Daily Lesson for July 16, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson is from Matthew 25 verses 31 through 40:

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Today's Lesson is what is known as the Parable of the Last Judgement and I will confess to you now that Given the turbulent times we are now having about strangers showing up at our border and all the politicization following I was tempted to just skip this.  But I couldn't skip it because there are readers of these lessons who know I draw the texts from the Daily Office and who would note that I chickened out.  So thanks for holding me accountable.  As Will Willimon says, we preachers have to learn our job is not to try to protect the people from the piercing edge of what Jesus said.

Just a few thoughts on this text as it pertains to where we are today:

First of all, it is known as the Parable of the Last Judgement, and because judgement is involved there is indeed an edge to it.  This story is meant to convict us - to summon us to deeper discipleship and a greater living out of our faith.  In the end we might look back and says well Jesus was just speaking in hyperbole; then again we may not.  Our job for today is to hear the word and let it pierce our hearts like a seed pierces the soil.  If we do that - if we have ears to hear it - then the seed will enter in and do its work in us.  In the end we will all be convicted to change our hearts.

Secondly - and this is challenging - in the Son of Man's eyes there really are no borders.  All the nations are gathered before him in the story.  This means the Son of Man does not see the same geographical demarcations we see, whether those be city precincts, the Rio Grande, or even the line between Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.  We have "Doctors Without Borders" and we have a God without borders also.  Though borders are necessary and not in and of themselves bad; God's vision for humanity transcends those borders.

Thirdly - "When I was a stranger, you welcomed me."  Imagine it.  What does welcome look like?  How does it feel to be welcomed?  What happens in the human heart when one knows she has gone out of her way to be welcoming?  It is in my soul the expansive gift of love.  But the pictures I have seen online of people protesting buses of children with angry scowls and signs which say, "Go home illegals" makes me feel the opposite.  Those pictures make me feel small and diminished.

Fourthly - "And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?"  When was it?  Was it not in those pictures?  In those scowling faces?  Pictures of people sick and tired themselves to the point of anger and protest.  People living in the land of the free but they themselves in prisons.  Prisons  of fear that there will not be enough, of economic uncertainty, of national insecurity?  

When was it?  It was when He came to us in the least of these, which I take to mean when He came in every one of these.  And that was the big surprise.  When He came to us - in THAT one.  Did we welcome him? Did we visit her?  Did we dare to approach them?  Or did we just pass them by?  Write them off?  Judge them the way the world judges them?  Judge them the way they judge the world?

When I came to you as the least of these - whoever the least and last you might wish to have show up at your door, or on your border, or on your Facebook scroll.

See, I told you, in the end we will all be convicted to change our hearts.  And I'm glad I didn't try to spare you that.