Matthew 25 Redux

Breakin in Up

Matthew 25 is such a rich text, with each part so densely meaningful that usually you only hear a sermon on a piece of it at a time. It should be viewed as a Trilogy, an integrated whole.
The parables of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, the Talents and the Sheep and Goats should be taken together to be the formula for what God is looking for in the people he calls his own.
The language is clear, strong, definitive and he is not fooling around. These parables are the key to the Kingdom as it were, they are collectively the three part harmony for understanding how to get to Heaven. They are in the First Gospel, Matthews.

The first part about the Wise and Foolish Virgins talks about the "Bridegroom." First principle of getting to Heaven is faith in the Bridegroom. This Bridegroom is a clear analogy to Christ himself. The bridegroom is going to return and the wise virgins have prepared for it, because they know he is coming to let them in. So they have enough oil ready and everything they need. The foolish ones are perhaps not sure, they don't bring everything- OK, if he comes, we can always go buy oil. And they don't bring enough to last long enough. Probably because they weren't prepared to wait that long. Their patience was perhaps a bit thin. So when they figure he is really coming, OMG, they run to the store to get oil after they realize they can't beg it off their wise friends, and miss him while they are out shopping. They were at the proverbial airport when the boat came to the dock. So the lesson here: Faith that Christ is coming at the end of your time no matter how long it takes and be fully prepared for however long it takes. He is the one who lets you in or not. You ride in on his coat tails and recommendation or you don't get in. 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, NO MAN comes to the Father but through me." Note to Oprah-no you don't get to pick which way you get there, there is one way and only one way through the gate of the sheepfold. Heaven isn't like a capitalist enterprise where you get to pick how you make your fortune and apply yourself. You didn't create God in your image, it's the other way around.

The second is the parable of the talents: we read happily along and see how each invested the money given to them by the master- one got ten and invested and got ten more, one got five and invested and got five more, one got one and ....oooops....buried it. Then we are hit with a whammy that seems a little harsh. "YOU WICKED LAZY SERVANT!" and this person is cast into the netherworld where there is 'weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Wow. Just for burying the paltry little nothing that he got out of discouragement or lack of appreciation for the little he did have? Wicked and lazy servant- banished to that weeping and gnashing of teeth place.

So what is this? The full opportunity for bankers act in passage? It's a lesson on appreciating even the tiniest little that you have and putting even the tiniest little that you have to the maximum use for others- not denying you have it, not hiding it under a bushel or burrying it, not pretending you don't have it, not cursing the darkness instead of seeing the tiny light and especially not viewing God as a harsh condemnor who is unjust in his assessments and ready to condemn for not having a lot. It's about realizing everything you have and are is God's investment in the planet that you are supposed to invest in the planet and if God only gave you a little, use it, don't get upset he only gave you a litte. It's not all about you. It's for the good of others. You are not here for you or all about you- you are here to invest whatever you have however great or small. If you see the world as 'All About Me' and you just bury and kill off what God gave you, you are a wicked and lazy servant. Suicide or Assisted Suicide is wicked for that reason. It's snuffing out the tiny light.
What are your assets and attributes? Great legs? Be a dancer. Great voice. Be a singer. Great looking Face- get it on TV and preach there. Start with You Tube. Great wise understanding, be a scholar-great writer, write books, etc.... the little that you have will be magnified multifold if you put it out there.
The last thing you want to be called is "wicked and lazy servant."

Then there is the most famous of all the Matthew 25 passages about the Sheep and the Goats getting separated to Jesus' right and left. The good guys, the sheep (who know their Master's voice) they engage the world in acts of corporal mercy- they feed hungry people, they give thirsty people drink, they heal and comfort the sick, they visit prisons. Why? Look, Jesus not only did all of that, but he was someone who while he was on earth was Hungry, Thirsty, and despondent even of heart, and IN PRISON. He was in detention before his trial before Pontius Pilate. He was round up, put in custody, thrown in detention, tortured in captivity and then hung. On a Cross. That is what Jesus did on earth. So when he says as much as you do this to the least of these my brethren you do it to me, it is because HE WAS in those situations- all of them, and he knows how these acts of compassion save and preserve an earthly life. He asks us all to do them. Demonstrations of compassion. They are essential.

We are told, look, if your brother comes to you and says I am hungry and you send him on his way saying "I will pray for you brother" that is not good enough. You have to open your fridge and feed him. The "woman at the well" gave him drink when he was thirsty. The little boy provided fish and loaves so they all could eat on the hillside. They all were hungry. Even the disciples- even Jesus. Even preachers need to be fed-you can only live on air, a prayer and church dinners for so long. Pay them. Like a tenth of what you earn.
"You do it" he says in instructing them to feed the thousands.

So here we are. On earth. Hello. Nice to Meet You.
You want to go to heaven? You think all you have to do is keep your job?
No. it's not All About You.

Here is what you have to do to not be a "wicked and lazy servant." You have to first have Faith and Believe that Jesus is coming at the end of your time to assess whether you have been prepared and have enough light to see him or whether you are still out shopping because you only half believed it. Then he is going to ask for the accounting of "what have you done for me lately" with all the stuff I gave you. I gave you a great voice- why haven't you put out CDs? I gave you a vision- why haven't you told anyone about it yet ? I gave you a great head for numbers- why haven't you solved the fiscal crisis yet, I gave you great oratory skills, why aren't you out telling people about me?

And why are you sitting in your comfortable house where you have all the food you need, more clothes than the Princess of Jordan and more shoes than Amelda Marcos and you see that homeless crazy woman in rags? You know there are three million people in your jails in the US and you have not met one of them yet? There is a prison or jail in every state and you never went to one because????? You know that there are people who have no clean water, it is filthy disease ridden and animals defacate in it, and you haven't invested in building wells or sent bottled water ? You sent hungry people away, you didn't give your second coat to anyone and know you can't wear two at a time, you didn't try to comfort even your own relatives in the hospital much less help pay for their medical bills, you didn't try to pray with them, you didn't even believe you could lay hands on the sick and heal them so you didn't bother and kept your distance for fear you would get it too. You wicked and lazy servant. Go to that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So clearly, the Grace is the First basic predicate to understanding that we have an opportunity that we did not create, it was given to us as a gift. We are all invited to stand outside the wedding gates and wait and invited to believe that he is coming to let us in. But we have to seize the opportunity and act on it tangibly. We have to realize that everything we have is not only a gift but not just for us, an investment in the World and it is not "all about us." We have to take whatever small thing is given to us, and turn it into something for others for the Glory of God, for the Good of all the world. And we cannot just keep every blessing we have for ourselves but must actively bless others materially and spiritually. Clean out your closets and give away. Give It Away. It comes back to you a thousand fold.

This is Matthew's Keys to the Kingdom Trilogy. Now, get moving. You don't want to be stuck at the line in the store when the wedding starts.


Happy Saint Anthony Feast Day.