Matthew 25:31-40
“When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’
The week before last I attended our quarterly Regional Ministries Council meeting as one of the representatives for our affinity group, Church Off the Center. As I hope you know by now, this group represents small churches – often isolated in off the center places – doing church in their own way because the “traditional ways” no longer work for our situations. In my report to the council I spoke of this church and our response to the fires in this area, by way of Week of Compassion – about how even small churches can make a big difference if they care enough. LaTaunya encouraged me to write a piece about it for the Regional Newsletter – so I’ve had that conversation running in the back of my mind for the past week.
Add to that, this has, of course, been Thanksgiving week, so gratitude has been on my mind, as well.
And then Hilary began talking about an article he had just read about Mr. Rogers and I recalled that I had read the same article when it first came out earlier this year, and so Mr. Rogers and his “helpers” joined into the mix.
And then, to cap it all off, I checked to see what the lectionary reading for today is, and it turned out, of course, to be “I was hungry and you fed me.” I’m thinking there is a theme building here.
The Mr. Rogers article was written around a famous quote of his, describing being frightened of larger events around him when he was a child. “When I was a boy,” he said, “and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’
”When I gave my report at the Ministries Council meeting, I spoke of this church and how we had accepted that we can’t possibly save the world on our own, but had discovered that, small as we are, we can always help in some way, however small.When we think about people for whom we are grateful, it is almost always people who help others.And that is exactly what Jesus is talking about here in our reading from Matthew – the helpers of this world. I have always viewed this as one of the BIG gospel stories because it is such a big idea – are we, or are we not, truly following Jesus? But if we read Jesus’ words as they are written here – without reading our own expectations into them – we realize that nothing Jesus lists here is about changing the direction of a country or a city or even a neighborhood. Not one of them requires a vote or a planning commission or a board or even an ad hoc committee.
What he asks of us is a few simple acts – ones that we can do alone even if no one joins us.I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes ... Each of these is a singular action performed by an individual for an individual. I and you. I needed and you responded. I was in need and you helped me. This reading is about the wholeness of the singular human heart.This is what we do on bag lunch day. At the end of the day there are still hungry people all over the world – we haven’t changed that -- but we have taken care of the handful who are in our care that day – those we can reach are fed that day.
This is what Jesus expects of us – not fancy liturgies or billboards along the highways or people shouting “Praise Jesus!” every five minutes. Jesus simply expects us to feed people who are hungry.
Sometimes we work collectively because collective buying usually goes further than individual donations – as when we give our money to Plowshares or the Food Bank or any of the others local groups we support. We are still individuals who choose to give collectively to make our giving go further.
During our horrible firestorm there were those who were in a time and place to act individually – to run and pull someone out of harm’s way, to take a stranger into their home when they had nowhere else to go, to stand and fight the fires – and there were hundreds more who weren’t in a place to do those big dramatic things who still gave food and money and clothing to total strangers for no other reason than that they were in need – individuals who did what they could do – gave what they had to give. People who helped.
This is what it is about – feeding hungry people, clothing cold and underdressed people. Helping people. After the immediate need is taken care of we can then turn our attention to dismantling the systems that allow – or even encourage, hunger. But first, we feed the hungry.
This all Jesus is asking us to do. God will take care of saving the world, if only we will take care of each other.
Add to that, this has, of course, been Thanksgiving week, so gratitude has been on my mind, as well.
And then Hilary began talking about an article he had just read about Mr. Rogers and I recalled that I had read the same article when it first came out earlier this year, and so Mr. Rogers and his “helpers” joined into the mix.
And then, to cap it all off, I checked to see what the lectionary reading for today is, and it turned out, of course, to be “I was hungry and you fed me.” I’m thinking there is a theme building here.
The Mr. Rogers article was written around a famous quote of his, describing being frightened of larger events around him when he was a child. “When I was a boy,” he said, “and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’
”When I gave my report at the Ministries Council meeting, I spoke of this church and how we had accepted that we can’t possibly save the world on our own, but had discovered that, small as we are, we can always help in some way, however small.When we think about people for whom we are grateful, it is almost always people who help others.And that is exactly what Jesus is talking about here in our reading from Matthew – the helpers of this world. I have always viewed this as one of the BIG gospel stories because it is such a big idea – are we, or are we not, truly following Jesus? But if we read Jesus’ words as they are written here – without reading our own expectations into them – we realize that nothing Jesus lists here is about changing the direction of a country or a city or even a neighborhood. Not one of them requires a vote or a planning commission or a board or even an ad hoc committee.
What he asks of us is a few simple acts – ones that we can do alone even if no one joins us.I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes ... Each of these is a singular action performed by an individual for an individual. I and you. I needed and you responded. I was in need and you helped me. This reading is about the wholeness of the singular human heart.This is what we do on bag lunch day. At the end of the day there are still hungry people all over the world – we haven’t changed that -- but we have taken care of the handful who are in our care that day – those we can reach are fed that day.
This is what Jesus expects of us – not fancy liturgies or billboards along the highways or people shouting “Praise Jesus!” every five minutes. Jesus simply expects us to feed people who are hungry.
Sometimes we work collectively because collective buying usually goes further than individual donations – as when we give our money to Plowshares or the Food Bank or any of the others local groups we support. We are still individuals who choose to give collectively to make our giving go further.
During our horrible firestorm there were those who were in a time and place to act individually – to run and pull someone out of harm’s way, to take a stranger into their home when they had nowhere else to go, to stand and fight the fires – and there were hundreds more who weren’t in a place to do those big dramatic things who still gave food and money and clothing to total strangers for no other reason than that they were in need – individuals who did what they could do – gave what they had to give. People who helped.
This is what it is about – feeding hungry people, clothing cold and underdressed people. Helping people. After the immediate need is taken care of we can then turn our attention to dismantling the systems that allow – or even encourage, hunger. But first, we feed the hungry.
This all Jesus is asking us to do. God will take care of saving the world, if only we will take care of each other.
‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’
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