{"id":135412,"date":"2017-11-26T23:14:54","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T06:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135412"},"modified":"2017-11-27T06:43:13","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T13:43:13","slug":"thanksgiving-gospel-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/26\/thanksgiving-gospel-reading.html","title":{"rendered":"A Thanksgiving Gospel Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

The reading from today’s service at our church: Matthew 25:31-46<\/a>:<\/p>\n

31 \u201cWhen the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.<\/p>\n

34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, \u2018Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.\u2019 37 Then the righteous will answer him, \u2018Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?\u2019 40 And the king will answer them, \u2018Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.\u2019<\/p>\n

41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, \u2018You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.\u2019 44 Then they also will answer, \u2018Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?\u2019 45 Then he will answer them, \u2018Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.\u2019 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am always reluctant to contest the label of “Christian” to any person who claims it, because that sort of differentiation is often the tool of those who would divide Christians by various categories, usually for what seem like trivial reasons, and often to a bad end. “You don’t believe in doctrine X!” “You’re wishy-washy in dogma Y!” “You don’t profess the Correct Things to be a True Christian.” “Burn the heretics!” Etc.<\/p>\n

But it is difficult for me to grant the title of Christian to those who act against this core passage of the Gospel.<\/p>\n

Jesus doesn’t qualify the poor, the hungry, the needy, the imprisoned by worth<\/i> or deservedness<\/i> or justification.<\/i><\/p>\n

He doesn’t say “Well, we should care for the people who work really, really hard but are oppressed by the greedy and therefore deserve our care.”<\/p>\n

He doesn’t say, “There are hungry people who aren’t lazy, or who make only good decisions in their lives, or who are otherwise admirable, so those specific people are the people who you should help.”<\/p>\n

He doesn’t say, “There are a lot of innocent people in jail, so we should extend mercy just to those prisoners who are unjustly oppressed by impositions on their religious freedom or who are otherwise innocent of their crimes.”<\/p>\n

He doesn’t say, “There are a lot of people who have made all the right decisions, and have believed all the right things, but who are still in unfortunate circumstances, and therefore should be treated as good people, and therefore deserve your charity.”<\/p>\n

It’s a metaphor,<\/i> people.<\/p>\n

God grants His grace to anyone<\/i> who needs it, regardless of whether they “deserve” it. That’s what grace<\/i> is about.<\/p>\n

Thus, any Christian — any follower of Christ — is called to extend their charity to anyone<\/i> who needs it, regardless of whether they “deserve” it. Because we are called not to judge, lest we ourselves are judged. We are called to be good neighbors, to care for people based on their circumstance, not on their virtuous outlook or theological purity or being (in our eyes) “good” people.<\/p>\n

People who claim to be Good Christians but who disdain and reject people who they feel don’t deserve<\/i> charity, love of neighbor, feeding of those who (for whatever reason) are hungry, caring for “the least of these” who (for whatever reason) are the least …<\/p>\n

… are, frankly, piss-poor Christians.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The reading from today’s service at our church: Matthew 25:31-46: 31 \u201cWhen the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a … Continue reading “A Thanksgiving Gospel Reading”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,528,358,98,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-economic-justice","category-poor-citizenship","category-scriptural-maunderings","category-religion-me"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/socio-cutural_program_35B15D.jpgimgmax=660.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22562,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/09\/man-does-not-live-by-bread-alone-but-he-doesnt-live-long-without-it-either.html","url_meta":{"origin":135412,"position":0},"title":"Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone … but he doesn’t live long without it, either","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 9-Sep-11 6:23pm","format":false,"excerpt":"When the tempter came to him, he said, \"If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.\" But he answered and said, \"It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.\" --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Maslows_Hierarchy_of_Needs.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":46008,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/21\/star-goats-episode-iv-a-new-bleat.html","url_meta":{"origin":135412,"position":1},"title":"STAR GOATS! Episode IV: A New Bleat","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 21-Oct-14 3:57pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, I may have hurt myself laughing.(via http:\/\/qoftu.com\/2014\/10\/21\/star-wars-goats-awesome\/) #starwars View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22634,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/11\/arizona-continues-to-race-for-the-bottom.html","url_meta":{"origin":135412,"position":2},"title":"Arizona continues to race for the bottom","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 11-Sep-11 7:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"(I commented on this earlier, but feel compelled to speak more at length.) The state of Arizona, in the hands of the GOP, continues to compete against the rest of the nation to become the ideal conservative state. \u00a0Which generally seems to translate out to screwing the poor, the powerless,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Crime & Punishment"","block_context":{"text":"Crime & Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/arizona-prison.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21039,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/15\/scriptural-maunderings-for-the-fourth-sunday-of-easter.html","url_meta":{"origin":135412,"position":3},"title":"Scriptural Maunderings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 15-May-11 11:05pm","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an occasional series of posts about the scripture read at our church and what it means to me. I attend an Episcopal service, and we are in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary. This week's readings are particularly meaningful, as my parish church is named after the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Church & State"","block_context":{"text":"Church & State","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/church-state"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/good-shepherd.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":49295,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/20\/exploding-kittens.html","url_meta":{"origin":135412,"position":4},"title":"Exploding Kittens!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 20-Jan-15 5:33pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah, I backed it, too. Sounds like fun. Originally shared by +Scott Randel: Backed and eagerly awaiting. Exploding Kittens This is a card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats. View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18350,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/31\/unblogged-bits-tue-31-aug-10-2331.html","url_meta":{"origin":135412,"position":5},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Tue. 31-Aug-10 2331)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 31-Aug-10 11:31pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Orbiter BBC News - Fidel Castro takes blame for persecution of Cuban gays - Um ... very nice ... so, what are you changing? mental_floss Blog \u00bb The Nautical Roots of 9 Common Phrases\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135412"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135433,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135412\/revisions\/135433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}