BLANKETS OF LOVE (05/18/14) Scripture Lesson: Matthew 25: I was naked, and you gave me clothing. (Mt. 25:36)

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1 Scripture Lesson: Matthew 25:31-46 BLANKETS OF LOVE (05/18/14) I was naked, and you gave me clothing. (Mt. 25:36) Last week in the course of reflecting on one of the disciples post-resurrection experiences, we noted that Jesus did not simply show himself to his disciples as proof that he had risen from the dead. He did this, to be sure. He showed himself to Mary by the side of the tomb, the disciples in the upper room, two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and the disciples who were fishing on the Sea of Tiberius. As we saw in Jesus exchange with Peter, these encounters were more than a revelation. They were a call to action. The disciples were called, were commissioned to preach and teach the kingdom of God, and to carry on their Lord s healing ministry. As twenty-first century disciples and apostles, Jesus calls us to tend his lambs, to feed his sheep. We need to discover what this call means to us as individuals and as a church. Our scripture lesson this morning and our mission outreach this month, Church World Service Blankets +, point us in the right direction. The scripture lesson is a teaching about the Great Judgment. It tells us what will happen when we are called to account for what we have done with our life. This judgment may come to us after we die. It may come to all humanity at the end of time. It may also come to us while we are alive. If it comes while we are still alive, it affords us the opportunity to reflect on our life through the lens that Jesus provides. Jesus tells us that when the Christ comes in all his glory, he will separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep go to the right, into the kingdom of heaven; the goats go to the left, into eternal punishment. On what basis is this judgment to be made? Note that it is not made on the matter of belief, e.g., the belief that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, and that he died to save us from our sins. This may very well be true, but this is not how people are judged. They are judged on the basis of the way they lived their lives. And, in a very deep way, as we mentioned last week, they are judged on the basis of their relationship with Jesus. We know that our relationship with other people should be grounded in a spirit of compassion. We actually don t need Jesus to tell us this. This teaching not only appears 1

2 throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, it is a central teaching of every single world religion. It even goes back to the time before there were organized religions. Evolutionary psychologists tell us that the members of hunting and gathering tribes that lived ,000 years ago when our present genetic code was set, were communal people. They lived in extended families. They shared with each other. They had a strong social bond. They knew that the tribe, their community, survived only through cooperation. The men hunted to provide food not only for their families, but also for the weak, the sick, and the elderly. The women fashioned clothes from animal skins not only for their children, but also for anyone who was cold. People in archaic times knew that we are all in this together. We are all family. We are all part of community. This insight from modern anthropology should not strike us as surprising. The deepest truths about human nature are also truths of our religion. The social isolation, the greed, the mean-spirited social and economic Darwinism that forms the credo for some political groups in our time is not healthy for our society. When we lose a sense of cooperation as well as competition with our fellow human beings, when we lose a sense of deep connectedness as well as a sense of our individuality, when we lose that sense of compassion that leads us to reach out to others, we sever our fundamental relationship with life. An example of this point is articulated in Stephen Covey s book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. One particular vignette speaks to our mission outreach this month: providing blankets for people in need throughout the world. As Stephen Covey tells the story: I remember an evening I spent with two of my sons some years ago. It was an organized father and son outing, complete with gymnastics, wrestling matches, hot dogs, orangeade, and a movie the works. In the middle of the movie, Sean, who was then four years old, fell asleep in his seat. His older brother, Stephen, who was six, stayed awake, and we watched the rest of the movie together. When it was over, I picked Sean up in my arms, carried him out to the car and laid him on the back seat. It was very cold that night, so I took off my coat and gently arranged it over and around him. 2

3 When we arrived home, I carried Sean in and tucked him into bed. After Stephen put on his jammies and brushed his teeth, I lay down next to him to talk about the night out together. How d you like it, Stephen? Fine, he answered. Did you have fun? Yes. What did you like the most? I don t know. The trampoline, I guess. That was quite a thing, wasn t it doing those somersaults and tricks in the air like that. There wasn t much response on his part. I found myself making conversation. I wondered why Stephen wouldn t open up more. He usually did when exciting things happened. I was a little disappointed. I sensed something was wrong; he had been so quiet on the way home and getting ready for bed. Suddenly Stephen turned over on his side, facing the wall. I wondered why and lifted myself up just enough to see his eyes welling up with tears. What s wrong, honey? What is it? He turned back, and I could sense he was feeling some embarrassment for the tears and his quivering lips and chin. Daddy, if I were cold, would you put your coat around me, too? Church World Service provides blankets to those in need. There s something very meaningful about a blanket. A blanket is a simple solution to an obvious need. Our giving becomes tangible at least in our imagination. We are not throwing money at a problem. We are giving through an organization that is so efficiently run that ninety percent of the funds donated end up with those in need. Being a Christian has to do with our relationship with God. It has to do with our relationship with Jesus. But it is also a stance toward life. A certain kind of life should flow from our relationship with Jesus. St. Augustine once said, Be a Christian and do whatever you want. This saying might sound like a prescription for freedom, but it isn t. The catch is, if you re really a Christian you have taken on the heart of Jesus. You will see the world the way Jesus sees it. You will see other people the way Jesus sees them. This perspective will inevitably shape your response. It means that it should bother you when people go to bed hungry or cold. 3

4 There are three types of disasters in the world. One of these is natural. Our heart goes out to those who are devastated by earthquake or hurricane. We know we are all vulnerable to the forces of nature. We are like little Stephen in the vignette. We hope that if something happens to us or to those we love, someone will care enough to throw a blanket over our shoulders. The second type of disaster is beyond the control of those who are hurt, though the disaster was caused by human beings. We have to respond to these disasters as well. Our heart goes out to all those whose lives have been devastated by war, who die of preventable diseases, or who go to bed hungry. We have to find a solution to these problems, but meanwhile we have to help those who are suffering. Deep down we know that we, too, are vulnerable. We are like little Stephen. We hope that if something happens to us or to those we love, someone will care enough to throw a blanket over our shoulders. The third type of disaster is the most troubling, at least to me. These people are hurting at least partially because of their own actions, their own decisions. Some people seem to choose a self-destructive life style. Should we let the homeless person freeze to death on the assumption that his alcoholism is the result of unenlightened choices? What rehabilitative resources should we provide for the person who is imprisoned for breaking the laws of our society and hurting innocent people? I believe that people need to suffer the consequences of their behavior. I don t want to give my hard-earned money so that people can go through their lives without working. I must confess that at times I feel a hardness, a coldness come over me when I consider my individual and our collective response to the social problems of our time. The troubling part is that, as a Christian, I also need to see these individuals through the eyes of Jesus. I can only maintain the coldness and hardness by distancing myself from my religious faith. When I remember that I am a Christian, I am caught in a difficult bind. At the very least I find I have to hold a tension between the two outlooks, to avoid the simple solutions of either side. In response to my tendency to write off those people who are suffering from the consequences of their own behavior, a little voice inside me asks, Is there no forgiveness for those who make mistakes? Do you want to live in a world where there is no 4

5 compassion for people who have done stupid things? The voice asks, Have you ever done anything stupid in your life, anything you later regretted? Did someone come up and throw a blanket over your shoulders? You see, we are all like little Stephen in the vignette. At some time in our life we are in need of the warmth and comfort of a blanket of love. We live in troubling times. The social problems that confront us are staggering and complex. We can t afford to be naïve about the complexities of these problems and the difficulty of finding solutions. And yet, is there no room for a simple act of compassion? Jesus told us to take the risk, to go the second mile, to share what we have with those in need. He calls us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit those who are in prison. He calls us to forgive those who have hurt us and have compassion foer those who have hurt themselves. The blankets that are purchased from our gifts to Church World Service this month will be distributed to people who are in need, in need of warmth from these blankets and in need of the warmth that comes from realizing that someone, somewhere else in the world, really cares. We give knowing that, even though right now we are more like the older son in the vignette, the time may come when we, too, are vulnerable. If we create a spirit of sharing, caring, forgiveness, and love in our human community, we may be able to trust that when we fall asleep, in the words of the psalm, our heavenly Father will cover us with his everlasting wings. We know we should do this for our brothers and sisters. Evolutionary anthropologists tell us that it is in our genes to do so. But there is an additional reason. In our scripture reading this morning, Jesus presents a profoundly Buddhist perspective, the deep awareness of the interconnectedness, the interrelatedness of all things. He makes us aware that what we do to our brothers and sisters we also do to ourselves, for our brothers and sisters are a part of us. He also tells us that what we do to our brothers and sisters we do to him. This is because at the bottom level of our interconnectedness, our interrelatedness with all people, all animals, and all of nature, is that mysterious spiritual presence we call God. 5

6 So, ultimately, it really is all about relationship. If we can grasp this, it will change the way we see the world and also how we respond to it. Then we will truly be in the kingdom of heaven. A sermon preached by the Reverend Paul D. Sanderson The First Community Church of Southborough May 18,