Christ the King
Matthew 25:31-46
Magicians have never been my favorite form of entertainment. I'm not sure why, I've just never been impressed with the appearance or disappearance of rabbits out of hats or doves out of boxes. Somehow I've just always assumed that the magician's prestidigitation is only a technique that I don't know and haven't mastered. I'd never been impressed until I saw David Copperfield that is. Now there's a magician. There is more than technique involved in making a jet plane or an elephant or the Statue of Liberty disappear.
Somehow the phrase, "Now you see it, now you don't takes on new meaning with David Copperfield. Magic moved into a new era--the modern age. The magician's task is to make what is not there appear to be there and to make what is there disappear. "Now you se it now you don't"
There is a bit of the magician in all of us--it is I think, human nature to be involved in garden variety magic. There are times when we all see more in situations or comments than is really there. "Aunt Sue decided not to come to our house for Thanksgiving dinner--I've always known she doesn't like us." Seeing more than is there.
My mother lost the plane ticket I sent, her age is really catching up to her." Seeing more than is really there. This investment is really set to take off. At one time or another we all get caught up in seeing, or perceiving a reality that isn't there.
In the same way we perform a little garden variety magic when we block from our consciousness realities that are there that we just don't want to see. The gas gauge reads empty but it's raining and there's always a couple extra gallons in there." "These few little cookies are so small they can't have any calories in them."
We are all a little bit magician. Seeing what is not there and not seeing what is there.
This is a quandary that Jesus captures in his picture of the end times. "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 we saw you in prison and visited you?" When did we see you? The righteous are surprised! They have not been counting up their good deeds so that when they came before the throne of Christ they could make their case for salvation. They have not tabulated the amount they have given over against how much they have received. They have not computed, measured or analyzed. There are no brownie points--no indeed--they are surprised by the good they have done and by who they have done it to.
There is an ancient proverb that says; the shoe fits best when it is forgotten and the belt when it is not remembered." The righteous do not dwell on their achievements rather it becomes a style of life--so comfortable that they take it for granted.
I can not read this passage without feeling like a goat. Sight is more than what comes in through the eyes--sight is what registers in the brain and is answered with the heart. There is so much suffering that comes in through the eyes. As I scrape the mounds of leftovers off the dinner plates I watch on the evening news health workers feeding gruel to babies with distended bellies in Niger. As I pull my car into the garage after a long day I think of those displaced by Hurricane Katrina who have nowhere to call home.
It all comes in through the eyes but does it register in the brain or do I respond to it with my heart? Now I see it--then I click the remote or close the paper--and now I don't.
We are aware of so much suffering in our world. Through the magic of media we become neighbors to people thousands of miles away. Sometimes I get the feeling, as the poet said, "The world is too much with us." In Jesus day people were ill aware of what was happening to others 50 miles away. We are painfully aware of the suffering, the war, the devastation of people 50,000 miles away. It's true we tune out and turn off that which we would rather not see and hear. It's a kind of magic we're good at. Now you see it, now you don't.
Our text this morning is interesting though. It is not only the sinners who questions, when did we see you?" The righteous are also asking, "When did we see you?"
Perhaps we live equally unaware of the good that we do do.
There is a medieval legend that a saint was given the privilege of having his most ardent wish granted and this was his choice, "Throughout my life, may I do much good that I know nothing about." It is a wish worthy of God's blessing. When we cry in astonishment, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink..." we are already being welcomed into the joy of God's kingdom. The people of the loving heart are surprised into heaven; they have done good to the Lord Jesus Christ and have not realized it.
People touching lives, that's what it's all about. People reaching out in ways that they don't even realize.
I suspect we can all think of someone who touched our lives in a special way when we most needed it; someone who lent a helping hand or said an encouraging word or was just a presence to walk with us.
As the people of the Lutheran church of the Holy Spirit we touch lives in many ways that we probably don't think about a lot.
First our benevolence dollars go to help people we don't even know and can't even see
Through Lutheran Disaster Relief we are present with food for those devastated by famine in Niger, we work with the Norwegian Lutheran Church to run four refugee camps for those fleeing the war in the Sudan and with Church World Services to provide the immediate necessities for earthquake victims in Pakistan. We are present with the communities of Stratford and Woodward in Iowa as Stratford Lutheran Church becomes the emergency command and supply center for those hit by tornados just a week ago.
Together we support one of the largest Social Service networks in the country. Our Lutheran Social Services of Illinois served people last year in its many programs ranging from foster care and adoption to drug rehab to senior services to prison ministry.
Secondly, we as the church become a caring community to help one another. Sometimes we think this is the least of our ministries, after all we're so blessed that no one among us ever needs support and assistance. They'll know we are Christians by our love, says the song. As a caring community we are to be present for one another in joys and sorrows, good times and bad.
Lastly the church is the place where we come together to be reinvigorated by God's word for our individual presence in the world. At our places of work, in our schools, on our community we are the salt or the leaven. We gather to learn and experience the wholeness and healing presence of our Lord Jesus Christ so that we can take that wholeness and healing out to a troubled world. Sometimes the world is too much with us and we need to gather here to continue to renew that vision of hope which the word of God brings.
It's a strange kind of magic we're involved in, this church thing. We're part of a kingdom that we hardly see operating not with the power of might but with the power of love, ruled by a king who reigns in glory by heading to the cross.
Amen