THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SURPRISE. PART TWO

We grew up with this parable. Almost every time we hear preaching on this passage we are challenged to be like the sheep. We are called to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, care for the sick, and welcome strangers. We are challenged to care, especially, for the least. And we are cautioned about imitating the goats.

In other words, if we love God, we should care for the least among our sisters and brothers. If we don't, then we really don't love God.

But why call it the Parable of the Great Surprise if we already know what the story wants us to do? And not to do?

My friends, take note that both groups were surprised. Those who were blessed did not expect their blessing. Those who were cursed did not expect their plight.

The parable is not about charity. The parable is not about loving God. The sheep did not do what they did for God. This is why they were surprised when they were blessed. They said, "We did not do any of these for you!"

And the cursed ones? They did not do anything to help their sisters and brothers. Even if they did help, they would be doing it for God. Again, the parable is not about loving God.

Never forget this: the blessing is based on what you do for people for people's sake; not what you do for people for God's sake.

Surprised?! SURPRISE!

P. S. How does Paul, who probably wrote half of the New Testament, sum up the Law? One commandment. Love your neighbor!

*art, "Food for the Hungry, Drink for the Thirsty," relief sculpture at the Hospital of the Holy Spirit (Biberach, Germany), from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.

THE PARABLE OF THE GREAT SURPRISE

Sheep and goats usually make up the same flock. Many people cannot tell them apart, especially sheep and goats in Asia and Africa. But shepherds know.

Sunday's lection use sheep and goats to make a similar point about people. One cannot tell the blessed from the cursed. But the Son of Man, like a shepherd, knows.

Of course, there are those who are so sure they are blessed and claim they know how to tell them apart. And they have cherry-picked Bible verses to prove it!

But Sunday's lection reminds us that only one really knows how to separate the blessed and the cursed. And it is not me. Nor you.

The blessed were surprised. So were the cursed. Every. One. Was. Surprised!

Don't forget this, ever: God is a God of surprises!

*photo by Aaron Cederberg from the Library of Congress, "Sheep and Goats being taken to Market" (Jerusalem, Palestine).




 

THERE WERE SHEPHERDS...

Sunday's lection begins with a decree from Emperor Augustus and ends with shepherds glorifying and praising God.

Shepherds were day laborers. They were part of the lowest 15 percent of ancient Palestine's class structure. If we read Luke, the Gospel is Good News to the poor. God takes sides and always with the poor. Shepherds were probably the poorest, so they receive the gospel first!

My friends, lest we forget, women make up more than half of the world's shepherds. Rebekah, Rachel, Miriam, Zipporah and her sisters were shepherds. The shepherds in our lection were probably all women. Most importantly, many faith communities celebrate Mary--the mother of the Lamb of God--as a shepherd! (Unfortunately, more often than not, all the characters in our Chrismas art, pageants, and tableaux are male, except for Mary!).

Unless we understand that Jesus came for those whose only hope is God, for those who need God the most, then we don't really understand what Christmas is all about.

This Christmas, will our hearts, our homes, our hands, our doors, our tables, our churches be open to welcome shepherds? How about Lumads, refugees, orphans, widows, and strangers? More often than not, they are the ones who come glorifying and praising God.

JOSEPH THE DREAMER

The Gospels offer us two distinctly different birth narratives. In Luke's version, we have the angel Gabriel visiting Mary, shepherds watching over their flock, more angels, and the baby Jesus in a manger. In Matthew's version, we have an angel of the Lord appearing to Joseph in a dream, a star, magi or wise men from the East, Herod, the boy Jesus with Mary inside a house, and gifts.

We have harmonized these two stories together so we have nativity scenes, Christmas pageants, and "Belen" decorations which now include Three Kings, sheep, goats, other animals and even the Little Drummer Boy!

Sunday's lection is part of Matthew's version. Many times we forget that there are two dreamers named Joseph in the Bible. And both have fathers named Jacob! Most of us are familiar with Genesis's Joseph the Dreamer.

Matthew's Joseph the Dreamer encounters an angel of the Lord four times. Four times Joseph follows what the angel of the Lord commanded him to do. And those four dreams were all about making sure that Joseph took care of Mary and Jesus.

I believe that God reveals Godself outside and beyond the little boxes we have created to contain God. This is why I believe that God continues to reveal Godself through dreams.



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*image, "Joseph's Dream," Detail from the north portal tympanum of Lille Cathedral. 1854 (Relief Sculpture in Lille, France), from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.

THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Sunday's lection reminds me of Muhammad Ali. Today, people will not hesitate to describe him as "The Greatest"--with the same energy he called himself "The Greatest," to boot!

But those same peoole who praise Ali now often forget--deliberately, even--the times in Ali's life when many treated him with hostility, disdain, and called him a "loud-mouthed nobody".

His close friendship with Malcolm X, his decision to become a Moslem, and his being a conscientious objector against the Vietnam War made him one of the most hated men in America. Like John the Baptist, he was one voice crying in the wilderness.

Sunday's lection also reminds me of young Emmet Till. His abduction, torture, and lynching at age 14 in 1955 for allegedly offending Carolyn Bryant and the acquittal of his murderers illustrate the depth and breadth of racism, injustice, and evil that victimize the most vulnerable in society: children.

Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the world continues to treat prophets and children as dispensable and replaceable nobodies. Prophets are silenced while children are traded. Prophets are vilified while children are comodified.

Sunday's lection reminds us how Jesus feels about prophets and children. For him, they are the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. But that's for Jesus. He always took the side of those in the margins. How about us who take pride in calling ourselves followers of Jesus?

*image of Emmet Till (from the Emmet Till Research Collection, Florida State University Library).

THERE WAS A MAN NAMED JOHN

All the canonical gospels feature John the Baptist. But most scholars agree that Sunday's Matthean lection comes from "Q" (short for "quelle" meaning, source)."Q" is theorized as an earlier collection of Jesus tradition that was only accessible to Matthew and Luke.

John, like the prophets before him, did not pull punches. He calls everyone to repentance, to change direction, and to follow God's way of justice.

My favorite part of the passage is how John addresses those who think they do not need to repent or change their ways because they are God's "Chosen,"; that they are God's favorites. John basically tells them, "God can make God's children out of a pile of stones." (John's retort resonates with Jesus's "stones crying out" response to some Pharisees in Jerusalem).

John's message remains relevant and powerful today, especially to us who think we're "Chosen". We need to repent. And repentance means doing, not thinking, nor praying: specifically, it's doing acts of justice. Or we face God's wrath.

We all need to repent! God can still make God's children out of a pile of stones.

#Advent2022
#IAmWithJesus
#JusticeForMyanmar
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#AlwaysJustice

*image, "St. John the Baptist," (Jacek Malczewski, 1854-1929) from the vanderbilt divinity library digital archives.