcome him and take his hand and lead him over to where we were sitting: left side of church, outside aisle, two rows back from the front.

I knew that Jesus was a loving Savior, and that he died to save me. I could imagine him as the gentle shepherd, carrying lambs in his arms. I could imagine him holding young children in his lap as he taught the adults.

How could this gentle Jesus also be the stern divider of sheep and goats, welcoming the sheep to greener pastures and sending the goats to the barbecue? However it could be, I knew that one day, I would stand before him as judge and that he would pass judgement. No matter that he was a loving king, it was still his job to judge-it said so in this passage I just read.

Would I be a sheep or a goat? Faithful or unfaithful? It didn't matter that I went to church twice on Sundays and once on Wednesdays. The criteria for my judgement (as for everyone) was whether I had fed, welcomed, clothed, and visited those in need.

So I struggled with this … rule!-doing these things Jesus said I should do.

As I got older I realized that though I had first thought I could serve Jesus by just giving food, shelter, clothing, and time to any who presented themselves, Jesus was harder and harder to detect. After all, a lot of people who I ran into, asking to borrow lunch money, were a lot more irritating than I imagined Jesus would be if he borrowed my lunch money. I was sure that Jesus would pay me back, promptly, without me asking, unlike those classmates I helped. If Jesus was presenting himself in disguise in these people, he had a very good disguise.

So how was I to help Jesus? By helping these unreliable classmates? Did it help my record that I helped my mother deliver fruit baskets to shut-ins at Christmas?

Then sometime after I got my license, I was driving home from town when I saw this old man hitchhiking. I didn't know him, but he looked like someone who could have been from around there. I started to just drive on-hadn't my parents warned me about picking up strangers? Then I heard this voice, "When was it that I saw you hungry or thirsty or a STRANGER."

And in that moment… I thought I saw Jesus in my rearview mirror. I stopped… I backed up… rolled down my window and asked, "Where are you headed?" He said, I live down around Noxapater, but if you just take me as far as you're going, that'll be fine."

Well, would you stop and let Jesus out and say, "Sorry, this is as far as I'm going"? No. I took him all the way. Afterwards, I had this sense of peace. I must have said quietly, "O.K. That's one, Lord."

But my peace didn't last long. Because it was based on a sort of legalistic idea about what Jesus was saying. It was similar to Peter asking, "Lord, how many times did you say I had to forgive my brother?" It's not about numbers.

The kind of judgment that the King at the end will employ will not be about fulfilling quotas of people helped. It will be about the kind of heart that sees Jesus in us-and how much we trust we will find him among those who don't pay back lunch money as well as those who do; among those who have legitimate needs and those who enjoy panhandling for a living. What's being judged is not so much the number of deeds we have done but the heart behind the deeds.

It's not about deeds anyway but the relationships we allow to happen when we follow in Jesus' footsteps. The relationship is concrete as we relate to the person in need. But the relationship is also spiritual because the one standing behind it all is Jesus-the good shepherd who is also the King and Judge.

Notice that in this passage neither the sheep nor the goats realize what they have done (or not done) when they stand before the judge. It's not that the "goats" did something bad; it's just that they did not do something good for one in need. And the sheep? It never occurred to them that the good deeds they did for people would earn them a front seat in the kingdom. It seems then that this passage is not so much about judgement as it is about grace, and what it means to live it.

There are no "ten easy steps" in following Jesus. This passage, like so many in the Bible, does not so much provide answers as it challenges and unsettles us, and maybe even comforts us. The Gospel tends to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. (see Mary's Magnificat, Luke 1:50-53)

How can you know if Jesus is present in the next person you meet? I will close with a quote from one of my favorite author/preachers, Barbara Brown Taylor:

"The only way to tell if they are really Jesus' eyes is to look into them, to risk that moment of recognition that may break your heart, or change your mind, or make you mad, or make you amend your life. Whatever effect it has on you, that seems to be the one thing the sheep know how to do and the goats have never tried: to look, to see, to seek Christ in the last, the lost, the least. I am sure Matthew would not agree with me, but if you ask me, that is enough to start with. The food, the drink, the welcome, the visit-all those things will follow in their own good time. They are necessary for life; they are not optional, but by themselves they are just quarters in a cup. Charity is no substitute for kinship. We are not called to be philanthropists or social workers, but brothers and sisters. 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, who promises to be there where our eyes meet, and in that glance to teach us something we need to know."*

 

*Barbara Brown Taylor, THE PREACHING LIFE, pp. 137-138, Cowley Publications, Cambridge, MA, 1993