Matthew 25:34-40 Common English Bible
“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’
“Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’
If there is an apogee or pinnacle to the Gospel of Mathew --- this section of the Gospel, is it.
It is here that all that Jesus has been trying to teach us in the Gospel comes to its logical conclusion.
If you go back and read the Beatitudes --- you will see that Matthew 25 is the perfect bookend to them.
And like the Beatitudes, Jesus is trying to explain to us --- once again --- what it means to be a follower --- a disciple of his.
And all I can tell you it --- that it is STINKING HARD
Without Grace --- it would be impossible
But God is willing to take our cracked and broken cups --- our cracked and broken lives --- and turn them into something beautiful.
But we need to honestly look at this challenging passage and figure out what to do with it.
The first challenge for me is that it would be easy to see in this passage a call to works-righteousness.
The idea that we are saved BECAUSE of the things we do.
And if we were to read this without the rest of Matthew’s gospel it would be simple to arrive at that understanding.
One of the things that we tend to miss --- as we read the Gospel stories is how the people of Jesus’ day viewed salvation and justice.
For the last couple of hundred years, we understand salvation and justice as being something PERSONAL
It is between ME and God
But the hearers at the time of Jesus did not view the world that way
Salvation was NEVER personal --- it was always corporate
Same too the call for justice --- which this passage clearly is doing.
I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’
. . .
‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’
In the Hebrew Bible, the words tzedek, mishpat and din indicate righteousness, judgment, and abiding by the law.
It is easy for us to try to incorporate our understanding of justice, righteousness and abiding by the law into the bible.
Yet there are deeper and more profound ideas that underlie Jewish concepts of justice, rooted in some of the Jewish tradition’s oldest teachings.
At the foundation of the biblical idea of justice is the concept of covenant.
We first encounter this idea in the Exodus stories
the freed Israelite slaves arrive at Mount Sinai where they enter into a covenant with the godly power that liberated them.
This covenant entails obligations that the Israelites have both to God and to one another.
It also presents the obligations that God takes on in regard to God’s people.
This idea of covenant between God and God’s people was a radical idea at the time.
Still pretty radical if you ask me.
Part of this relationship had to do with ritual obligations to be undertaken by the Israelites: holy festivals, a system of animal sacrifice, the establishment of a priesthood.
But the covenant also included specific provisions for human relations, including
establishing fair courts,
protecting the vulnerable (the non-Israelite, the foreigner, the widow, the orphan, and the poor),
lending to the needy without interest,
treating wage laborers fairly,
and much more.
In this context, justice means observing the rules of the covenant, only some of which could be enforced in a court of law.
If you go back and read the prophets --- Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea --- to name a few
You find that when they express God’s anger at the people ---
it is for doing injustice
failing to uphold the covenant concerning the poor and the vulnerable is often at the core of their critique.
If you go to the Encyclopedia Judaica and look up justice, you will find Rabbi Steven S. Schwarzschild’s article on the subject.
The Rabbi contrasts the Jewish approach to justice with the dominant Western definitions.
What is the difference?
The western approach to justice is primarily retributive or distributive — that is, systems for how to do things.
In contrast,
Jewish justice is a substantive vision of what human life should be.
He writes:
“The substantive view of justice is concerned with the full enhancement of human and, above all, social life, . . . Thus it suffuses all human relations and social institutions.”
And I would suggest that if we read Matthew carefully --- it is this Jewish and not our western understanding that is being presented to us.
That is the vision that Eleanor Roosevelt is trying to give us in our quote at the top of the bulletin.
When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?
It is the same message that Pope Frances offered a few years ago when he invited us to fast for Lent.
Fast from hurting words and say kind words.
Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.
Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
Fast from worries and trust in God.
Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.
Fast from pressures and be prayerful.
Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.
Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.
Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.
The other day I was having breakfast with a dear friend from the church.
He told me he was a little perplexed because he wasn’t sure how to do the things that I have been inviting you too the last couple of weeks.
Two weeks ago, I invited you to CHOOSE --- actively choose --- everyday --- to follow Jesus.
That to me is the first step.
I must make a conscious decision that I want to follow Jesus.
Sure --- I may not know how
But I can CHOOSE to learn how.
So choose to follow Jesus
And then last week, I upped the ante.
I invited you not only to follow --- but to become a disciple of Jesus.
And the easiest way that I can sum that up is that we must become REFLECTORS of Jesus love.
We reflect God/Jesus’ love by living as best we can the call in Micah:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Heck no, it is not easy
--- but it is also easier than you think
Go back with me to the breakfast
He asked me how you follow Jesus
And after a little while --- unbeknownst to him --- he shared how he follows Jesus.
He supports an agency that works with children who are living on the edge.
And then a few minutes later he told me about a missionary couple that he was starting to support and wanted to know if he could advocate for them here at the church.
THAT IS BEING A DISCIPLE
None of us are Jesus --- and none of us will ever become Jesus
But we can reflect his love in our lives.
And before you think --- that’s impossible --- remember who Jesus chose for his disciples.
James and John --- who wanted to be seen as FIRST
Peter --- who denied Jesus
Judas --- who betrayed Jesus
If I just stop there --- 1/3 of the disciples were failures
Yet Jesus still chose them
All of us will fail
But Jesus still chooses you.
We are just two weeks from Easter.
Take some time to reflect on the ways God is calling you to help deal with some of the systemic injustices in our time
Love God
With all your heart, soul, mind and strength
Love your neighbor (even the ones you don’t know or dislike)
Do kindness
Live with an attitude of gratitude and use that attitude to help others
Seek Justice
Without justice for all of God’s children --- there can be no peace.
We are called to see Jesus in other people and know that Jesus shows up to us in the faces of people we meet. Jesus is asking us to treat people like people.
Compassion is mercy in action.
Reflect Jesus!
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