When Did We See You?

“WHEN DID WE SEE YOU?”            Matthew 25:31-40                    Dana Douglass

A man was driving toward an intersection when the light suddenly turned yellow.  He applied his brakes at the last minute and came to an abrupt stop.  But, the woman driving behind him, who was in a big hurry to get somewhere, accelerated when she saw the light turn yellow, thinking they would both make it through.  She saw his brake lights too late and their bumpers met.  No damage was done, but the woman was furious and let the man have it up one side and down the other, sparing no expletives as she told him what she thought of his driving.  Then she hopped in her car, swerved out around him, and sped away.  She was quickly pulled over by a policeman, who asked to see her license and registration.  Once he’d looked everything over and seen that all was in order, he let her go with these words: “I pulled you over because I saw the ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ bumper sticker on your car and, after watching your behavior back there at the intersection, I thought for sure you must have stolen this car.”

“I saw you acting like an unforgiving jerk, and I just couldn’t see Jesus in you at all . . .”

After college, I spent some time hitchhiking through Europe.  At the end of the trip I found myself in Israel.  More specifically, I found myself late one night in the Church of the Holy Sepulche — which is built over the sites where tradition says Jesus was both crucified and buried.  My memory is fuzzy on the details after all these years, but, somewhere in the church there is a low cave carved into stone.  By crawling on hands and knees a person can enter this small, candlelit chamber, which some people claim was the tomb of Jesus.  Once inside, after my eyes had adjusted to the flickering light, I saw a very old, gray-bearded monk sitting there in the tomb.

To this day, I remember being moved by the sight of that man.  “When I saw you in that cave, lost in meditation, reading scripture, praying late at night, your life lit by candlelight . . .  I thought for sure I saw Christ in you”

But, do any of you remember the news story from a few years back about the riot that took place within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher?  The Church is administered by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church.  Apparently a dispute arose between the sects and it erupted into violence.  The camera, which was located somewhere overhead, caught groups of monks, dressed in cassocks and clerical robes going at each other — kicking, punching, tackling, screaming.  It would have been hilarious, if it hadn’t been so sad.

“When I saw you fighting with each other in that sacred place, I couldn’t see Christ at all . . .”

The story of the Great Judgement is, at its heart, a story of people determining their own fate by the way in which they treat others, especially how they treat the young, the poor, the vulnerable.  I don’t believe in a God imposed heaven or hell; but I do believe that the way we live can help determine if our lives will be blessed or cursed.

“I saw you, Jerry Sandusky, starting an organization to help at-risk children, and I swear I could see a lot of good in you; and I thought, ‘Your life must be blessed.’  But, then I saw you that you may have raped a child, and I couldn’t see any good in you at all; and I thought, ‘Your life must be cursed.”

“A lot of people saw you, Rev. Carlson, growing a church, ministering to a wide community, providing health care services, and they swore they saw Jesus in you; they thought, ‘Your life must be blessed.’  Then, people saw you on the edge of a bridge alone and in despair; and they thought, “What happened to the blessing?’  But, still they hoped Jesus was with you.  Then, they learned that you, too, hurt some of the least of these, and they couldn’t see Christ, and they thought, ‘Your life must be cursed.”

Is it possible for the same human being to be both Christ-like and fiendish?  Good and evil?  Blessed and cursed?  I think it is very possible.  Aren’t we all a strange mix of good and not so good; of light and shadow. Could it be that people blessed with the kind of charisma that allows them to attract a following and get good things done, are often cursed by the other side of that charisma, which enables them to take advantage of vulnerable people.

The same holds true for institutions.  Blessed?  Probably no institution on earth has done more good than the institution of religion.  Love is lifted up, justice is promoted, charity is championed, the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, the sick taken care of, the stranger is made welcome.  Cursed?  Probably no institution on earth has done more harm than the institution of religion.  Wars have raged, “truth” has been fought over, the vulnerable have been taken advantage of, some people have been told they are not welcome.  Christ-like and anything but.  Good and evil.  Blessed and cursed.

You should notice that in the story of the Great Judgement, it is not individuals who are judged, it is nations.  “All the nations will be gathered. . .”  How will they be judged?  By how they treat the least of our sisters and brothers.

A while back, I read an article about uninsured immigrants and their treatment at hospitals in the United States.  When immigrants, the majority of whom are here doing the work the rest of us don’t want to do, are injured or become sick and are brought to hospitals for treatment, the hospitals face a dilemma — treat them, with no chance of reimbursement, or deport them.  One hospital administrator said, “The temptation to turn your back is overwhelming.”  St. Joseph’s Hospital, in Phoenix — a hospital named after the father of Jesus — was faced with that dilemma when a newborn was delivered who had down syndrome and a heart defect.  Despite the fact that, by virtue of being born here the child was a U.S. citizen, and despite the fact that the baby was in neonatal intensive care, hospital officials called the police and said the baby was trespassing.  Fortunately, a more charitable hospital was found for little Elliot.

Nations will be judged — nations either bless themselves or curse themselves — by how they treat their children, their old people, their sick, their prison population, and their poor, their immigrants.  Think what you will about the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, my sense is that somewhere in the motivation toward action is the sense that this nation has come to care more about the rich and powerful than about the poor and powerless, or even those in the middle.

On Thanksgiving Day most of us will, I hope, sit down to a fabulous meal with people you love.  We will give thanks for our many blessings.  I don’t want to ruin the holiday for you; but remember this: on Thanksgiving Day, as on every other day, 16,000 children will die of hunger.  This world of ours is not working very well, and we know in our hearts that it is not.  To paraphrase Martin Luther King, “Any person, any religion, any nation, which professes to be concerned about their fellow human beings, but is not concerned with the slums they have to dwell in, or the economic system that cripples them — such a person, such a religion, such a nation, is as dry as dust.”

When did we see Jesus?  When did we see God?  When did we see an opportunity for our lives to be bless?  Every time we had a chance to care about a sister or brother in need.

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