Think about that, and then

You've Done It
think back to any of those
Unto Me fire and brimstone sermons
Matthew 25:33-45 - 2-19-17
Rev. Gary Shoemaker you either experienced or
Bellingham F.C.C. heard about. Sermons that
Now, Jesus didnt speak push tried to convince you
that if your didn't accept
often about an official
Jesus right now, and
judgement day, but the main
something should happen to
parable he tells which
you, you wouldn't be sure
involves a judging, a
where your eternal soul
separating of the good folks
might end up.
from the bad folks, is before
us today. And in this parable,
the difference between the Now, I doubt that there was
any part of that sermon or
good folks and the bad folks,
lecture that brought up the
the difference between the
subject of how you're
sheep and the goats, the
supposed to treat others.
difference between eternal
How love for your brothers
bliss and eternal
and sisters is the key to then
punishment... is determined
by how youve treated entrance into the kingdom of
strangers. God.

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But in this parable, it has
everything to do with how we
treat the people, the strangers
around us. Those that are
sent to heaven, have treated
them kindly, they have fed
them when they were hungry,
they gave them a drink when
they were thirsty, clothed
them when they were naked,
gave them shelter when they
were homeless, visited them
when they were sick or in
prison.
Notice that in the parable, it
doesnt say anything about
what the good folks believed.
It doesnt say... Go into
heaven, because you have
accepted the 5 fundamentals
of Christianity and you have
affirmed the proper doctrine
concerning the Virgin Birth.
It doesnt say, Youre saved
because you belonged to the
right church. It doesnt say,
Youre saved because you
voted this way or that way...
It says... Youre saved
because you // took // care //
of // strangers
Whoa!!!
I dont know if I like that...
Ive brushed up against a lot
of people over the course of
my lifetime who were in
need, and I didnt do
anything about it. I was too
busy, or too skeptical, or too
whatever.
So the question might
become, where will I find
myself in this parable?
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Life is often messy isn't it.
Life is often quite different
from the pure black and
white of the parable.
One Sunday morning, the
Sunday School teacher was
talking about this very
parable. She did her best to
explain to the children what
it was about and ended with
this question, If all the bad
people in the world were
painted green and all the
good people painted red,
what color would you be?
Silence, until finally a small
hand went up. Striped,
came the response.
The other twist in the parable
is that Jesus says that it's not
just any stranger, but that he
was the hungry one... that
Jesus was thirsty one, that
Jesus was sick and in prison
and homeless and naked.
Now really, what would you
do if you saw Jesus in pain,
and somehow you just knew
it was Jesus? What would
you do?
Well, that really throws a
wrench into it! I mean, who
among us would not do
something to help Jesus. I
mean after all, it's Jesus!
But, I dont ever remember
seeing Jesus hungry or
thirsty or sick or in prison or
naked or in any kind of
need... If I had seen you, my
savior, my Jesus, my friend...
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I would have come to your
aid immediately.
"I tell you the truth,
whenever you did one of
these things to someone
overlooked or ignored, that
was me -- you did it to me."
Remember now, weve talked
about the radical nature of
the teachings of Jesus before,
and this falls into that
category... heres the Son of
God, the Prince of Peace
telling us that how we treat
strangers is how we treat
him. Wait a minute... I didnt
know that was going to be on
the final exam!!!
You mean that the way I
treat the people I meet
everyday is the way I treat
God? Well then I owe God
an apology!
Im sorry that I ignored
you, God. Im sorry that I
looked the other way, God.
I'm sorry I cut you off in
traffic. Im sorry that I
found better things to do
with my money than assist
you, God. Im sorry that I
didnt have time for you,
God.
As youve done it unto the
least of these... my sisters and
brothers... youve done it
unto me.
Its hard enough to love your
neighbor as yourself... but
now Jesus is telling us to love
our neighbor as we love him.
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It was already impossible,
and now it's become
impossible-er! Love your
neighbor as you love Jesus.
Love the person in need, the
stranger in need, the
foreigner in need, the person
on Medicaid, as you love
Jesus.
Jesus likes to meddle doesnt
he! As if life isnt
complicated enough. As if
we dont have enough
problems just looking after
our own... now we have to
look after everyone as if they
were Jesus.
But think about it, to see
Jesus in the other, changes
everything doesnt it. To see
the Jesus in the enemy
changes everything... to see
the Jesus in the abused
mother... to see the Jesus in
the homeless man who stands
a little to close to us... to see
the Jesus in the other //
changes everything.
It alters our point of view. It
changes our reality. It
changes society. It changes
the world. //
And he knew it. He knew
what he was doing. He knew
what he was teaching. He
knew exactly what he was
saying. He knew precisely
what he was asking of us. He
was telling us to love the
African child orphaned by
AIDS as you love Jesus. To
love the Syrian refugee as
you love Jesus. To love the
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next person you see on the
street as you love Jesus.
Jim Wallis, founder of
Sojourners and a prophet in
American Evangelical
Christianity wrote,
The world is too small now
for "us" and "them." There is
only "we." We are bound
together. We will either learn
that or we will die as those
who fail to learn that we
share a common destiny. We
have broken covenant with
our neighbor, with the poor,
with the earth, with ourselves
and with God. Our hope is
the re-establishing of that
covenant again,
understanding that solidarity.
How can that be done in a
world full of injustice and
despair?
I'll never forget a day when I
came back to Washington,
D.C., my hometown. There
were the headlines in the
newspaper saying that the
highest-ranking legal officer
in my country, had just had a
press conference and
proclaimed from the White
House pulpit that there were
no hungry people in America.
The next day was Saturday
and the food line formed
early outside the
Neighborhood Center, just
one-and-a-half miles from the
White House -- three
hundred families stood in line
to receive a bag of groceries
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to get them through the next
week.
Just before the doors are
opened and all the people
come in, all those who help
prepare the food and get it
together, join hands and say a
prayer. The prayer is often
offered by Mary Glover. She
is our best prayer, a sixty-
year-old black woman who
knows what it means to be
poor and knows how to pray.
She prays like someone who
knows who she's talking to.
She's been carrying on a
conversation with the Lord
for many, many years. She
first thanks God for another
day, "Another day to serve
you, Lord," she says. On that
particular day, I'll never
forget she prayed these
words, "Lord, we know that
you'll be coming through this
line today so, Lord, help us to
treat you well."
Sisters and brothers of First
Christian Church, you know
that we are people of faith,
and as people of faith, we are
supposed to see the world
differently. Particularly, as
people of faith who are
followers of Jesus, we're
supposed to see the world as
Jesus wants us to see it. So
when we serve our
community meals, when we
collect and distribute clothing
through Joseph's closet,
when we participate in our
'Jesus Has Left the Building'
Sundays, when we serve
coffee and sandwiches
downtown, when we
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welcome a new family into
Disciple's House, when we
welcome the children of
migrant workers onto our
property through Raices
Culturales, when we consider
two new programs that will
provide housing for the
homeless and working poor,
we need to hear the words of
Jesus who's telling us, "I'm
the one your feeding, I'm the
one you're giving a warm
coat to, I'm the one you're
housing, I'm the one you're
giving clean warm socks to,
I'm the one you're
welcoming, I'm the one
you're going out into the
community to help, I'm the
one sitting next to you in the
pew when you notice I'm not
having a good day. I'm the
one your touching with the
hands of love and care.
As you've done it unto one of
the least of these, my sisters
and brothers, you've done it
unto me."
I've heard it said, and you
may feel like we're stretching
ourselves too thin in all that
we do for others around here,
but what a great problem to
have. May it be written on
our tombstones - They
stretched themselves too thin
by caring for more and more
people.
We can do this, because
we're not alone, I believe that
people will come to help, I
believe that people will
partner with us, I believe that
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people will join us in our
endeavors.

But most of all, we're not

alone because the very one
we're helping is the one who
said to us, "Where two or
three are gathered, I'll be
there."

We can do this, we must do

this if we're to follow and be
the people of God. It's who
we are, it's why we are.

Fear not, for I am with you

always.

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