There is a scene in ‘the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’
where the watchers and protectors of middle earth gather in Rivendell to discuss
the rising trouble and disquiet in the east. Elven Lord’s and wizard’s grand
wrestle with the rising darkness that will soon mark the end of that age…the
great epic swirl of events that unfurl in Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.
After the gathering Gandalf and lady Galadriel, the greatest of elven women,
meet for a private conversation. Gandalf speaks his mind and says “Saruman” the
white, the head of Gandalf’s order, believes that you can only overcome great
evil with great power, but Gandalf
believes that you overcome evil with simple acts of kindness and mercy.’ Of
course as the story unfolds in the two towers … That is not really a spoiler as
that movie has been round for a while now… Saruman is corrupted by power and
the small courageous acts of kindness shown by the small and powerless ordinary
folk have profound impacts at the most important of times.
As I sat in the theatre and watched that scene in Peter
Jackson’s masterful telling of Tolkien’s story I couldn’t help but think of the
passage we had read out to us today, the parable that Jesus chooses to finish
his teaching on the end of the age in the Olivet Discourse and the last piece
of teaching Jesus gives in Matthew’s teaching filled gospel. Somehow as Jesus
had taught on the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, his coming as king
and the end of the age, judgment day… it comes down to small acts of kindness
and mercy. A glass of water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, clothing to the
naked, comfort to the prisoner, hospitality to the stranger. In the great
turmoil and upheaval of history’s great current, in the judging of nations and
the coming of Christ as King, Jesus somehow brings it all down to what we have
done for the least of these his brothers and sisters.
One of the reasons I wanted to look at Jesus teaching on the
end of the age was because as you are probably aware many people are talkn’
bout the end of the world, the whole Mayan calendar thing has got people
thinking about it, some seriously and others maybe just a bit curious, wondering
about things like earthquakes and tornadoes. I’ve had a few people out of the
blue mention it in conversation this week. Maybe it’s not a major concern as
Beth said her friends at school were talking about it one minute and the next
were planning what they were going to do for Christmas and the holidays. It is
a bit like Jesus said it would be… there would be earthquakes and wars and
rumours of wars …great events happening, and people simply carrying on as they
always have, no one will know the hour or the day, but you and I are to watch
and wait.
Jesus talks of the time when he comes as king. And being
seated on the throne and bringing all the nations together before him in
judgement. Maybe it’s like the last
scene in an epic movie, a highpoint. But in typical Jesus fashion, he expresses
it in the everyday and ordinary. Maybe as he sat with his disciples on the
Mount of Olives at the end of a long day he was using the very things he saw
round him as a visual aid. It will be he says like the end of the day in any
rural setting where a shepherd will bring his flock together and separate out
the sheep and the goats. In the Middle East even today, shepherds let sheep and
goats graze together during the day, but need to separate them at night, Goats
are less hardy than sheep and need to be looked after more in the cold. Our
imagination is formed mostly by our own rural setting here but in the middle
east of Jesus day sheep and goats were hard to tell apart. The only visible difference
being that goat’s tails go up while sheep go down. The sheep were more valuable
of the two and so were placed at his right hand, the goats to his left.
The king then says to
those on his right that they are blessed and welcomes them into his Kingdom,
the reason given is that when they saw Jesus in need they showed mercy and met
that need. A simple glass of water, food , clothing, shelter, a welcome, a
visit.
The righteous are surprised by what the King says, they are
shocked to think that the king had ever been in those situations let alone that
they had cared for him. The king Jesus says responses by saying as you have
done it for the least of these my brothers and sister you have done it for
me. We shouldn’t be surprised by this as
Jesus was the one who came to serve not to be served and in the end it’s not the songs and the
festivities and all this religious stuff that is close to Jesus heart it’s the
reflection of the mercy and grace that Christ had come to give to those in need
that counts.
The second group is sent away to a place which is described
in terms we equate with fire and brimstone preaching. A place that was not
intended for them, but it seems their actions are seen as having led to it.
Again the judgement is almost word for word the opposite to what the king had
said to the people on his right. Again the people to the left seem totally
surprised, when had they ever seen the king in need and not helped. The
response is, as you have not done it for
these the least of my brothers and sister you have not done it for me.
Jesus finishes his teaching in Matthew’s gospel by saying…
then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal
life.” It seems to be totally consistent
with what comes next. WE Jesus demonstrates that mercy for those in need by
giving up his life, that we might have life, making a way for people to be
forgiven and reconciled to God. But I
don’t know about you but it feels a bit like a top gear moment where they say
at the end of each show…’ and on that bomb shell we say Good Night”. We need to put it into its context to fully
understand it.
Firstly, in the context of the Jewish understanding of
things. There is a real sense that Israel’s expectation was that when the
Messiah came and sorted things out that the nations would be judged by how they
had treated Israel. The prophet Amos uses this understanding to great effect in the beginning of his book
as he pronounces judgement on Israel’s enemies and their neighbours, the crowd
would have pricked up their ears and started to nod their heads, that is what
they would have expected from their God, but he uses that in the end to show
the people of the northern kingdom that they were in line for the same kind of
judgement because their treatment of the poor, their record in terms of justice
was just as bad as everyone else’s. Jesus turns Israel’s idea on its head , the
focus is now on how the least of my brothers and sisters are treated. The poor,
the hungry, the naked, the oppressed, the refugee. Some have seen the reference
to brothers and sisters meaning Jesus followers, but it seems this is the very
group that Jesus had come to call into his kingdom.
Secondly, we need to see it in the context of the whole of Jesus teaching. Teaching which in Matthew’s gospel is book
ended beginning and end by what Philip Yancy calls a Revolution of Grace. If
you don’t mind a visual pun in anchors all Jesus says in grace. His teaching in
the Sermon on the Mount starts with the beatitudes; blessed are the poor in
spirit, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the meek; who will not
be side-tracked from the common good, the peacemakers the merciful: This
wonderful invitation to come to God, in our brokenness and our poverty. That we
would have our hearts and lived renewed and transformed by this great mercy and
live in the Kingdom of heaven. Now we see that in the end those who are blessed
are those who allow that revolution of grace to do that and change how they see
the world. To impact how they act… that the grace and mercy they have received
is poured out. That revolution of grace
has shaped how they respond to those in need around them. They have received
mercy they give mercy. The thing about a
revolution is that it revolutionises everything, everything changes, and this
is what the King is looking for.
In the context of
theological discussion this passage is often seen in terms of the question
about salvation by grace or by works. Yet when you read it there is no sense
that people earn a reward here. Both groups of people seem oblivious to what
they are and are not doing. Their actions come from their heart attitudes, and
their relationship to king is reflected in how they respond and react.
What does it have to say to us?
Mark Woodley views this passage through the lens of Chaos
Theory. That is advanced mathematical
theory that tries and quantify and understand how complex systems work… I don’t
understand it either. One of the Mathematician most associated with this branch
of maths Edward Lorenz helped everybody by using a metaphor. He said he was
trying to answer the question what effect does the flap of the butterfly wing
in Brazil have on tornadoes in Texas?’ … it’s still OK I don’t get it either.
But here Jesus talks about a butterfly effect as well. While people may look
for the Kingdom of heaven in the great moment and movements of history, in
climactic endings, the reality is that is that the Kingdom of heaven comes now
and will be assessed in small acts of mercy. The kingdom of heaven presences
itself in this world in this neighbourhood in our lives as in response to the
love of God we find ourselves caring for and loving the least. Yes Jesus will
Commission his followers to go and make
disciples in all nations baptising them in the name of the father and the son
and the holy spirit and teach them to obey all I have commanded them. But even
the success of that will be shown in how that revolution of grace impacts on
the world in small ways. In the sort of size pieces that you and I can
comprehend and do.
A story from our families history is a great illustration of
this. Granville Sharpe one of my mother’s whakapapa is known as the father of
the movement for the abolition of slavery in England. His involvement started
when he came across a runaway slave who had been beaten and left for dead by
his owner in a London alley. In a good Samaritan way, Sharpe, took him to his
brother, who just happened to be a consulting physician to the king, a helpful
contact to make. Later Sharpe would teach himself the law and fight legal
battles to see that Strong when he recovered could not be whisked off to the
Caribbean and back to slavery. He
gathered others together to form a group to outlaw slavery, and well the rest
is history. A butterfly effect.
Sadly, there is a reverse butterfly effect, as Mark Woodley
puts it. Those who miss Jesus in this life, who do not respond to those in need
with mercy, will miss Jesus in eternity.
Lastly,
It’s important to see this parable in the context of advent and Christmas.
Jesus revolution of grace calls us to an incarnation. Mercy does not stand off
and speculate, the Kingdom of heaven is not a spectator sport, if it is we may
just miss the central character… Jesus. It does not call us to stand on the
street corner with a sign that says the end is near. It calls us to follow Christ into the everyday
life of the least about us… It calls us to be ordinary everyday revolutionaries
where there is a lack of mercy and grace in the world in which we live. To live
expecting the end whether it happens this week or… well…it calls us to be present in the present, not
lost in the future, not longing for the past… but present alongside the least.. Because ultimately and
it’s where we started our journey together way back at the beginning of this
year… to follow Jesus calls us to be where Jesus is. To be fishers of men calls us to be enmeshed
with Jesus mercy in the lives of people.
