a Sermon for Proper 29A     Text: Matthew 25:31-46

Now what was that about the goats?

I saw a comment online a week or so ago about these gospel readings we’ve had that said something to this effect:

What horrible readings for stewardship season!

This morning’s gospel, like the last few weeks have been a pretty mixed bag. On the one hand, we are given a vision of prudent, thoughtful behavior. At the same time, we see some pretty harsh treatment of the ignorant.

In this one specifically, we have that compelling moment in which Jesus says what one does for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned–

“Surprise! You did it for me!”

This is an incredibly gut-wrenching moment for us. It hits us like this low-blow and we are reeling.

-because this isn’t just anybody and this isn’t just anything. This is what we do, when, and with whom.

-and Jesus isn’t sticking to the subject of what we do, he moves to what we didn’t do. Who we ignored, walked past, had someone else help.

We can’t read this and not get confused. Are we sheep or goats? I give to charity (like a sheep) but not every time I see a coin box (like a goat). So aren’t we a bit of both?

The gospel then asks a bigger question than our own cosmic place. It asks about the very principle of division—how we all get sorted out in the end.

How we sort

Let’s start with us: how do we sort ourselves? Jesus used examples that people would know, so let’s use a better example for us than sheep and goats. I like dogs and cats. When we deal with differentiation, we seem to do it in four steps. We begin with our own affirmation: “I love dogs.” Then we name the other, which we condemn: “I hate cats.” The third step is to self-identify in a group: “We love dogs.” Lastly, we differentiate from the “other” group: “We hate cat-lovers.”

Two things:

1. Notice how we move from the thing to the person: first we hate cats then we hate the people who love them.
2. Many of you are probably cat-lovers and now hate me for hating you. We could, and ought, to switch the animals around and prove why cats are better. We could do the same with the goats.

This second point is essential. We easily differentiate and group ourselves without thought or intention. We condemn one animal for simply not being another. We do the same for people.

So here’s the million dollar question: does G-d really divide us and condemn us this way? Because, let’s be honest, it isn’t really fair.

-My reasons for loving dogs are pretty good (mostly about personality) but my reasons for condemning cats aren’t. They’re actually pretty outrageous and unfair (again, mostly about personality).

Is G-d this petty?

The payoff

The last time I was here we had a pretty petty vision of G-d in that gospel, too. Do you remember? It was the one about the king throwing this wedding banquet for his son and he killed all the guests for skipping out. That was a few chapters ago, but it all takes place on the same day: Tuesday of Holy Week. That parable began with the phrase: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” This one is a lot like that one. The evangelist we call Matthew began this chapter, #25, the exact same way. Jesus then tells three parables that have one common element: they’re about division. We have 1) the Bridesmaids, 2) the slaves, and 3) the livestock. Here’s the really good news for us: this dividing, how they’re divided, doesn’t fit the Protestant 6-line paradigm about salvation, which is awesome for us!

Each of these three parables is not a division between good and evil but between those who know better and those who don’t. See it this way: if it were good and evil and other-worldly heaven and hell, the sheep and goats (or dogs and cats) would be divided between the givers and the stealers. Follow me? But we have givers and ignorers.

Jesus is the Son of Man and this, our world, is the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus isn’t proclaiming an apocalyptic future but a divided present that is unlike G-d’s grand vision for us. Jesus is reflecting our world back at us. So he’s saying we divide dogs and cats and exalt one and condemn the other. G-d doesn’t.

G-d’s building a better kingdom than this is now and we are working there already!

The kingdom depends on us

I know this sounds kind of weird, but this seems to bookend Jesus’s public ministry with a much earlier event. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, kicks off Jesus’s ministry by speaking of how the Kingdom of Heaven is for (every-one) and who is responsible (us). It ends with this parable about division and discord. He ends his public teaching with a sequence of parables which appear to counter all the pre-Jerusalem teachings about mercy and love for others. But this is [I think] intentionally dark. The next chapter is Jesus bringing his disciples close and feeding them one last time. He is then tried as a terrorist and killed as one.

But the story doesn’t end there, does it? Neither does it end in resurrection. It ends with people, filled with the Holy Spirit, telling other people about this weird guy who stood up to the Roman Empire. Not the dark and not the bright light, but daylight.

Here’s the thing for us: our world divides us; we don’t have to. We’re called to love, not just the poor and sick and not just Jesus separately, but we’re called to do it together, in the way only we can do it. And to do that, we’re going to need all of us to give: generously and sacrificially to this crazy endeavor that is Transfiguration—A people of vision who experience G-d’s transformative power.

Related articles

• From Division, Unity (drewdowns.net)