SCRIPTURE: Mathew 25:31-46
TEXT: 45Then 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.’ THEME: Having love for those in need. INTRODUCTION Today is the Reign of Christ Sunday, marking the last Sunday in Pentecost and next week’s beginning of Advent. The first batch of Christmas trees are in Costco, but it just seems a bit early, even before Thanksgiving. If I get a tree this year, I think it will fare better by being in the reefer for another week. SCRIPTURE The passage for today is the third in a triptych of parables about the Kingdom of Heaven. The first parable was with bride’s maids and lamps, we live the Kingdom of Heaven life every day. The second parable with the buried talent tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven plants seeds of good in an oppressive world to supplant evil. And today’s parable with sheep and goats tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven has eyes open to see others and respond with good. The nations of the world are gathered together before Christ as King. Then the citizens of the world are sorted out as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats. Neither the sheep nor goats knew who they were. The dividing characteristic was simply responding with compassion towards those who were suffering. Jesus takes compassion towards others personally. The sextuple: Hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned is repeated four times in this passage. “For I was... and you gave to me”, “When was it that we saw you…and we gave to you?”, “For I was…and you did nothing”, and “When was it that we saw you…and we did not take care of you?” Life is not an amazing scavenger hunt, where we try to accumulate enough points to get to the reward of heaven. Instead the Kingdom of Heaven is seeing the humanity of others; hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked sick and imprisoned, and to respond with love and care for others. God’s passionate love for us has consequences, it compels us to love others and holds us in eternal relationships. Ignoring our neighbors and focusing only on ourselves has consequences too. When all we want to do is be great, and not share what we have with our neighbors, our fear arms ourselves f to prevent others from taking what we have. Or we could compassionately share what we have with others and build relationships. Wars are waged against nations who refuse to trade their goods with others. Alliances are made to protect them from forces that consume resources destructively. Treaties are covenantal relationships of respect, sharing, trust stewardship, compassion and team work. Agreements are courses of responsibilities to guide our behavior and consumption. But Tariffs are punishments for keeping our self-interest protected from others. The Kingdom of Heaven is being empathetic, responding to those in need, with care. APPLICATION How do we see the love of Christ’s presence among those most often ignored? How might we respond with dignity? The food pantry served 37 families yesterday with 2 new, despite give aways from the County and Filipino community. We received food from Ala Lani Methodist that was distributed yesterday and received more food from Emmanuel Lutheran. Bill, Eileen, Fran, Coco, Maru, Nancy, Nanette, Papo, provided helping hands to receive, distribute and sort the food for distribution next week. The One Great Hour of Sharing’s annual offering, is one way we participate in addressing developing clean water sources for impoverished communities. Our prejudices are being challenged by Black Lives Matter protests, the use of guns and discussions on privilege. How we welcome the stranger is seen in how we treat our immigrants; separating children from parents, illegal surgeries, cages and the tactics used to deny entries or citizenship. How do we respond to the wounds that we see? Many of these issues are complicated and sometimes, our first call to action are not the best solutions to these wounds. A respected Council Person proposed a bill against the distribution of food or help to the homeless on public lands. At first glance that seems heartless, but its intent is to channel more social service help to these individuals. A good intent to a complicated wound. How we respond with God, to the brokenness and need we see, takes wisdom, listening, strategic planning and prayer. My Waimea High School Class of 73 president sent out a group email informing us of a classmate’s death. Later she followed that up by saying that she went to visit our classmate’s mother. It meant a lot to me that she took the time, to travel to the other side of the island to share her stories of this friend, with his mom. What she was able to do, she did for all of us who couldn’t do that. I went to Costco and there was a lady who wasn’t wearing a mask. I took a quick glance around me and everyone else had a mask on and looked a little concern. Then a Costco employee stopped to talk to the mask-less customer. I reached into my bag and pulled out newly laundered mask, with new paper towel insert. I debated whether to offer it to her or to walk on by. I decided to give my extra mask to her. As I offered her my mask to her, she quickly told me that she had a medical condition and that not wearing a mask was not a problem before, then she said she had just spoken with the Mayor who didn’t mention to her that not wearing a mask was not okay, and that nobody said anything when she came into Costco. The Costco employee said that they will be soon offering shields to those with medical conditions. I said that we all felt at risk because she wasn’t wearing a mask. Her response was that I was wearing a mask so I was protected. Then she didn’t stop talking, I couldn’t stay any longer with her. And she was within my 6-foot radius. I turned and walked away mid-sentence. I tried to be compassionate but was unsuccessful. The wound was more complicated than I realized. Which I am guessing will be the case with most times we try to do good to a wound that we see. Don’t give up, keep on trying, pray unceasingly, listen with discernment and feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit to move. Review, assess, adjust, pray and try again. CONCLUSION The Kingdom of Heaven is like Christ coming as King, to see what is in our hearts. Have we felt the hunger and thirst of those in need and how have we responded? Aloha does not need to be perfect. Aloha is a direction towards life. Aloha is a process, first we see the wound, next we figure out how best to help. It’s not always about hunger, thirst, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned, but it is always about compassion and God’s Aloha.
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