Thursday, April 30th
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for 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.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
–Matthew 25:31-46
It seems that one of the regular features on the nightly news has been the ongoing political debate over the coronavirus bailout packages, and who gets what and how. Sadly enough, as the debate goes on, there are also the recurrent stories of overwhelmed food banks, unemployment lines and other tragedies of people who have not felt the relief expected from the bailouts.
Talking about politics can be a risky proposition for a minister. I know that firsthand. Several years ago during a presidential campaign, I felt led to do a sermon series on what Jesus’ campaign platform would look like if he were running for office. I based the sermon series on today’s parable. It didn’t go exactly as I had hoped. The primary problem was that folks then (And I think the same thing could be said now.) seemed to still view Jesus’ teachings through the lens of their political perspectives, even in church.
I received feedback from several folks who disagreed with the sermons. One of those was a good friend who was a distinguished professor, a Fulbright Scholar no less, and politically most conservative. We went to lunch one day, and he was giving me his critiques, finally summing things up by saying, “You’re one of those social-gospel types.” And not one prone to let things go, I said, “Is there any other gospel type?” We laughed and continued our conversation and friendship. Other folks weren’t nearly as gracious, giving me all kinds of grief. Fortunately, I remembered some advice from one of my mentors, “When you’re dealing with a controversial subject, just hide behind Jesus.” I tried to do so.
However, Jesus can be controversial in his own right. This parable is an example of that. It was his last formal public proclamation. And because it appears obvious that Jesus was very much aware of what was about to happen, this parable serves as his coup de grâce lesson for the public-at-large.
It was unnerving for those who first heard it, and it is just as unsettling for us. The parable has several ways to make one feel uncomfortable. There is that detailed litany of the needy; there is the issue of judgment; and there is the description of eternal reward and punishment. But the one thing that causes me to stop and think today is the notion of whether we are called to try to change the world on a grand scale, or to make a difference in ways that may seem small in the eyes of the world.
When I think of small acts of grace I think of Marcos Samaniego. Marcos, who passed away a few years back, was a large man with an even larger heart – he loved and was loved in so many ways. Marcos had a medical degree and was also a pastor. He could have made a lot of money with his practice in El Paso. However, his main office was across the border in Juarez, where he treated all kinds of people. On Sundays he preached.
Marcos’ pastoral heart led him to minister to the dispossessed, creating an amazing orphanage in Juarez (He couldn’t bear seeing a child on the streets.), as well as building several health clinics in the Colonias, those cities of the poor built on the trash dumps of Juarez. Every Thanksgiving Marcos and his church would go to the Colonias and pass out meals in the name of Jesus for over 10,000 people.
Now, if you worked with Marcos and his people, chances were that you would be frustrated at one time or another. Marcos and his team of ministers didn’t have the same results-driven work ethic most of us Americans are used to. It’s not that they weren’t hard-working. Far from it, they worked like crazy. What was different was their understanding of the bottom line. You see, we Americans have been taught to prize efficiency that can be proven by numbers. Marcos and his people worked toward the human need right in front of them. For instance, I once asked Marcos if it ever bothered him that his medical teams were so involved with people in the Colonias who were living on dump heaps, which was surely an environment for all kinds of disease, especially cancer. He looked at me and said, “Oh, I think about it a lot. But the truth is, these people have to live; I have to take care of their needs today. Besides, I don’t have the political power to move them to a better location. And where would that be anyway . . . another wasteland?” Marcos dealt with the issues in front of him, doing what he could with what he had. Marcos’ ministry may not have been judged by some as effective, but it seems to have been Godly.
Will Willimon tells about another “Marcos,” a little sixty-year-old woman from Wisconsin by the name of Ruth, who went to Haiti on a mission trip and never returned to the States, at least not to live. Someone once asked her about her work in which she rescued children off the streets and started an orphanage with her own money, “This is all well and good, but is it really effective?” Ruth replied, “I try not to ask myself about effectiveness. I try to discipline myself to just do what I can do today, one child at a time, and let the Lord worry about tomorrow.”
You may have heard the well-loved story told by Loren Eiseley, the noted writer and naturalist who wrote: “I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise to walk by the ocean’s edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn I focused on a faint, faraway movement. I saw a boy, bending and reaching and waving his arms – dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin. As I approached, I sadly realized that he was not dancing, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night’s tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the boy the purpose of the effort. ‘The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves. When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea.’ I looked at the vast expanse of beach, stretching in both directions. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the boy’s plan became clear to me and I pointed out, ‘But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference.’ He paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, ‘I made a difference to that one.’”
The Kingdom of Heaven is built by small expressions of care. It was the way Jesus worked, by and large — quiet words, small gestures, often overlooked by most. Jesus didn’t do huge crusades healing people. He just took care of those who were in front of him, one person at a time. If we are to follow Jesus, then we’re called to work as he did. Fortunately, Jesus doesn’t demand that we be great speakers, willing martyrs or faith healers. Rather, we are asked to do those small, unspectacular things – things that are done by heart. Let’s leave the changing of the world to God and do the things we can do right here, right now, in Jesus’ name.
Albert Schweitzer put it so well when he said, “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know; the only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” In Jesus’ terms, heaven could be best understood as a “servants’ quarters,” don’t you think?
A Time of Reflection and Prayer
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Do you know anyone who serves in quiet and unobtrusive ways? Thank God for them.
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What can you do to support/encourage them?
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What can you do to emulate them?
A Musical Guide for Prayer: Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody”
(Most people don’t know that the singer-songwriter who wrote so many of the songs that were standards in the turbulent 60s became a Christian and produced an album of music inspired by that experience, Long Train Running. Below are the lyrics to one of those songs.)
You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Might be a rock’n’ roll addict prancing on the stage
Might have money and drugs at your commands, women in a cage
You may be a business man or some high degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
You may be a state trooper, you might be an young turk
You may be the head of some big TV network
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame
You may be living in another country under another name
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody’s landlord you might even own banks
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side
You may be working in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair
You may be somebody’s mistress, may be somebody’s heir
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
You may call me Terry, you may call me Jimmy
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray
You may call me anything but no matter what you say
You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
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