A Homily by MoJo Medium
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 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. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “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. 35 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, 36 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.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “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. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 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.’
44 “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?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
(It’s that punishment part most people miss.)
I think of these verses often, when I hear so-called Christians refusing everything to people they deem unworthy. And most people are somewhat familiar with the “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” part.
And that’s good, but the haters don’t seem to remember or care that they should see every homeless person, every LGBTQ person, every poor person, every ill person, every prisoner, every person of a different faith or no faith, etc. as part of the body of their Christ.
And they also don’t seem to know that the ones who did refuse aid, service, and love to others? They were sent “away to eternal punishment”.
Whether you believe in hell or not (I don’t) is irrelevant. What matters is whether you care about other people, all of whom are connected to you energetically and spiritually.
If you are like me–not Christian and/or raised Christian but no longer practicing–this is a moral, spiritual, and/or practical issue for you, rather than one about the fear of damnation. Do you help others or not? Does it matter to you what happens to anyone else? Do you feel good when you help someone? I do.
Or, if you don’t claim to be Christian, or you don’t care about anybody else, then whatever. I can’t help you. Stingy guts.
But, if you do claim to be Christian and you not only neglect the needs of others but actively speak out (and vote) against them, then don’t make me come over there and slap you upside the head, which is better than you deserve.
Maybe you’re afraid of everything being taken away from you? Maybe you’re afraid of being forced to be someone you’re not? Well, welcome to the world. Try giving–as directed by Jesus–and see how much you receive in return.
Besides, you get to go to Heaven! Yay for you!
Thus ends today’s sermon.
Save this post! You might need to slap someone upside the head with it!