comfort has failed to save us
…At any rate, this is Jesus’ final parable. And fittingly, it’s all about the end of things. Specifically, the last judgment.
And we’ve all suspected history is heading toward a final reckoning, too. Haven’t we? However, at least as far as Jesus tells it, when the sorting is complete, everyone will have been proven to have had absolutely no clue as to what they were doing!
By the time Jesus, the Good Shepherd, finishes his parable, everyone, from the sheep to the goats, is surprised. And so are you. And so am I. We, too, LIKE the sheep and the goats, are flummoxed by the end of this parable. Aren’t we?
That, however, is understandable. What’s more, it’s copacetic. No, better than that. It is truly felicitous that this parable surprises you and me.
After all, surprise is the hinge this parable turns on. Indeed, surprise is the hinge the entire Gospel itself turns on.
…Now, I will grant you that, on this side of heaven, surprise is an ambiguous thing. Isn’t it? A surprise can be good. BUT it can also be bad.
All things being equal, it’s reasonable to be a little reticent when it comes to surprises—especially in this ol’ world where all things are not equal. Most often, a sure thing beats the chance of a windfall every time. Doesn’t it?
Nevertheless, we are not dealing with any ol’ surprise here. Are we? No, we are dealing with the surprise of the Gospel. The merciful surprise, as the Pauline scholar Jonathan A. Linebaugh names it.
In other words, the Gospel surprise that this parable turns on is not a dubious one. No. On the contrary, the Gospel is an unyieldingly good surprise. What’s more, the goodness of this surprise is sure and certain. So sure and certain that a person could stake their life on it a thousand times, as Martin Luther himself said.
So take heart if life caught you unsuspecting this week! If you don’t know whether you’re coming or going, you’re right where the Lord of heaven and earth wants you! If you’re unsure what to make of last week, you understand everything the all-knowing God wants you to. And if you’re uncertain how next week will pan out, you stand on the right side of all God’s sure and certain promises today!
Truthfully, that’s what this parable is all about!
But don’t worry, I know. I know how it doesn’t SEEM that way. I know that for people like us, people who worry WHERE the shepherd will corral us, this parable seems like a cautionary tale. Doesn’t it?
We are, all of us, far too prone to fret over this parable. It’s easy for us to hear this parable as nothing more than a warning. An admonition that we all ought to be more kind. Especially the most imperiled among us.
Here’s how that so-called reasoning runs, you never know if some poor soul might actually be Jesus himself, in disguise. And should he catch you comporting yourself unmercifully, well, there’ll be hell to pay. Right?
I have to tell you, though, that’s all wrong! In fact, it’s worse than all wrong! It’s the same line of thinking that doomed the goats!
…Of course, we don’t know much about the goats. Do we? But my hunch is you think you know everything you need to know about them.
I suspect you assume the goats were uncharitable misers all their life. But the truth is, we don’t know much about goats. And considering the exceptionally low bar this parable sets between the sheep and the goats, we know even less than we think!
Why just take another look at this parable. But this time, take your time! Because you were playing more fast and loose with this parable than even you realize! Your presumed familiarity with this parable, combined with your anxiety over standing on the right side of the shepherd, probably led you to give short shrift to the finer points of this parable!
For instance, listen again to the acts Jesus commends in this parable! Because they’re not as demanding as you think. Jesus doesn’t commend the sheep for healing the sick! Does he? No, he commends them for simply taking care of the sick!
The acts the sheep undertake are ordinary! They’re not heroic. They’re humble.
As Luther said, every household is a little hospital. And he’s right. Isn’t he? There is no shortage of opportunities to engage in the everyday acts of mercy Jesus blesses in this parable.
But that’s not all! Because the sheep are not welcomed unto the shepherd’s bosom for feeding legions of hungry people. Are they? No, as far as the Good Shepherd is concerned, satiating just one person is more than enough!
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “JUST as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” “JUST as you did it to one of the least of these.” One of the least of these.
…Given that, it’s hard to imagine anyone getting through life never doing so little. Isn’t it? What if, though, that’s part of the point of the parable?!?
What if this parable isn’t telling us what we should do? What if this parable is telling us what God, in Christ, has already done?!? Wouldn’t that make more sense? Wouldn’t that fit better with the shock of this parable?
The surprise of this parable isn’t that we ought to be more kind to those for whom life hasn’t been kind. We all already know that. Don’t we? And anyway, there’s nothing explicitly Christian about such a notion. Is there?
What is shocking, though, is that Jesus Christ himself has seen fit to show up in those down-and-out! The surprise of this parable is that the high Lord has chosen to be found in those who have been laid low by life. The jolt of this parable is that, as Luther said, God has thrown himself deep down into our midst!
The failure of the goats, if you want to call it that, is that they refused to take the Lord at his word! They could never be bothered to look for Christ where he promised to be found, primarily in least-ness, last-ness, and littleness. Instead, they wasted their lives looking for God in bigger and better places. And as such, they missed God right under their noses!
Luther called the parlor game those goats played with their lives a theology of glory. And he said the problem with it is that it fails to comprehend God, and so life, as they actually are! The theologian of glory, you understand, expects God to turn up in grand and gratifying places.
The only trouble with such a lofty notion, though, is that it’s all wrong! At the cross, God forswore all folderol! Instead of waiting for us to clean up our act, Christ threw himself headlong into the messes of our lives!
And in the process, Christ turned the world itself on its very head! Now, godforsaken is God blessed! The least of these are the greatest of all! And the lowly SHALL be lifted up!
And that’s ALL you need to know! In fact, it’s more than enough!
…This seems like an incredible parable. Doesn’t it? In reality, though, it’s all too common.
The tragedy of the goats IS all too real. Isn’t it? We’ve all known the torture of searching for God in the heights, all while WE were mired in the lows. Haven’t we?
However, this is also why, fellow least of these, this parable offers such a balm! First of all, this parable promises that when life’s got you DOWN, you’re closer to God than you know! What’s more, this parable also vouchsafes that all those little acts of love you engage in daily are infused with nothing less than eternity itself!
All those small acts of compassion that seem so inconsequential in the face of the world’s vast indifference are truly teeming with the very compassion of Christ! The compassion of Christ that will never be snuffed out! The compassion of Christ that will never be overcome!
If this parable is just one more item to add to your never-ending to-do list, Christ might as well stay dead and buried. But that’s not what happened. Is it?!?
No, Christ refused to be held captive to the tomb! Before that first Easter even dawned, Christ was already alive and on the loose! And that, that is the surprise this parable is all about!
Like the sheep and the goats alike, Christ is near-at-hand! Still more, he’s getting to work without you even noticing! Ultimately, it’s simply a matter of faith.
After all, given this parable, how many times do you suppose you brushed shoulders with Jesus THIS morning alone? Because I’d be willing to wager it’s more than you’re gambling. More importantly, though, I’d be willing to bet you were more obliging than you reckon, too.
And that, that’s the point! That’s the surprise! That’s the, in a word, Gospel of this parable!
…In summation, let me tell you something about you that you don’t know about you: There is more to you than you! YOU bear Christ. Behold, the kingdom of God is within you!
But that’s not all! There is also more to your life than this life! The kingdom of heaven is all around you, too! Christ is, even right now, answering that old prayer of his! “Thy kingdom come. On earth as it is in heaven.”
Just like this parable, though, it’s hidden. Hidden in the little and lowdown. In fact, it is even hidden from your sight. And that’s the way GOD wants it, too!
God doesn’t want your knowledge. No, God wants your heart. And in these words, God aims to get, too!
God has prepared thy kingdom! That’s all already in hand in Christ’s pierced hands! The rest is just the icing on the cake!
You cannot avoid Christ’s passion. Neither can you get out from under its spell! And that’s a good thing! As we say in funerals, you ARE a sheep of God’s own fold, a lamb of God’s own flock, a sinner of God’s own redeeming!
You don’t need to worry about the rest. No, you get to go out there and just be that sheep God has made out of you! It’s the Good Shepherd who MAKES your works veritably good!
So get out there and frolic! Embrace your loved ones! Embrace the one the world deems unlovable, too!
If Christ’s to be trusted, and he is to be trusted, you’ll find yourself closer to God than you’d ever dared to dream! Best of all, though, it will prove to be no dream! No, it will be nothing less than reality itself! The Son of Man in all his glory! All his glory. All his glory.
Comments
Post a Comment