Anyone who drives has probably had this happen. You’ve driven up to a major intersection. You want to make a left turn. The light is red. You’ve moved into the left turn lane and there’s one person ahead of you. While you’re waiting a whole line wanting to make left turns forms behind you. Finally the light changes from red and gives your lane that green arrow. …and then the car in front of you just sits there. Or maybe they slowly, ever so slowly, edge forward. Maybe they’re on their phone. Or maybe they’re looking left and right to make sure everything is clear. Or maybe who knows why. But you about want to scream at them, “Get moving! There’s a whole line of us and this green arrow won’t last long!”
Now
I certainly always want to advocate for safe driving. When I taught my kids to drive I taught them
to drive like they are in community. Be
aware of the traffic around them and what everyone else is doing. Then you do what you have to do, knowing what
your rights are, but also keeping in mind the needs of the other drivers. If you’re in a left turn lane and there’s no
one behind you and you feel like lazily making that left turn then feel
free. But if you’re tying up a whole
bunch of people then get a move on. It’s
common curtesy.
I
use this as an example to get at what is going on in our gospel reading from
Matthew. I hope you’ve been reading
along all week as the church has sent out emails. Throughout the week we’ve read what is called
the, “Judgment Discourse”. In 23 Jesus
lays out a bunch of woes to the religious leaders. He is not cursing them. He is not condemning them. He is just stating reality. They are deeply misguided, and so is their
advice.
In
24 Jesus speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and the end of
the world. Lots of people get really
excited over this sort of thing. It can
lead to a lot of imagination. Some
churches spend what I think is an inordinate amount of time on it, trying to
figure out signs and time frames and being prepared. But all of that misses the point. The point is about faithfulness and
watchfulness.
And
then we get to 25 which shows us what faithfulness and watchfulness looks
like. There are two parables. The Parable of the Bridesmaids, which about
not getting lazy in the midst of delay.
And the Parable of the Talents, which is about being productive with
what God has given you.
It
then wraps us with what we read today.
Before we get to that let’s note one important thing. If you did read all of these things last
week, and if you did pay very close attention to them, you probably got
confused. It’s one of those things where
if it made sense to you, you probably didn’t read it closely enough!
Matthew
as a gospel writer is not consistent.
Biblical commentators point out that as Matthew shares these teachings
of Jesus he does so in a way that creates tensions within themselves and also
tensions with what Jesus has taught elsewhere.
This is not unique, but a very common thing for ancient Hebrew writers
to do.
So
in one place Jesus says there will be clear signs of the end of time, and at
another place says there will be no warning.
In
one place he says about making oaths, yet earlier he forbade them.
Jesus
himself calls others “fools” in 23:17 yet in 5:22 he prohibited calling people
fools for any reason.
He
says that the Pharisees teaching is to be accepted yet in a previous chapter he
warned against it.
I
could go on and on. The point is this,
when trying to interpret Matthew do not try to make him more consistent than he
is interested in being, or even wanted to be.
Matthew is like all of the gospel writers. He’s clever.
He wants us to feel the tensions.
We
keep that in mind when we get to the judgement scene that we read today. There at the end of time all are gathered before
the Lord for judgment. Some are
classified as sheep and get to inherit the kingdom prepared for them. Others are classified as goats are sent to
the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
This
is a fearful passage fraught with problems.
All by itself it teaches a merciless judgment based soley on acts of
charity. And, those who did those acts
of charity were unaware that they were doing them, or that they were important
at all. Similarly, those who did not do
them did not realize they were neglecting this essential role in getting
eternal happiness for themselves, nor were they aware of their importance.
This
passage has no mention of beliefs, no mention of faith, and no mention of
grace. It is outright works
righteousness done in ignorance.
All
alone this passage is terrifying!
And
so we do not interpret it all alone.
Remember,
it comes at the end of a long discourse about judgment and the end of
time. That whole discourse has been full
of tensions and contradictions.
Put
yourself in the position of Matthew’s original readers. It is late in the first century. As a religion Judaism is in a complete
mess. The Romans have just killed off
most of you when they destroyed Jerusalem.
The took out the temple and with it went most of the leaders, the
religious institutions, the libraries, and everything necessary for a faith
community. You are of Jewish heritage
but your family has decided to follow Jesus.
As a consequence in this tumultuous mess your family and others have
been kicked out of the synagogue.
You’re
asking things like: Where is God in all of this? How long will it be before Jesus
returns? What do we do in the
meantime? How bad will things get? What is right and what is wrong? How do we handle all the broken relationships
and the distrust? And is it actually
safe to practice our faith publicly or not?
Matthew’s
answers:
Jesus
was here in the flesh. He’s not here
now, and yet he is still here in a very real way. Whenever two or three gather in his name he
is in the midst of them.
How
long will it be? Well, who knows!?! But we do know that the end is closer now
than what it was when Jesus was here.
How
to live until Jesus returns? Love God
and love your neighbor as yourself. Just
do that always regardless of how long it will be.
Where
is God in all of this? God is everywhere
in all of this. Do not fear. Do not lose heart. That also means that everything you do to any
and every other person is also like doing it to God. That’s the message we get from our gospel
reading today.
Remember
the image of driving we started with?
When you’re driving how much do you know about the other drivers? Perhaps some.
Maybe they have cute or offensive bumper stickers that give a clue of
what they’re like. Maybe you can tell
something about them by the car they drive.
Somewhere I came across a study that BWM drivers are statistically the
most selfish drivers on the road. But
for the most part, you can’t tell much about them. Our cars do not give us a category. As if they could say: here’s a rich atheist,
or here’s a sex offender, or here’s a sweet little old Christian lady who’s
never even swatted a fly. No, when
you’re driving you don’t know most of the people who are around you. And yet you are all on the same road all
driving by the same rules (hopefully!).
If
you are driving like you are caring for the whole community of drivers then you
will expect others to respect your right of way, you will give others theirs,
and you will drive for the benefit of all.
You don’t care anything about them other than you know you’re all in
this together and you’re trying to make everything safe and fast for everyone.
Do
not fear God’s judgment. But do not mock
God’s power. You are saved by grace, and
not by works. But that is not an excuse
for laziness or exploitation. Your faith
will take you into many difficult and uncomfortable places. You will not know what to do. But God will be with you in the struggle. It is not about rules and regulations that
determine the value of people. It is
about honoring the value of who and what God has made. Let me close with this quote from Everett
Hale: “I am only one, but I am one. I
cannot do everything, but I can do something.
What I can do, I should do, and with the help of God, I will do.”
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