Sermon by Reverend Dr. John W. Mann | November 26, 2023

Matthew 25:31-46

Every few years it was my turn to attend the General Assembly meeting of the Church of Scotland. It was a week-long event held in Edinburgh in a grand assembly next to the Royal Mile. Just up the street is the Edinburgh Castle and at the other end is Holyrood Palace, where in those days the queen would stay when she was in town.

The meeting involved much pomp and circumstance. One balcony was reserved for the queen, or her appointed representative, known as “The Lord High Chamberlain,” who would sit on a throne overlooking the proceedings.

One of the perks of being a commissioner to the General Assembly was an invitation to the Queen’s Garden Party, held on the grounds of Holyrood Palace. The invitation arrived in an embossed envelope from the Queen’s purser at Buckingham Palace. I was invited on three different occasions. I never went.

While there were many parts of the life and work that I embraced, and some to which I accommodated myself, there was always the sense of being a foreigner. Early on I had gone with some colleagues on a tour of Glamis Castle, where the Queen’s mother was born and raised. It was grand in every respect. One of colleagues was from Wales. He was okay with Scotland, but he was no fan of the English. He asked me what I thought of the tour. I said, “Where I come from, we fought a revolution so that this sort of thing would not be important.”

The Queen has since passed on and I missed any opportunity to meet the monarch of the realm. But maybe not…

One Sunday morning instead of instead of sitting in our Sunday School room listening to bible stories, our Sunday School teacher – Ray Lott – took us on a field trip. The five or six boys in his class of primary school fifth graders piled into his car and took a tour through what was known as “Skid Row.”

Skid Row was a neighborhood just over the Burnside Bridge in Portland. A lot of cities in those days had places they called skid row. It was the “low rent” district; somewhat seedy. People lived there in cheap hotels and there were businesses that catered to the wants and needs of the area. If someone “hit the skids,” that’s where they ended up. To a ten-year-old boy, skid row was a really scary place. Looking back on it, a lot of the people who lived in skid row were old age pensioners living on limited income. But in those days, they were called bums.

On a Sunday morning the streets were quiet. There were some people hanging around the street corners; someone here and there  sleeping in a doorway. Ray Lott told us, “Take a good look boys. They were all ten years old one time, just like you. Somehow they ended up here.” It was fairly obvious to a ten-year-old on a field trip with a Baptist Sunday School teacher: they ended up here because of the evils of drink.

After we drove through skid row, we went to the train station, which was the only place open on a Sunday morning, and Ray bought everyone a round of milkshakes. I see it differently now. I wouldn’t call those guys bums anymore. Now I would call them broken or lost or trying to scrape by on limited resources. Guys that need to be healed or found.

Ray was a good guy and I think what he was trying to show us was that life was real and people lose their way and it’s not just a fairy tale story from some old book. In his own way he was trying telling us that God loves you and wants you to have a life that you can appreciate and enjoy.

Times have changed and along with them so too our perceptions of people. The old skid row neighborhood of Portland became gentrified and the economy didn’t lift and rescue the people we once thought of as “bums” so much as it just moved them on to another place. It spread them out of the cheap hotels into homeless shelters and hostels and under the bridges and into the streets and parks.

Jesus told a story about the nature of God’s realm. He spoke often about what he called, “The kingdom of God.” If there is a realm, then there must be a monarch of the realm. Kingdoms call for kings.

Monarchies are easy to understand. The king or the queen as the case may be is in charge. Historically the king or the queen has had more power and in some countries they still do. In Thailand today it’s a crime to criticize the king. You can go to jail for that. Historically kings and queens have had that “Off with their heads” power of life and death over people.

And there’s a hierarchy – structure with the monarch at the top and everyone else at various stages down the line. Dukes, earls, viscounts, knights, lairds, dames, ladies, gentlemen and general subjects. Though one can be elevated within the ranks by royal decree, one tends to be born into one’s place and one is meant to be comfortable with that.

When the monarch pays a visit, people pay attention. The ruler of the land gets a lot of attention. Stories are told of royal visits wherein local facilities are prepared and remodeled in advance in the off chance that royalty might have to avail one’s self. When the monarch of the realm is walking down the street – or driving by in a motorcade – all heads turn in that direction.

Jesus said that in the realm God things are different. The realm is not based upon a hierarchy; the realm of God is based upon compassion. Compassion is what he spent most of his time talking about – God’s compassion for us and our compassion for each other. God’s realm equals compassion.

Jesus told a story that implied when the King of Kings comes into our midst, we don’t even have to recognize him as king. No bowing, no scraping, no “Yes, your majesty,” no “By all means, your highness.” None of that. We just have to be compassionate.

But if we don’t recognize the king, then how will we know him? What’s the difference between the Prince of Peace and some guy on the street? Shouldn’t there be some way to tell?

Jesus implied that telling the difference between the King of Kings and just some guy on the street is not by any outward means of identification. Rather it is by an inward means of identification. If you identify with the ethos of God’s realm, then you will know the difference between the King that is Jesus and some homeless guy begging for money. Or some sick person. Or somebody stuck in a jail cell.

And the difference you will know is that there is no difference. Jesus is one and the same with all the people we think of as least worthy of a royal title. “The least of these” he called them – or “the least of these my brothers and sisters.”

He said he would know the difference by how we act. He will separate us like a shepherd separating sheep and goats. It’s fairly obvious to one who works with such creatures to tell the difference, but since he was talking about inward realities, he is looking at a heart and soul difference.

What makes a sheep and a goat different in their inward being?

Years ago, when my neighbors across the street, the Finnegan’s moved into Ralston Avenue, the house they bought was a mess. It was built in 1835 and the house and gardens had fallen into disrepair. Tony went to work redecorating the inside and he came up with a brilliant idea for bringing some sense of control to the garden. He bought a goat.

The goat was tethered to a pole and Tony would locate the pole in different places in the garden. The goat ate everything in sight. It took some time, but the goat eventually ate enough of the garden so that the Finnegans could bring the rest of it under control.

Maybe one difference between sheep and goats is that goats will consume everything in sight until there is nothing left. Jesus talked about feeding people, clothing people, engaging in acts of healing and mercy not because it’s merely the right thing to do, or the Christian thing to do, but because he himself is there amongst the people who need the food, clothing, healing and mercy.

Sharing with others out of compassion as opposed to consuming everything in sight out of greed and self-interest.

Jesus had a tendency to turn conventional wisdom upside down and this story of the sheep and the goats is a perfect example. It’s not a story about proper belief. You don’t even have to recognize the king. You just have to do the right thing.

Most of the time when we think about “Christian Mission” we have this underlying idea that we are somehow “sharing Christ” with a world in need. We do good works and we take some pleasure in bringing a sense of Christ into the world.

But according to Jesus and the way he tells the story, he is with both those who give the food or share the clothing or make the visit; and he is there in the ones who are in need. In our giving Christ to others, we find him in others. Amen.