The First Monday of Lent -- March 14, 2011
Matthew 25:31 - 46
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I’ve hated this passage for most of my adult life. Well, maybe not “hated,” but I want to run every time I hear it coming down the tracks, mostly because I know I’m going to get run over. The message I’ve heard in it is, “Actions matter. Deeds count.” And if, like me, you feel you haven’t done enough . . . well, let’s just say the prospects don’t look good.
I think I’ve run from it in fear because like much of the Scripture I’ve heard the message through “either/or” ears. In my mind, I’ve imagined that there were two choices and only two choices: Sheep or goats. Good or bad. Obedient or disobedient. You’re in or you’re out. You’re one or the other.
The story might read that way at a surface level, but I think it’s probably a dishonest reading of the teaching. Because who among us is either all in, 100%, or all out, 0%? I know there are folks – I heard one the other day – who say, “If you’re not in 100%, it doesn’t matter what you are . . . a 95% commitment is just the same as 20%. God wants all or nothing.”
If that’s the standard, though, none of us make it. That’s right. None of us. Zero. Nada. You can quote me your Scriptures on that . . . but I have a few in my pocket as well and I can give them back to you. None of us make it by our righteousness. No, not one.
It’s a much more honest spirituality that confesses to both our sheep-ness and our goat-ness. I am both a sheep and a goat. And you are, too.
Each of us are, in varying degrees, odd mixtures of noble helping and stubborn refusal to get involved.
We lift others up. We also cut others down who get in our way.
Within us lives a combination of deep love for neighbor alongside a rampant self-centeredness.
We feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but we also turn our back on those in prison and refuse to help those who “don’t deserve our help.”
We extend ourselves toward others to the point of breaking, but we have a default “looking out for #1” mentality.
Each of us has inside our hearts both sheep and goats. We are not one or the other. We are both.
Prayer and contemplation infuse within me the grace to accept these different parts of myself as my real life. This is the real me, the only me I can truly offer to God . . . both my sheep and my goats.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I’ve hated this passage for most of my adult life. Well, maybe not “hated,” but I want to run every time I hear it coming down the tracks, mostly because I know I’m going to get run over. The message I’ve heard in it is, “Actions matter. Deeds count.” And if, like me, you feel you haven’t done enough . . . well, let’s just say the prospects don’t look good.
I think I’ve run from it in fear because like much of the Scripture I’ve heard the message through “either/or” ears. In my mind, I’ve imagined that there were two choices and only two choices: Sheep or goats. Good or bad. Obedient or disobedient. You’re in or you’re out. You’re one or the other.
The story might read that way at a surface level, but I think it’s probably a dishonest reading of the teaching. Because who among us is either all in, 100%, or all out, 0%? I know there are folks – I heard one the other day – who say, “If you’re not in 100%, it doesn’t matter what you are . . . a 95% commitment is just the same as 20%. God wants all or nothing.”
If that’s the standard, though, none of us make it. That’s right. None of us. Zero. Nada. You can quote me your Scriptures on that . . . but I have a few in my pocket as well and I can give them back to you. None of us make it by our righteousness. No, not one.
It’s a much more honest spirituality that confesses to both our sheep-ness and our goat-ness. I am both a sheep and a goat. And you are, too.
Each of us are, in varying degrees, odd mixtures of noble helping and stubborn refusal to get involved.
We lift others up. We also cut others down who get in our way.
Within us lives a combination of deep love for neighbor alongside a rampant self-centeredness.
We feed the hungry and clothe the naked, but we also turn our back on those in prison and refuse to help those who “don’t deserve our help.”
We extend ourselves toward others to the point of breaking, but we have a default “looking out for #1” mentality.
Each of us has inside our hearts both sheep and goats. We are not one or the other. We are both.
Prayer and contemplation infuse within me the grace to accept these different parts of myself as my real life. This is the real me, the only me I can truly offer to God . . . both my sheep and my goats.
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