Good morning.
In today’s Gospel, we hear,
“The Son of Man …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 he 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 you gave me food, drink, & clothing. You welcomed me, took care of me when I was sick & visited me in prison.
You did it to me, when you did it to the least of these.
But those on the left, the goats,…
which in this case is not an acronym for Greatest Of All Time,
You on the left, “’You that are accursed,
depart from me
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ’”
Because you did NOT give me food, drink or clothing.
You did NOT welcome me, take care of me or visit me.
You did NOT do it to me, when you did NOT do it to the least of these.
For those of you who don’t know, and a reminder to those who do, verses such as these quickly became weapons of condemnation toward me and others in the LGBTQ community.
Weapons of words hurled either directly at me … sinner, demon, deviant.
Or weapons hidden in what was professed to be Love…
’I’m just telling you this because I love you, because I don’t want you to go to hell.’
Translation… there are those who are blessed and will inherit the kingdom.
And then there are “you gay folks & other non-beliefers” who are accursed, who will be sent away from God, into the fires of eternity.
The result of all that condemnation and “Love”, for me, is that I quit going to church anywhere all together for a couple of decades.
I still Loved God, sought God, longed to be in relationship with God,
but I pursued that relationship with God through Spirituality -- books, practices and conversations with others who were also in relationship with Divine outside of denominational religion.
Part of that Spiritual study, and I may have had the occasion to say this to you personally, is that I believe there are no coincidences.
That doesn’t mean that I believe all the things that happen to us in this life are “good”,
it just means that I believe there is possibility for a lesson and deeper relationship with Divine in all experiences.
So, you can imagine my reaction when I first read today’s lectionary.
It went something like this…
Oh, great! I “get” to preach on a trigger passage that in the past, I would have avoided like the plague.
And then, I swear, I heard God snicker and say, “There are no coincidences.”
Yep. Very funny, God. Use my own words against me.
But that Divine voice, God, nudge of the Holy Spirit, whatever you want to call it, was right. There are no coincidences.
So, let’s dig into this parable in Matthew to see what the good news is for us today.
The easy lesson is that when we offer food, drink & clothing to those in need;
when we welcome the stranger, take care of the sick, and visit the prisoners…
the least of those who are members of God’s family…
then Jesus says we are doing it to him. To God, the Creator, and all creation.
It is how we are to live out the greatest commandment, of love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself.
That is the easy lesson to see. Not always the easy lesson to do.
So why does Jesus use the example of sheep and goats in this parable?
Separating the sheep on the right into eternal heaven if you will, and casting away the goats to eternal hell?
Especially since God created all and according to Genesis said that once made, it was “very good”.
It doesn’t make sense to our 21st century ways and norms.
But the people of Jesus’ day would understand this parable on a couple of levels.
First, since most people are right-handed, the right was considered to be the “favorable” side, while the left was the “bad or unlucky” side.
For all of you lefties out there, I am glad we no longer believe this to be true.
But the hearers of Jesus’ parable would have heard it that way.
Secondly, the distinction between the sheep and the goats may have been due to the fabrics the two produce: goats produce dark hair, which was used to make sackcloth, while the white wool of the sheep was a sign of prosperity.
But the part I struggle with the most in this parable, is the idea of “eternal punishment” and “eternal life”, which some believe are two separate places known as heaven and hell, that we will go to when we die.
What I think I believe today…please hear that…
and I am so thankful for our Episcopal Church, which allows us to question and grow,
What I think I believe today, is that heaven and hell are NOT places. And are NOT after-death experiences.
That idea was born in ancient times when the people of earth thought we lived in a 3-tiered universe where God, all the gods actually, lived above the clouds in the sky, and that the evil ones lived below the oceans and seas. Thus, we had heaven above and hell below, with the inhabitants of each fighting for the souls of the humans in-between.
We no longer believe in such a 3-tiered universe.
So, what I think I believe today, is that heaven and hell are NOT places of the future.
They are a state of being in relationship with Divine, in the here and now.
Read that way, Jesus’ parable in Matthew could be understood today like this…
We are all members of God’s family.
Sometimes, individually and as a church community, we live like the goats on the left…out-of-relationship with Divine. We put on blinders and go about our own business. Or we judge and condemn others who are different, others who are without. We fight and argue with our neighbors or members of our own family. We withhold love and possessions because “they are mine, and if I share then I may not have enough!”
When I am in that space, I am living separated from Divine.
I am experiencing the misery and the “fires of hell” in the very moment.
And sometimes, it feels like an eternity.
Then other times, we are the sheep on the right.
We are living in love and right-relationship with Divine.
We give food, drink, & clothing.
We welcome the stranger, take care of the sick & visit those who are shut-ins or are in prison.
We then live into the fulfillment of what Jesus called the greatest commandment…
We love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength and with all our mind, and we love our neighbor as our self…especially the least of these.
St Andrews, we often live rightly.
When Beloved Community works for those in north and northeast Amarillo,
When EYC makes brown bag lunches for those who are hungry,
When the office staff welcomes the stranger at the door, offering water and those lunches,
When all are welcome to our breakfast tables on Sunday mornings,
When all are welcome to a Thanksgiving feast,
When toiletries, beanies, gloves & socks are available in our restrooms for those lacking basic needs,
When we visit our elderly parishioners at home or in the hospital…
As a church community, we are living in and creating heaven!
Individually,
When you take food to your sick neighbor,
When you look the cashier in the eye and sincerely ask how their day is,
When you offer the last shopping cart to someone else & wait for the next one…
You are living in and creating heaven!
That is what Jesus is describing in this parable.
That is being blessed by God.
It is co-creating with Divine, co-creating heaven… Here. Now. Heaven on earth.
Not the heaven or hell of above and below once we die.
But the heaven and hell of right here, right now.
We are all sheep and goats at different times.
We all experience heaven and hell on this earth, in this lifetime.
When I do to the least of these, I am alive and living in relationship with Divine.
And that is Heaven!
When I live small and do NOT do to the least of these, I am “accursed” and separate from Divine. I am in Hell.
Heaven and hell are not a reward or punishment for the future.
Like this parable, it is a guide to show us how to live in right-relationship with God in the here and now.
Jesus said, “’Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these…, you did it to me.’”
We do so much, individually and as a community.
Yet, there is still so much to do.
My prayer is that we continue to live in deep, loving relationship with Divine, by doing unto the least of these. It will be a heavenly experience.
Amen.