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November 20, 2005
You Can See a Lot Just
by Looking
Matthew 25:31-46
"You can see a lot just by looking." I've always been enchanted by Yogi Berra's take on things and his ways of saying what's on his mind. But, poor Yogi. You'd think he'd know better. Imagine how much better he'd done if he'd known how to speak proper English! Well, of course, you can see a lot just by looking. So obvious. Everyone knows that. But, then we only see what we're looking at, don't we? And then some of us have vision problems. Some of us have to get special glasses to correct our vision. Did Jesus wear glasses?
When Jesus tells of the great king looking out over the nations, he sees sheep and goats. Poor Jesus. Doesn't he know better? We want a uniter, not a divider. Doesn't he know what we modern people have so recently been able to see so clearly? That sheep aren't better than goats. They're just different!
Doesn't he know that those who feed hungry people aren't better than those who don't, they're just different?
Doesn't he know that those who give thirsty people something to drink aren't better than those who don't, they're just different?
Doesn't he know that those who welcome strangers aren't better than those who shy away from them, that they're just different?
Doesn't Jesus know that those who put clothes on other people's backs aren't better than those who don't, they're just different?
Doesn't Jesus know that those who visit those who are sick and prisoners in jail are not better than those who don't, they're just different?
Yes, and how very different they are!
Were there really no difference, then what's to be said of those who not only do not feed the hungry, who do not quench the thirst of the thirsty, who do not welcome strangers, who do not clothe the naked, who do not visit sick people and those in jail, but who mock and condemn them? They're just lazy! They need to get a job! They squander what they're given! A bunch of welfare cheats! Those who mock and add insult to injury—are they really no worse than those who don't do anything to help? Just different?
Is it true that the main difference between the rich and the poor is that the rich have more money? When I was a younger pastor I learned from Elsa Tamez, a Mexican biblical scholar, that in scripture, poverty and oppression go hand in hand. The poor are oppressed. The oppressed are poor. I also learned that the Lord has a preference for the poor; that the Lord prefers the poor over the rich. The poor have none to look out for them but the Lord, and those whom the Lord provokes to reach out to the hungry, the thirsty, the lonely, the naked, the sick, and the prisoner.
The wisdom of our age has taught us the magic of the passive, intransitive. Mistakes were made. People are poor. People are oppressed. Is that passive? Is that intransigent? Oh, sorry, I should have said, intransitive! English majors, help me out? If it's not either, then what is it? That people are poor, that people are oppressed? Who makes the mistakes? Who does the oppressing? In Scripture, it's the rich who oppress the poor. It's the rich who take more than their share.
We like to say: Give a person a fish, and they eat today. Teach a person to fish, and they can eat every day. What's wrong with that picture? Doesn't the person who knows how to fish have to have a place to fish? Doesn't a person who's been taught not to take handouts, and has learned to take a hand up, still need a place to work? Did I hear anyone say lay-offs? Or plant closings? Or corporate merger? Or billion dollar deal?
The sheep and goats are alike in at least one way: neither realized when they saw the Lord. Both ask, "When did we see you . . . ?" The difference between the sheep and the goats is that those whom the Lord calls sheep actually fed the hungry, actually slaked the thirst of the thirsty, actually welcomed strangers, actually put clothes on the backs of the naked, actually visited prisoners in jail. The sheep Jesus has in mind look out and see people who have the greatest need and the least likelihood of having those needs addressed and try to make it right. The goats are, at best, oblivious; at worst, willfully blind.
Poor Jesus, in the story he tells, it's the great king who decides who are the sheep and the goats. Doesn't he know any better? We've learned to figure that out for ourselves. We know, don't we who are the sheep and who are the goats? We could teach him a thing or two! The sheep are, of course, the ones who feel so much better about themselves because they know they've feed the hungry, and so on. And the goats are the ones they make feel guilty.
Maybe the Lord's on to something. The Lord sees people who did what needed to be done. I've always like Garrison Keillor's "commercials" on "A Prairie Home Companion," especially the one for Powder Milk Biscuits. The ingredients for Powder Milk Biscuits are not only raised by Norwegian bachelor farmers, so we know they're pure mostly; they give shy people the strength to get up and do what needs to be done. Somehow, I've come to connect that with communion. You know, the bread, the body of Christ, for people who hunger after righteousness. The cup of salvation, for people who thirst after righteousness.
So when we're finished, we trust the Lord that we'll have the vision to see what needs to be done and the strength to get out there and do what needs to be done. We come here to be made different so we can go out there and make a difference. You really can see a lot just by looking.
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First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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