The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, November 23rd: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28; Matthew 25:31-46)

ARE YOU A SHEEP OR A GOAT?

In this week’s gospel reading, Jesus explained what the final judgment will be like. He said the Son of Man (Himself) will sit on a glorious throne and all people will be gathered before Him. Jesus then will separate the good from the wicked, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

The way Jesus described it, the primary distinction between the good and the wicked is whether or not they performed works of mercy during their lives. To the righteous, He will say, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.”

When the righteous people say, “Huh? When did we do that stuff?” Jesus will reply, “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Conversely, the wicked will be accused of not doing any of those charitable works, and when they, too, say, “Huh?” Jesus will reply, “What you did NOT do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.”

This week’s gospel reading raises a few interesting points. First, it is clear that the “goats” will be condemned for sins of omission, rather than sins of commission. They didn’t do anything bad to anyone, they just didn’t do anything good for anyone.

The lessons in the gospels often emphasize sins of omission—for example, the parable we recently heard about the servant who hid his master’s money in the ground rather than putting it to work. The message is obvious: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is a lot more difficult and takes a lot more effort than “Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you.”

The theme for all of this goes back to the gospel reading four weeks ago, where Jesus discussed the two greatest commandments, love God and love your neighbor as yourself. The mere avoidance of doing bad things to your neighbor is not loving him; it is ignoring him. Jesus commands us to be proactive, to do good works rather than simply refraining from bad works.

Secondly, we are reminded that the divine Lord is omnipresent. When we love others, we are loving Christ. When we ignore others, we are ignoring Christ. Somehow, in a supernatural, mystical way, Jesus is present in the poor and downtrodden of the world.

No one understood this better—or lived it better—than Mother Teresa, who said that she really, truly saw the face of Jesus in every person she met. Whether sinner or saint, beggar or billionaire, she saw the face of Jesus in everyone, which compelled her to love them as best she could, often by washing their festering sores and gently holding their bony hands as they died.

Finally, this week’s gospel reading makes it crystal clear that saving faith is not passive. It is not a one-time intellectual assent to the idea that Jesus is Lord and then we never think about it again. We are not saved by our works—the Bible is clear about that—we are saved by grace through faith. If we could save ourselves by our deeds then Christ did not have to die.

But true saving faith is powerful, invigorating, and life-changing. When we trust in Jesus, when we put our faith in His atoning death and life-giving resurrection, we become “new creations in Christ.”

Over the years, religious legalists have distorted the Gospel message into a series of dos-and-don’ts, a long list of deeds that must be performed to “earn” our way into Heaven. The truth is, we are powerless to save ourselves. The fact that God offers us the free gift of undeserved grace needs to be preached clearly and forcefully (especially in those denominations that tend to be too legalistic).

In reaction to this legalism, an “easy-believism” Gospel has gained prominence. Name it, claim it, then fergettaboutit! You’re guaranteed admittance into Heaven! However, focusing exclusively on a few verses written by St. Paul—who was writing specifically to some hardcore legalists—can be dangerous. Don’t take my word for it; take JESUS’ WORD for it. This week’s gospel could not be any clearer: name it and claim it just doesn’t cut it.

There is a fairly simple explanation for the apparent gulf between Paul’s words and Jesus’ words. Faith is a verb. It’s an action word. Yes, we’re saved by faith, not by deeds. But when we have true faith, we can’t help but perform charitable deeds. When we understand how much God loves us, even though we don’t deserve it, we simply can’t help but love our neighbors as ourselves.

When we heed Jesus’ message, many good things happen: we help out our fellow man, we show God how much we love Him, and we raise our own spirits and character (don’t forget, Jesus wasn’t lying when He said it is more blessed to give than to receive). Most of all, we will avoid that awful situation at the final judgment when the wicked are separated from the righteous and sent out of God’s presence for all eternity.

©2008