Love Rules!

Scripture:        Ezekiel 34: 1-24,  Psalm 100

                        Ephesians 1:15-23,    Matthew 25:31-46

Today is known as Christ the King Sunday, or in inclusive language, Reign of Christ Sunday.  On this Sunday, we remember the rule of Christ over the cosmos, and over our lives.  Today is also the last Sunday in the church calendar.  Next Sunday, December 3, is the first Sunday in Advent, and we begin a new liturgical year.  It’s a reminder that Kairos time – God’s time, the appointed time for God’s grace – doesn’t always coincide with chronos time – the time of our clocks and calendars.  So while God’s grace may not always arrive according to our schedule, when it does arrive, it’s always the right time.

Each year, on Reign of Christ Sunday, the gospel reading depicts Jesus as a king who doesn’t act like a king (at least not as we’d expect), a king who uses his power in ways very different from those of earthly rulers.   This year’s reading portrays Jesus as a king who is to be found among the poor and dispossessed, and who cares passionately about how we treat the poor.  Next year’s reading (John 18:33-37) depicts Christ before Pilate, explaining that his power does not come from this world.  The year after that, we will read Luke 23:33-43, which contains Jesus’ word to the penitent thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”  Each of these three readings show Jesus using his power to comfort the poor or to confront the powerful.  While we often see power used to crush the poor and the weak, on Christ the King Sunday, we see Jesus using his power to lift them up.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been listening in as Jesus has told a series of very challenging parables about the kingdom of heaven and how it will finally arrive in the fullness of its glory.  Two weeks ago, in the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, we are encouraged to be prepared, to grow and mature in such a way that our faith will go the distance and overcome the unexpected.  Last week, Minister Chanel was here to explain the parable of the talents, that just doing nothing is not enough, that we need to be resourceful and willing to take risks in serving Jesus.  And today’s parable tells us what we should be doing while we’re awaiting the arrival of the bridegroom, and what we should be doing with the talents entrusted to us.

We’re told that when Jesus comes in his glory, he will sit on his throne of glory, with all the angels around him.  All the nations will be there – traditionally it was thought that each nation had an angel, and so all the angels and all the nations are there – but then Jesus will separate the people, like a shepherd would separate sheep from goats.  The sheep are blessed, and told that when Jesus was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison, they helped him.  The goats are cursed, and told that they likewise saw Jesus hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison, and they did not help him. 

We might see some connections between this reading and last week’s parable of the talents.  Remember that in the parable of the talents, the servant who received one talent – which would have been a tremendous sum of money - did not steal it and abscond to some vacation paradise to enjoy his ill-gotten gains.  He didn’t waste it on wine, women, and song.  He didn’t go to Atlantic City and gamble it away on slots or at the blackjack table.  He did none of these things.  He kept it completely safe for his master, so that nobody could steal it.  He gave back every last penny that he had received.  But beyond that, the servant….did nothing.  He didn’t waste the money, but he didn’t use it to any good purpose either.  And he was harshly condemned.  In this week’s reading, we’re not told that the goats attacked those who were in need, or that they sold those in need into slavery, or that they so much as harmed a hair on their heads.  The goats saw their sisters and brothers in need and….did nothing.   They did no harm, but they also offered no help.  Like the priest and the Levite in the parable of the good Samaritan, they saw someone in need and passed by on the other side.  And they were harshly condemned.

The  message seems clear: when we see someone in need, it’s not enough just to do no harm. According to the letter of James, it’s not even enough to offer the proverbial “thoughts and prayers” for food and warmth if we’re not willing to provide actual food and warmth ourselves. (James 2:14-17) 

Of course, while this seems simple on paper, it can become more complicated in action.  On any given day, if I were to walk down Kensington Avenue and hand a dollar bill to everyone with his or her hand out, I’d have empty pockets before I’d covered 20 blocks – assuming I hadn’t gotten jumped.  And who knows where those dollars would go. 

The needs just in Philly alone are overwhelming.  Recently I drove by Kensington Avenue near Lehigh.  On Kensington Avenue just north of Lehigh, there’s an overpass, and under that overpass, on the sidewalks on both sides of the street, at first I thought I saw a huge piles of garbage….plastic bags and trash and such.  But then, I saw movement amid the piles of trash…..and on second look, oh dear God, I saw there are people there, sitting with blanket and bags, apparently camped out.  Likely at least two dozen people living under one bridge.  And no, I didn’t stop and hand each of them a dollar….though I do hope I can find some way of helping…they’ll be in my thoughts and prayers, and I pray in due course I’ll find a way to put prayers into action in some practical way that makes at least a bit of a difference. 

Time for true confessions from Pastor Dave:   It’s a rare day that I don’t do something to help someone – give money or food or such.   And it’s also a rare day that I don’t turn down requests for help.  Beyond encounters on the street, on any given day there are holiday fundraisers at my day job, telephone calls asking for donations, text messages from a friend trying to help yet another family get off the street – she says I’m one of the few pastors still willing to take her calls -  begging letters in the mail from any number of charities – most of which go into the trash unopened -  “go fund me” links online requesting help with anything from burial expenses to medical bills to legal expenses, on and on….  So on any given day, I can find myself among the sheep or among the goats, several times a day, maybe several times within the same hour, as sometimes I help and sometimes I don’t, as I try to offer help as best I can with limited resources.  I want to help, but I’m not an ATM machine.  To me, it’s frustrating, heartbreaking, to have to say no to someone I really want to help….and to people and situations where I feel a personal connection, more often than saying no, I say “not yet” – I can’t help just now, because I’m tapped out, but I do care, and I will be there for you when I’m able.

No one of us can help every single person in need on the planet, or in Philly, or even in Bridesburg  – I can’t, and neither can any of you.  We can help more people working together than separately – and that’s why our support of the Bridesburg Council of Churches matters so much -  but even there we are limited.  All we can do is to do what we can, and not let ourselves be paralyzed by the magnitude of the need, to pray for God’s guidance in our giving and helping, and to trust in God’s grace to suffice where our efforts fall short.

We also need to look at our society, at our government, our laws, our customs, in light of this passage.  So much of our society, including millions of people who claim faith in Christ, live by the gospel of “I’ve got mine, and to hell with you.”   Our society’s problems, our world’s problems, would not be nearly so overwhelming were it not for the absolute, unmitigated, breathtaking greed and selfishness and callousness that has taken root among so many, and has been turned into public policy.   Our country’s social safety net has been shredded over the past 40 years.  When objections are made, the response is that the churches should be doing this work.  But the churches can only work with the resources their members make available, and in any case more and more churches are closing.  Meanwhile, we’re now told, the wealthiest 3 people in the country have as much wealth as the poorest 50% combined.  It used to be the wealthiest 8 people, then the wealthiest 6, the wealthiest 5, and now wealth has become so concentrated that three super-rich people have as much wealth as 160+ million people combined.  The truth is that there is enough to satisfy everyone’s need, but not enough to satisfy everyone’s greed.   And so in addition to direct aid, we need to witness in the name of our Lord Jesus to the need to care for the poor and abandoned.  To be silent is to turn our backs on our sisters and brothers in need.

Our church has been on a journey toward greater faithfulness.  There was a time when many in Bridesburg didn’t even know our congregation existed, or thought we’d closed years ago.  But over the years, as we’ve fed and clothed people and tried to link them with social services, as we’ve given backpacks to school children and provided supplies to Bridesburg Elementary School, as we’ve hosted fundraisers for treatment of diabetes and prevention of suicide, as we’ve provided a welcoming space for people in great need, I believe we’ve become more visible and more connected to our neighborhood - though there’s still work to be done.  But I still think we need to challenge ourselves from time to time with questions such as “Why are we here?  What difference are we making?  If we were to close tomorrow, beyond our own members, what impact would that have on the neighborhood?  If we closed, would anyone notice?”  I’m glad to say that today, I think we are making a difference.

Let’s take a look again at Jesus’ words:  “Whatsoever you did to the least of these my sisters and brothers, you did to me.”  That is to say, we did it directly to Jesus.  How can Jesus say this – what can these words mean - unless Jesus is in each of us, and in each of those we help, or don’t help.  We tend to think of God as being far off, up there somewhere.  But Jesus reminds us that God is here, right here, right now, not only around us, but within us, within each of us.  And so we are all connected by God’s presence.  We’re also connected in that we’re all living on the same planet, breathing the same air, drinking the same water.   We’re all connected.  To turn our back on others is to deny that connection, but to deny our connectedness is to deny reality.  Our actions affect others, as their actions affect us.

“Jesus shall reign where’re the sun doth it successive journeys run….”  Amid the cruelty and indifference and selfishness we experience every day, it takes a major act of faith to believe that God’s love will win out in the end, and yet that’s what we believe.  That’s why we’re here….because we believe that ultimately, love will win out over hate and indifference, that generosity will win out over greed, that caring will win out over callousness.  Every time we help others, or don’t help them; every time we embrace others, or turn our backs on them, we’re voting for the kind of world we want to live in.  Every dollar we spend, every action we take, is a vote for the kind of world we want to live in.  Myself, I want to live in that world where Jesus reigns and love rules – and so, however imperfectly and inconsistently, I try to live accordingly, with faith that God can use the little bit I can do to great effect, and that in any case God’s grace will be sufficient.    

“Jesus shall reign….”  We look to the day that Jesus will reign in glory, but that day begins with our actions now…the kingdom of God is not just life in the hereafter, but what we do right now, as we allow Jesus to reign in our lives.  And eternal separation from God begins with refusing to allow Jesus to reign.  If we have faith that love will win out in the end, let’s live so that love wins in our lives day by day.  Let us live so that some day we may hear those words from Jesus, “Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….for I was in need, and you were there for me.” Amen.