What he *didn’t* say…
I have been thinking lately about the passage in the Bible that is usually headed “The Sheep and the Goats,” Matthew 25:31-46. In the passage, Jesus tells a story describing what will happen “when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him” and “he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” He tells the people on the right, the sheep, that they are blessed by the Father and can take the inheritance he has prepared for them:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
The people on the right seem surprised by this and ask, “When?” They ask when did they feed him, give him a drink, invite him in, clothe him, look after him and visit him. The King says, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Then, in the repetitious way of storytelling in some of the Bible passages, the King says basically the opposite to the people on the left, the goats, that they did NOT feed him, give him a drink, invite him in, clothe him, look after him, and visit him in prison, and they are cursed because of this. They, like the people on the right, are surprised and ask, “When?” They, too, go through the litany and ask when they saw him hungry, thirsty, a stranger, needing clothes, sick, and in prison. And this time, the King says, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” (Emphasis mine—but, who knows, maybe Jesus emphasized the word “not,” too.)
One thing that struck me in this parable was what the King did not say. He did not say, “There was an election and you voted for Trump / or you voted for Kamala.” He did not say, “There was a controversy and you did not voice your opinion this or that way.” “You did / or did not take a stand for x.” I am not saying that all these things and more are not a part of living a Christian life, but it’s pretty remarkable—don’t you think?—that the parable doesn’t even come close to discussing what you believe as a factor in separating sheep and goats. (It could have said something equivalent in Bible times, like, “You cooperated with the Romans, and…”)
So, yes, I need to discern what I believe is God’s will and act on those beliefs in a way that seems to be God’s will for me as I follow Jesus. But some basic questions I need to ask myself are what I am doing for those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, needing clothes, sick, and in prison.
As Barbara Brown Taylor says (and I’ve quoted a million times):
In every circumstance, regardless of the outcome, the main thing Jesus has asked me to do is to love God and my neighbor as religiously as I love myself. The minute I have that handled, I will ask for my next assignment. For now, my hands are full. (Holy Envy, Page 119)
I know I fall woefully short of doing what the parable says to do for those in need. Thank goodness God still loves me. I’ll keep trying, and “the minute I have that handled, I will ask for my next assignment.”
Thoughts?