Bible Stories
You Should Know: 2. The Least of These
The Church of the Wayfarer
Norm Mowery, Pastor
March 23, 2014
Matthew 25:34-40
Once there was a little boy who wanted
to meet God.
He knew it would be a long trip to
where God lived, so he packed a suitcase full of Twinkies and cans of root beer
(his two favorite foods) and set off for the park.
(Picture
of Twinkies and Root Beer)
He had only gone a few blocks when he
passed an older woman, sitting on a park bench just enjoying watching some pigeons.
She looked sad and lonely, so the boy
went over and sat down next to her. He
opened his suitcase, took out a package of the Twinkies and offered it to her.
She gratefully took it and smiled at
him.
Her smile was so warm and wonderful
that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a can of his root beer.
Once again, she took it and smiled at
him.
The boy was delighted.
They sat there all afternoon, eating
the Twinkies, drinking the root beers and watching the pigeons, without saying
a word to each other.
As it grew dark, the boy realized that
he had better get started home.
Before he had gone just a few steps,
he turned around, ran back to the older woman and gave her a big hug.
She gave him the biggest smile.
When the boy got home, his mother
noticed how happy he seemed.
So she asked him what he had done all
day.
He told her: "I had lunch with God.
And
you know what?
She has the most beautiful
smile that I've ever seen."
Meanwhile, the older woman had
returned to her home.
Her son also noticed how happy and
contented she seemed so he asked her what she had done that had made her so
happy.
She said to him: "I sat in the park
and ate Twinkies with God. You know, he's much younger than I expected."
We ask,
What does God look like?
Can
we really see the face of God?
This morning in our scripture we see
the face of God.
The face of God in the least, the
last, the lost.
(Picture
of Statue of Liberty)
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teaming shore.
Send these the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teaming shore.
Send these the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
As I read those words inscribed on the
Statue of Liberty I wonder if we Americans believe that any more.
Do
we really want the world’s huddled masses yearning to be free?
Our Methodist founder, John Wesley,
had a unique way of weaving
personal holiness
and social concern
into religious conviction.
He not only helped people find God, he
helped people
find food,
jobs
and health care!
He carried a deep passion for the
whole person.
The historic message of the Methodist church
is twofold:
1. A personal faith—a
personal experience with God, and
2. Social concern and
responsibility for others
This is the second in a series of six
messages that will continue through Easter titled, Bible Stories You Should Know.
Last Sunday I talked about the Great
Commandment.
Today we look at what Jesus taught
about ‘the least of these.’
This is a Bible story you should know.
Our scripture is one of the most vivid
parables which Jesus ever spoke, and the lesson is crystal clear.
The
lesson is this—that God will judge us in accordance with our reaction to human
need.
The message Jesus provides is about the
transformation of our actions.
When we love Jesus we will love others.
Jesus calls us to go beyond our
comfort zone, outside our family and friends, and meet people where they are in
life.
Jesus told this story about a time
when nations will be separated into sheep and goats.
As a farm boy this is rather puzzling.
I
wonder, “What did the goats do wrong to deserve this.”
Poor
goats!
Do you know that the easiest way to
tell the difference between a sheep and goat is to look at their tails?
A goat's tail goes up.
Sheep tails hang down.
Isn’t that fun to know? Do you want to
know more?
Goats are natural browsers, preferring to eat leaves and shrubs.
Goats are natural browsers, preferring to eat leaves and shrubs.
Sheep are grazers, preferring to eat short,
tender grasses.
Goats are naturally curious and
independent, while sheep tend to be more distant and aloof.
It is easier to keep sheep inside a
fence than goats.
Jesus says that the sheep will be blessed
because they have shown compassion and love to others through service.
Goats will be condemned because they have
not served and loved others the way Christ intended.
Like I said, “Poor goats!”
I.
We Need New Eyes through Which to See the Least of These
Jesus says it so eloquently,
“I tell you the truth,
whatever you did for one of the least of these.....you
did for me.”
Do you see Jesus in the faces of the
poor,
the prisoner,
the sick,
the
stranger?
A. As you serve the POOR, you serve Jesus.
A couple of weeks ago I heard a person
on national TV say, “You get rid of homeless people like you get rid of
coyotes, ‘You cut off their food supply.’”
That is one of the most evil
statements I have ever heard and Jesus judgment is clear for that person.
In the words of Forrest Gump, “That’s
all I have to say about that.”
B. As you serve the PRISONER, you serve Jesus.
Today more than 1 in 100 adults in the
United States are in prison.
Need I say more?
C. As you serve the SICK, you serve Jesus.
An elderly lady who died in a Scotland
nursing home left this note behind, “What
do you see nurses?
What
do you see?
What
are you thinking when you look at me?
A crabby old woman, not very wise with
far away eyes?
Let me tell you who I am.
I am a child of ten…..with
sisters and brothers.
I’m a bride of twenty……
loving my lover.
I’m a mother of children …….who
grew up too fast.
I’m a grieving widow …….
living in the past.
So open your eyes nurses,
open and see.
Not a crabby old woman.
Look closer, see me.”
D. As you serve the STRANGER, you serve Jesus.
“They found her
propped against a small oak tree in a tiny Carmel vacant lot. Dead of apparent
natural causes,” The Monterey Herald said.
Susan Beach was a Carmel fixture
draped in her signature dark cape.
A little less than a year ago this
church did a wonderful thing.
We had a memorial service for a
homeless woman named Susan Beach.
It was one of the finest things I have
ever experienced in my ministry. To this day as I meet business people in our
community they still thank me for our ministry to Susan.
About 100 people gathered here a year
ago to thank God for Susan’s life. We heard story after story about how their
lives intersected with Susan’s.
One man introduced himself as the town
drunk and told how he and Susan spent time doing crossword puzzles together.
I must tell you the rest of the story.
A few months after we had Susan’s
service a local police officer called me and thanked me for having the service
and then said that Susan was cremated and her cremains are at the coroner’s
office in Salinas and would be scattered in an open field.
“Pastor”, the officer said, “Wouldn’t
you like to go and get Susan and place her someplace here in Carmel?”
How could I say, “No?”
Linda and I went to Salinas and picked
up Susan’s remains and then three officers and I reverently placed her in a
beautiful spot.
II.
By What Means, In What Way, Can We Serve the Least of These?
A. First, DO NO HARM.
Jesus was at the temple when the
law-enforcing Pharisees brought a woman to him, “caught in the very act of
adultery.” As they call for her stoning, Jesus stoops and writes in the sand.
Then, he straightens up and says, “You
without sin, cast the first stone.”
The first rule of helping is doing no
harm.
B. Second, DO GOOD.
John Wesley eloquently advised people
to
“Do all the good you can,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as you ever can.
We do good by addressing systemic
causes. John Wesley not only visited the
sick, he also wrote books on promoting health. He worked tirelessly for the end
of slavery and advocated major prison reform.
We live in a country where there is
poverty, where jails are overcrowded, and where some people have no health
insurance.
Can Christians continue to ignore
these concerns by blaming the government for inaction?
C. Finally, we take action by “INTENTIONALLY FORGETTING.”
In the story all the people had the
same response. “Lord, when?”
“When did we see you hungry and feed
you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and
invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison
and go to visit you?”
Lord, when? I do not remember when.
Good things are done and then
forgotten.
Goodness is not done so that people
will feel indebted.
Am I my brother’s keeper?
The answer is “no.” That rings of
manipulation and control.
I
am my brother’s brother, for Jesus is a brother to us all!
We have been blessed to be a blessing to others.
We have been blessed to be a blessing to others.
Mother Theresa was asked how she could minister to people with such horrid illnesses, and she replied,
"I just pretend they are Jesus."
1: When the Son of Man comes in his
glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his
glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them
one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
(Picture
of Sheep)
(Picture
of Goats)
2: The nations will be gathered?
1: The nations.
2: Not individuals?
1: Not individuals.
2: All the nations will be gathered
before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats.
1: Yes. The nations will be separated
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
2: He will put the sheep at his right
hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right
hand,
1: Come, you that are blessed by my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something
to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me
clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited
me.
2: Then the righteous will answer him,
"Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty
and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and
welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you
sick or in prison and visited you?" And the king will answer them,
1: Truly I tell you, just as you did it
to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. All
the nations will be gathered before him.
2: Including our nation.
1: Including our nation.
2: So, I need to think about whether my
nation feeds the hungry and cares for the thirsty.
1: And about why there are hungry and
thirsty people in our nation.
2: Hm. Maybe because they're lazy?
1: Some of them. Laziness is often a
name onlookers give to despair.
2: Why would anyone in this country be
in despair? It's the land of opportunity!
1: If there are doors of opportunity
that you can see, that you can reach, and that you're equipped to go through there is hope. Let’s open the doors.
2: I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did
not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and
you did not visit me.
1: Is that the kind of record you want
for your country?
2: Sheep
1: Goats
What
does God look like?
Who does God resemble?
And can you really see the face of
God?
Prayer
God of majesty and beauty, we worship
you.
We adore you.
We cast our praise before you.
We bless you for your creative Spirit
that breathes life into all things.
We honor your holiness and your
steadfast goodness.
We thank you for your love which
overflows into all the earth.
We are awed by your righteous power
and humbled by your omnipotent sovereignty.
There is, Lord, no one like you.
You stand above all yet you draw near
to us.
Thank you for the privilege of being
called your people.
God of grace, we offer our thanks
for all those who have given us the gift of new life;
for those who have let us trust their faith when ours was full of doubts;
for those who have been a beacon of hope when we were hopeless;
for those who have shown us a light when we were surrounded in darkness
As others have shown us what a life of faith looks like, so might we reflect this light to each person we meet.
for all those who have given us the gift of new life;
for those who have let us trust their faith when ours was full of doubts;
for those who have been a beacon of hope when we were hopeless;
for those who have shown us a light when we were surrounded in darkness
As others have shown us what a life of faith looks like, so might we reflect this light to each person we meet.
You have lavished your love upon us, O
God; let it be that the lives we live might readily show your love.
This we ask in the name of Jesus
Christ who came that we might know what a life of love looks like, and who
taught us to say when we pray ...
