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 that 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 who are members of my
family, you did it to me. ' 41 Then he 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; 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."
The Gospel of the
Lord.
Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
During this
Lenten journey we will be focused on the theme:
“The Heart of Jesus”.
We will end with
reflections on Maundy Thursday where Jesus says: “I give
you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you
also should love one another.”
And on Good
Friday we will, of course, remember again the tremendous love that he had for
us, loving us even unto offering his life for ours on the cross.
The love of
Jesus.
His precious sacred heart.
All that’s fine
and good as a place to end, but why start with this last teaching of Jesus on
the judgment?
How can that
possibly be a revelation of Jesus’ love?
There are days,
when I read this text, that I think “you know, I’ll be alright.”
First of all,
there is a question about the nature of the judgment.
Are we going to
be judged as a nation? Or as
individuals?
Notice if you will
that Jesus says that all the nations will be gathered before him.
As a nation, we
often do quite well at these things. Or
so we think.
But what if we
are to be judged as individuals? Will we
end up at Jesus right hand or at his left?
In this regard, I’m
not quite as confident.
It’s one of those
“is my glass half empty, or half full” questions.
I shared my food
sometimes, but not always.
I never recall
refusing a drink to the thirsty, but quite frankly, that’s rarely been an
issue.
I’ve tried on
occasion to welcome the stranger, but more often, because I’m an introvert, I’ve
tended to shy away from that.
Clothing, well,
we used to have a clothing bank in Sandpoint – but we closed it. . .
I’ve cared for
the sick, as pastors do.
I’ve even visited
the imprisoned – once that I can recall.
You see, it’s a mixed
bag. I’ve done these things some of the
time, but not all of the time.
Am I a sheep or a
goat???
When we ask that
question we are focused solely on ourselves.
It’s all about me.
And that’s part
of the point. It’s not about just you
and me.
It’s about Jesus,
and the love he has for us, even the least of these.
'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one
of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. “
If we focus on
Jesus, and not ourselves, what is crystal clear is that he cares, deeply and
profoundly, even for the ‘least of these’.
No one is outside and beyond his love.
No one.
Which is good,
because when you think of it, we are all “one of the least of these”.
That’s one of the
interesting things about the way we hear this text. Rarely do we realize that when Jesus lifts up
the “least of these” he may in fact be talking about us!
In Psalm 8 it is
written:
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of
your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have
established;
4 what are human beings that you are mindful
of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Consider the vast
reaches of the universe and the eons of time that has past, and is yet to come.
Against eternity,
we are not even the blinking of an eye.
And when you
think of the vast reaches of the universe, we are hardly even a speck of dust. Here today.
Gone tomorrow.
Remember that you
are dust.
And to dust you
shall return.
Can you get any
lower than a speck of dust?
We often fancy
ourselves to be greater than we are.
But even the
greatest, the most powerful, are mere dust, mortals whose time quickly passes.
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than
God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the
works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet, .
. .
We are nothing
apart from God’s grace.
Nothing.
And yet in his
love, he has lifted us up out of the dust of the earth, to serve him and have
dominion over the very dust from which we came.
The heart of
Jesus, and God’s love.
Consider also
this passage from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:
25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry
about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body,
what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than
clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather
into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value
than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of
life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in
all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the
grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not
worry, saying, 'What will we eat? ' or 'What will we drink? ' or 'What will we
wear? '
God cares for the
least of these—which is why he cares for you and me.
And God has
provided for us all, which is why he expects us to share with all according to each
one’s need.
We are but the
dust of the earth, and yet God breathed into that dust the Spirit of life
itself.
We will return to
the dust, yet even still, he will raise us up on the last day.
And because of
God’s concern for each one of us as his children – he asks nothing in return
except for our praise and thanksgiving, AND, that we pay it forward.
God forgives us.
And so we are to forgive others.
God is merciful
to us,
And so we are to be merciful to
each other.
God has provided
for our every need,
And so we are to share that
which we have with others in need.
And when we are
found wanting, in this regard, there is Jesus who has done for us what we could
not do for ourselves.
How does Jesus
love us?
This teaching
which comes at the end of Jesus’ ministry points us to the beginning of
Creation itself.
God has called us
forth from the dust of the earth and crowned us with glory and honor.
Amen
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