Matthew 25:31-46
The sheep and the goats, separate them...I am so done with division! This is what I stated as we discussed this passage earlier in the week. What I'm done with is the way this passage has been interpreted now for centuries. As if we can measure someone up and be the judge ourselves. This is not the point though, this is not for us to set up judge, jury, and execution, for us to determine who gets in and who is out. This is one of the points. We are not the ones judging, who is? The Son of Man, not us, period. So trying to say this is what is being pointed out here is just plain not thinking deep enough. I almost wrote something else, judgment, caught me. I don't think people intentionally set out to interpret or hear it wrong, it is becoming so familiar with the story we don't see anything else. So what else is there to see?
Another way of interpreting this is we are the ones who are to feed, share water, and visit in prison, but we don't have the time. Or we don't want to step on anyone's toes so toss money at the nearest ministry doing this and we are done. We sit sanctified and redeemed because we are just too busy with our own life and work. Yet this isn't what it is saying either and it isn't this simple. We all too often feed without connection, water without fertilizing, hand out clothing with no understanding of people's stories. Of how they got there at this point. Visiting the one in prison means we actually have a conversation with the person. Clothing, feeding, watering are all points of one on one connection, where we have the opportunity to not only provide for the simple need, but also the inner need of care and companionship. Maybe this is what God really wants us to do. Welcoming the stranger requires a conversation.
Relationship, we are so afraid to have relationship with others who are different than us. We think we are so far removed from this persons place in life that we have nothing in common. Common Cathedral in Boston taught us something different. My youth group and I went there for a winter clothing and hygiene ministry there in January. We would distribute clothes on the porch of the cathedral, hand out lunches we made to the homeless on the street, and hand out hygiene items as well. The catch, we had to listen to the stories of people who had been on the street. They had a residential program which was helping people to get back on their feet.
The stories created relationship with the folks from the street. My young people and the adults got to hear how someone just like our dad or mom could end up homeless and on the street. Just a few losses, a job, people being able to hire you, and then a few other things like not being able to pay your mortgage, having a fire on top of this all put people from being financially secure to on the street. Yes, there are some mentally ill who will never get enough help, by and large though these people are just like you and me.
The funny part of the story, when we arrived the first night we were on our own for supper. We walked the streets to find a place to have it and as we walked all these people, street people were smiling and saying hello. They knew why we were there, they knew what this ministry does for them, and they welcomed us to where they lived.
This is truly what the gospel asks of us. To not only feed, but to understand. To not only clothe, but to listen deeply. To not just throw our money and think our task is done, but to get together with others so we may know them more fully, just as Christ takes the time to know us fully. Now isn't this gospel, good news?
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