The Rev. Carol S. Wedell
November 23, 2008

How many of you remember my very first Sunday here, the day you voted to call me as your pastor?  I remember it quite well.  The date:  January 2, 2005.  The text:  John 1.  I remember what I was wearing, how my knees were shaking and what a thrill it was to walk in to a relatively full sanctuary so close to New Year's.  But what I remember most was the time I spent with the children.  I asked them "Where do you see Jesus in this room?"  -- hoping of course, that they would realize that we see Jesus in every person we meet.  But I had forgotten one very important thing - the Jesus doll. One of the kids found it and said, "Right here."  

Where do we see Jesus?  That really is the question in today's reading from Matthew 25.  It is a passage often quoted and familiar to many of us.  Sometimes you and I struggle with scripture because it is confusing or hard to understand.  We struggle with this one because it is very clear - and not at all hard to understand.  We have difficulty with this reading because it tells us in no uncertain terms how we are to act and what we are to do if we follow Jesus - feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick - you get the idea.  And if you're like me, you may start to get a little bit - or even more than a little bit uncomfortable.  Because my life is pretty easy and while I try to reach out to those in need, I know how often I fail. 

It reminds me of a story that Dennis Linn tells: He asked a group of retired nuns,
"How many of you, even once in your life, have done what Jesus asks and fed a hungry person, clothed a naked person or visited a person in prison?" All the sisters raised their hands. Dennis said, "That's wonderful! You're all sheep." Then Dennis asked, "How many of you, even once in your life, have walked by a hungry person, failed to clothe a naked person, or not visited someone in prison?" Slowly, all the sisters raised their hands. Dennis said, "That's too bad. You're all goats."

The sisters looked worried and perplexed. Then suddenly one very old sister's hand shot up. She blurted out, "I get it! We're all good goats!"

I don't know that I like thinking of myself as either a goat or sheep, but the nun hit it on the head.  We are hybrids.  We try and act as Jesus would want.  And sometimes we do and sometimes we don't.  And sometimes we don't even know which it was.

This is the last Sunday in the Church year.  Next Sunday the Advent wreath will be up and we'll begin a "new year" as we start the cycle over again, preparing for the coming of Jesus.  Today is designated as Christ the King Sunday or the Reign of Christ.  Don't worry if you've not heard of it before.  If you are like me and didn't grow up in a particularly liturgical church, I was doing well to know about Advent and Lent!   All that means is that we remember and celebrate that when all is said and done, the world will indeed be as God envisions it.  Christ will reign over all and suffering and sighing will have passed away. "Thy Kingdom come" will be a reality.  So you will notice today that some of our hymns use "kingly" language.  (I also had to sneak in Thanksgiving, so we're kind of mixed up - nothing new in that!).

To see God as finally being in charge of everything is to acknowledge how big, how awesome our God is. The Reign of Christ Sunday celebrates a rule of a new earthly community - one not governed as it is now, but which operates under the surprisingly different "rules" that Jesus speaks of.   Preacher Barbara Lundblad told of a little girl who asked, "If God is inside of me and is so big, why doesn't he break through?"

That is precisely what this text challenges us to do --  let God break through our fear or fatigue or selfishness or lack of awareness and reach out to "the least of these."  We are told that we must see what most of us miss:  Christ in every person we meet - and especially those in need, those that others walk by, those we would just as soon ignore.  We are being asked to look at the world in a whole new way-almost like putting on special glasses that show us what we tend to overlook or block out.

My guess is that most of us are aware of the enormous number of people who suffer from hunger, homelessness, lack of medical care, untreated mental illness, or lack of hope.  I am sure that some of you are overwhelmed by what you know - I sure am.  For most of us the knowledge we have of "the least of theses" comes from television or other media.  It doesn't come from knowing someone personally, or having some kind of relationship with them.  That would change things, wouldn't it?   If you had a friend or relative in need, I'm guessing that almost all of us would go a long way to help out.  Statistics don't really touch our heart in the same way.

It's interesting to me that the sheep don't know what they're doing any more than the goats.  They don't see Jesus in those they care for.  They're just doing what comes naturally as followers of Jesus:  giving the cup of cold water, offering a bed to sleep in, visiting a prisoner on death row.  They are living out the great commandment in their every day actions:  loving God and loving neighbor.  They are not put off by the kind of stigma that would have come in those days for those who had contact with the ill or the loneliness by one who had been outcast from their society.  What held others back posed no barrier for them.

These last words Jesus speaks to his disciples before he heads toward Jerusalem and the cross, challenge some very common assumptions.  The shepherd doesn't say "Come you blessed, inherit the kingdom because you belong to Church of the Western Reserve or because you voted so and so or because you have the exact right beliefs.  We are judged by our actions, our love lived out, our sharing, our compassion. 

Now for good Presbyterians - in fact for most Christians - this poses a small problem.  Actually, it points to a significant tension.  Because with all this emphasis on what we are supposed to do it begins to sound like our salvation is something we earn by being good people.  If the Reformation was about anything it was about understanding that we don't earn our salvation, even faith itself comes as a free gift from God.  God's grace is the key -not how many good deeds we did.

The good news, is that when we look at this passage in light of the whole context of the gospel ( the principle of scripture interpreting scripture), we realize that our judge is the same one who will go to the cross for all of us - sheep and goats, and the vast majority of us who are both.    God freely offers the kingdom to all.  Some choose to walk away.  Perfection is not required, but seeking to live as serious followers of Jesus is.

What this all comes down to is discipleship.  When we grow in our ability to follow Jesus, we don't see the world in the same way.  We start wondering about the fairness of some things, we begin realizing we can live on less and give more away - not out of guilt or fear, but because it's just what we do.  And we learn to follow Jesus in ways that are not new or different or beyond our capacity:  by spending time in prayer, by becoming conversant with scripture, by worshiping with the body of Christ, by taking what we learn and living it.  Just following along - doing what followers of Jesus do.

While we in the Cleveland metropolitan area have lived knowing that folks are hungry and hurting - Cleveland being #1 in poverty for two different years - this year is different, and we all know it.  It isn't even Thanksgiving and the food banks are strained.  A harsher winter makes it very dangerous for those who live on the streets.  There simply aren't enough beds to go around or enough food.

Whether this economic downturn is a recession or something more, lots of folks are feeling the impact.  And then consider that on a world-wide basis even they are wealthy!  That's where it's easy to be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the problem or to feel or guilty because we know how much more we could be doing.

It is easy with passages like this one to end up going home with so much guilt that we aren't motivated to do anything.  And I don't want that to be the case.  I want you to know that last year this congregation gave well over $20,000 to help those most in need.  Some went through our denomination, supporting the very poorest and neediest around the world.  Other funds and school supplies and coats and hats and Christmas ornaments have gone to New Life Community.  Cans of food have been gathered for the Food Bus, North Church and now with efforts directed to the Cleveland Foodbank.

Members of our congregation help out at North Church - some regularly, others when our "month" s up (that's April, by the way!).  Our children and youth have gone to worship with the folks there and to serve lunch.  Ten of our youth went to Wheeling West Virginia last summer and got a small picture of what life is like for kids whose only meals that day will be at the Center.  We saw the kitchen captain, Ms Patty see with the eyes of Jesus, the eyes of a king, the potential and possibility in kids that the system had long ago given up on.  Ms. Patty didn't cut any slack - she also didn't hold back any love or food or shelter from those who needed it the most.

If you asked her, she would just say she was just doing what came naturally.  She didn't think of  herself as anyone special.  We saw a disciple, a follower of Jesus, who honored each person she met as though they were Jesus.

Following Jesus by offering the cup of cold water, or the helping hand doesn't just happen through the church.  Those who follow Jesus see the face of Jesus in many places and reach out in compassion.  We have members of the church who serve at the Salvation Army, in hospice care, at hospitals, at the therapeutic riding center, at a pet rescue service - and many more that I haven't even heard of.

Some of you may be in the position where assisting physically is no longer possible.  So we are left to write checks and offer prayers.  But we could also write letters and establish that personal connection that can make such a difference.  Those of you who have had painful journeys of your own have even more compassion to offer, for you know what its like to be a recovering alcoholic, to have lived on food stamps or live through the pain of a divorce.  We aren't asked to do anything huge - just to see with the eyes of Jesus the people with whom we come in contact.

Some of you may remember the story of a boy from Mayfield Heights a few years ago.  In June of 2006, the Plain Dealer wrote:

Many 12-year-olds save up their weekly allowance and birthday money to purchase a video game, motor scooter or even an Xbox.  Not Robert McAloney. He saves his money to buy cans of peas and carrots.

McAloney, a sixth-grader at Mayfield Middle School, collected 1,500 cans of food in just three weeks for the Cleveland Foodbank's Harvest for Hunger campaign. He walked door to door asking neighbors for cans or donations, visited local grocery stores for food and contributed his weekly allowance and birthday money -- over $500 in all.

Robert has collected from 200 to 1,900 cans of food since he started at age 6. "It helps a lot of people and it makes me feel good inside," he said.

Our age doesn't matter.  Our wealth doesn't matter.  Having perfect theology doesn't matter.  Belonging to the "right" church doesn't matter. What matters is acting with compassion when we think God isn't looking! Following Jesus, seeing with his eyes the people we meet is all we are called to do. Genuine stewardship begins when we see with the eyes of a king.  Do people see Christ in us?  Do we see Christ in them?  By the grace and mercy of God may it be so!