So, as an interim people, how
does God intend for us to live? We
are exploring the attitudes, life-style, and practices which define what it
means to live as a Resurrection People in the interim. We began by looking at two key attitudes of a
Resurrection People, hope and
joy. Then, we explored God’s
Call to live in a community
of faith, where we are safe, loved, and supported by this community. Last Sunday, we examined justice, which is one of several practices that Christ calls
upon us to pursue as a Resurrection People.
This week, we will
reflect on a second practice: compassion. Our scriptural guide for reflecting on
compassion will be Matthew 25: 31-46.
This passage is sometimes referred to as “The Great Judgment” passage because
it is the only passage in the New Testament that explicitly discusses a final
judgment.
In these verses, Jesus
provides detailed criteria, laying out what one must do for salvation. Jesus describes the final judgment as the
process of a Judge separating sheep from goats.
In this case, it is far better to be a sheep because they will be
invited “‘to inherit the kingdom prepared…from the foundation of the world’”
and eternal life. By contrast, the goats
will be sent “away into eternal punishment.”
The criteria for
separating the sheep from the goats concerns whether we have cared for our
fellow neighbors. Jesus says, “I was
hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I
was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” (vv.
35-36)
I have always appreciated
this passage of scripture. For me, it’s
as though Jesus has provided a study-guide for the final exam. Perhaps you remember study-guides from your
school days. They were guides, sometimes
with practice questions, designed to help students focus their studying
exclusively on the material that would be covered by the final exam. So, in essence, in this passage Jesus is
telling us that what is important for our salvation is service—that is, helping
others. I suppose that this is the
ultimate study-guide of all time. J
Biblical scholars have
pointed out that all of the criteria named by Jesus in the parable have to do
with “right practice” (orthopraxy), as opposed to “right belief”
(orthodoxy). It’s interesting. For literally centuries, Christian theologians
have been engaged in bitter arguments about highly nuanced understandings of
orthodoxy. (In the “Great Schism of
1054,” the Eastern and Western sections of the Church split in large part because of a disagreement over a single preposition in one sentence of a creed.) Yet, as important as it is to struggle with
the theological implications of our faith, this passage suggests that the final
judgment is all about orthopraxy. It is
all about how well we live out our Christian faith through service to others.
Once I was teaching a Bible
study, when one of the participants confessed that she did not really like this
passage of scripture. For her, this
passage seemed “guild-inducing and manipulative.” She asked, “How many works of compassion and
generosity are enough to be saved?”[1]
I
think that it’s important to look at this question from a broader perspective. Living as a Resurrection People should not be
about guilt, manipulation, or bare minimums.
Instead, as we have seen, Resurrection People should approach life with
an attitude of joy and hope in response to God’s love for us. Through faith in Christ, we experience God’s
love pouring down and filling us to overflowing. Out of this overflowing love, we respond with
love and concern for our neighbors who are suffering—just as the sheep in the
passage. We can’t help but respond in
this way because we are so filled with God’s love. All of this is through faith.
John
Wesley, the founder of Methodism, believed that there were two avenues for
spiritual growth. The first route he
called, “works of piety.” By works of
piety he meant attending worship, prayer, Bible study, and especially receiving
the Sacrament of Holy Communion. The
second route he called, “works of mercy.”
By works of mercy he meant the works of the sheep in Matthew 25; feeding
the hungry, welcoming the stranger, caring for the sick, etc. While Wesley believed that both types of
works were vitally important, he believed that works of mercy were
primary.
Wesley makes an important
point. Part of being a Resurrection People means
accepting God’s invitation to become “created
co-creators,” working with God to establish God’s Reign throughout this
planet by becoming agents of justice,
compassion, and environmental stewardship. So, as a Resurrection People, we have
compassion for those who are suffering, and we reach out to care for them in
response to God’s overflowing love for us.
We love the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the stranger, the naked,
and the sick, because God first loved us.
Come, join us this
Sunday, May 29th, at Christ United Methodist Church, as we think about the
importance of compassion as a critical dimension of working with God as created
co-creators to establish God’s Kingdom here on planet Earth. Christ United Methodist Church is located at
4530 A Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our
classic worship services are at 8:30 and 11:00 on Sunday mornings.
Everyone is
welcome and accepted because God loves us all.
[1]
(We also wondered: If Paul is correct
when he says in his letter to the Romans that nothing “will be able to separate
us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” then what does that mean for
the goats headed to “eternal punishment”?
Does that mean that even in eternal punishment the goats will still
experience God’s love—and by implication some sort of relationship with God? This is a fascinating question which I cannot
pursue during my message on Sunday.)
No comments:
Post a Comment