A Time of Reckoning
Matthew 25:31-46
In the spring of 1970 twenty million people celebrated the first Earth Day. That same year President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency. In the past 38 years issues ranging from restrictions on lead-based paint and lead-based gasoline to the Clean Water Act to bans on CFC's and toxic waste have been part of the effort. Today we are conscious about our carbon footprint, and we are seeking ways to recycle and reuse in order to "clean up our act." At Haygood we have created a Green Team to lead our stewardship of God's earth. We've changed to compact fluorescents, and soon there will be a paper recycling bin in our parking lot. Why? ...because all our actions have consequences.
We know that, don't we? We know that what we do has lasting effects, to ourselves and to others. It is a basic premise of the Christian faith. Yes, we are stewards of creation. Yes, we are responsible for what we do with all we have, including our very lives. We cannot ignore it. But I'm not sure we really understand what this means.
Two men sit in a large, black cauldron. Water is up to their chests; flames lap at the cauldron's base. One man, his reading glasses down on the end of his nose, raises his finger to punctuate his point. "Of course," he says, "we shouldn't judge. Cannibalism is no better or worse than any other dietary system. Just different."
The premise that the cartoon's author seeks to address is a common one-one that many of us have come to adopt, at least in the abstract. It is the assumption that values are neutral, that there is no standard by which to judge what someone believes or how they act. No ideology or action is better or worse - only different.
We are products of our culture-a culture where the prime virtue is supposed to be tolerance, where we tell people to "let your conscience be your guide," where the idea of judging another's ideas or actions is considered at best, arrogant, and worse, as morally wrong.
But such an understanding doesn't just affect the way we look at and live with others. It affects the way we understand ourselves. In a world where all ideas are equal, no one thing better than another, where the rules are nothing more than opinion, where what we do is not inherently right or wrong, then we have no way to honestly look at ourselves.
Take O.J. Simpson, for example. I know that a dozen jurors found him not guilty, but no one believes that is true-except maybe Simpson himself. He has gone on TV, talk radio, even the Internet to defend himself, to make the case for his innocence. He even told one reporter, "Let's say I committed this crime. Even if I did do this, it would have to have been because I loved her very much, right?"
O.J. appears unable to see right from wrong...
And he's not alone. Remember when Bernie Ebbers was the CEO of WorldCom? Despite leading a company that had more than $9 million dollars in financial irregularities, despite taking $400 million-that's 400 million-in loans at just over 2 percent interest, despite leading the company into bankruptcy and the loss of hundreds of jobs, Ebbers seemed unable to view his own actions in anything but a favorable light. Before his conviction he told his church, "I don't know what all is going to happen or what mistakes have been made. I'm sure that no one will find me to have knowingly committed fraud."
But the court did; and he is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence. And his appeal has just been denied again last month.
We could add to the list Ken Lay and a whole cast of characters from Enron, and sports figures like Allen Iverson and Latrell Sprewell, people who leave in their wake wrecked lives but who profess to a clean conscience. In a world where nothing is better or worse, only different, we can't even honestly judge our own lives.
But the Parable of the Last Judgment, the parable of the shepherd who separates the sheep from the goats, challenges the value-neutral, anything goes, there-is-no-right-or-wrong assumption of our culture.
Typically when we hear this parable, we are urged to a life of Christian service. The preacher will call us to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, cloth the naked, tend to the sick and visit the prisoner. Such exhortation is not a bad thing - every once in a while we need to be reminded that we are called to such ministry.
But the parable's point is not, "Go and do as the sheep did." The point of the parable is that we are accountable to God. It reminds us that we will be judged, and the standard will be no less than Jesus himself.
In the Apostle's Creed this morning we said we believe in Jesus Christ who will come to "judge the quick and the dead." Our affirmation is that we know God pays attention, and will one day judge our actions.
What do you see when you look in a mirror? I can look in the mirror and say to myself, "Bob, you're a good person. You go to church. You give to the poor. You obey the law. You put your plastics and cans and paper at the curb each week. You try to be a good neighbor." I can look in the mirror and convince myself that I am doing all right, grade myself on the curve, and think I am even good enough to earn God's blessing.
But I can't look at Jesus Christ and have the same opinion. This parable reminds me that one day I will stand before the man who...
Ÿ spoke the truth in love,
Ÿ healed the brokenhearted,
Ÿ broke down the barriers of hate and prejudice,
Ÿ reached out to the untouchable,
Ÿ fed the hungry and gave to those in need,
Ÿ washed the feet of his disciples,
Ÿ accepted the cross on my behalf
Ÿ and forgave me for sending him there
This parable reminds me that as someone who calls him Lord, the standard for my life is not what I deem appropriate or what our culture accepts but what has been revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The parable reminds me that my calling is to live toward others with the same mercy that I have received and continue to receive in Jesus.
Remember the angry mob that brought the woman to Jesus? They were doing what they thought was right. The law forbade adultery; the punishment was stoning. It was clear-cut, simple. So when the men of the town dragged the woman caught in adultery before Jesus for judgment, they knew what they were to do. They only waited for his confirmation.
Yet as they stood before Jesus, something happened. Maybe they saw something in his eyes. Maybe they began to remember the mercy he had offered to them. Whatever happened in those moments of silence as Jesus wrote in the sand, the mood began to change. And when Jesus said to them, "He who is without sin-that is whoever here is without the need for mercy-let him throw the first stone,' they felt the sting of his judgment. Yes, they were good, righteous people. Yes, they were right according to the law. But standing in front of Jesus, gazing upon his perfection, they realized that as good as they might be, they needed mercy just as much as the woman on the ground in front of them.
Our culture wants to hide the fact that we are ultimately accountable to someone greater than ourselves. It wants us to believe that all values are neutral, all opinions are equal, all behaviors the same. It wants us to believe that there is no real consequence for what we believe or do.
Yet the truth is: the Gospel is counter-cultural because it reminds us that we are not our own judges. It reminds us that right along with our images of Jesus as the shepherd who guides the sheep, the host who spreads the table, the friend who listens to our prayers, there stands the Christ, his hand raised in judgment, looking to see if his people truly live in the light of his glory and grace, looking to see if we live as people who know they are accountable to their Lord and God.
And the real rub is that neither the sheep nor the goats had any idea what they were doing. Neither group knew when they were living for Christ or not. Some were gracious, generous and unselfish; some were not. Some understood their resources were given for the greater good of all society; some believed that what they earned was theirs to keep and use. Some helped others as a way of life; some helped themselves.
But despite their unawareness of the consequences of their actions, both the sheep and the goats learn an important lesson. Ultimately, it makes a significant difference how we live. Oh yes, God loves us anyway. God pours out grace without checking our daily report card. But life is about more than basking in God's mercy and love. Life is about how we live out that love. Life is about how we give back...because it reveals whether or not we know Jesus.
We said last Sunday that we have hope because in the end we have our hope in a person, not a cosmic event; we have hope in the one who holds the future. The question from the parable is, of course, will the shepherd of the sheep and the goats recognize us? Will Jesus know who we are?
I have a friend who has a T-shirt with the slogan: "God is coming soon. Look busy."
Maybe it's more important to actually "be busy" doing God's work. Time will tell. Time will tell.
