Accountable?

sheep and goats may pasture together during the day, but at night they are separated, since the sheep need to be close together to help keep each other warm, and goats want more space for themselves.

Perhaps it is that independence of the goats that Jesus wants to contrast with the interdependence of the sheep.

--The goats climb over all sorts of high and difficult places by themselves..

--I saw them even climb part way up into a tree.

--They will trust their own sure-footedness to get them out of trouble.

--The sheep need to stick together, to depend more on the help and guidance of the shepherd.

--Their own wisdom is more limited.

--They thrive and survive because of the wisdom of the shepherd.

Most of the time we see this story as dealing only with final judgment.

--We know the attitude:

It doesn't matter very much what I say or do right now, just so I have time to get everything settled and put right before the end.

--But to say that is to forget last week's lessons that reminded us that we will not know the day or the hour of the end.

The separation of the sheep and the goats is not a once-in-a-lifetime event, but a regular, every-evening happening!

--It is the normal, expected pattern.

So now we have the first surprise:

--The judging, the separation that takes place cannot be postponed till some indefinite future.

It is a regular occurrence, just as the sheep and goats are separated each day.

And the second surprise is closely related:

--The last day is not so much Judgment Day as it is Verdict Day.

--It is an announcing of what we have been all along.

It si not the case that during the day the herder has “animals” that at sunset suddenly become “sheep” and “goats”.

All during the day, by what they do, they are revealing what they are.

And the herder is merely recognizing that separation at day's end.

We keep thinking that we can define the boundaries.

We keep trying to say what is God's business and how much is ours exclusively.

Surprise! The boundary is not where we think it is.

We cannot draw the line between Sunday morning and Monday, because the whole week belongs to him.

This is why we use the quite un-democratic language of kingship when speaking of Jesus.

This is not a democracy of equal partners; everything and everybody belongs to the one who has made us, Christ the King.

We cannot draw the boundary between what we think and what we do, because Jesus says that evil thoughts are as bad as evil deeds.

We cannot draw the boundary in such a way as to box God into the distant past and the final future while leaving us happily alone in the present.

He is Lord over all time and space.

We cannot draw an artificial boundary between us “good” people and everyone else, because our ways of judging what is good may be quite short-sighted and different from God's standards of judging.

We cannot make ourselves into sheep: that is established by the gift of God when we are made over in Holy Baptism.

So our regular question of each other can be: Since Jesus has declared us to be sheep, why are we acting so much like goats?

This question chases us every day: Are we living like the sheep we truly are meant to be?

Are we sticking together and following the lead of our shepherd like the sheep we truly are, or are we sheep trying to be independent goats?

In conversation with other pastors, this is the point where our discussion bagged down.

How can we talk about doing the will of God without turning it into a new works-righteousness,

--without turning the story of the sheep and the goats into the cheap moral exhortation to do enough good things so that at the final judgment God will let us off,

--without trying to say that we earn God's forgiveness and our place in heaven.

The problem arises this way:

the parable says that those at the right hand of God are surprised.

“when did we do all those good things? We don't remember.”

We are to do things spontaneously and unconsciously.

But the moment we realize what we are to do, we cannot then do it spontaneously.

It is like accidentally finding out about a Christmas present yesterday.

There is no way that we can then be surprised on December 25, no matter how convincing a performance we put on Christmas morning.

But there is a way that we can consciously move to an action which is unconsciously done.

When something is done so often or is practiced so carefully that it becomes a habit,

then there is a point where an action is completed without conscious attention to that action, when it is done without thinking about doing it.

Have you ever driven to work, making all of the proper stops and turns and later are unable to remember a single thing about it?

That is habit at work.

Have you watched Jungwha at the organ, or an experienced person at a computer keyboard, or a master carpenter?

They have all practiced very intensively so that they are able to instantly seize the opportunity that their eyes see and transform it into music, or a proper typed form, or a wooden object pleasing and functional.

They don't have to think about the many things that need to be done along the way.

They have practiced good habits appropriate for what they are:

organist, typist, carpenter, etc.

“When did we see you in need and help, Lord? We don't remember.”

Why? Because those things were done simply as holy habits,

They are the things that one does simply because we are Christians.

We struggle to learn them, and we do them awkwardly at first.

We need each other’s' help and encouragement in the struggle.

But even that is not enough.

We dare to engage in this difficult process because we know what kind of judge is on the heavenly throne.

A young man fell in with the wrong crowd and became an accessory to grand theft.

He asked his lawyer about his chances.

“Well, there are two possibilities:

--one judge will throw the book at you and that will be that.

--the other judge will be willing to try to do things to turn you from the path you are on to something better.

It all depends which judge you get.”

Good news, folks! Jesus is that second sort of judge.

Day after day we are to sort out those parts of our lives that are goat-like,

and tend and take care of those parts that are sheep-like.

And we do this with confidence, for the one on the throne at the end is the same Good Shepherd who has been leading, guiding, and training his flock all along.

And that is the best surprise of all.

Jesus, carpenter, teacher, unjustly executed man is shown to be Son of God, lover of all those whom he names as brothers and sisters, Christ the King.

Let all rejoice and say:

Alleluia, Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.