Love Without Limit

 

Based on Matthew 25:31-46

             This is a transition Sunday for us. For about six months, since we celebrated Pentecost, our Sundays have been identified by the number of Sundays since Pentecost. For example, last Sunday was the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost. On this Sunday, we stop keeping track of how many Sundays it has been since Pentecost. We call this Sunday “Christ the King” Sunday. This is a day where we affirm that Jesus Christ is Lord and that one day King Jesus will return and finally establish the reign of God on earth. As Americans, who do not know what it is like to live under the rule of a king, I admit it is a bit difficult to really get what it means to call Jesus our king and our lord. But it is the language that has been handed down to us through the generations, so we try to relate to it the best we can.

            Today’s scripture from Matthew’s gospel was chosen for this Sunday because in it, Jesus is portrayed as the king sitting on his throne with all the nations of the world gathered around him. It fits with the theme of the day. It is also a good passage for today because the way Matthew has laid out his gospel, this passage is the conclusion of Jesus’ teaching ministry. From this point on, Matthew gives the account of Jesus’s passion. So, this scripture marks a transition in Jesus’ ministry on earth, as he moves from being the teacher and the healer into being the one who offers himself for our salvation.

            Often, when preachers or lecturers are getting to the end of their talk, they will say things like “in closing” or “in summary.” They then make that last point or say something that attempts to pull the message or lecture together, tie up the loose ends so that the talk feels complete. Of course, you may still have questions about what was shared. But at least a good summary demonstrates how all the points of the message or lecture fit together. You see how the speaker got from point a, to point b, to point c.

            In the same way, this teaching that Jesus presents in today’s scripture reading serves as a summary. It attempts to communicate the main gist of all of Jesus’ teachings, beginning at the sermon on the mount, to instructions on how members of the community are to relate with each other, to teachings about the authority of Jesus, to what we are supposed to be doing while we wait for the Lord’s return, to now this summary teaching. What Jesus gives us is not a parable. It’s not like a story about a farmer planting seeds or a widow looking for a lost coin. It’s not really an allegory like we have seen where the master represents Jesus and the servants represent disciples. Instead, Jesus gives us a description of a future event. He describes an experience in which, as I said, he is sitting on a throne, all the nations of the world are gathered around him, and he separates all the people in front of him into two groups which are called the sheep and the goats.

            It is easy to get lost in the details of this description and wonder exactly how this will unfold, the whens and the wheres. One part of this story I find particularly baffling is the image of all the nations of the world gathered around him. That must be billions and billions of people, right? Who exactly are they? I also wonder where exactly this judgment scene is taking place. Is it on earth? Is it in the heavens somewhere? I grant you, for a summary statement of Jesus’ teachings this is not exactly the clearest. Jesus doesn’t say, “In summary, point one, point two, point three.” This account of a future judgment does evoke our imagination. It draws us in with its imagery. And I think to spend a lot of time trying to figure out exactly how this goes, the practicalities of exactly how this judgment works, misses the point of what Jesus is trying to say to us. Instead, I believe we need to approach this story allowing Jesus his artistic license as he describes this future event.

            As we reflect on this judgment story it seems the clear point is that how people respond to the least of these, whoever that represents, has ramifications for their future. Specifically, those who tended to the physical and emotional needs of the typically overlooked and neglected in society will inherit the kingdom of God while those who did not care for the needs of the overlooked and marginalized are thrown into the eternal flames with the devil and his angels. It is what people did or did not do that impacts their eternal future.

            For a lot of us, this sounds like works righteousness. We are taught that we are saved by faith and not by works. Jesus died on the cross for our salvation. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. If you believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins you will be saved. It is a question of belief that determines our salvation. But in this teaching Jesus gives us, there is nothing about belief. On the face of it, our future judgment is not based on what we believe but what we do or do not do. How do we make sense of this? Do we receive eternal life because we confess Jesus as Lord or because we have cared for the least of these?

            I want to get at this issue by focusing on the question that each group, the sheep and the goats, asked after Jesus rendered his judgment. Both groups responded to Jesus’ judgment by asking the same question: “When was it?” Everyone was surprised that they did or did not feed Jesus, clothe Jesus, welcome Jesus and visit Jesus. The sheep were just taking care of people, no matter who they were. The goats imposed a limit on who they cared for. None of them realized that the least of these, whoever that is, Jesus doesn’t say explicitly, was actually Jesus. Or, better, Jesus so completely identified with the least of these that it was as if they were caring for him. I know, it’s a little ambiguous here. Artistic license, remember? The main point is that none of them knew they were ministering to Jesus or neglecting Jesus.

            And that is a good thing that steers clear from works righteousness thinking. See, if they knew that caring for the least of these was like caring for Jesus and doing so would grant them entrance into the kingdom of heaven or disposal into the eternal flames, the temptation would have been to care for the needs of others as a means to an end. To say it in a crass way, they would have cared for the least of these, used them, as a means to inherit the kingdom. If the motive to care for the least of these is so you can get into heaven, that diminishes the integrity of the act. It’s no longer about love. The least of these are treated as objects, as a means to earn a seat at the great banquet. So, it is best that none of them knew. This is such an important part of this story.

            We know what is at the heart of the will of God. You remember when someone asked Jesus what is the greatest commandment and Jesus answered by giving two: love for God and love for neighbor as love for self. Jesus said on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. If you want to boil it down to the essence of God’s will for us it is truly one word…love.

            This judgment scene between the sheep and the goats leads us to this question: where do we set the limit of our love? Apparently, the goats had a limit. It’s not that they didn’t help people. I’m sure that they fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick and those in prison. But there were some people they overlooked. There were some people whose needs they chose not to respond to. Who are those neglected ones? We don’t know. But Jesus knows them. He knows them so intimately that Jesus identifies himself as them. But when the goats saw these people in need, assuming they even noticed the least of these, they chose not to respond. They turned aside. There was a limit to the expression of their love.

            The sheep had no limits to the expression of their love. If they saw someone in need, it didn’t matter who they were. No labels. They just saw someone in need, they had the capacity to respond, so they did. Their expression of love was limitless. They wasted no energy trying to decide if they should help someone or not. If they had the capacity to respond they did because that’s what love requires. For the sheep, they demonstrated that love was at the core of who they are. The sheep embodied love. It’s that simple.

            What is the summation of Jesus’ teaching? Whatever Jesus taught, it had to be consistent with the will of God. The heart of God’s will is love. This is the heart of Jesus’ teaching. From the sermon on the mount to this description of future judgment, every teaching Jesus gave at its core is about love, love for God, and love for neighbor as love for self. It really is that simple.

            We are in a transitional time of year. We are transitioning into Advent, our four week preparation to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We are transitioning into winter as the nights get longer and the air gets colder. We are transitioning into potentially the worst part of the pandemic when, God forbid, our hospitals could get filled up, elective surgeries put off, thousands more get sick, and perhaps thousands die. We are transitioning into a season that combines longing and hope, grief and joy, sadness and delight, loss and wonder.

            Our challenge as we transition into these next several weeks is to love others without limit. Not so we can get to heaven. Not so at the last judgment we get to be sheep and not goats. We strive to love without limit because love is the essence of who we are as creatures made in the image and likeness of God. We are made for love. By the grace of God, let us be the ones who love without limit as we move through this present darkness.