Stephen
Terry, Director
"The
Least of These"
Commentary
for the August 24, 2019 Sabbath School Lesson
"Then
he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you
gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a
stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe
me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'"
"They
also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'"
"He
will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of
these, you did not do for me.'"
"Then
they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Matthew
25:41-46, NIV
Sometimes it seems we live in a very dark time with wars
and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, a time when the love of many
has gone cold toward one another.[i] In this context Jesus
placed the important parables of Matthew, chapter 25. The verses above are the final
response to the context outlined in the opening verses of chapter 24 and reflect
the thesis of verse 13, "but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."
But what does that mean? Does it mean to stand firm for the creeds developed by
those who went before us? Will we be saved based on our loyalty to dogma? If
so, whose dogma? Will the Lutheran believer be saved because of their view on
transubstantiation? Will the Baptist be saved because they went all the way
under the water? Or will the Seventh-day Adventist be saved because they never
tasted pork or went swimming on Sabbath? Even asking questions like these can
earn one the label of heretic in the various denominations that teach these
things. Nonetheless, some do challenge accepted teachings and this often
results in the genesis of a new denomination teaching a better understanding of
the "truth." But sadly, as soon as a new denomination is formed it
begins to form its own "echo chamber" where only the accepted truth
is allowed and their dogma becomes the standard for determining who will be
saved and who won't. The standard is often formulated as a creed based on an
esoteric understanding of a peculiar scripture passage. Ripped from the context
of time and place but deemed essential for salvation, it must necessarily be
interpreted for modern practitioners lest they go astray.
For instance, although the Bible says nothing about ice
skating on the Sabbath, it may be deemed as desecration by those who see
themselves as arbiters of correct praxis. How do they even get to ice skating
from a text written in a land that only sees significant snowfall once very fifty
to sixty years? Of course with modern ice skating rinks, now even Israel has to
deal with such questions. But in North America, it was an issue long before the
advent of modern refrigeration that made such rinks possible. Some felt that
they had found the answer to such questions in Isaiah, chapter 58, verse 13,
"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you
please on my holy day..." The problem was pleasure. If it pleases, then it
had to be Sabbath breaking and therefore sin according to the 4th
Commandment that required Sabbath observance. Apparently you could only excuse
ice skating on Sabbath if you loathed doing it. Accordingly, the same principle
would apply to a pleasing dip in a cold lake on a hot summer day. Once again,
pleasure made it sinful. A comparison between the practices of the early
American Puritans would reveal a strong thread of similar views toward pleasure
running through Seventh-day Adventism, and perhaps through other denominations
as well.
However, as I stated earlier, the answer to what it
means to stand firm to the end is revealed by the accompanying parables,
especially the "Parable of the Sheep and the Goats." The parable
reveals that when it comes to salvation, compassion trumps obedience every
time. This is especially true when one discovers that the parable is simply a
rewording in story form of the truths of Isaiah, chapter 58. That's the same
chapter that the "pleasure killers" ripped the text from to impose pleasureless
Sabbath observance wherever they could. Such observance might be considered a
sacrificing of one's pleasure to please God. But Isaiah tells us that our
sacrifices mean nothing to God in the absence of true compassion and
benevolence toward others. The death of Christ on the cross was the ultimate expression
of that principle. Even that sacrifice would have been meaningless if no one
were to benefit. We may be better off then, instead of asking is it pleasurable
and therefore necessary to give up the practice of something, and instead ask
"Will anyone in need benefit from my sacrifice?" Such a perspective
changes the entire dynamic. Instead of seeking our own pleasure, we will be
seeking the pleasure of others. For example, instead of questioning whether or
not it is OK to go to the lake on Sabbath, I might gather up neighborhood
children who otherwise are simply hanging around enduring the heat, and take
them to the beach where they will enjoy relief from a hot day. Another example
might be, instead of debating whether or not I can justify going out to eat on
Sabbath, I might take a homeless or jobless person to lunch. It may cost twice
as much to eat out that way, but the sacrifice will bring a blessing that will
return to the giver far more than simply avoiding eating out on Sabbath might
bring.
In a world filled with need, we too often retreat into
our doctrines and creeds and convince ourselves we are on the road to heaven
while closing our ears to the laments over the injustice suffered by so many.
Even when we do acknowledge those cries we want to categorize those who are
worthy of our attention as opposed to those who are not. We perhaps forget the
command in the Sermon on the Mount to love our enemies.[ii] If we look at the world around
us as a spectrum of relationships, most of us would place our enemies at the
farthest end away from us on that spectrum. But if that is the case, where
would we place those who are lazy or unworthy, yet are not our enemies?
Certainly they would be closer to us. Therefore if sacrificial love and compassion
are to be expected by our enemies in accordance with the teachings of Jesus and
Isaiah, how much more so might they be expected by the lazy and unworthy?
Far too many Christians in the United States may find
this distasteful. They would build walls between themselves and the needy to
prevent ever being exposed to those who would challenge them to bring forth the
compassion of Christ from their hearts. Strangely, they would do this while
proclaiming that they are citizens of a Christian nation and therefore justified
in excluding non-Christians from ever setting foot here. This is the same
attitude displayed by the Jewish believers who attacked Paul in Jerusalem when
they falsely believed he was bringing non-believers into the temple. Teachings
founded on the hardness of human hearts found justification not only by those attacking
Paul but also in those who slew Jesus on Golgotha and believed they were the
real and true believers for doing so.[iii] They believe that
enforcing compulsory obedience to their interpretations of right and wrong is
the foundation of establishing God's kingdom here on earth. In what they feel
is a Christian nation, they have little problem with filling the prisons with
miscreants who dare to challenge their vision of a holy, obedient nation. However,
they overlook one simple statement of Jesus that negates all they are trying to
do. When questioned by Pilate shortly before his crucifixion, Jesus stated,"
My
kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my
arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place."[iv] Jesus did not come to
establish an earthly kingdom. Nowhere does he indicate we are to establish a
Christian nation. Instead, he calls each of us individually to live according
to the principle of sacrificial compassion and love he exemplified. Eventually,
according to Revelation, Jesus is to come and conquer this world, replacing it
with a better one. Why then should we cling so tenaciously to this one as
though somehow it can save us from evil? We are ambassadors of a better world.
Ambassadors do not come to promote the kingdom they are visiting, but the
interests of the one they represent. A faithful ambassador will stand firm on
behalf of those interests even though they may pay the ultimate price for doing
so. In the face of oppression and cruelty, God's ambassador will reveal whom
they represent by their compassion.
Lest visible compassion become a new standard for
judging others, let's shut that down now. Jesus taught that when doing works of
compassion and charity we are not to let the left hand know what the right is
doing.[v] We are not to make a
public display of our benevolence lest we lose the blessing we might otherwise receive.
Perhaps he knew of our tendency to make rules that allow us to more easily judge
one another, even though he warned against this. Instead, he compares us to salt,
invisible to all, yet palpably present from the difference it makes. So it
should be with our compassion, mercy and benevolence. Because of the presence
of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have been endowed with tremendous
potential for good, but we must not allow the good to be fettered by manmade
traditions based on suspect interpretations of scripture. If it prevents us
from loving one another, from showing sacrificial compassion or benevolence to
those in need, we must instead follow the example of Jesus. There is no other foundation
for salvation.
