Sharing Twinkies and Root Beer with God in the Park Matthew 25:31-46 Scott Huie Johns Creek Presbyterian Church July 12 th 2015

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1 Sharing Twinkies and Root Beer with God in the Park Matthew 25:31-46 Scott Huie Johns Creek Presbyterian Church July 12 th 2015 What if God were one of us? It s an intriguing, perhaps scary, perhaps exciting proposition. Once upon a time, a little boy wanted to meet God. Not knowing where God lived, the boy packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and started out on his journey. When he had gone a few blocks, he met an old woman who was sitting in the park staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Once again, she smiled at him. The boy was delighted. Together, they sat all afternoon eating, drinking, and smiling. As it grew dark, the boy realized it was time to go home, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, What did you do today that made you so happy? He replied, I had lunch with God. But before his mother could respond, he added, You know what? She s got the most beautiful smile I ve ever seen. Meanwhile the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and asked, Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy? She replied, I had Twinkies and root beer in the park with God, and you know, he s much younger than I expected. What if God were one of us? Or as pop singer Joan Osborne takes one step further in her hit song, What If God were one of us, a slob like one of us? Look around right now. Could God be among us slobs here today? Our scripture reading this morning suggests that as we treat others, it is as if we are treating God himself. Jesus gets even more specific than just how we treat others. He says how we treat the least of these those ignored and overlooked is how we treat God. How do we measure up to this standard? With this teaching, according to Matthew, Jesus concludes his public instruction. This is the last thing Jesus has to say before being taken away to be tried and soon

2 killed. It s his last sermon before the disciples. Well if Jesus is saving the best for last, then perhaps this is the lesson he really wants people to remember. This story is not a parable, but an apocalyptic, prophetic vision in which the final judgment will occur. The disciples want to know: What s it going to be like at the end of the world? Jesus tells them, There will be a king up in heaven and all the people of the earth will gather around him, and this king will divide people into the sheep and the goats. If you were a disciple in those days, you understood this metaphor immediately. At night, when the shepherds came down from the hills into the valleys, they would divide the sheep for the sheep pen and the goats for the goat pen. And of course, we the Church have come to understand this king to be the king of kings, Jesus himself, known as both Son of Man and Son of God, who has been enthroned at the right hand of God. All the nations have now gathered before him for judgment. Together the people stand before Christ, the King and Judge, who knows everything that all the people from every nation have done. Sobering, isn t it? To have everything about you every action, every thought, every word, everything known by the One who is to be our judge. What do we learn from this sobering picture that Jesus gives us of the last days when judgment fall upon the nations? I want to propose three lessons that we learn here. First, the final judgment is based on one s response to human need. The test which people must pass here is not their knowledge of the Bible, their attendance at worship, or even their faith in God or in Christ. People will be judged according to whether or not they have shown an active and generous spirit of helpfulness to people in any kinds of human need. The sign of the saved is simply their love for the least. Those put on the right hand of God, the sheep, will be those who gave food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, warmth to the lonely, clothing to the naked, comfort to the sick, and friendship to the imprisoned. Those put on the left hand of God, the goats, will be those who don t necessarily do bad things, but who do nothing. They likely bear no malice towards the needy. They just simply don t see any relationship between their lives and the lives of the least of these. Notice, if you will, that the works of those on the right are really so simple. Jesus doesn t say, I was sick and you healed me. I was homeless and you built me a nice split level home. I was in prison, and you freed me. No fanfare, no hoopla, no media coverage. Just good people doing good things with a lot of love, things that matter. What I learn here is that being in relationship with God is not a matter of having faith, but of doing faith. Being in relationship with God is about being in 2

3 relationship with others. It s not about charity. It s about kinship. And those who don t do faith who don t value relationships with all will be fed like trash into a fire that never goes out. Yikes! The first lesson is, God s judgment is based on how we serve others. The second lesson is, both those at the right and those at the left are surprised that they have served Christ or failed to serve Christ. Notice in the story how both groups were baffled by the verdict they had received. Both the goats and the sheep asked, When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn t help? The sheep didn t know what they had done right, and the goats didn t know what they had done wrong. God s judgment, it seems, will take us all by surprise, sheep and goats alike. In my mind, it makes me realize that the first and foremost question of my life is not, How can I be saved? The first and foremost question is, How can I glorify God? You see, How can I be saved? is a me-centered, selfish question. How can I glorify God? however, turns the focus outward. If our sole concern is our salvation, we then tend to do things in order that we might find God s favor. I don t think it works that way. Those who simply want to glorify God do things just because God s love has inspired them. We don t go and serve the homeless as we do each month at First Presbyterian Church, as some did this morning, in order to rack up points for Beta Club. We do so simply because of our love for the least of these. We don t volunteer to help with the Atlanta Community Food Bank as we did yesterday because it makes us feel good. We help because it is simply a natural expression of who we are. And when we simply seek to glorify God, the great irony is salvation becomes a wonderful surprise. First lesson: our judgment is based upon how we serve the needy. Second lesson: we may be surprised who s a goat and who s a sheep. Finally, the vision teaches us that service to another is service to Christ himself. Jesus has made the point before really many times. But here the point is dramatized and raised to ultimate importance. You cannot separate our relationship with others from our relationship with God. You just can t. In response to Jesus words, Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to the one of the least of these, you did it not to me, Social activist Ron Sider has this to say: What does that mean in a world where millions die each year while rich Christians live in affluence? What does it mean to see the Lord of the universe lying by the roadside and walk by on the other side? We cannot know. We can only pledge, in fear and trembling, not to kill him again. 3

4 4 Presbyterian minister and founder of the Open Door, Ed Loring, put it this way: Really there is no reason for hunger in America; we have plenty of food. There is no reason for poverty in America; we have plenty of money. There is no reason for homelessness in America; we have plenty of houses, apartments, and rooms. There is no reason for inadequate health care in America; we have the doctors, the medicines, the hospitals. There is no reason for not having joy in our midst; we have great art, music, food, recreation. We can eradicate the evil of poverty from our land. We have the resources. Will we, the people of faith, fulfill our mandate to pursue justice in the world? Something for us to think about. Maybe our response to all this is, we ll always have the poor Jesus said it! And chances are, if Jesus said it, it s true. Nevertheless, as true as it may be, we are called not to rationalize and not to excuse our propensity to ignore the least of these. We are called not to shout out to them, Why don t you get a job? We are called to help, plain and simple. I am excited to be a part of a church that offers opportunities to serve those who are ignored or overlooked in our society. Every month on the second Sunday we feed the homeless breakfast at First Presbyterian. Often we pack food and supplies for food pantries throughout Georgia at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Every year, we have at least one and sometimes two mission trips that people can go on, last month it was Jamaica and beginning next week, it will be the Dominican Republic. I could go on. Opportunities abound through this church and elsewhere, and each time every one of you is invited to join us in our work. Of all the teachings of Christ, this one, I find, so penetrating. Sometimes I wish he hadn t said what he said. I wish that he said that sign of the saved was the number of sermons they ve preached. I ve preached quite a few. I wish that he said that sign of the saved was the number of church lock-ins they ve attended. I ve done my share. I wish he had said the sign of the saved was how many hours they ve been in God s house. I can check that one off too. But he didn t. He just said, Whenever you did this to the least of these that was me you did it to me. I love how author Max Lucado puts it when he says, (Jesus ) words remind me that the person who sees Christ is the one who sees the hurting person. To see Jesus, go to the convalescent home, sit down beside the elderly woman, and steady her hand as she puts the spoon in her mouth. To see Jesus, go to the community hospital and ask the nurse to take you to see the one who has received no visits. To see Jesus, leave your office and go down the hall and talk to the man who is regretting his divorce and missing his children. To see Jesus, go to the inner city and give a sandwich not a

5 sermon, but a sandwich to the bag lady who s made a home out of an overpass. To see Jesus, we go and help the needy. There is, however a real danger of this text. We read a story like this, and then we seek out at least one hungry person, one thirsty one, one stranger, one naked person, one sick person, one prisoner so that we can supply, in order, food, drink, a warm welcome, some clothes, a hospital visit, and a prison visit in order to satisfy all the requirements of joining the sheep and not the goats. The danger is we turn the gospel into law and abandon grace. The danger is we turn others into objects to be exploited. We serve them only because Christ is in them. Martin Luther says, If you are a good (person), you ll do good works.not to prove anything, not to gain anything just because that is how you are, in your heart! I love the story of Francis of Assisi, who early in his life appeared very confident of himself to others, but underneath it all, he felt very empty. As he was riding along on his horse one day, he stopped, and there was a beggar at his feet. Francis looked down at the beggar and the beggar had leprosy. His body was filled with open sores and wounds. Francis looked down, got off his horse, bent over, and picked up the man and looked into his face. He then did something unusual, something that truly changed his life. He put his arms around the beggar, and his face against the open wounds, and hugged the man. Francis then continued on his journey. After a few steps he turned to look again at the leper, but no one was there. For the rest of his life, he believed the leper was Jesus Christ. He may have been right, for Jesus, my friends, lives in the forgotten. He has taken up residence in the ignored and overlooked. This story of the one who went on to become Saint Francis is an invitation to us to reach out and embrace those who are hurting in the world. It begins at home, in those unconscious acts of generosity to your husband, your wife, your family. But then the love spreads to your neighborhood maybe to the friend down the street who had a stroke, or the neighbor who is going through a divorce. And finally the love is spread to the world. We reach out to our hurting brothers and sisters in every nook and cranny of this earth, in places like Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, and even Russia where we are sending two of our college students next month. We reach out because we are all part of God s family. We reach out because God in Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection has claimed us as his own. We reached out because God has given us sustenance, not just root beer and Twinkies, but most importantly bread and juice at this Table. Body broken for you. Blood shed for you. Thanks be to God. Amen. 5