"When Did I See You Lord?"

                              Bishop Desman Tattoo of South Africa

When you hear the word Saint, what or who comes to mind for you? 

What do you think that being a Saint entails for the average person? 

Matthew 25: 31- 46,

 Bishop Desman Tattoo of South Africa once said that somewhere deep down inside every person is the ability to recognize good.  A Saint "isn’t" a person who is void of human error, but a Saint is a person who is truly trying to live a life that pleases their Heavenly Parent?   And all the Saints in Heaven rejoice!  
Yet even atheists, those who reject the very idea of a God would recognize and identify a Mother Teresa as Saintly.  Not a person who is void of mistakes but one who lives a life of generosity, compassion, gratitude, goodness and in service to God through the one who has appeared to us in human form. John 1:14.   So then where does this ability to recognize goodness come from?  When I do a good deed does that goodness come from me?  Do I own my goodness, or does it came through me from somewhere else?   The Hebrew understanding of the word kindness might give us a clue.   In English we would say “Mrs. Brown is a kind lady”. but in the Hebrew they would say “Mrs. Brown is a daughter of kindness”.  Attributing her kindness not to her specifically but, coming out of generations of kindness, a mother, a grandmother a great grandmother.  The Hebrew would suggest that our goodness and kindness comes not from us, but comes through us as part of our inheritance.    Therefore we cannot take full credit for acts of generosity, compassion or kindness etc.   Jesus and the other great religious teachers of our world always refer to their courage, compassion, acts of faith or servant hood as coming not from them, but through them, from a higher power, their source of life, from that which created all things, from God.   In all instances there appears to be a price paid for goodness, and there is a price in sharing it.   I don’t know about you but I don’t usually go looking for what an act kindness has cost me, but I do have a tendency to look for some sort of acknowledgement that I have done something good.  

Let me tell you a true story of a young business man who lived in a small community with his wife and children.   He lived a modest life, always had enough for his family with a little extra to go around for special occasions.  As a young boy growing up the man found that many outside his own family were very generous with what they had and he was sometimes the recipient of their generosity.  This made an impression on the boy and as he grew into manhood he decided that he too would be generous with his fellowman.  It became a very easy thing to do for the most part except for one small detail yet to be discovered.  One day he met an old man that by cultural standards was rejected by the community, because of his posture, dress, his physical appearance, his speech impediment and mannerisms.  Out of the goodness of his heart, the businessman befriended the old man, and on several occasions invited him into his home to share a meal.  One day the old man asked if he could borrow 20.00 dollars as he was a little short, and needed gas money for his lawn mowing business.  So the businessman gave his friend the 20.00 dollars, never really wanting the money back, but never telling him that it was a gift.   A week or so later the man came by, told the businessman that the insurance on his vehicle had run out and he needed 35.00 dollars more.  The businessman was this time a bit hesitant, there were many questioning thoughts racing through his head, he gave the his friend the 35.00 dollars but with this condition added “I would like you to pay me back when you can, please”.  The man eventually paid back 20.00 dollars and then seemed to disappear.   The businessman began having extreme mixed emotions about his experience.  He had been a friend to the old man, kind, generous, compassionate, he thought.  Why didn’t the old man just tell him he couldn’t pay the money back in the first place?   But then again, why didn’t the businessman just give him the money outright?  The money really didn’t matter, or did it?  It was the act of kindness wasn’t it, or was it?  The businessman couldn’t figure out his feelings of sadness, discontentment, or the emptiness, “My only intention was to do a good deed” he thought.   One evening a few days before Christmas Eve, the old man showed up at his door again, “Sir” he said “could lend me 30.00 dollars as I am a little short for Christmas”.  The businessman reached in his wallet and gives the old man a 50 dollar bill saying “not a loan, but a gift for you and your family”.  The old man just before opening the door glanced back at the businessman with a strange smile, a giggle of joy, the gleam in his eyes spoke without words to the businessman “Merry Christmas Sir” he said and left.   That was the day I personally learned to see God in the ordinary.  My previous giving had become a subtle form of idolatry, worshiping my own good works.  I also learned that day that this common form of doing “good” can only lead to discouragement because of my concealed expectations.  It wasn’t until I shifted my thoughts from performance, to God’s radiant presence, then I began to see the light.   “When you do for the least of these you did it unto “ME”.  Matthew 25: 40.  I truly saw the face of Jesus in the old man that day.    

What are we missing then, when we do good works and yet still feel empty, get tired of doing and we have not met God in our offering?  I think that the answer is simple, because of our need of acknowledgement, our hidden expatiations or unspoken conditions we can miss the sense of the holy in the ordinary, in the people we serve, but especially in the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the prisoner, the sick, or the dying.   Jesus tell us folks it is there that we will meet and see God, in and through them. 

As we read this week's parable we are reminded that it is in the feeding of the hungry, caring for those on the margins of life, visiting the sick, clothing the naked, and being present to the prisoner that our faith in God is revealed. This is the measure by which we are judged, not by our belief in creeds or our interpretation of scriptures. This reading comes at a time when the world around us is gearing up for the biggest buying spree of the year, Christmas and people are being asked to make gift wish lists for relatives and friends.  For many in our world the wish list is for shelter, clean water, something to eat, a visit or a visual sign that someone cares.  Faith without works is not faith at all Paul writes.  James 2:14-26.  Our nation, our group, our church, we personally will be judged, not for the good we have done, but we will be judged for the good that we have not done.   
                   YOU CAN  MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD