"Emmanuel: Glimpses of God Incarnate," December 22

Wednesday, December 22

Matthew 25:31-46

“The Least One”

WHEN WE CALL JESUS “EMMANUEL,” we remember that God is with us. That should comfort us, but it should also make us squirm, a little: God is invested in how we live, what we do, and especially how we treat others. It’s not a matter of earning salvation, but it is a matter of living right now into the eternal life that is ours. To reach out to others as God has reached out to us is to be who we are as those God is with and for in Christ. It is to be free, as the sheep in Matthew 25 are free, to feed and clothe and visit.

I have a friend who is at our door with dinner any time a member of our family is sick or grieving. She sweeps in and sets it down and the food is always good. She is like those sheep: acting so seamlessly as an extension of who she is that she looks almost confused when I thank her. I don’t believe she has any strong religious convictions. Is this passage saying she will go to heaven, even if she never professes belief in Christ?

That is the kind of question we often ask about this parable, but it is the wrong question. Judgment is not in our job description — it is the privilege of the Son of Man. Neither is the challenge to the sheep, to my friend, or to any who reach out to others in love.

The challenge, rather, is to us goats who presume that our technical belief that God is with us is the ticket that will get us into the kingdom. It turns out that belief, when it is mere assertion, isn’t the ticket any more than good works because there isn’t a ticket at all. Eternal life does not come through transaction, but by transformation.

This Advent, may we be so cognizant of God’s presence with us that we are driven to be with others in unexpected ways, giving to them so freely that we are almost surprised by their gratitude.

– Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Rigby, The W.C. Brown Professor of Theology