Try Not Getting Turned Around

 Matthew 25:31-46

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘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?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

We’ve all driven in Boston.  We know traffic signals are only timid suggestions and that turn signals are signs of weakness.  We also all know that even with a GPS you can easily get turned around and end up in the right place but on the wrong level of a stack of roads headed toward Salem when you meant to be going to the Cape!  

This parable can be like driving in Boston.  It's easy to get turned around inside of it and headed in the wrong direction if we’re not careful.  So to keep from heading off in the wrong direction NOTICE first, before anything else, that ALL the sheep and ALL the goats… all the nations… all the people... in all the world… ALL are gathered together by the Good Shepherd. NOTICE, this parable says, “You HAVE ALREADY BEEN gathered together and wrapped up eternally in God’s infinite, unconditional love!"  It does NOT say, “Do good stuff and that will make God love you.”  It does NOT say, “Do bad stuff and you’ll burn.”  

So now that we’re all starting off on the right road with this thing, let's see it is really all about. The first group of people in this parable were so enamored by this gift of love, that they just followed along with the one who first loved them.  They fed the hungry, gave the thirsty something to drink, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger and visited the prisoner. But they didn’t do all that to EARN anything.  They did all that simply because the One who loved them first was doing all those things and they just wanted to tag along! “When did we do THAT?” they all said!

In their minds, ALL they were doing was following the ONE who loved them first and loved them without condition!  They did "Jesus sorts of things" simply because those were the things the one who loved them was doing!  Again, the direction Jesus is driving this parable is really important to notice.  FIRST, Jesus loved them. THEN, they followed because they wanted to be with the One who loved them first. THEN, because they were following him they naturally fell into doing the things Jesus was doing… like feeding the hungry and healing the sick and all that.

This parable is telling us that our lives are lived out as a RESPONSE to the love we have ALL, ALREADY been given. A love given up-front by God without conditions.  God doesn’t wait for us to put a “good deed” in the vending machine and only then drop some divine love down the chute!  NO!  God scoops us all up, sheep and goats alike, and loves us beyond measure and never ever stops.    

The question for us in this parable then, is how will we RESPOND to that gift of love?  We can either believe God’s love for us and tag along with Jesus, living our lives in the footsteps of the one who did the scooping and the loving… or we can choose not to.  We can either go to the sorts of places Jesus went, hang out with the sort of people Jesus hung out with, and do the things Jesus did… or we can choose not to.   

But regardless of how anyone chooses to respond to God’s love for them, God’s love for them NEVER changes… REALLY!  Now, that doesn't mean there aren't any consequences for the response they choose.  It just means that God's love for them isn't one of them. But the simple truth is, that when you choose to live your life diving deeper and deeper every day into God’s infinite love for you, you will inevitably have a VERY different life experience than if you live your life on the run, constantly fighting off the truth of God's love for you.  

It’s sort of like a mother’s love for their toddler.  Her love for her child is solid, both when that child’s little head is nestled peacefully into her chest AND when that same toddler arches his back, screams, and kicks, and tries to throw himself out of her arms.  Mom loves him regardless, through tenderness and tantrum alike.  But one of those child’s responses to his mother’s love is gracious, peaceful, and filled with joy, while the other response, well... feels to both of them pretty much like hell.  

That’s the way God is.  We are fully loved, both when we are acting like sheep and when our goatside is showing.  Both when we’re the angelic child, nesting in to our Divine mother’s arms and when we are arching our backs like demon spawn.  Regardless, we live every moment of our lives, scooped up in God’s loving arms.  There’s simply NO question about that.  The ONLY question is the one we answer new every moment of our lives... “In this moment, knowing I’ve been scooped up in God’s infinite, unconditional, and loving embrace, how will I will I choose to respond to that love in this moment?  Will it be sheep-like or more goat-esque?”  

This is where our choice REALLY DOES make a difference.  Our choice here makes a difference in the lives of the people around us… it makes a difference in the world around us… and it makes a difference in whether each moment we live feels to us, more like eternal punishment or more like eternal life.  Amen.