November 22, 2020
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois
Ephesians 1:15-23; Matthew25:31-46[1]
Many years ago, I led a work
trip with the youth group of the First Congregational Church of Western Springs.
This trip took us to Atlanta, Georgia. We did a lot of things in Atlanta. We
served food in a soup kitchen and sorted food at the food bank. We re-surfaced
trails in a forest preserve and worked in a community garden. We even spent a
morning at a residence for senior citizens.
The reason we went was to make a
difference. How much difference can a bunch of high school kids make in a big
city? More than you might think. More, even, that the agencies we worked with
expected, since they ran out of work for us to do! We went for other reasons of
course. We went to build fellowship in our own group. We went because it’s fun.
And we went because we were called by God.
Now, God doesn’t speak to us in
thunder from the clouds and say, “Go to Atlanta with some teenagers and help
out at the food bank.” Being called by God is never that straightforward.
Discerning what God wants from us, what God wants us to do and be in the world,
is the work of a lifetime. It may come in a flash of insight. It may come when
you’re pondering what to do with a bunch of kids with too much energy and not
enough to do. Often, it comes through listening to the needs of the world,
knowing that God loves the world, and saying, “I’ll go. Send me.”
In this passage from Matthew, Jesus
gives us some specific things we can do to meet the needs of the world. You,
yes you, give food to the hungry, bring healing to the sick, give drink to the
thirsty. The least of my people need your help. By helping them, you help me.
And there’s more.
Jesus suggests that those who do
all these things will be blessed, but as the list of tasks is recited there is
something left out. A mission leader in the Reformed Church of America named
Noel Becchetti wrote about what is missing from this passage:
Do you notice what he leaves out in his charge to feed the hungry, clothe
the naked, and minister to the sick? He says nothing about what results are
supposed to be achieved through these actions. There's no talk about ending
hunger, defeating poverty, or seeing the prisoner go straight. He says simply
to Do It, because when we do, we're somehow ministering directly to Our Lord.[2]
He goes on to say:
Jesus gives us the freedom to go into our mission and service trips with
the goal of just plain ministering. We don't have to achieve certain
"results" to justify our investment. Frankly, we might not recognize
some of God's divine results when we see them! But as we can remove our
cultural blinders, discard the limitations we place on God's definition of ministry,
and "leave the driving" to Him, we can begin to understand what it
means to be Jesus' hands and feet to a hurting world.
When we work in the service of
others, we know that the work we will be doing is not likely to bring an end to
poverty. The youth group from Western Springs didn’t end hunger and
homelessness in Atlanta. Even with all of the energy, commitment, and love we
shared, there are still hungry people.
Susan and I helped give out
boxes of food to hungry families on Wednesday over at the Lutheran church. But
those families will probably go hungry again in the future. We did our best,
but we didn’t fix their problems.
But that is not really the point
of us doing the work. For us, the point of going out to a work project is that
we get to touch people’s lives. We get to serve, to minister to and with people
who are similar to - or very different from - us. We get to touch with the
hands of God. We get to be touched by the hands of God. We get to see how God
is working in the world, everywhere we go, and we get to leave behind a little
bit of God’s love when we return.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta once talked
about our role, our task in the world, as if we were electronic instruments.
There are all these parts inside: wires, plastic, resistors, transistors,
diodes. But they don’t do anything until the current is connected. She said:
Each one of us is merely a small instrument… Until the current passes
through them there will be no light. That wire is you and me. The current is
God. We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us, produce the
light of the world. Or we can refuse to be used and allow darkness to spread.[3]
There is a part of the scripture
passage that I don’t like. The part about the ones who have not done anything
for the least of these bothers me. I don’t think threats of punishment are the
best way to motivate people. When I do a good deed, it’s because I genuinely
care, not because I’m afraid that if I don’t God will be angry with me. As a
leader, I want to inspire your empathy, not your desire to look good in front
of others. Also, I don’t believe in eternal punishment, at least not as it is
described here. The God of love, forgiveness, and grace just doesn’t mesh with
the God of eternal fire.
So, I choose to focus on the blessing,
the gift that we have been given to be the hands of God, the chance to go out
there and make a difference because we really care. As Mother Teresa said: “May
we never forget that in the service to the poor we are offered a magnificent
opportunity to do something beautiful for God. In fact, when we give ourselves
with all our hearts to the poor, it is Christ whom we are serving in their
disfigured faces. For He Himself said, ‘You did it for me.’”[4]
We can make a difference. All of
us can. You don’t have to be in a youth group, or go to Atlanta. The youngest
of us and the oldest of us can make a difference, right here and wherever we go.
Finally, I turn once more to the
words of Mother Teresa: “Miss no single opportunity of making some small
sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the
smallest right and doing it all for love.”[5] Amen.
[1] The
scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2]
Noel Becchetti, Former President, Center for Student Missions, article online: http://inspirationsmv.com/why-short-term-fixes-are-a-waste-of-time/
retrieved 11/18/2020.
[3]
Mother Teresa, No Greater Love, Becky
Benenate and Joseph Durepos editors (Novato, CA: New World Library, 1997),
67-68.
[4]
Teresa, 73.
[5]
Saint Therese of Lisieux, in Teresa, 75.
