Risky Business

Reflecting on the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost: Three Days after Sunday (Year C)

Scripture (semicontinuous)

Psalter: Psalm 7

Old Testament: Amos 5:1-9

Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46

Scripture (complementary)

Psalter: Psalm 25:11-20

Old Testament: Ecclesiastes 9:13-18

Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46

___

Prayer

Divine Judge, you framed the earth with love and mercy  and declared it good; yet we, desiring to justify ourselves, judge others harshly, without knowledge or understanding. Keep us faithful in prayer that we may be filled with the knowledge of your will, and not ignore or pass by another’s need, but plumb the depths of love in showing mercy. Amen.

Reflection

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me’” Matthew 25:34-36).

Ernest Henry Shackleton was born on February 15, 1874 in Ireland. While Shackleton was still young, the family moved to London where Shackleton was educated. Ernest’s father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become a doctor Instead Shackleton joined the merchant navy at the age of sixteen. As a sailor he travelled to many place, but Shackleton’s great desire to travel to the North and South Poles.

In December of 1914, Shackleton finally set sail for the South Pole in command of the ship, Endurance. He took with him a crew of twenty-seven men, many of whom had answered the following recruitment notice Shackleton placed in the newspaper.

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. —Ernest Shackleton.

So many men responded to the ad that Shackleton had to turn away more than a few!

Doing mission and service work isn’t just a nice thing for us to as Christians to do—it’s something that we need to do. It’s something that we must do. It is the very reason why God has put us here. In fact, a church will die if it is not doing the kind of mission and service work that Jesus talked about and for which he gave us the example. The church will die without mission—maybe not overnight, but it will die…slowly and surely. It will gradually waste away as all of its energies and resources turn more and more inward on itself, and the church becomes merely a monument to the work and witness of saints gone by.

Jesus tells the parable of the sheep and the goats. To the sheep (the righteous) Jesus, the Judge extends his invitation to enter into his Kingdom, because “I was hungry and you fed me. I was in prison and you visited me. Whatever you did to the least of these in need, you did do me. Enter into your reward.”

To the goats (the not-so-righteous) Jesus, the Judge sends them away from his presence, because “whatever you didn’t do to the least of these in need, you didn’t do to me. Go away into the trouble that you’ve made for yourself.”

Jesus leaves no doubt as to the necessity of risk-taking mission and service for our eternity; we are to serve others in Christ’s name because our lives, our eternity depend on it. Indeed in risk-taking mission and service we bring eternity into the present to those in need. Every Sunday in the Lord’s Prayer we pray together, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In other words, each Sunday that we gather for worship, we ask God for his will to be done that we might bring something of heaven to earth. In risk-taking mission and service, the church indeed brings the presence of God, something of heaven, into the lives of others.

The future of the church depends upon risk-taking mission and service. A congregation that loses the profound reason for its existence will slowly wither and die. The church of Jesus Christ exists for others; it exists for the world. What can happen (and it happens all too often) is that the congregations move from existing for the world to existing for their own sake. They see their mission not as reaching those outside the church for Jesus Christ, but as catering to the current constituency. And as important as it is for the church to care for its membership, when it focuses inward upon itself, instead of outward on those who need to know and embrace God’s saving love, it is a recipe for eventual stagnation and decline.

After thirty-eight years as a pastor, I have become convinced that the primary reasons the church turns inward on itself is because it is afraid. It is not afraid to be in mission and service; it is afraid to be in risk-taking mission and service.

Too often the church replaces risk-taking mission and service with charity. Charity is what we do for the poor and marginalized to make us feel good about ourselves. We put aside funds in our budget for homeless shelters and soup kitchens; we even volunteer to feed the homeless once a week, and at the holidays we prepare food baskets for the “underprivileged,” as we like to call them. Please do not misunderstand me; all of this is important and necessary and part of what it means to be a faithful church. But is this sufficient? Is this enough? Can such giving become a replacement for the risk-taking mission and service so necessary?

Instead of only providing a space in our churches to feed the homeless, what if we made it a point to join them for lunch and not only offer to them a cup of what in Jesus’ name, but offer Jesus himself to them in our presence? What if we invited those persons to worship, and not only invited them, but brought them to worship and sit with them?

The homeless, the poor, the marginalized will indeed take what we offer them. If we offer them a hot meal, they will take. The question we must ask as followers of Jesus, who actually spent time with those on the fringes of society, is will they take more? Will they accept our time and our presence? Are we willing to sacrifice some time in order to offer our presence in Jesus’ name?

The truth of the matter is charity is what we do for ourselves in order to make ourselves feel good; risk-taking mission and service is what we do for others because we the church exist for others. Above all things, Jesus Christ desires to be in relationship with all persons. He cannot be in relationship with others unless we are in relationship with him. Evangelism is not about only conveying information about salvation; it is not about leaving tracts on park benches. Evangelism is about being in relationship with those whom Jesus wants to be in relationship.

Such mission and service is indeed risky. It forces us to be vulnerable, to step outside of our comfort zones; but our lives, as well as the lives of others depend upon it. When the church is willing to step out and take the risk of such mission and service, it will discover a kind of joy and satisfaction that far surpasses the momentary thrill of charitable giving, because it will have discovered the adventure that is the gospel!

NOTE

*Caroline Alexander, The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition. Alfred A. Knoph, 1999.

PRAYER: Gracious God, we have good intentions. We truly want to help those in need. We desire for all persons come to Christ. We confess that there are times when we have used charity as a replacement for the risk-taking mission and service you have called us to do. We know that we cannot step out in such mission and service without the presence and power of your Holy Spirit in our lives. So in the power of your Spirit, assist us as we move forward in our task, knowing that we, your church exist not for ourselves, but for others. We lift our prayer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and the biggest risk-taker of them all. Amen.

___

Check out my podcast, “Faith Seeking Understanding,” on Anchor and other platforms here. Also on Apple Podcasts.