Sermon: Seeing Jesus - May 7, 2006

Matthew 25:31-46

     Two weeks ago we talked about seeing sin; using as our text the story of Jesus healing a man who was born blind.  As we examined that story we saw how the religious leaders were able to see sin everywhere except in themselves; which reminds us of Jesus’ saying, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?”[i]

     Then last week we talked about seeing the weeds and the wheat; not in the fields but rather in our own lives.  We discussed that all of us are a mixture of saint and sinner, of virtue and vices.  And that Jesus taught not to be so quick at pulling up or killing the weeds, the sin and the vices, for in doing so we might also damage the wheat, the good and the virtuous.  We ended last week with a quote from Joseph Cardinal Bernardin’s The Gift of Peace, “…the good and the bad are always present in our human condition…in the hands of God, the good will prevail.”[ii]

     Today, our theme is seeing Jesus.  Our scriptural text is a familiar one, and also one that can bring us much discomfort; not only because it encourages self examination but also because it challenges the salvation formula for those of us from a traditional evangelical background.  However, I think that self-examination and challenge are healthy things.

     (Read Text)

     The Messiah King is on his throne judging all nations and peoples.  To those on his right, the sheep, he says, “Come blessed ones, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for when I was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick and in prison, you ministered to me.”  Then, the ones to whom the Messiah King is speaking say, “What do you mean?  When did we ever do these things for you?  You must have us mixed up with another group.”  The Messiah King then says, “As you ministered to the least of these around you, you ministered to me.”

     Upon welcoming the sheep into the kingdom the Messiah King says nothing about keeping commandments, nothing about worship attendance, nothing about doctrine, not even a word about them “accepting him.” These things are not on the mind of the Messiah King; however, the care and treatment of others is.

     Now for me one of the amazing things about this text is that those who the Messiah King identifies as sheep, those who have ministered to the least, do not even realize the eternal significance of their actions.  They just realize that these least are created in the image of God.  These sheep were doing to others what they probably would like done to them if they were in the same situation.  They were loving their neighbor; not knowing that at the same time they were expressing love for Jesus. 

     Unbeknownst to these sheep they have ministered to Jesus by ministering to the least. So the question becomes can we see the image of God, of Jesus, in the least around us?  Can we see Jesus in the prisoner?  Can we see Jesus in the homeless?  Can we see Jesus in those who do not play by our established rules?  Sometimes the least smell, and sometimes they are a nuisance.  They can be exhausting and demanding.    Remember, this is a challenging text that requires a truthful self examination. 

          When we fail to realize that we are all created in the image of God, and that within us is the image of Jesus, then we are prone to more readily overlook the homeless, judge the imprisoned, and exclude the socially marginalized. 

     My friends, Jesus did not teach a theology, he taught a way of life.  And the basic way he taught that way of life was by living that way of life.  Jesus saw the image of God in each and every individual.

     Seeing Jesus involves living as Jesus lived which involves seeing as Jesus saw.  So seeing Jesus means seeing and responding to the hungry, to the thirsty, to the stranger, to the naked, to the sick and to the imprisoned—to all who are needy and to all who have been marginalized by society and by religion. 

     If for some reason we are having difficulty seeing Jesus in this manner then I call on us to hear the words he speaks to those he refers to as goats, “Depart from me…for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”  But the goat people will say, “When Jesus did we ever see you in need and not minister to you? When did we ever see you, feel you, and not yell ‘praise Jesus’?  Certainly we would not have ignored you Jesus!”  He responds, “When you did not see the least among you, then you did not see me. When you ignored them, you ignored me!” 

     This is truly a challenging text that requires our honest self-evaluation.  Instead of hunting for and seeing sin and problems and fualts in others we are challenged to start hunting for and seeing Jesus in others.