When No One is Looking--November 23, 2020

When No One Is Looking--November 23, 2020

"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'." [Matthew 25:37-40]

The saints are blessedly clueless--Hallelujah!

This is one of the details I have come to treasure about the well-known parable Jesus tells which we call "The Sheep and the Goats."  It's that when Jesus highlights all the good that the "righteous" did, they didn't realize anybody was watching or do it in order to score points.  They were just doing it because that's what happens when you are captivated by the goodness of God.  They feed the hungry, they clothe the naked, the welcome the foreigner, and they care for the sick and imprisoned, not as a photo op, and not to earn a merit badge, but simply because that is what justice and righteousness look like (and, reminder here, the same word in the Greek carries both senses, "justice" and "righteousness").

In other words, they do good simply because it flows out of who they are, not because of what they can "get" for doing it if the right person notices.  The righteous have been caring for neighbors, not because they want it to be a headline in tomorrow's paper and they can get the credit, but because somehow they are most fully alive when they are showing love, justice, and goodness to any and to all--even the ones deemed "least."  And so they aren't even paying attention to who is watching or whether anyone else notices--they are blessedly clueless that it has been Jesus there all along.

This is something I think we need to let sink in for a moment here.  All this year, I hope it has been clear that we have been looking at how God brings us more fully to life--how little resurrections are happening all around us all the time in anticipation of God's work to bring all creation to new life at last.  And while our hope is for a day when all creation is made new, in the mean time, here and now, God makes us more fully alive in the ways we love others. Being fully alive is far less about having the right stuff, getting the right job, making your relationships or social life fit someone else's expectations, or looking the right way--and it has almost everything to do with how we live our lives oriented toward one another.  We are more fully ourselves, and more fully alive, when we are loving others--especially those who can't do a thing to pay us back or don't know we are doing it.  And when that happens, something wonderful and mysterious happens: we stop focusing on ourselves and almost forget ourselves.  The "righteous" in Jesus' story aren't thinking a great deal about getting the credit for what they do in life, and they aren't staging a scene so reporters will take their picture.  They are simply seeking to love--as they have been loved by God--and so they aren't nearly so worried about how their actions are viewed by anybody else.  And when you are less worried about what others think and can simply act in love, you are brought a little more authentically to life.

For too long, church folks have read this story of Jesus and made it into a list of requirements to earn your way into heaven, when instead, Jesus seems to think that people who "get" what matters to God will more and more fully do these kinds of things without a second thought of what reward they'll get or who is watching.  We'll simply love because, well, that's how we are most fully alive ourselves!  And if it turns out in glory that Jesus was present behind the scenes when you cared for a stranger, well, then hot diggity, we get to be blessedly clueless, too!

Today, let us dare to let God make us more fully alive, when we can at last get out of the way of ourselves and simply do good--that is to say, love and justice--for the folks around us.  And let's just see if we aren't more fully alive for having done it.

Go, dear ones.  Do justice and practice mercy.  Be fully alive.

Lord Jesus, make us fully alive and less worried about who is noticing as we give ourselves a way for the sake of doing justice and practicing mercy.