A,
Christ the King Sunday Goats
V Sheep: Revealing the Shepherd
Sunday, November
20, 2011 The
Rev. Blake Hutson
7:45 Rite I
& 11:15 Rite II Service
Matthew 25:
31-46
Prayer: Lord to
see you is the end and the beginning.
You carry us and you go before us.
You are the journey and the journey’s end. Amen.
When we lived in
Small town county
fairs have all sorts of foods to try: funnel cakes, fried corn, fried Oreos, fried
snickers and apparently we’ve heard there is a new addition: fried butter. The
atmosphere is unique and charming with Square dancing, bluegrass music, talent
shows and reenactments. However, the Livestock Competition can make any
suburbanite feel like they have really taken an adventure. Following the unique
smells of the livestock, you have to watch your step as you walk through the
fairgrounds looking at goats, pigs, cattle, and horses… all about to be shown in
the livestock competition.
From a
suburbanites perspective, seeing and smelling the animals is a little different
than watching them on a flat screen television on cable TV. A few years ago, we
were walking through the livestock area, wearing our khaki pants and polo
shirts. We approached the goat pens. A farmer in overalls, wearing work boots and
a cap stood proudly by his goats waiting to send them into the arena. Christina’s father wanted to be friendly to
the farmer and spoke up and said, “Wow…look
at those … sheep.” The farmers look said it all. He glared at my father-in-law. In his overalls with tobacco in his mouth, he
spat on the ground in front of him…and said …“Them ain’t sheep, them are goats!” Our family was a bit
embarrassed. This was a lesson for us
suburbanites on our small town excursion. The farmer didn’t appreciate the comment and
the fact that our family couldn’t tell the difference between sheep and his
‘award winning’ goats.
I looked up some
information that might prove helpful in case you and I ever attend another
livestock competition at a county fair.
For a typical person, who hasn’t been to a petting zoo in awhile, there
are subtle differences in appearance and personality that distinguish goats
from sheep.
Apparently a
goat’s tail stands up while a sheep’s tail points down. A goat has hair; sheep
have fleece. Goats have beards and horns that go straight back from their
heads, while sheep have manes and horns that curl next to their heads.
There are also
differences in what the two animals eat.
They consume very different things--goats have a reputation for eating
almost anything. A goat keeps his head up while feeding on leaves, shrubs,
twigs and vines. A sheep on the other hand, will keep his head down, grazing on
green grass and clover.
Personality
wise: Goats are curious by nature. They
are independent. Goats and sheep can live together in the same pasture, but a
goat’s personality can easily dominate the sheep. Sheep prefer to stay in a flock. They become
very distressed if they are separated from the rest of their flock. Sheep
depend on a shepherd for protection and to point them in the right direction
and keep them safe.
In this
morning’s Gospel, Jesus talks about these two animals. His first century audience would have been
very familiar with them. In the text,
Jesus used imagery that his listeners would have understood. Jesus talks about separating people, by their
actions, like sheep can be separated from goats.
Rather than the
‘meek and mild’, the ‘gentle Jesus,’ we think about at Christmas; today is
Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of this liturgical year. In this scripture, Jesus
is pictured as a rather fearsome King. All the nations of the world have
gathered before him and behold his majesty.
From the throne, the king uses his authority to separate the people
before him. To illustrate the separation of one individual from another, Jesus
likens himself to a shepherd who separates his flock of sheep from his flock of
goats, all grazing in the same pasture.
The righteous,
sheep are sent to the right: they depend on their flock, depend on their
shepherd and care for one another. While
the goats, the unrighteous, are independent and stubborn. They fail to see the needs of others, or at
least fail to meet them. They are sent
to the left (vs. 33).
As the scene
unfolds, what becomes clear is that, as they are separated, both groups are
surprised. Neither group understands
that Jesus identifies himself with the marginalized, the needy, and those that
we all too often overlook. The righteous
performed their deeds with no idea they were serving Jesus. Jesus says that
whenever they gave food to the hungry, welcomed a stranger, clothed the naked,
or visited the sick or imprisoned, they acted in kindness toward Jesus himself
(vs. 40).
On the other hand, the unrighteous have ignored the needs around them. By not feeding the hungry, welcoming the
stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick or those in prison, they have
ignored Jesus himself. Jesus says,
‘truly I tell you just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you
did not do it for me’ (vs. 45).
One of the
implications of this text is that the righteous have followed the example of
their Shepherd. Their deeds are acts of mercy.
The righteous display who the King is in their lives. They display who the King is in their lives
by serving, caring and doing what Jesus did.
In contrast, the
unrighteous haven’t followed Jesus’ example.
In fact, they have acted as though they have never seen the Shepherd.
They haven’t walked in his footsteps nor done the work the Shepherd has called
them to do (vss. 45-51). Their actions haven’t pointed to or revealed the
King on the throne. (C. Works, 2011)
This is a scene
of Judgment and the people are separated into one of two categories-the
righteous and the unrighteous. The
unrighteous are sent away to eternal punishment, and the righteous to a place
of blessing and eternal life.
This text leaves
us wondering: in which category would we find ourselves? Would we be on the
left or the right? Have we seen Jesus in
places we’ve not expected? Do our
actions reveal the Shepherd in our lives?
One of the
unusual things about this passage is it’s the only place in the four gospels
where, if taken literally, Jesus teaches works based salvation—the idea that we
are saved by what we do. The righteous
sheep have done a list of things while the unrighteous goats have failed to do
those same things. They are blessed or
punished accordingly.
It is important
for us to consider whether or not our actions line up with our faith. Do we live what we profess? But I am not sure this passage is meant for
us to take literally—that we’re all either
goats or sheep. See, I think there is a bit of both in all
of us. This passage reminds us that there are those times in life when we
follow the example of the Shepherd; our actions clearly reveal our faith and
reveal who we follow. God is pleased and
blesses us. And there are other
times…times when we are not at our best; seasons of life when we ignore the
Shepherd and our actions don’t reveal him in our lives.
The Confession
we offer every Sunday are for those times we’ve been headstrong and
independent. We say the confession
because from time to time, we’ve ignored the Shepherd. Listen to the Confession in light of this
Gospel passage: “Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word and deed, by what we’ve done, and by what we’ve left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves…” We pray this prayer
because we aren’t always in the ‘righteous category’ and we know it all to
well. Our actions haven’t pointed to the
Shepherd; others haven’t seen him in us.
We know that we all stand before God and so we ask for God’s mercy.
To be sure there
will be a Day when we stand before God.
But the judgment we are all subject to doesn’t originate from on
high. This passage teaches that judgment
is spoken through the need of our neighbor. (D. Lange) How have we offered
mercy? How have we offered care and
compassion…what have we done and what have we left undone?
Sometimes we
need an opportunity to work out God’s judgment in our lives: an opportunity to
serve and to follow Jesus’ example, sometimes we need opportunities to extend
mercy. The Church is a place where we
can go and practice following the Shepherd; the Church is a place where we can
receive mercy and offer mercy to others.
When I read the
text this week, I couldn’t help but think of our community here at St.
Philips. I thought of many of you who
give your time and resources to serve our parish and extend mercy to the
greater community of Tucson. Following
the example of the Shepherd, we feed the hungry with our first Sunday food
drive and our food pantry. Many of you
work in our Casa Maria and Five Points feeding ministry. We welcome the
stranger through our Border and Immigration ministries. We tend to the sick through our Hospital
Visitors, Prayer Shawl and Lay Eucharistic Ministry.
Ministry by
definition is service. When you serve in
this place, this text reminds us that we are serving Christ himself. When we serve, others see him and glimpse the
Shepherd in our actions.
Also, this text
reminds us that Christ is not only in this community, we also find Jesus outside the community. The move outwards, beyond our walls, is a
move towards God. Jesus said: “Truly I tell you, whatever you
did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”
(vs. 40).
Each Sunday at
the Eucharist, we receive the Body of Christ and then…we are sent out…only to
discover that Jesus is waiting for us in the world. We find him in unexpected places…with those
who are in need and those who are hurting.
Places we might start are: AA Groups, Habitat for Humanity, the Tucson
Community Food Bank, TIHAN or Interfaith Community Services—all groups we
support here at St. Philip’s.
Ultimately, we find God’s mercy here in this place, and we find God’s
mercy in the very acts of mercy we extend to others (D. Lange, 2008).
When we are at a
small town county fair, it can be hard for us to tell the difference between
sheep and goats. The same can be said,
when it comes to practicing our faith, because qualities of righteousness and
unrighteousness can be found within us.
The task for us is to reveal the Shepherd; the task for us is to follow
his example and extend mercy and compassion.
When we do, we
find him; we serve him and others glimpse the Shepherd’s work in our
lives.
Amen.