Matthew 25:31-46 - March 26, 2023

What a text for such an exciting day.

For those who are visiting with us or if you’ve just been completely checked out the past five weeks or so, today are our All Congregation Events for our Forward Together capital campaign. We get to gather and hear more about the vision for the future here at St. Philip - a future that wants to ensure a high level of worship and welcome for generations to come. We want to be able to have a place for people to park, to have an organ that we know will be top-notch for decades, to have people walk into our sanctuary and know they have a place - to know that this spot welcomes them with space, accessibility, and awe. 

But who cares about that?! I might be a goat! YOU might be a goat! Or you might be a sheep. I don’t know. Do you know? Who knows?

A text like this gets us all worried and worked up. We want to know. We want to know for sure. And if we are a goat, we want to be able to do something to change that and be a sheep. 

And I guess Jesus tells us what sheep do. “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.” To say it another way, “faith without works is dead” and that work looks like taking care of the poor and deprived.

So, just do all that Jesus says and you have nothing to worry about. 

But… but do we have to do that all the time or is, like, once a month good enough? And to every person who is hungry - or only those we might run into - or like all those on Joe White? Do we have to add Help4Kids, too?
What about across the world?
Or maybe something scarier: Do we have to visit every prisoner or just the ones we know - which for most of us is probably a pretty short list. 

How much is enough? How many times? We need more details so we can get this right. 

But before we go down the rabbit hole of “how much is enough?,” did you notice something? Everyone - both those praised and those condemned - everyone is surprised by the judgment of the Son of Man. Everyone responds, “Lord, when did we do that?” 

People didn’t know that Jesus was there. Neither side expected the Son who comes in glory to be present and available to them in the face of “the least of these.”

The Son of Man should come in strength, power, might, and glory, and yet Jesus – in this parable and in the coming weeks during his Passion – reveals that he comes to us instead in weakness, vulnerability, brokenness, and shame.

Jesus comes in a way that surprises us, for sure, but also in a way that is all around us, in a way that is accessible to us, in a way that happens every single day.

We often think everything is about us - particularly parables. We want to find where we are, which one we are, and if we make the cut or not. 

But more often than not, the parables aren’t about us. They’re not about me, not about you. Not about which one we are, not about what we want to be. Not about what we know, and not about what we think. 

The parables, and this parable, is about God. God isn’t waiting for the end of time to show up sitting on a royal throne in glory; God is here right now, pretty much everywhere, and certainly in the needs of those around us. Which means we can encounter the living and real presence of God in people nearby - maybe right next to us. And it means when we look out for the other person, God is there. And it ultimately means, God shows up in surprising ways. 

In the lowly, in those who are hungry, in those we comfort. God is there.
In fellowship and meals, in bread and wine, in all times and places. Jesus is there.
In the thirsty, in water and Word, in a community gathered. The Spirit is there. 

We meet Jesus even when we are surprised by his being there.
He is there where people are cared for and welcomed.
Where space is made to include them.
Where they are fed - stomachs and souls.
Where spirits are able to be lifted through song and story. 

God is present in the needs of those around us, and we encounter the living and real presence of God by responding with love and compassion. So as we move Forward Together, let us remember that our ultimate goal is not just to build a beautiful building or buy expensive things, but to create a worshiping and welcoming community that embodies and points to the love and compassion Christ calls us to, to be open to the surprises God has in store for us. 

Things aren’t about us as often as we think they are. And if we do try to make them about us, then we definitely miss Jesus in our midst. Instead, this parable is about the surprising ways God shows up - in those we don’t think, in the cross and suffering, in the unexpected. 

That is a surprise, a big surprise, but a glorious surprise to be sure.