20 November 2011

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Psalm 95:1-7
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46

“So which are we? Sheep or goats?” the disciples are busy asking one another upon hearing this parable. “You know, the weird thing about the sheep,” says one of them, “is that they have no idea that they have ever done anything for the king. But we, we know: we have been very, very busy feeding, healing, and caring, all in the name of Jesus.” “Yeah,” says another. “But the goats . . . they sort of sound like us. ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ We’ve been very, very busy feeding, healing, and caring, all in the name of Jesus. It’s almost as if we can’t win.” “I’ll say,” responds yet another of the disciples. “It sort of sounds like the good deeds of the sheep were invisible – even to themselves. They didn’t even know they were doing good works.” The first disciple snorts, “That’s ridiculous. How can you not know when you’re doing good? And aren’t we supposed to do good things in Jesus’ name?” “See, that’s what I mean,” says the second. “It all seems . . . so . . .  impossible.” “This stuff gives me a stomach-ache,” the third disciple chimes in. “It would be easier to just be an atheist and do good deeds merely for the sake of the neighbor and leave it at that – forget about religion, forget about ideology, forget about what we even think makes God happy.” The other two look at each other glumly, and so they discuss until they all have severe headaches from trying to figure out if they’ve been acting like sheep or goats and how it is they’re ever going to get it right. They want to be sheep, doing good unawares, but they’re just savvy enough to know that then in reality they’d be doing good works so that they could sit at the king’s right hand. And when they do that, they become like the goats – doing good to receive a reward. Finally the first disciple, displaying his usual bull-headed bravado, puffs out his chest and proclaims, “I don’t care. I’m just going to follow Jesus no matter what!” And not wanting to be outdone, the other two sheep-wanna-be-s nod their heads vigorously, “Me too!” and “Same for me. To the very end! We’re gonna do whatever we have to be the sheep!!”

But once again, there’s more to the story. Flip the page, and in the very next chapter, Jesus has something to say to these three and all the rest of those who have been busy wrapping themselves in sheep’s clothing: “You will all become deserters because of me this night.” But the first disciple, Peter, as he is known, once more steps to the fore: “Not me!! Even if all the rest become deserters, I will never desert you.” Jesus, in response says, “Oh Peter. Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter says to him, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And so say all the disciples.

But you know where these promises go. All those who so fiercely wanted to do whatever they had to in order that they could be the sheep who would be seated at the right hand of Christ the King . . . in the end not only would they prove incapable of doing good to the neighbor just for the sake of the neighbor and not to do it to show they were followers of Jesus – well, they discovered they couldn’t, by their own reason or strength, do anything but deny and desert Jesus. All of them. No exceptions. Goats. Miserable, miserable goats. At best.

Still, not even this is the last word. God gives the last word to that one-time murderer and persecutor of the disciples, Paul of Tarsus. We have already heard him sing the praises of Christ, “raised from the dead and seated with God at God’s right hand in the heavenly places, far above anything of which we can conceive, above all rules and all the authoritative philosophers, above all ideologies, above all power politics, above all that rules supreme on earth – not only in this age but also in the age to come.” And Paul goes on in the next chapter: “Listen, as far as the sheep and goats thing – we’re all dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.” B-u-u-u-u-t-t-t-t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and this is the most insulting thing of all to those of us who think we’ve got it all together, got it all figured out; who think we are such hot stuff, examples that others should follow, superior to other communities, sheeply in oh-so-many ways: “But God who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which God loves us even when we were dead goats, God made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” AHA!! Seated in the place promised the sheep – and all in spite of ourselves. And just in case we think this is because we’ve at least tried to be obedient, tried to cooperate with grace, Paul, uncooperativus maximus, drives it home: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and None! Of! This!! – not even your faith – is of your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”

“But what about the sheep and the goats?” discerning disciples everywhere want to know. The answer: “Forget about it. We all flunked. But look! The old calculus has been made null and void.”  And Paul continues singing: “For Christ is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall . . . He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, reconciling both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death this whole thing about ‘Am I sheep or am I a goat?’” Neither!! Instead, “[Y]ou are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.” You are raised up with Christ and your lives are already hidden in Christ Jesus, and you are seated with God in the heavenly places. Already! And in the end that will be your only reality, and all will be well. Exceedingly, exceedingly well.