IMPAIRED PEDAGOGY PRESENTS A PECULIAR AND PARADOXICAL PARADISE PARADIGM PREDICAMENT

We finally come to the end of the liturgical year. This Sunday we read of the great judgment of the nations in Matthew 25:31-46. This parable is not about personal predestination. “You,” in “prepared for you from the foundations of the world,” is a collective plural and refers to the nations or tribes (but not necessarily nation-states as we know them today). This judgment scene could include everything from the entire Roman empire to the people of Judah and everything in between.

For years I thought of this parable depicting a vision of the world that is truly segregated—with the righteous in one circle and the accursed in another. It was precise. It was predictable. It was pristine. It was perfect. It was preposterous.

Recently, I have been considering Peter’s (not the disciple) work on reading Scripture from a blind perspective, mostly unpublished, much of it still on the drawing board, or as he says, “aspirationally plotted”. I have begun to “see” the perils of presumptive, previous postures of piety and ableist certainty when considering parables like this one. In an ableist world, this parable can be a childish, “Look at what we have done (or not done), Mom”, but, from the perspective of the marginalized, this parable presents a world where life depends on the “kindness of others” without independent agency or healthy individuation.

Matthew includes The Son of Man coming with all his angels to take the throne, the place of judgment. With all the nations gathered before him, he separates them like an emperor determining loyal vassals, like a shepherd separating sheep from goats, like a cat separating voles from field mice. And then, with words that echo the sentiment of last week’s “Enter into the joy of your master”, Matthew tells of the sheep receiving the inheritance that is theirs from the foundation of the world—for I was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick and in prison, and you fed me, gave me drink, welcomed me, clothed me, visited and came to me.

When the query comes, “When did we do this?”, Jesus’ response is, “Whenever you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.”

Don’t you feel good, about now? Don’t you feel good in the membership of your collective congregation? Don’t you feel good knowing that your contribution to Lutheran World Hunger is feeding and caring for people you don’t even know?  Don’t you feel good about the quilts and health care kits your congregation, synod, and the church at large send to the corners of the world through Lutheran World Relief? (The flat earth concept of the world which still has corners when we know that the world is a globe and therefore round is a conversation for another time.) Don’t you feel like you belong to the righteous, and aren’t you ready to receive your inheritance?

But what about the underlying conditions that created the needs in the first place? Why are these people “left out in the cold”, metaphorically speaking? What about all of those we do not reach? What about the thousands of children and adults, even in this country, who will go to bed hungry tonight?

This may be the propitious moment to confront the times, citizens of the U.S., for the nation has a social contract with its people—all people have the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This social contract has proven, however, to pander to the prosperous and the privileged. This nation continues to inadequately meet the needs of its people—when it does not feed and provide potable drinking water; when it does not welcome people who are fleeing for their lives; when, because of color, prejudicial practices for procuring loans persist.

What about a social system that leaves more than 80% of people living with a disability unemployed? What about the thousands of buildings that continue to exclude people who use wheelchairs or otherwise require non-present escalators or elevators to get from one floor to another? What about our justice system that continues to incarcerate a higher per centage of minority people with longer sentences than white people? What about practices which prevent people from adequate and timely health care? How then, without equality and equity, are they welcomed into the benefits of that social contract? This list could go on and on, but maybe this is enough for now.

This parable challenges the principal policies of every ethnic and cultural center of the world. It encourages them, and nations too, to take credit for how well they have cared for the poor and marginalized and tempts them to call themselves righteous. Satisfied, they rejoice that they have avoided the accursed behaviors that condemn and would require them to do better.

This parable of divine judgment does not include compassion and forgiveness. We do not hear the echoes of Isaiah 43, “’You have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities. I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.’…But now thus says the Lord, ‘He who created you, O Jacob (this is not a designation of the person, but of all the people who descended from Jacob), he who formed you, O Israel (again, not just the pseudonym of Jacob nor is it just the northern kingdom, but all who wrestle with God), do not fear, for I have redeemed [all of] you, I have called [all of] you by name; you are mine!’”

Nor does it describe the hope from Ezekiel 37 with the prophesying to the dry bones drawn together with sinews and flesh and skin and breath, describing the joining of the nations of Judah and Israel with one ruler and the promise to “save them from all the apostacies into which they have fallen” and to “cleanse them”, and that “they shall be my people and I will be their God.” In fact, this parable in Matthew is the antithesis of John 3:17, “Indeed, God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Sheila, Matthew, and Dennis Linn published a book, “Good Goats: Healing Our Image of God”, thirty years ago, with this parable at its heart. Considering the challenges of whether people are the preferred sheep or the accursed goats, and the work the Church has either and both done and left undone, one Sister said, “So, what you are telling us is that we are good goats” (not Greatest of All Times), or maybe as an extension, ba-a-ad sheep.

The Linns help us “see” the world as it is and wonder, “where is the cord of oak that waits for the eternal purgatorial fires of punishment because there will always be people who are not fed, given drink, welcomed, clothed, or visited. “All is lost!” because all are lost—poor little sheep who have lost our way. (I thank God I am a mouse.)

Uh-oh, we are all part of the national, cultural, or ethnic group in which we reside. Now that I have really pondered the paradoxical complexities of this parable, I must admit that my cozy nook, mouse house no longer feels so righteous.

This Christ the King Sunday, let us “see” the place of judgment sited somewhere other than this implausible courtroom of division. Let us look to the cross and God’s darkness where God creates opportunities of hope and forgiveness amid sinful human darkness, in the night in which he was betrayed. Let us look to the cross and bear witness to the king that conquers the power of death that all might live.

Throw up your hands in despair, crying “Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.”, and then depend on God’s mercy, love, and forgiveness (grace). And for Christ’s sake, continue to do the work that can be done to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the strangers God sends, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned. But do this knowing that you do this work because you are saved, not in order to be saved or to ensure thar you are saved. God has already saved you, and, because God continues to make covenants of forgiveness with all people (Baptism and Eucharist), you are able to see God’s likeness in all of those around you.

In this way you can understand God’s perfection in the vulnerability of the human condition with all of its abilities and disabilities, with all the body shapes and colors and gender identities people come in. As God is one, you see God who makes all people one—one with God and one with one another.

This parable falsely presents a world that promotes and promulgates an image of judgment that casts unfortunates into eternal punishment of purging fire, because, if that judgment is from the foundation of the world and has no possibility of penitential pardon and perceived possible hope, then the crucifixion and empty tomb cannot give any promise of hope for the world and humanity. The world and humanity cannot pray, prostrate, or repent enough to turn back what “has been prepared from the foundations of the world.” Only Christ the King has that power, and all people continue to prevail on Christ’s perpetual power of pardon. The crucifixion and the empty tomb open the way to a prepared place of wonder and joy in the presence of the true king.

Thank God, the apocalyptic judgment scene of this parable presented on this Christ the King Sunday is not the final statement for the world or our lives. Instead, it is an opportunity to balance vv. 40 and 45—As you have done/not done it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you have done it/not done it to me.

Keep the faith; and keep working for justice and peace in word and deed.

Your pal,

Nicodemus

Editor, Theologian, Counsellor, Mouse

The Peoples' Court, Matthew 25:31-46

To everything there is a season: a time to reflect and a time to dream. As we stand on the threshold of 2017, reflecting on the past year and looking forward to our time together in the future, we are called in today’s readings to pause and consider Christ’s judgment of where we have been and challenged to think about where we are going. We are called to take time to contemplate our place in the world and our place in God’s Kingdom. We are encouraged to take some time to dream about the possibilities of what God’s good creation and goodness means and what a world of mutual care and support might be like.

Here, near the end of Matthew, tucked in between Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem and his arrest, crucifixion and resurrection, is this amazing and disturbing scene of the end time. It is not presented as a parable, “The kingdom of God is like…”; rather, it is set in apocalyptic literary form in the great judgment hall of heaven. Here the son of man comes in glory to sit upon the throne of glory to judge the nations.

In this heavenly courtroom, we are called to look around and notice where we are. We are called to remember the other times we have been here. Noting this space, we remember the other words that have come down to us from this judgment place. We hear the words of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the other prophets declaring God’s words of judgment, forgiveness, and reconciliation; and we remember that this scene of judgment is not the final statement of Matthew’s Gospel.

So, as a people of the nations, as people of the United States of America, let us sit in the gallery of the heavenly courtroom and witness the judgment of the world. Let us sit in anticipation of our nation’s judgment. Will we be among the sheep or the goats?

I can imagine myself sitting in the gallery, not being surprised to discover that there are no sheep, only goats. And yet, in this heavenly courtroom, Jesus tells us that the picture of the world is not as dismal as it first seems: indeed, the nations wonder how they were chosen as sheep. Indeed, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or imprisoned?

2016 has been one of those years that will probably have historians scratching their heads for many years to come. Crises throughout the world have raised the specters of fear and hate, death and despair, arrogance and oppression, and, in response to these specters, many nations have turned to isolationism, preferring to pull into themselves like a turtle into its shell, withdrawing from the problems of the world.

Yet, the problems of the world do not go away. More than 4300 people have been shot this past year in Chicago alone. Of them, more than 700 died. There was the shooting massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the bombing and the attempted bombings in New York. This is without mentioning those who have died in our area due to violence and drugs.

Many of those who have been entrusted with the duty of protecting and serving us have been captive to racism and power. In the performance of their duties, law enforcement officials have killed more than 950 people; more than 40 of the victims were unarmed, and many were mentally ill. In response, people have shot and killed 64 innocent police personnel without cause. These 64 deaths account for almost half of the 135 police officers who died in the line of duty.

“Then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate the peoples, one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Other than the fact that I am blind, is there something wrong with my vision? I am not seeing any sheep! I am only hearing the bleating of goats.

Internationally, we were already reeling from the bombings in Paris, when Brussels was bombed in February. Then there were the truck attacks where more than 80 people were killed in Nice, and most recently, 12 killed and 48 injured in Germany. Let us not forget the tens of thousands of men, women and children who died in Aleppo.

In the meantime, we held an election that included the selection for the highest office in our country. During that process, some of the most vitriolic language was used by our two major parties. Threats of imprisonment and charges that parts of our society are irredeemable were made. Indeed, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger, or naked, sick or imprisoned?

But there are sheep. They are gathered at the son of man’s right hand. He has called them to recognize their blessings and to enter the kingdom that has been prepared for them from the foundations of the world. But where are the sheep coming from?

If this heavenly courtroom scene were the last statement of Matthew, I would have nothing but dreadful words of condemnation for you today. With the disciples, I would throw up my hands and say, “So who can be saved? I know that there was a plan that was good and strong from the foundations of the world, but remember? Humanity screwed that one up years ago. We have proven time and again that we are more interested in ourselves and our personal relationships than we are with you, God, or anyone outside our personal zones of influence. We are a selfish, stiff-necked people. We are interested in our own sense of honor, our own privilege, our own homes and our 401K’s. Okay, we give to what we consider to be good causes, but really Lord, the dead-beat jobless? The sick? The imprisoned? Illegal aliens? The naked? The hungry? And thirsty? Why don’t you just ask us to clean up the air and the water, to give up our scenic vistas so that endangered species will thrive again? What do you mean, it’s not about us?”

And as the Gospel of Matthew continues, we are confronted with a hierarchy that wants to arrest and kill Jesus; disciples who begrudge Christ’s anointing; the Last Supper that leads to Jesus’ arrest, trial, renunciation, crucifixion and death. Jesus will be hungry, thirsty, called a Nazarean stranger, stripped of his clothes, sickened by oppression, and imprisoned. Throughout this time, his closest disciples will betray and desert him. It will be left to just a few—Pilate’s wife, Simon of Cyrene, a centurion and those with him, Joseph of Arimathea, and some women—to be the sheep, the ones who cared enough to recognize Christ for who he is. The rest of the world are goats who deserve to suffer eternal punishment.

But wait! The throne of glory for the son of man is not a royal throne but a cross. The judgment of the world is not based on merit but grace. The verdict is not about who we are but whose we are. The decision of eternity is not based on our lives but the resurrected body of Christ. God’s judgment does not end at the tomb. He goes ahead of us to Galilee; and we are called to follow and find him there to baptize and teach, to gather at Christ’s table to feed and give drink, to welcome all into our midst in Christ’s name, to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness, to support them in sickness and in health, to lift them up from the prisons of those things that attempt to separate us from the love of God, and to walk in Christ’s ways.

To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to despair and a time to hope, a time to die and a time to rise from the dead, a time for reconciling peace. I swear it’s not too late. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, I am beginning to see a lot of hopeful sheep. Thanks be to God!

BAA, BAA, BLACK SHEEP

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET          INTERNATIONAL NEWS

BAA, BAA, BLACK SHEEP

Dateline: New York, December 31, 25:31:46

Matt Hughes

With exclusive coverage, THE ANGELUS TRUMPET is excited to report that Joshua Kristy, amid great fanfare, attempted to demonstrate what life in the new world order might look like. Kristy claimed, “My goal here, is not to create a single standard for global governmental compliance, but benchmarks to be strived for. If how we treat the poorest people in our society indicates our concern for one another, then these bench marks can stand as report card for our nations.”

Speaking outside the United Nations, Kristy divided the countries into two groups: those that were acceptable and those that needed to do work. Kristy divided them into his own categories of SHEEP (Somewhat Helpful Eco-friendly Environs for People) and GOATS (Governmental Organizations Antagonistic to Transformative Solutions). At the end of the first reading, the delegations from  Sweden and Denmark stood alone as SHEEP. After a second consideration, Ireland, Finland, Iceland, and the Netherlands were added.

According to Kristy’s estimations, much work needs to be done in the rest of the world. There were several moments of indecision when the issue of the Vatican and Taiwan were raised. After consultation, it was noted that the Vatican depends on other countries for some of its services, and the nationhood of Taiwan remains undecided.

It appears that Kristy’s benchmarks include world hunger with the NU Food diet including their full-bodied bread; potable water for all including NU Food wines for the discerning palate; open immigration policies (remembering some semi-nomadic early life issues); affordable King of Dodd clothing made from sustainable eco-friendly resources manufactured  by workers who receive equitable salaries; holistic medical care for all people; and prison reform (honoring the treatment and death of Jean Baptiste).

Kristy claimed, “It is clear that even the nations who have made the cut are not fully compliant, but they are moving in the right direction. They deserve to be rewarded and encouraged in the work they are doing.”

When UN representatives were asked about Kristy’s judgment, Torvald Thorsen of Denmark, said, “We are very proud to be among the chosen nations, but all we have done is try to be as good as we can to one another. We do not think that we are doing anything special. We still have issues to deal with.”

Among the nations that did not make the preferred list, UK UN Ambassador Arthur King protested saying, “I believe that we are being punished because of the recent Brexit vote which is primarily a statement of concern trying to preserve our distinguished heritage.”

US UN Ambassador John Q. Jones was heard to say, “Kristy doesn’t understand the complexities of a nation our size. We are currently in a rebuilding stage of our nation’s greatness, and so I am not surprised that people do not understand our need to build a secure boundary between us and our southern neighbors. Prison reform is something that we are studying…, but we have the best medical care money can buy anywhere in the world.…Yes, we have some problems with poverty, but that is because so many jobs have been out sourced around the world. We’re working on bringing all of those jobs home again in the coming years.”

Syria and Liberia did not respond to requests for comment

It is uncertain, at this time, whether the new categories of SHEEP and GOATS will help, but it is certain that Kingdom of Dodd LLC will greatly benefit if nations accept the challenge benchmarks proposed by Kristy.