18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.” 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,
31 “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. 32 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, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 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; 35 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, 36 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.’ 37 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? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 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.’ 41 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; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 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.’ 44 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?’ 45 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.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
My new favorite show on Netflix is The Good Place. It is a campy, funny, satirical look at what heaven might be like from a non-religious perspective. It is a show about heaven and hell without God ever being mentioned. Ted Danson is the architect of the Good Place and
Kristen Bell is the bad person who mistakenly finds herself there. Her soulmate is a moral philosophy professor who vows to teach her how to become good. He explores Kant and Kierkegaard while facing moral questions. In one episode they consider the trolley problem where you must decide if you allow the runaway trolley to continue its course and kill 5 people or should you redirect the trolley and only kill one.
In short, would you rather sacrifice one person for the greater good or allow five people to die?
A corollary to that problem is would your decision change if you knew the one person? My millennial son loves this show and this conundrum. We watch together.
In an interview Ted Danson said, “the show is about ethics, what it means to be a good person, how your actions have consequences, and you are accountable.” He shared how he likes to give good tips, but he also likes to make sure that the barista knows he gave the big tip. According to the scale used to get into the Good Place, that is not what it is all about. His barista story reminds me of Jesus saying to pray in secret instead of the public square.
In the second season, the show tackles the problem if you know you will receive a reward for being good, like getting into the good place, then are you doing it for the right reasons? Jesus is asking a very similar question. In this parable, the Son of Man is sitting in the heavenly judgement seat separating the sheep from the goats. Jesus is confronting the actions, or lack of actions, of those around him. The turning point of this exchange is whether they saw each person they cared for as Jesus. They say, “When was it we saw YOU, you Lord, hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison.” In other words, Jesus if we had only known it was you, we would have helped. In much the same way Ted Danson wanted the barista to see that he was giving a big tip. We will help if we will receive a reward, we will give if we get something in return. That is not generosity, it is disguised selfishness. Jesus clearly states, “Whatever you do for the least of these you do for me.”
St. Francis had a come-to-Jesus-moment with one of the least of these. Born into a station of privilege enjoying parties and seeking to be a knight, he had every reason to live the easy life. But an encounter with a leper changed all of that. He was called by the Lord into service. Francis saw the face of Christ in the face of a hurting leper and it changed the course of his life and ministry. He saw Christ’s suffering in the suffering of this one person and was so convicted, he opened his heart to the needs of the world.
Seeing Christ’s face in the least of these means Christ is the immigrant making her way to our southern border with a baby in her arms.
Seeing Christ’s face in the least of these means Christ is a young African American male that we incarcerate rather than educate.
Seeing Christ’s face in the least of these means Christ is the neighbor who bothers us, is a busy body, and we get to show forth kindness.
Seeing Christ’s face in the least of these means Christ is the man we smell before we see in Starbucks.
Today we are talking about Outward Incarnational Focus. And you might be saying what in the heck is that. It is one of the seven marks of a vital congregation and part of what we have been focusing on this summer. Looking at these seven marks, we seek to evaluate and strengthen our congregation for what lies ahead.
Outward Incarnational focus is when we see the face of Christ and offer sanctuary, prison ministry, care and welcome, and a drink of water or coffee.
Outward incarnational focus is when we fight for social justice and we move beyond our church walls.
Outward Incarnational Focus asks the question are we being the hands and feet of Christ in our broken and hurting world and are we seeing the face of Christ on the people we encounter? The heart of this is the incarnation, God coming and dwelling with us in the person of Jesus Christ. When thinking about the incarnation I like Max Lucado’s phrase, “God with Skin On.” Every December we welcome God with skin on, born to us in a manger. Jesus fully human and fully divine is God with skin on. Not only is Jesus God with Skin on, we are also told in the moment of his birth that Jesus’ name is Emmanuel which means “God is with us.” When we know God through Jesus, through humanity infused with the divine, it makes it easier to see the face of Christ on our brothers and sisters in pain. I don’t fully understand the incarnation but when Jesus is God with skin on, then seeing Christ’s face in our fellows gets a little more real.
The color of their skin does not matter.
The differences between us does not matter.
What matters is that God’s love is freely given to everyone. Jesus said, in verse 40, “just as you did to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” See the face of Christ in the people needing a drink, but also see your brother and your mother hungry and thirsty. God is with us when we do. Each one of us would give water to our mother, we just need to know God is with us when we give it to someone else’s mother. That is when we are showing God’s love and we are in God’s purpose as we do.
People without shelter often need food, drink, clothing and a place to rest their heads; many of the things Jesus mandated us to address.
It is why we have two women experiencing housing insecurity living on our campus. They find safety and security on our beautiful campus as we answer Jesus call to care for the least of these.
It is why we partner with 7 other churches to provide weekly showers to those seeking better hygiene.
It is why we offer food and hygiene supplies to the least of these which helps us get outside the walls of our church, meet people where they are and address their needs. We don’t do it to feel good, to get new members, or earn our way to heaven. We do it because we are serving Christ our Lord, seeing Christ’s face in their faces when we hand them a towel and offer them a hot shower.
We do it because each person is a loved child of God. We do it because it helps to remind us of God’s love when we follow Christ’s teaching.
We do it as St. Teresa of Avila said we are the hands and feet of Christ. Amen.
