"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."
There are many Gospel readings where we can play around with what they mean. This reading is not one of them. This is serious business for followers of Jesus Christ. Do we recognize Jesus Christ in the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, or sick? Do we recognize Jesus in the lonely, the immigrant, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning person? Can we look into the eyes of a native American and see Jesus in a different culture and religion?
Our problem is that we live in a society of privilege. If you are white, male, heterosexual, capable and upper class and/or Christian you are privileged. If you happen to be any of the following: female, black, Indian (Eastern or Native American), Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered or questioning, challenged physically, mentally, psychologically, or Islam, Jewish, Buddhist, Feminist, or any other religion, you are not so privileged. If you are unemployed, unable to work due to any kind of challenge, if you are elderly, sick, without means to buy food, clothing or shelter, you are not so privileged. The sooner the Christian Church and so called "civilized" nations have a genuine conversation about those privileged and those not so privileged, the sooner we will stop ignoring the face of Jesus Christ in everyone who does not fit our status quo. Then we will learn as have many of the Saints through out the history of Christianity that when we serve the poorest of the poor and those who do not fit the status quo, we serve Jesus Christ, God's perfect revelation.
Serving Jesus Christ as actual disciples means allowing the Holy Spirit to make us just a little bit uncomfortable with where we are. We have to allow the Advocate to help us see that many of our attitudes towards people who are different than we think they should be is out of line with the message of the Gospel and the person of Jesus. This is why the Christian Church struggles so hard to accept lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Many conservative Christians have grown way too comfortable with interpreting the Bible literally to say things it was never intended to say. Many are way too undisturbed by texts that suggest that if a person is anything but totally heterosexual and/or accepting of her or his original gender identity/expression than something is wrong. Many Christians are okay with not seeing Jesus in someone that is not quite the way others think they should be. Many Christians are totally satisfied with suggesting violence, cruelty and bigotry towards not only LGBT and Questioning people, but illegal immigrants and people of different religions.
The truth is none of us truly understand the nature and mind of God. Paul in his letter to the Romans writes: "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been God's counselor?"(Romans 11: 34) So many of us Christians are so arrogant that we think we can determine the mind of God who has created everything out of nothing, and loves us all unconditionally and all inclusively. The amazing love and grace of God is given to us to help us know that no matter what we face, there is nothing that God cannot help us over come or find a solution for. The individual who is before us who is so different is Jesus who has come to help us understand more about himself in and through people that need us to serve them. In so doing the human family grows and becomes more and more the people God has created and blessed with the riches of God's abundant goodness.
Today, may all of us learn to see beyond our own understanding of others and see Jesus looking for us to love him as God seeks to love us through others.
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and may also have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 10, Book of Common Prayer, Page 231).
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).
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