11-9-15 - Left or Right?

In the Gospel reading appointed for this coming Sunday Jesus talks about the end of the world. In the passage I will be reflecting on this week instead*, Jesus also talks about the end of the world, specifically the final judgment to come. In this parable, Jesus paints quite a scene, with all of humanity gathered before the Son of Man on his throne.

‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

It’s 4th grade recess all over again, choosing up teams for dodge ball, or perhaps a cosmic Tinder swipe. However we describe it, there is a sorting, and the “good” go right and the “bad” go left. (If you’re a leftie, tired of sinister associations to the left-hand, or you lean leftward politically, think forward and back instead of left and right…) Scenes like this tend to raise our anxiety levels; how do we know we’re going to the right side? And how about other people – can’t we all just get folded in with the sheep, no matter what? Can’t we all just get along?

The three parables of judgment Jesus tells in the 25th chapter of Matthew definitely have a hard edge. Divisions are made, and it is possible to be too late, too risk-averse and too indifferent to suffering. Yet I dare to trust that we will be among those on the king’s right hand, those who are “blessed by the Father.” I imagine you have to work pretty hard to be among those who are weeded out. I hope God has prepared the kingdom from the foundation of the world for all of God’s creatures; I think you have to opt out and set yourself about actively destroying yourself and others to risk being disinvited from that heavenly banquet. And even then, Jesus’ other parables suggest, there is room for repentance.

This week, let’s enter into this parable, in which Jesus points us toward the lost and the least. Rather than worrying about whether we’ll go right or left in the final Day, let’s take the invitation Jesus issues this day to live our lives oriented toward God and towards other people. Let’s open our eyes to the blessing God wants to accomplish through us.

*This coming Sunday Christ the Healer holds our annual “Undie Sunday,” when we collect new, unopened underwear for men and women who are homeless – and shine a light on the issue itself. I will be using a gospel lesson other than that appointed focus on that in Water Daily this week.