November 26, 2017 – The Last Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 29A
© 2017 Evan D. Garner
Audio of this sermon can be heard here.
As a student at the University of Cambridge, your entire degree depends on how you perform on your final exams. There are no grades for essays. There are no grades for midterms. And there are no grades for attendance. It’s all or nothing right at the end. You are allowed to go to any lecture you want if you think that it will help you get ready for your finals. So, as a seminarian, when I saw that the University’s Veterinary School was offering an entire lecture series entitled “Sheep and Goats,” I gave a passing thought to showing up.
As a student at the University of Cambridge, your entire degree depends on how you perform on your final exams. There are no grades for essays. There are no grades for midterms. And there are no grades for attendance. It’s all or nothing right at the end. You are allowed to go to any lecture you want if you think that it will help you get ready for your finals. So, as a seminarian, when I saw that the University’s Veterinary School was offering an entire lecture series entitled “Sheep and Goats,” I gave a passing thought to showing up.
There are few
distinctions as clear in the mind of the casual Christian as the one between
sheep and goats, yet, as both a veterinary lecture and today’s gospel lesson would
remind us, the differences aren’t all that obvious. The picture books we read
as children suggest that sheep are fluffy white cotton balls while goats are
slick, lean, bearded creatures, but, in fact, without a careful look at the
ears or lips or tails, they can be very difficult to tell apart. A few years
ago, the NPR series “Goats and Soda,” which features stories from the
developing world, published a story with a picture of what the photographer,
photo editor, and creator of the series all thought was a goat, but, when NPR’s
lead Africa correspondent, Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, saw it, she sent the creator
an e-mail to say, “That’s a pic of a sheep, not a goat!”[1]
Apparently, it’s an ancient problem, too. Jesus tells us that, when the Son of
Man comes to judge the nations of the earth, even the sheep and goats
themselves will be surprised to discover who is who.
In these parable-like
words to his disciples, Jesus makes it clear that, although the criteria for
judgment is obvious, no one is prepared to hear what the judge will say. Those
at the king’s right hand, when invited to enter the kingdom prepared for them,
are confused. “When did we see you hungry and give you food or thirsty and give
you drink?” they ask the king. “Whenever you did it to the least of these who
are members of my family, you did it to me,” the king replies. In the same way,
those who are at the king’s left hand, when they learn that they are being cast
into “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels,” are shocked to discover
that they neglected to care for the king by neglecting to care for others in
need. If only Jesus would tell us which needy people are members of his family
and which ones we can ignore! But it’s not that easy. The really scary part of
this passage about judgment is that no one seems to know whether he or she is a
sheep or a goat until it’s too late.
Before you lose any
sleep, however, remember to whom Jesus is speaking when he says these words.
He’s not talking to the crowds or to his opponents. He’s speaking exclusively
to his disciples—to his closest followers, to those who know better than anyone
else what it means to give their lives to the service of the king. I think that
changes the way we’re supposed to hear these words. They aren’t delivered as a
challenge to those who want to get into the kingdom but as an identity check
for those who think that they’re already inside. Jesus isn’t telling us that, if
we want to go to heaven, we had better offer a glass of tea and a turkey
sandwich to every needy person we come across in case one of them happens to represent
Jesus. As noble as it may be, you can’t get to heaven by feeding the hungry,
clothing the naked, or visiting those who are sick or in prison. But, if you
think you already belong to that kingdom yet do not know what it means to have
a heart that seeks to serve others in Jesus’ name, there’s a disappointing
surprise waiting for you when the king comes.
There’s a dangerous
apathy that lurks near those who believe in God’s unconditional love. The
controversial message that Jesus brought to the world was that all people
belonged in God’s sheepfold. His words to outsiders and outcasts was the
fulfillment of the prophet’s promise: “Thus says the Lord God: I myself will
search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks
when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep.” It
doesn’t matter whether you are a paragon of righteousness or a symbol of sin,
Jesus shows us all that God is searching for us because God wants to welcome us
into his kingdom. Belonging to God isn’t something we make happen. It’s God’s
work—God’s choice of us. But, when we take that choice for granted and lose
sight of what it was that brought us into the kingdom in the first place, we cut
ourselves off from the transformation that God offers us in Jesus, and that is
the transformation that the kingdom demands.
In the story of the sheep
and goats, Jesus asks his disciples to search their hearts to see whether they
know what it means to belong to God’s kingdom. Have their lives been changed by
the call that God has placed upon them? Have their hearts been transformed by
God’s unconditional love? That is the question before us today. It’s not to ask
whether we have done enough good to belong in God’s kingdom but to ask whether
our lives have been so transformed by God’s love that they have become worthy
of it. If we believe that we have been chosen by God regardless of who we are
and what we have and how we have lived our lives—if that becomes the basis of
our hope for our everlasting future—then we will show the fruit of that faith
in how we care for those in need. In the eyes of those who believe in
unconditional love, every person in need demands our full response. The hearts
of those who have been transformed by that limitless love are already poured
out for the sake of others just as God’s own heart has been.
Today, I invite you to
examine your life. Don’t ask yourself what you believe with your brain.
Instead, ask yourself what your life says about where your heart belongs. If
you do not know what it means to care about the needs of the world as fully as
you care about your relationship with God, this might be an important wake-up
call for you. But don’t make the mistake of trying harder to do good. You
cannot know the transformational love of God by trying to work your way into
receiving it. God’s love and acceptance of you is a free gift. Don’t undermine
that gift by trying to pay for it. Instead, let the magnitude of that gift take
root in your heart. Give yourself over to the reality that you are loved not
because you deserve it but simply because God chooses to love you. Let that
truth work in your heart until your heart is remade. Let God transform you from
the goat you so often are into the sheep God calls you to be. Ruminate upon the
mystery of God’s unconditional love until all the distinctions between who
belongs to God and who doesn’t fall away. Believe in the power of that love
until you cannot tell the difference between serving God and serving the least
of the members of God’s family. Then you will know what it means to follow
Jesus into his kingdom.
[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/12/21/371714463/is-this-a-goat-or-a-sheep-its-harder-than-you-think
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