"Lord, When Did We See You Hungry?"
Matthew 25:31-46
One day a student asked anthropologist Margaret Mead for the earliest sign of civilization in a given culture.
He expected the answer to be a clay pot or perhaps a fish hook or grinding stone.
Her answer was "a healed femur [bone]."
Mead explained that no healed femurs are found where the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, reigns.
A healed femur shows that someone cared.
Someone had to do that injured person's hunting and gathering until the leg healed.
The evidence of compassion is the first sign of civilization.
In a similar sense, I think that what our Gospel Lesson is stressing this morning is that "compassion is the sign of being a Christian" or "a follower of Christ."
And sadly, we are not always known for our compassion.
Sometimes we get known for our unbending rules, that screams "I desire sacrifice over mercy!!!!"
Which is, exactly the opposite of what Jesus taught.
Jesus told the Pharisees and religious leaders of His day...
...the one's who would eventually get the Romans to Crucify Him...
...Jesus told them, go learn what this means: "I want mercy not sacrifice."
That was when they were condemning Jesus' disciples for "breaking the Sabbath law" because they were hungry and thus were "picking heads of wheat and eating them" on the Sabbath.
They were putting the law and moralistic ideals above mercy, grace and love.
And because of that Jesus said that they were "condemning the innocent."
The Scribes and Pharisees were fundamentalists when it came to the Law.
And Jesus said that "they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them."
He said to them, "You shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don't enter yourselves, and you won't allow those who want to enter to do so."
He said, "you forgot about the more important matters of the Law: justice, peace, and faith."
One of my favorite Scripture passages comes from Matthew Chapter 9:35-38.
It reads: "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.'"
Jesus had compassion on the people, and then He turned to those Who were His followers and told them that "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."
Compassion expressed through works of mercy are the signs of God's love flowing through us to others.
"They will know we are Christians by our love."
"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 in prison and you visited me."
In the Scripture Reading from earlier in the service, the one Teresa read from 1 Corinthians 13, Paul was talking to a church that had seemingly forgotten what following Christ was really about.
They thought that the signs that one truly was a follower of Christ were all about whether or not someone spoke in tongues, could prophesy or had the "gift of knowledge."
And so, they were fighting with one another over who was The best Christian or God's favorite.
One might say, "I'm the best because I speak in tongues the most."
Another might say, "I'm the best because I can get up and talk about all kinds of stuff when we meet together."
But Paul says none of you are correct.
That's why he writes, "If I speak in tongues of human beings or of angels but I don't have love," I'm just making a whole bunch of useless noise.
He says, "If I have the gift of prophecy and I know all the mysteries and everything else, and if I have such complete faith that I can move mountains but don't have love, I'm nothing..."
Then he goes on to describe love: "Love is patient, love is kind, it isn't jealous, it doesn't brag, it isn't arrogant, it isn't rude, it isn't happy with injustice, but is happy with the truth.
Love puts up with all things, trusts in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things. Love never fails...
...Now faith, hope and love remain...and the greatest of these is love."
It's easy for us human Christians to "get off track."
That's one of the many reasons that Scripture passages such as these should always be in our minds.
We need to ask ourselves: "Is what I am doing being done in love?"
One author writes, "Each year I visit the doctor for no apparent reason.
That is, I make an appointment, pay for parking, sit in the waiting room, and then have a complete physical examination, in order for a team of medical professionals to measure my wellness...
...If my LDL cholesterol level is on the rise, I know to cut out the fresh baked cookies and add a few extra miles to my daily routine."
He says, "The checkup could save my life, and my insurance company thinks it's such a good idea that they pay the bill."
In many ways, Matthew's depiction of the last judgment is like a wellness check.
Its purpose is not to condemn or scare but to provide a snapshot of our overall health, development, learning, and Christian growth.
Jesus teaches us that in a world that seems too big to be changed, our lives have more meaning and value than we can imagine.
And therefore, we are saved to serve.
We are called to "go out into the harvest field", and have compassion for people.
I mean, aren't we all, in a sense, "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd"?
In Jesus' depiction of the final judgment He says, "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."
I would say that "the least of these" includes everyone.
For we are all weak and vulnerable.
But who are the weakest and most vulnerable?
Wouldn't be the children?
We are getting a lot of kids at East Ridge Cares 4 Kids these days.
Last week we had 26, which means one of the vans has to go back for a 2nd pick-up.
I was riding in one of the vans with a volunteer who attends another church.
She asked me how many people worship here at East Ridge.
When I told her, and went on to describe all the things you do for the children, on Sundays as well...
...her jaw was on the floor.
"For a church to adjust the way they do just about everything so that these children can come to church is amazing," she said.
And I agree.
When we look at the world around us, evidence of sin is everywhere.
There are the dramatic examples, such as the shooting of 20 children and 6 staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, the beheadings done by ISIS, those who sexually abuse children, the daily crimes in our community.
But we deceive ourselves if we only point to others as the source of evil.
A Soviet dissident made this famous quote: "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.
But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being."
In the book we are reading for our Wednesday evening Advent study, Adam Hamilton writes: "I struggle with sin in thought, word, and deed.
I have mixed motives that I'm not always self-aware enough to see.
At times I am a party to sins committed halfway around the world on my behalf, either through my love for consuming cheap garments and electronics made by workers who may not receive a living wage, or by economic and political policies I don't fully understand and yet support with my votes.
And while I strive to live what I preach and believe, I come to the end of each day aware that I am yet to live up perfectly to my ideals."
When Jesus Christ was nailed to the Cross, it was a dramatic act of God in which God was holding a mirror up to humanity as if to say, "There is something dreadfully wrong with you, and you need to be saved."
But the message doesn't end there; on the Cross, God is also saying to us: "I want to save you, and my Son has borne your sin on this Cross so that you might be free--free to love and be loved...
...free to be the person you were created to be.
Free to strive heavenward.
Free to live a true, deep and authentic life.
Free to love unconditionally as you are loved.
Free to have compassion on the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the imprisoned, the naked.
Free from obsessing about yourself, your own needs so that you can have concern for others."
Matthew 25:31-46 is about the Final Judgment when Jesus "comes in his majesty and all his angels are with him," and "he...sit[s] on his majestic throne."
"All the nations will be gathered in front of him."
It can be easy to read this passage and miss the Gospel.
It can be easy to read this passage of Scripture and think that salvation is something that WE ACHIEVE.
No, salvation is something God does for us.
Loving other human beings--all human beings--no matter who they are, what they do, where they have been...
...showing them compassion...
...seeing the face of Christ in a child and even in a serial killer is the product or the sign of our salvation.
We are told in 1 John Chapter 3: "We know that we have transferred from death to life, because we love...
...the person who does not love remains in death.
This is how we know love: Jesus laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
But if a person has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and that person doesn't care--how can the love of God remain in him [or her]?"
Compassion.
"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."
"I assure you that when you haven't done it for one of the least of these, you haven't done it for me."
