A week or so ago I was struck by, and wrote about, this passage from James:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)
Yesterday at the church service we attended the pastor read the parable of the sheep and the goats from Matthew:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 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, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"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, 'I tell you the truth, 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 25:31-46)
It seems (at least to me) that if we are to be judged as unrighteous it will not be primarily by the evil we do or think, but by the good deeds we do not do!
And if we look at 1 Corinthians 13, we see that Paul adds an interesting twist to this that concerns our motivation:
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3)
Jesus said that the first commandment was to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). I have come to believe that to love God with all our heart means to have compassion on our neighbour in need; to love Him with our soul means to pray for those who are lost and look for opportunities to share the love of God with them; to love Him with our mind means to use our reasoning and intelligence to figure out how to relieve the suffering of others; and to love God with our strength means putting those plans into action to make His creation a better place for our fellow man.
Amazing Grace and Eternal Peace to you today,
Bruce
Just as you brought the Israelites from slavery, you redeemed us from the slavery of sin.
May we be grateful recipients and sharers of your abundant grace and mercy, especially toward those who are slighted, oppressed and marginalized.
May your Spirit and your glory be reflected in the way we treat the immigrants, widows and orphans among us.
Amen.
 | Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca |
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