The Final Exam

Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-46

Consider the criteria Jesus provides for the final judgment of the entire world, and notice what it is not about:  it is not a test of knowledge.  It is not the recitation of a credal formula.  It is not about belonging to a particular group or sect, nor about one's liturgical preferences.  It is not about sexuality or the wearing of particular religious garb.  It isn't even about belief in God or not, let alone one's conception or ideas about God.

The final judgment, in short, is not about anything that religion concerns itself with most of the time.  It is rather about mercy extended to other people.  It is about providing food and drink to the hungry and thirsty; providing shelter to the homeless; giving clothing to the naked; providing care to those who are sick and imprisoned; providing welcome and love to strangers in our midst - the immigrant, refugee, and migrant.  That's it - that's the final exam.  

Recently a church building was dedicated wherein the congregation spent more than $1 million to build a choir loft with no access at all; it was simply decorative. It is an apt metaphor for modern religion. We can continue to go about the business of the pseudo-religious life of vicarious activities that have no real meaning or purpose except that they are easy and satisfy our egos.  Or we can set about the task of real religion which is the care of others and the extension of mercy in the world.   

The Call of Evil

Gospel: Matthew 4: 1-11

The temptations of Jesus in the desert are the gaps that exist between that to which we are called to be and that which we currently are.  Jesus successfully rejects the call of evil presented to him in his life - not just in this episode but throughout his life.  These temptations are not one time events in his life or ours.  They continually recur in the life of Jesus and in ours, presented and repackaged into a variety of different manifestations.

The temptation to change stones to bread has us ask ourselves whether we are led by our appetites and passions or by something deeper.  The temptation to the city and its riches is the constant struggle to overcome the desire for power, influence, and material things.  And the temptation to fling oneself off a cliff is the tendency to turn religion into a spectacle of our own ego rather than a pursuit of wisdom and grace in our lives.

Both the devil and Jesus use scripture in their back and forth with one another, but they use it very differently.  Satan uses it to justify self-interest and that which we already want.  Jesus uses it as a means of wisdom to consider our calling as human beings to relationship with God and with one another.  This story is our constant measuring stick in our spiritual life: am I growing closer to the ideal of Jesus, am I using scriptures as means of wisdom and grace, or am I seeking my own self-interest and ego? 

The Call to Sinners

Gospel: Luke 5: 27-32

In today's Gospel portion Jesus states that he came to call sinners, not the self-righteous.  He states that sinners are the ones in need of a doctor while the self-righteous do not.  This exhortation takes place in the context of him calling the tax collector Levi to follow him.  There was no pre-condition or set of requirements Levi needed to accomplish before accepting the invitation.  Jesus simply invited him, and Levi left his taxing post to do so.  

The self-righteous Pharisees object.  Jesus had not called them to follow him.  Actually, he had, but they are unable to hear it, for the self-righteous cannot see themselves as sinners.  In their eyes they can do no wrong at all; they have nothing to change, nothing to reform, nothing to repent of.  They are incapable of self-reflection or examination of conscience.  They are only able to judge others.  For them, everyone else is the problem, everyone else has to change and conform to their way of thinking and doing.  

We began Lent by putting on ashes.  We did so in order to acknowledge our sins, to recognize our status at sinners in need of God's mercy.  Some, however, donned ashes as performative art, putting their pictures with ashes on social media for all to see.  To follow Jesus is to acknowledge our need for mercy, and then to be that mercy of God for others in the world, bringing healing to the wounded, liberation to the oppressed, and nourishment to the hungry in humble service.