Actions have consequences
I think some of the readings that we have for this time of year in the Church calendar are wonderful ! Not wonderful because of their enjoyment value but because of their discomfort value. That may seem a little bit strange but I think all of us at times as Christians need to feel a little uncomfortable.
So often we over-complicate things in our lives, and we can easily reach the point where we’re so good at it that we can justify to ourselves and perhaps even to others that we’re doing all we can to do the right thing, that we’re living a good life…
I attend Church every Sunday and pray every day… I read my Bible regularly… I send money to help charities… I help my neighbour with the shopping… The list can go on and on – we’ve probably all, either consciously or sub consciously thought such things, and there’s no doubt that every one of those things is good to do, and we mustn’t stop.
But the point of discomfort has to be reached as well, as we examine perhaps what more we can do, or indeed what we’re doing which we should stop doing, and why I mentioned that we over-complicate things in our lives is that sometimes I think we forget the absolute heart of the Christian message, and that is love.
Love, not just for a family member or a friend, or even someone we vaguely know, but love for everyone around us. One of the most challenging statements I’ve ever heard is the saying, “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least."
That is an uncomfortable saying… And much as we can search through the teachings of Jesus to try and disprove that statement, the more we look, the more we will find that that is where Jesus stands. This time of year is a good chance for a spiritual health check, and perhaps a time to examine every aspect of our lives because every aspect of our lives, literally every moment of every day, has to be tied up to our relationship with God.
Church is a really good place to start this examination. The Church, a place of welcome for all, a place of love and fellowship, a place of celebration and praise, a place of worship – that is what any Church should be, and yet so often Churches become pre-occupied with discussions about money, even worse, arguments develop over all kinds of often petty things…
Looking at the news every day we have no trouble seeing how many problems there are in the world today – and how many people are really suffering each day… And yet too often in Church life, we hear of petty squabbles and moans about things that don’t really matter too much.
Negative things tend to stick when they’re associated with the Church ! Some people enjoy that…
But how sad it is that we fail so often to see the positives, the things that are going well, the people who are doing so much, or perhaps even how fortunate we are to be living in a society where we can worship openly, where we have the freedom to praise God as we choose, and where we have the opportunity to tell others about our faith…
Because Church attendance, charitable giving, prayers and bible reading are all useful, even essential, parts of our faith, but as Paul writes, ‘Without love we are a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal’… And that definition of love is taken from Jesus’ portrayal of love – loving the seemingly unlovable, the outcast, the sinner, the stranger….
Today our gospel reading (Matthew 25:31-46) highlights this well. As Jesus talks about separating out the goats from the sheep, he talks about those who are chosen being the ones who have given the hungry food, welcoming the stranger, giving the thirsty something to drink, the naked clothing, cared for those who are sick, visiting the prisoner…
We know the reading well. We know about the people being surprised to find that they had done these things, or failed to do these things, for Jesus himself, but Jesus goes on to make it clear that the way we treat anyone is the way we treat Jesus himself…
What Jesus stressed more than anything in his earthly life was the importance of relationships. It was the importance of caring for one another, supporting one another, praying for each other, sharing the love and compassion of Jesus with everyone we meet.
Churches are often measured out in the wider world not on attendances or on great buildings or good preaching or good looking clergy like me (!) or great hymn singing, but on how the individual members of the Church actually live – how they relate to each other, and to people outside the Church.
The things that Jesus has mentioned in this gospel reading are not the absolute requirements of practising our faith, it’s not up to us to judge how another person lives, but these are actually minimum standards of expectation, because these are things that Jesus did.
One of the great Saints of the Church is Mother Theresa, and she lived out this teaching of Jesus incredibly in her life, because she saw the face of Jesus on every leper, or street person that she met, and she treated them just as if she was greeting Jesus himself.
Above each bed in her hospitals were the words, ‘This is the Body of Christ…’ It’s a wonderful example, and it’s one that we are called to follow…
A legend recounts the return of Jesus to heaven after his time on earth. Even in heaven He bore the marks of His earthly pilgrimage with its cruel cross and shameful death. The angel Gabriel approached Him and said, "Master, you must have suffered terribly for men down there." He replied that he did.
Gabriel continued: "And do they know and appreciate how much you loved them and what you did for them?" Jesus replied, "Oh, no! Not yet. Right now only a handful of people in
Palestine know." But Gabriel was perplexed. He asked, "Then
what have you done to let everyone know about your love for
them?"
Jesus said, "I've asked Peter, James, John, and a few more
friends to tell others about me. Those who are told, in turn, will
tell others about me. And my story will be spread to the farthest
reaches of the globe. Ultimately, all of mankind will have heard
about my life and what I have done."
Gabriel frowned and looked rather skeptical. He well knew how bad people might be about telling others. He said, "Yes, but what if Peter and James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget? What if way down in the 20th and 21st centuries people just don't tell others about you? Haven't you made any other plans?" And Jesus answered, "No I have made no other plans. I'm counting on them."
Every action in our lives has a consequence, and whilst we will never reach perfection on earth, whilst we will never get to the point of living life exactly as Jesus wants us to, we must never stop trying….
As I was thinking about every action having a consequence I was reminded of the story of an old man relaxing at his 100th birthday party. A reporter went up to him and said, ‘Sir, what is the secret of your long life ?’
The man considered this for a moment and then replied, ‘Every evening at 9 o’clock I have a glass of port, because it’s good for the heart’.
‘And that’s all’ said the reporter. The man thought again and said, ‘Well that, and of course cancelling the trip I had booked on the Titanic.’
Jesus is counting on us every moment of every day, he is watching every action, every word and every thought… may we be counted worthy… AMEN
So often we over-complicate things in our lives, and we can easily reach the point where we’re so good at it that we can justify to ourselves and perhaps even to others that we’re doing all we can to do the right thing, that we’re living a good life…
I attend Church every Sunday and pray every day… I read my Bible regularly… I send money to help charities… I help my neighbour with the shopping… The list can go on and on – we’ve probably all, either consciously or sub consciously thought such things, and there’s no doubt that every one of those things is good to do, and we mustn’t stop.
But the point of discomfort has to be reached as well, as we examine perhaps what more we can do, or indeed what we’re doing which we should stop doing, and why I mentioned that we over-complicate things in our lives is that sometimes I think we forget the absolute heart of the Christian message, and that is love.
Love, not just for a family member or a friend, or even someone we vaguely know, but love for everyone around us. One of the most challenging statements I’ve ever heard is the saying, “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least."
That is an uncomfortable saying… And much as we can search through the teachings of Jesus to try and disprove that statement, the more we look, the more we will find that that is where Jesus stands. This time of year is a good chance for a spiritual health check, and perhaps a time to examine every aspect of our lives because every aspect of our lives, literally every moment of every day, has to be tied up to our relationship with God.
Church is a really good place to start this examination. The Church, a place of welcome for all, a place of love and fellowship, a place of celebration and praise, a place of worship – that is what any Church should be, and yet so often Churches become pre-occupied with discussions about money, even worse, arguments develop over all kinds of often petty things…
Looking at the news every day we have no trouble seeing how many problems there are in the world today – and how many people are really suffering each day… And yet too often in Church life, we hear of petty squabbles and moans about things that don’t really matter too much.
Negative things tend to stick when they’re associated with the Church ! Some people enjoy that…
But how sad it is that we fail so often to see the positives, the things that are going well, the people who are doing so much, or perhaps even how fortunate we are to be living in a society where we can worship openly, where we have the freedom to praise God as we choose, and where we have the opportunity to tell others about our faith…
Because Church attendance, charitable giving, prayers and bible reading are all useful, even essential, parts of our faith, but as Paul writes, ‘Without love we are a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal’… And that definition of love is taken from Jesus’ portrayal of love – loving the seemingly unlovable, the outcast, the sinner, the stranger….
Today our gospel reading (Matthew 25:31-46) highlights this well. As Jesus talks about separating out the goats from the sheep, he talks about those who are chosen being the ones who have given the hungry food, welcoming the stranger, giving the thirsty something to drink, the naked clothing, cared for those who are sick, visiting the prisoner…
We know the reading well. We know about the people being surprised to find that they had done these things, or failed to do these things, for Jesus himself, but Jesus goes on to make it clear that the way we treat anyone is the way we treat Jesus himself…
What Jesus stressed more than anything in his earthly life was the importance of relationships. It was the importance of caring for one another, supporting one another, praying for each other, sharing the love and compassion of Jesus with everyone we meet.
Churches are often measured out in the wider world not on attendances or on great buildings or good preaching or good looking clergy like me (!) or great hymn singing, but on how the individual members of the Church actually live – how they relate to each other, and to people outside the Church.
The things that Jesus has mentioned in this gospel reading are not the absolute requirements of practising our faith, it’s not up to us to judge how another person lives, but these are actually minimum standards of expectation, because these are things that Jesus did.
One of the great Saints of the Church is Mother Theresa, and she lived out this teaching of Jesus incredibly in her life, because she saw the face of Jesus on every leper, or street person that she met, and she treated them just as if she was greeting Jesus himself.
Above each bed in her hospitals were the words, ‘This is the Body of Christ…’ It’s a wonderful example, and it’s one that we are called to follow…
A legend recounts the return of Jesus to heaven after his time on earth. Even in heaven He bore the marks of His earthly pilgrimage with its cruel cross and shameful death. The angel Gabriel approached Him and said, "Master, you must have suffered terribly for men down there." He replied that he did.
Gabriel continued: "And do they know and appreciate how much you loved them and what you did for them?" Jesus replied, "Oh, no! Not yet. Right now only a handful of people in
Palestine know." But Gabriel was perplexed. He asked, "Then
what have you done to let everyone know about your love for
them?"
Jesus said, "I've asked Peter, James, John, and a few more
friends to tell others about me. Those who are told, in turn, will
tell others about me. And my story will be spread to the farthest
reaches of the globe. Ultimately, all of mankind will have heard
about my life and what I have done."
Gabriel frowned and looked rather skeptical. He well knew how bad people might be about telling others. He said, "Yes, but what if Peter and James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget? What if way down in the 20th and 21st centuries people just don't tell others about you? Haven't you made any other plans?" And Jesus answered, "No I have made no other plans. I'm counting on them."
Every action in our lives has a consequence, and whilst we will never reach perfection on earth, whilst we will never get to the point of living life exactly as Jesus wants us to, we must never stop trying….
As I was thinking about every action having a consequence I was reminded of the story of an old man relaxing at his 100th birthday party. A reporter went up to him and said, ‘Sir, what is the secret of your long life ?’
The man considered this for a moment and then replied, ‘Every evening at 9 o’clock I have a glass of port, because it’s good for the heart’.
‘And that’s all’ said the reporter. The man thought again and said, ‘Well that, and of course cancelling the trip I had booked on the Titanic.’
Jesus is counting on us every moment of every day, he is watching every action, every word and every thought… may we be counted worthy… AMEN
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