“Listen carefully to the word of the Lord”
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”
***
“Will You Let Him In?”
William Shakespeare, in his play, Richard III said “An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told”. In my sermon here today, I will endeavor to do both.
How often have you heard the phrases,
“Can’t wait to meet Jesus”, “I look forward to the return of Jesus, when he comes again”, “Are you saved?” These and many similar statements tell us how invested we are in the future and how anxious many of us are to "get to heaven." As Christians, many of us cloister, insulate, isolate and segregate ourselves from the world to assure we'll be ready and able to make that trip.
My late Granny would have referred to such religiously forward lookers as “so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good”. She just might have been right. All of Jesus’ commands of us can be summarized in the Great Commandment, to love, and the Great Commission, to spread the Good News. Both of these are to be done right here, on earth. An Example; the lords prayer from Matthew chapter 6 verse 10, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
I have chosen the following narrative to illustrate the earthly focus and regard for our fellow man that Jesus was succinctly illustrating in our scripture reading of Matthew chapter 25. The narrative goes as follows:
The boy paused and knelt next to the furrow in the field, briefly resting from the long, hard day of work under the hot July sun. He turned over some small pebbles and examined them in his hand. All the pebbles were different and seemed foreign; all far-traveled pieces deposited by the great Ice Age Floods thousands of years ago. He dropped the pebbles and returned to his work. As he worked, he listened carefully and intently to the words of his parents who told stories of faith, the redeeming power of Christ, and discussed the origins of those pebbles and the rich soils in which their crops grew. This was how it went, during the long hot summer’s tending to fields and crops.
Several years later on a dark, and stormy winter night (as most good popular literature begins with an ominous tone), as the incessant rain poured down, an event occurred that would forever be remembered. This night would become a central part of their story. Sometime in the middle of the night, a knock came at the door.
Thud!, Thud!, Thud!
The startled family arose from their slumber and the father moved boldly toward the door; from the top of the stairs, with reluctance and foreboding the mother urged the man to not open the door. The three children huddled close, edged in behind the security of their mother. The father cautiously opened the door and revealed a short, thin, Hispanic man, disoriented, drenched, and chilled to his core by the harsh elements of the season. With little apparent regard for possible dangers and sensing evident fear in the stranger, the father calmly ushered the man into the house, warmed by the dull glow of a fading fire in the wood stove. Relief came over the stranger’s face as he was warmed by the fire and given food to replenish him. Though only speaking broken English, the stranger explained that his car had broken down on the remote road after he had become lost traveling between towns. He had abandoned his car and walked through the rain and darkness toward the only faint lights he could see. The stranger had come upon three houses: At one he was greeted by the intimidating barking of aggressive dogs and feared he might be confronted; the other house was dark, overgrown with brush, and seemed vacant. The man had chosen the house in the middle, illuminated only by the soft blue glow of a mercury vapor light hanging above the nearby barn. After the stranger had recounted his story, he awkwardly reached into his pocket and produced several crumpled and damp pieces of paper. One paper was a blurry, partially faded phone number; the others were similarly tattered pieces of identification. The father and mother reached out and took hold of the papers. Instantly they both gasped......the papers identified the man as (Hey sus). Literally translated, the man’s name was Jesus. The father then took the phone number and called; a woman on the other end answered and explained she would be by shortly to pick up the man. A car arrived, Jesus quietly left. The family exhaled deeply as the long night came to a close.
Now you might say what unique story; but how predictable that the story illustrates our treatment of others by coincidentally naming the stranger Jesus. Many stories in popular folklore recount similar tales of a disguised Jesus visiting a home and being denied because the people were just too busy preparing for an expected visit of a Kingly Christ. Such skepticism is expected and certainly would be no different than that of the disciple Thomas, following the death of Jesus. Even Thomas, with an intimate knowledge of Jesus, was in disbelief when told by his fellow disciples that they had “seen the Lord”. John chapter 20, verse 25 tells us that Thomas replied ”Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” As the commonly skeptical scientist that I am, I might agree with the sentiment of Thomas or agree that the preceding story is all too convenient. Except..... that this is my story, my family’s story, and in fact it all did come to pass on a dark and stormy night at the door of our farmhouse many years ago. Three times my father could have denied this strange, disheveled man standing at our door in the middle of the night:
My father could have frightened the stranger into fleeing......
My father could have not responded and kept the door secure and closed....
My father could have opened the door, confronted the stranger and denied him entrance, turning the stranger away, back into the cold rain of the night.......
But he didn’t. Through what must have been a great deal of Peace and Grace derived from God, he opened the door and took Jesus in.
And if some are still skeptical, saying “well Jesus is a common name for a hispanic man”, which is true, consider the astronomical odds and extreme coincidence it would be that on a terrible stormy night, in the depths of a little traveled rural area, at a small indistinct farmhouse on a lonely road, ONE MAN out of 6 billion, in desperate need of aid and of little means, speaking only an unfamiliar language, knocks on the door, and his name is Jesus.
But doubt is normal.
Fortunately, we have a helper, the Holy Spirit, who lives within believers, enabling us to believe that which we do not see with our eyes.
This is illustrated in John, chapter 20. Verses 26-29, where Jesus gathered with the disciples and said “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
There's no question that this earth is a complicated, and at times a messy place. But to fulfill Jesus' commands, we can't evade or avoid it. We can't truly love one another at arms' length. We can't spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ without reaching out and getting dirty. We can only grow closer to Jesus by starting with those in need right around us.
We need to daily prepare our hearts, let go, and follow where the Holy Spirit is guiding us.
Step out and don’t always do things in the ordinary. Then listen to the Holy Spirit very carefully, for you never know the place, the hour, or in what form Jesus will knock.
But when that time does come, will you open the door and let Him in?
