St. Gregory’s Church Woodstock

Sunday, 23 November 2008, Christ the King

The Rev’d Susan Auchincloss

Matthew 25:31-46

For today’s reading go to: http://bible.oremus.org
 

            The last few weeks have highlighted a theme of judgment.  This is the last Sunday of the church year, so we are not surprised to hear once again about the Last Day, the Day of Judgment.  The reading sobers us, as it should.  Our faith would not be faithful to us if it did not warn as well as console.  This morning I want to ask: what exactly are we being warned about?  What will the Day of Judgment actually judge?  I want to lay out two misconceptions concerning judgment, and suggest a true conception in their place.

            To get at the first misconception concerning judgment, we might imagine ourselves back in our elementary school classroom.  Unless we were in an unusual school, our class worked on the principle of competition.  Who had the correct answer?  Who got her or his hand up first?  Whoever it was got rewarded by the teacher’s praise and by their peer’s envy.  The system puts immense value on knowing the right answers.  It also shapes us into answer-driven people.  This is not bad.  For many important things in life we really do want the person with the right answers –  the safety inspector of the nuclear power plant, for instance.  Run all the competitions you like for that position!  But when it comes to the spiritual life, right answers are beside the point; in fact they can be a hindrance.  You could say that right answers make a wrong life.

            The issue is focus.  Do we focus on thinking about religion or practicing religion.  Many of us Christians try to think our way to God.  We could as well build a ladder to the moon.  Yet even though we may sense the futility of it, we cannot stop.  That ‘right-answer’ habit of mind holds us in its grip.  So, for instance, we cannot let rest such questions as these:  What is the proper place for women in the church?  Should they be ordained?  Ordained as bishops?  What about abortion?  Should it be illegal?  Or euthanasia?  Should gay marriage be permitted?  What about predestination?  Are people foreordained to be saved or damned?  Can war be justified?  Will only Christians be saved?  Do animals have souls?  When the Day of Judgment comes – though we may not put it to ourselves quite this way – at some level we expect to be put to the test; and we want, not only to be the first to raise our hands, but we want to have the right answer to these questions.  What else could account for the way we put ‘knowing the answers’ at the forefront of our faith?

            Shall we say, then, that it is a waste of time to ponder such questions as those I just listed?  Not at all!  God’s will extends to a healthy, wholesome society, a society that holds open the possibility of fulfillment for every member.  How we answer these questions has a shaping effect on society, toward or away from God’s will.  It matters that we discern which questions are based on sheer, blind prejudice and which truly affect our communal soul; it matters that we discern where wisdom lies when we enact – or choose not to enact – policies.  But how we answer these questions is irrelevant when it comes to judgment.

            Another misconception sees Judgment Day quite differently.  It will not be like a classroom.  It will not even be like a court of law.  In fact, there will be no judge.  The Day of Judgment will look more like. . . well, did you ever play pirates as a child?  My friends and I spent hours running around with wooden swords in our belts, and creating treasure maps.  We drew them with lemon juice on white paper, so if the map should happen to be found, it would look like blank paper.  Only fellow pirates knew about holding the paper near a flame.  To find the treasure you had to heat the paper until the lemon juice turned brown; then you could read it easily.  We human beings are like that paper.  Hold us near the flame of Christ and the map of our hearts shows up plainly.

            The day of judgment is the day our maps are read, so to speak.  What will turn up inside my treasure chest?  It will be one of two things.  Either it ME or WE.  Am I my life’s treasure?  Is it all about me?  Sitting here this morning that may not sound like hell, but try an experiment.  Try sitting with yourself for a few hours without distractions of any kind.  Stare at a blank wall if you like.  After a while you get bored.  If you try to stick it out you have to invent mental games or tell yourself stories or plan for the future.  In time even these get boring.  You begin to feel a bit desperate.  Finally, when we can once again immerse ourselves in the distractions of being busy and social, the relief is overwhelming.  According to this view, the Day of Judgment is the day distractions end.  I have to face my treasure in all its starkness.  If that treasure is ME, then in terms of today’s Gospel it means that I will be lead off to the left hand side with the goats.  Note that no teacher was involved, no judge, no outside figure.  Just myself and the flame of Christ.

            If we lift the lid and do not find ME, only one other treasure is possible: WE.  Suppose I try that same experiment, sitting with myself for a few hours without distractions.  It may not sound all that thrilling, but increasingly I become aware that I am not alone.  I sense a presence, the presence of Christ.  With it comes peace and mounting joy.  I sense that I am not only in the presence of Christ, but through Christ I am in the presence of all those I hold dear, living and dead.  Hours pass as if they were minutes, and when I return to the day’s distractions I do so with conscious appreciation.  If I have lived not for ME, but for WE, my map will lead me to the right hand side with the sheep.  Again, no teacher, no judge, no outside figure, just the accumulation – not of thoughts, however correct – but of selfless acts, deeds of compassion, steady concern for the good of all.  This amounts to a truer conception of the Day of Judgment – that we shall be judged by what is written on our hearts – but it has a problem.

            So far, following the lead of Jesus’ image of the goats and the sheep, we have taken an either/or approach to the Day of Judgment.  Either we are in or we are out.  Realistically, though, we know that all of our treasures are a mix of ME and WE.  If we have the courage to be honest, we admit that our selfish acts outweigh our selfless acts.  Without grace, none of us would be in.  We do have grace, however; Jesus came to tell us so and to live it out for us.  He has atoned for even our most ME-centered deeds.  You could say he has flipped over all the M’s in our ME’s to make them WE’s.  So Judgement is not about having the right answers; nor is it about what is written on our hearts.

            So does this mean we can relax and be complacent?  Do we live in a fail-safe environment, spiritually speaking?  Was Jesus just putting us on with his warning about the sheep and the goats?  By no means.  Grace is a gift.  Gifts must be accepted and actively received.  Suppose someone sent you a gift and you left it in the mailbox.  Or suppose someone sent you a gift and you said, thanks, but I don’t really need it.  To accept and receive the gift of grace we must go to that place that fear bids us avoid – our inner selves, the place of truth and renewal.  In that place we do two things, we renew our baptismal vows, and we acknowledge honestly and in detail exactly why we do need the gift of grace.  In short, we confess and we commit.  We make it a daily exercise, so that no matter how suddenly the King appears, every one of us will hear him say, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”