Matthew 25: 31-46 I have to admit I have a love/hate relationship with this text. I love it because it encourages us to see each person and treat them as if they were Christ—that seems so central to who we are called to be—loving, compassionate, and generous imitators of Christ. For that, I love it, even if it is a tall order.
And…I struggle with it because it includes an indictment—one for when we fail to care for, feed, clothe, or visit those in need. If we are to be excluded for all the times we fail to feed someone, or clothe them, or
visit them in prison, then most of us will be on the outs for eternity.
It’s hard for me to imagine this sharp binary of sheep and goats. Those who do good and those who don’t. I see much more gray area in the world, including in myself.
So I read this passage and think, am I sheep or a goat? Am I sheep for the house I worked on with UMCOR or Habitat? Or am I a goat for the man I ignored as he slept on the sidewalk? Am I sheep for the meals I’ve made to feed those who came hungry? Or am I a goat knowing there are thousands, if not millions around the world hungry every day. Am I sheep for the letters I exchanged with the man in prison for 6 years, or am I goat because he was the only one?
The examples may be specific to me, but I’m sure we all have a similar debate. We may do a lot of good, but we also fail to see and serve a lot of people. If only we could know that we’re a sheep and breathe easily, or a goat and make it better…but we’re a mix of compassion and indifference, so which way will we be sorted?
Or, is that even the point? After all, aren’t we saved by grace alone? Aren’t we supposed to reject notions that we are saved by our own works or righteousness? As Christians we believe we are saved by grace through Jesus, not through adherence to the law. So why do we even have this passage? Well, in studying the scripture itself, it’s a parable from Jesus to the masses, but specifically relating to the Gentiles. It’s not a lesson of direction, telling people how to do and be, it’s a lesson about the kingdom of God where both groups…the sheep and the goats, are surprised by the sorting and their place in it.
Nevertheless, it does give us a valuable lesson—one about how Jesus expects us to treat people—as if they were him. So, let’s focus on that for a bit. What would change in how you think about and treat others if you looked at them as if they were Jesus? Think of someone who is a challenge in your life….what are the harsh things you’ve thought or said to them? What are the ways you’ve been passive aggressive toward them, or ignored them, or treated them poorly? And what if you found out they were Jesus? How would you feel? What if you knew, before your next interaction, that they were Jesus? Would it change how you speak? Or how you treat them?
What about “those” people? The ones who are the problem? For us or for our society? What about the homeless? The addicts? The folks on death row? Or the immigrants in detention centers? What about the skin heads or the Klan members? Terrorists? Extremists? What if we thought of Jesus so beaten and scarred by his childhood that he was drinking and drugging to escape it….would we deal with that addict differently? What if we saw Jesus as a child taken from their parents and lying under an aluminum blanket on a concrete floor? Would we advocate for different immigration policy if we thought it was Jesus who was suffering? Would our hearts be any softer? Or our minds be any more open?
We probably don’t even have to go to those levels with our application. The truth is we struggle with friends and family, neighbors and co-workers on a regular basis. What if we saw them as Jesus in our lives? Would we listen more attentively? Share more generously? Forgive more readily?
Our call is to live like Jesus—that means serving those around us—and not just those who are easy to serve, or those who are particularly grateful, or those who will return the favor, but those who require grace upon grace, those who require deeper empathy and understanding. Those people we’d rather not see or interact with—they are the ones we are called to love like Jesus.
Within the Christian faith, service is seen as a core tenant. And it’s a spiritual discipline…that means it takes practice…just like all the other disciplines. Just because you love Jesus doesn’t mean praying comes naturally, or that you’re eager to fast, or that your mind instantly quiets when it’s time to listen for the voice of God. Each of those practices take practice. We have to do them regularly in order to become more fluent and comfortable with them. The same is true of service. It takes practice. It’s ok if you struggle to love your neighbor…keep with it. Keep practicing. Keep looking for Christ within them and your shared humanity so you can give of yourself in the ways Jesus asks you to.