God’s Servers
THE LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST: CHRIST THE KING
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 • Psalm 100 • Ephesians 1:15-23 • Matthew 25:31-46
My first job at age 14 was bussing tables at the Mexican restaurant my mother worked at in downtown Rogers. By the time I was in college, picking up a job at Cracker Barrel seemed simple enough. I purchased the uniform at WalMart, bought shoes from Payless, and donned the brown apron all servers wore. I earned one star on my apron for making it through the orientation material. I could earn up to four stars, though now nearly 20 years later, I don’t even remember what the criteria was.
Because it’s easy to forget.
Details can be given to us, instructions for how to succeed, and as we make our way along, we figure out what works and doesn’t for us, how to calculate what’s needed or isn’t, what we want most, what we’re willing to do for it. The parameters for success may come from a manager’s instruction or a colleague’s sage advice, but eventually, don’t we find our way to determine what’s comfortable for us?
It’s when things get comfortable that I get nervous. This may speak to my personal history more than anything, because I do believe that what we find comfortable varies from person to person, as much as the way we live our lives and celebrate our feasts. Our homes, even our own minds, become a microcosm, an island unto themselves, where we alone judge what is good or bad. Focusing on me and mine, I can control the measures of comfort and create the stability I need. I can engorge myself on my own success to my heart’s content.
If I recall correctly from the fourth year of Education for Ministry, which focuses on theology practically and systematically, in David Ford’s book Theology: A Short Introduction, there’s a section that reflects on religious traditions generally, and the main question they seek to answer has to do with the meaning of life: what is my purpose? If you’re paying extra attention now, thinking I’m going to give you a short answer to your purpose in life, I do have a word to offer you: Love. It’s your work to figure out how best to live into it, and that’s the hard, discerning part. If every person lived their life guided by ultimate love, which as Christians we identify with God, what kind of world would we live in? A world where the hungry are fed, the thirsty have drink, the stranger is welcomed, the naked are clothed, the sick are cared for, and the prisoners don’t suffer alone. In such a place, I can’t imagine a cause for war, so full is everyone of care for one another, so full of love, so full of justice.
As a Christian, it’s easy to see why we are clamoring for a sense of purpose in our lives. We are restless because suffering pervades our world. The more connected we are, the more aware we are of this suffering, from the earth to the sky, from the East to the West, and everywhere in between. For those on the front lines of addressing suffering—which I dare say is all of us with a view outside ourselves—they…we… cannot look away from the reality at hand, the prevalence of vulnerability at every turn, in everyone.
Millennia ago, God heard the cries of the people and spoke through prophets to decry injustice that perpetuated suffering. The word of God speaking to the leaders of Israel through Ezekiel cried out: “You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them” (Ezek 34:4). The shepherds were metaphors for the kings, the rulers, and in the lesson we heard today, which falls after the previously mentioned verse, God claims God’s primacy, outlines what will be done by God’s will, and God’s sheep, God’s people, will be fed with justice (Ezek 34:16).
Our God, the Alpha and Omega, reminds us again through the life and ministry of Jesus that this same sense of justice prevails. How many times does Jesus reveal that the kingdom of heaven is like this: when the sick are healed, the hungry fed, the “other” embraced? Dr. Cornel West is quoted as saying, “Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” Jesus, God incarnate, embodied love in public, embodied justice as we understand it from our Holy Scripture, the primary source for our understanding of the will of God.
The sovereignty of God in our lives means that we accept we do not have control, superiority, or primacy. Accepting God as the One, True Sovereign or our Good Shepherd through Christ means that how we order our priorities and values is going to be different from a system that enables individualism or nationalism. Following God’s sense of justice means that we won’t get stars on our apron or in our crown but that we will be recognized as God’s people by how we show love for others.
We likely won’t all do all the things outlined in Matthew, but as a body, as a church, I assure you we are part of the Body of Christ, offering care and concern for others in all these ways. Stop by the fridge or pantry outside or come in on Monday and Wednesday to the Community Meal or Sunday’s breakfast or Wednesday’s dinner to see how we offer food and drink. Partner with us through Canopy NWA to welcome refugees to the community or sit in on the Let’s Get Acquainted gathering to hear how others are finding their way to God in this place. Prayerfully knit with our Prayer Shawl Guild, drop of coats, or bring socks as we clothe those who are cold or need comfort. Look into how Seven Hills got started when it comes to caring for the unhoused, and find opportunities to serve there or at New Beginnings or with Family Promise. Visit the Community Clinic or speak with doctors among us to know how the sick are being cared for, and know that the ministry that began over a decade ago continues in the women’s prison. Other parishioners serve in various ways throughout our community in these and varied other ways to show love for neighbor, rooted in devotion and love of God first and foremost.
Perhaps this is the true measure of our success as believers. Just as Jesus said that those at the right hand of the Son of Man asked, “When was it” that we did all the righteous things or those at the left hand asked, “When was it that we saw you,” so we might ask, “When is it that the Son of Man is coming?” Because it is with the coming of the Messiah that we are to be judged. In the lesson, the Sovereign replies that it was in the moment of the tangible act of love that was or wasn’t shown for another that the vulnerable person was the Sovereign, the Son of Man. We often translate this more simply as recognizing Christ in others. Doesn’t that mean that Christ is already among us?
Just as we hearken back to the concept of offering hospitality to all because we never know when we might be entertaining angels unaware, so, too do we treat others as we would treat Christ himself. And, yes, Jesus was crucified. Humans are capable of great atrocity. We see it every day. So, too, are we capable of great love, of great care, of ultimate hospitality. We won’t get stars on our aprons any more than I think we’ll get stars in any type of heavenly crown. But God and others will know we are Christian by the way we feed one another with justice, care for one another in love, and tend to all God’s children, leaving the judgment to God alone. There’s no orientation for being a faithful server in God’s kin-dom, but in God’s holy Word, we have a pretty good set of criteria for our life-long work.
© 2023 The Rev. Sara Milford
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Fayetteville, Arkansas