When we lived in Augusta in the early 70s, I met my middle school best friend Lisa Williams. We shared everything... all of our secrets... and crushes... and even shared our moms! I can remember eating at her house in the summer, mostly. And her mom would always say, “Now Girls, please clean your plates! There are children starving in Ethiopia!” Well, being in the 6th grade, I am sad to admit, I did not even know where Ethiopia was... but her fear and guilt tactic worked.... I certainly did not want to contribute to these poor Ethiopian children’s starving... unless of course it was liver and onions night... but that is another story. I am sure most of you had this phrase or something close to it said to you too as a child.
Fear and guilt. These are a mother’s best kept secret weapons. “You’d better clean your room, or I will tell your dad! OR Be sure to do all of your homework, or there will be no overnight guests this weekend! Or then the worst of all ... if you stay out beyond curfew, I will take the car keys!” Fear can be a useful tool. And all too often, it is used by those who try to get us to do what they want! And I guess rightly so as a parent of a young child.... or even a 16 year old. But unfortunately fear is used by others too: People such as political leaders and business folk and even church leaders... being told you could be sent to hell is a very strong motivator!
On this Christ the King Sunday, Our gospel reading today from Matthew of the sheep and the goats is of course a story about us, but it is not faithfully told when it is told in order to incite fear. And so I hope you remove fear from this story and think more along the lines of personal responsibility. Matthew reveals what the world will be like when Jesus’s sovereignty over all... is accomplished, and he sits “on the throne of his glory” and will “judge between the sheep and goats... with the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. The sheep on his right hand are blessed by God and will “inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundations of the world.” In contrast, the goats on his left hand are “accursed” and cast out into the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew is working really hard to drive home this point of judgement. Remember he made the same judgement last week when the slave who had no return on his one talent was cast into the outer darkness where there was wailing and gnashing of teeth! An image that certainly invokes fear!
Christ The King identifies with those who have endured suffering. Thus to give food and water to the hungry, to offer shelter to the stranger, to provide clothing to the naked, and to visit those who are sick or in prison is to show the same kindness and compassion to the Lord himself. Those who He places on his right have followed the Lord’s example by caring for the afflicted and unfortunate. Because they have done these deeds without any expectation of reciprocal care... no ulterior motives behind their acts of compassion... they are astonished when Jesus responds by saying, “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.” Thus they will receive the promise of eternal life.
In contrast, those at His left who have ignored the needs of the less fortunate are just as astonished that they are to be accursed and condemned to eternal punishment. They bore no malice toward the hungry, the homeless, the sick, and the prisoners.... but they also did not see these others as a part of their responsibility. However, more than altruistic deeds are demanded here. When the character of Christ is formed in any disciple, there is no ulterior motive behind acts of compassion. This is not a “good works” theology... meaning that only those who do good works go to heaven. When Christ lives within us, it truly will be Christ’s deeds and not our own that come forth, since Jesus’s disciples are called to a higher righteousness.
Last week, we were held to account for our actions by remaining alert, being prepared and wisely using our resources. Here, judgement is based on serving those who are powerless or in distress, which then accounts as service rendered to Christ. Those of us here this morning, we get that. We live that. But not everyone in our community does. And not everyone sees God the way we do.
This past week, I watched a YouTube video entitled “Call of the Spirit: Abraham.” It is a video of a man being interviewed who found the God that we teach about in the Episcopal church... a God who believes that all are welcome to His kingdom... and to His table. The gentleman being interviewed is a Sudanese man from the continent of Africa named Dhieu-Deng Leek. I watched testimony of his faith journey and found his message in line with our scripture reading today. Dhieu-Deng’s Christian name is Abraham...very appropriate for his role as a leader of a group of lost boys. And he has quite a story to tell. Abraham is one of the 40,000 “Lost Boys” who were orphaned when they were displaced in the second Sudanese civil war which lasted from 1983 until 2005. When the war destroyed his village in 1987, he and other children traveled on foot to the Ethiopian border. The journey took over four months. Four months of wandering through the jungles and wilderness of Africa. Many of the boys died along the way because of the tough conditions. They were hungry... ravaged by disease and many, he said, were caught and killed by wild animals such as lions and cheetahs. He lost 2 good friends that way. He said that when the predatory animals would attack, they would have to run for their lives.
Abraham learned about Jesus from an Episcopal priest in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. And then he was baptized...30 years ago on November 11, 1987. “I began to know there was a God,” he said. “Because I began to meet people different from me...they spoke a different language...and were a different color... and these people were giving me clothes...and giving me food. And I began to think... their God would be the God that I would follow. Their God will be the God that I would depend on because I did not know what my plan was on earth. So I was the first person to be baptized as a Christian in my family. I was very proud,” he said. And I was baptized “as Episcopolans.” He had a really tough time saying that word. But he did say the next words clearly: “I am Episcopal.”
He said that he waited in line for 8 hours to get baptized. The missionaries started at 6:00 that morning and he was finally baptized at 2 or 3 in the afternoon, according to the sun. Water was in short supply... and so missionaries brought in water tanks... but Abraham was afraid that they were going to run out of water and that he would have to wait an entire month to be baptized. Lucky for us Episcopolans he did not have to wait.
In 2000 he came to Syracuse NY after living for 13 years in refugee camps. He now has a church where he teaches scripture in Dinka, his language, and in English and Arabic. He says that the church is a part of his story. And he quickly adds that we cannot do anything without God.
What an amazing testament that Abraham gave to God’s glory and grace. What an amazing testament he gave to the kindness and ministry of the Episcopal missionaries that clothed and fed him. They gave him something to drink. They tended to his needs. They welcomed him into the family of Christians not as a stranger but as a child of God.
Today we affirm that Christ is king... the king of the kingdom of God…. A kingdom that is here now for us to serve….and that as sovereign ruler Christ calls us to a loyalty that transcends every earthly claim on the human heart. To Christ alone belongs the supreme allegiance in our lives. Christ calls us to stand with those who in every age confessed the words Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the alpha and the omega... the beginning and the end. Just ask Abraham. His Christ.... our Christ.... says, ‘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.’
I strive to be a sheep and not a goat…. I don’t know...Maybe I am both, depending on what is going on in my life. And so maybe this scripture gives us all pause ... to think about the way we all live our lives. That we should stay awake.... live in the present... and as Richards Rohr says, “wipe the mirror of our minds and hearts in order to see without distortions... not what we are afraid there is... nor what we wish were there... but what is there.”
I am working on that idea through Advent. To see blessings. To be blessings to others. To not live in fear or guilt. To love neighbor. To love the other. To share the good news of Christ. For we all are children of God. Amen.
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