sermon excerpts: "Sheep in Sheep's Clothing"

Jesus' story about sheep and goats treating and mistreating one another is a common thread throughout his teachings; we see it in the Good Samaritan, in the warnings not to make judgments one another. It’s easier said than done.

The saying is “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice …” well, I wasn’t going to get fooled another time by someon asking for a handout at my door. But that is the reason why the poor go hungry, the unclothed remain naked, and the imprisoned stay in jail. We’ve all had past encounters with people taking advantage of our good nature.

That’s the hard part. That’s what makes following in the way of Christ so difficult. We have to risk being hurt, be vulnerable and open to others. Yet how often do we put ourselves on the line, before we become bitter or abused? And with two children at home, the prospect of strangers coming to the door at any hour of the day doesn’t make me feel very charitable. This lesson isn’t so much about helping others with charity, but about learning about the people, to walk with them on a journey. To meet the person and not the circumstance.

We worry too much about the wolf in sheep’s clothing, when we should be focusing on the sheep within our own midst we are bullied, who are not getting what they need to grow and prosper. Those in our midst who are seeking to gain at the expense of others. It is these people that we can have conversations with, urge them to a different way of seeing things, of living life.

It is one thing to complain about an external group or presence, we do it with those in government or higher church offices. It is another to remember that they are people and have their own stories. For everything we do to others, we do to Christ. His holy presence is in every person. That includes us as well.

If we can recognize that Christ is also in us, the way we treat ourselves is also an expression of faith and justice. If we remember this, that Christ is in us it makes it easier to love ourselves. Which in turn helps us to love others as ourselves, which is of course, the greatest commandment Jesus gave his followers.

A key point, though, is right at the beginning of the parable. Jesus says all nations will be gathered together and judged, but not on the basis of which tribe they belonged to, which nation they claimed allegiance. The people would be separated by their acts and accountability, their willingness to live out a gospel of service. It is what we do with our lives, not the actual quality of life that we live, that is important.

Does this mean then that Muslims and Buddhists and Sikhs and Wiccans and Scientologists will be in heaven? It might, if they fed the hungry, tended to the sick, visited the imprisoned, in whatever way they could, it very well might. Because, if we are to keep a big picture perspective, we are all people with loves and joys, pains and hurts. We all struggle with the big questions in life, seeking the goodness of a higher power and a greater love.

There are many reasons why we are unable to get along on this earth. We look at all the different nations and see the diversity, differences in clothing, food, languages, religions. And instead of trying to learn and know more about others, we get lazy and paint entire groups with the same brush. We are to look for the individual identity and not the group identity. That takes effort and it’s just easier to think of others that we know and assume they’re the same.

Jesus took the time to meet with the lepers and the widows, the poor, the hungry, those in tattered clothes and rags, those in jail. He stopped to listen to their story and in doing so, included them in the history that is his ministry of love, service, compassion and care. As shepherds and sheep, we also have a duty to do the same.