112120 – Matthew 25. 31-46
Matthew’s gospel make it sounds so easy.
And I am here to tell you, life is NOT so simple.
Life is “pretty” complex.
Heck, sometimes, “life” just seems hard and difficult.
But the Gospel of Matthew makes it sound VERY “black and white.”
Kind of easy-peasy.
I DO NOT KNOW about you…but I have always found that life IS NOT black and white…and never was…
There are so many shades…
So many DIFFERENT colors all on the same spectrum…
It is NOT clear cut.
In Matthews’ gospel the lines are just drawn and there are no “ifs ands or buts” about it.
Feed the hungry.
Give folks that are thirsty something to drink.
Clothe the NAKED.
Welcome the STRANGER.
Care for the SICK.
Visit the PRISONER.
Do these things…and you are all set!
You have made it! Yay…YOU!
The Kingdom IS YOURS!
Make NO JUDGMENTS.
The die IS CAST.
It is completely and totally out of OUR hands!
Were that it was that easy – as going through “a check list” and “categorizing people” as either sheep or goats, those who cared for the “least of these” and those who DID NOT.
Categorizing, labeling, and profiling people has NEVER worked for me.
We are ALL so different.
So unique.
So special.
Aren’t we always told that there IS NOT another person JUST LIKE YOU on the face of the earth?
NO ONE is quite like YOU! YOU ARE UNIQUE! Why no one else even has your own set of unique fingerprints!
THE LEAST OF THESE always seems to have a way of revealing to us, most PROFOUNDLY, the truth of WHO WE ARE and WHAT OUR LIFE is really all about.
The stereotypes just DO NOT HOLD WATER…but WE can be pretty JUDGMENTAL sometimes…
The woman or the guy on the street corner, asking for a handout…
The woman calling the church asking for food…or gift cards…or for money…
The individual just released from prison…for the second or third time…
Supposing it is your son or daughter who at “one time” sat across your table or lived in your house…or someone who slept in your bed….
Or your niece or your nephew?
Supposing it is a mental health issue?
Or an emotional, psychological, or spiritual need?
Do you cast them away?
Do you damn them to hell?
Do you give up on them for all time?
I tell you; it just may say MORE about YOU then it does about THEM?
Sometimes – (but not always) the “LEAST of these” see themselves as POWERLESS. They have little CONTROL, fewer OPTIONS and sometimes, NO RESOURCES, whatsoever.
Sometimes – (but not always) they are overwhelmed by daily life and living. They MAY find it difficult to get through the next minute, the next hour, the next day…or through this moment of time….
Sometimes – (but not always) they are the one’s hanging on by a thread…and it is fraying…
Sometimes – (but not always) they are afraid and frightened, easily threatened and often times intimidated…
No, life is not easy.
I cannot judge another human being.
I have not walked in their shoes.
I have not had the same experiences.
I do not know what you have been through…
And sometimes, the BS and the lies run deep. Sometimes they are con-men and con-women. Sometimes it is all a game. Sometimes, it is all about “getting” And sometimes, it is NOT.
Let God sort it out. That is his job, not ours! Amen.