Bible Stories You Should Know: 2. The Least of These

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.”

          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.    

          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.

          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.

          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 ...