I might be the only one, but Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats freaks me out sometimes. I’m a Christian, I don’t really shy away from that, and as such I believe there is an afterlife, like some form of Heaven and Hell (though probably not quite in the way we’re typically describing it). As you might know most Christian’s also believe that your eternal destiny is not something you earn by racking up a certain number of goody points above and beyond your dirty little secrets, I agree with that too (specific details are probably for another time).
Jesus’ parable, from what I can see is the most straightforward, and longest, passage specifically talking about the afterlife that I see in the Bible. And if I may paraphrase, Jesus basically says, “Feed the Poor or Go to Hell.”
What has struck me recently is how many terribly lame excuses I make as to why I am not doing that. My excuses seem to run directly parallel to those who say in the parable, “When did we see you hungry…” and quite frankly that scares me. I think I’ll probably go into some examples in other posts, but for now I’m sure you can come up with a handful of your own that you’ve likely made in the last few days.
The crazy thing about it is that, we’ve some how surrounded ourselves with people who are perfectly content with our excuses. We don’t have people around us we will call us out, challenge us, and rebuke us for such pitiful attempts at justification.
“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”
(you may remember me from other contacts such as the atheist email concerning the podcast and…well…that’s it, and is as good an impression as i can do of the simpson’s troy mcclure)
i struggle with this as well. i guess my ultimate question is how much should i give? how much of myself and time and money? how much should i deny myself for others? although, the “Feed the poor or go to hell” line is pretty straight forward i guess!
the passage in the gospels that freaks me out the most is luke 19:27 (from the parable in luke 19:11-27) “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.”
on abc news last night there was an interesting modern day study of a research study originally done in the 60s (here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_Experiment )
it gets to what you were saying, if people aren’t telling us we are doing wrong (or, are even telling us we are doing right) by letting others suffer it makes it harder to do “the right thing”.
Is it possible that though there is hunger here in America, it is (thankfully) rare, but that one can be “hungry” for something else? An example might include hunger for companionship, or even acknowledgement. How many live among us that we do not see? I mean really see. We avert our eyes to avoid seeing suffering, when I sometimes feel that the beggar in the street is really asking us to acknowledge his presence, to stop and interact for a moment. Just asking…
We excuse ourselves from a lot of what Jesus said because we claim to not understand it or we assume that he means spiritual food…I think that what Jesus says is true: If you do not feed the poor, you WILL go to hell (whatever form that will take). I don’t want to mess around with interpretation anymore. I want to just do it. Try it…give out Arch cards to everyone you think may need it. That could be a whole other post!
Wow!
Thanks for all the thoughtful comments everyone. It think your all on the right track. I’m going to post again tonight about this, specifically about housing the homeless. Be sure to check back and let me know what you think.
Matt, thanks for the link I’ll be sure to check it out.
Mack,
I think your dead on about companionship. At the same time I know a lot of homeless who seem to have many companions about them, and they still need something to get off the ground.
Heidi,
Let’s do it! I think your making some great strides. Not a fan of McD’s but arch cards do seem like an effective resource. Any more ideas?
Here’s the newest post on Lame Excuses:
http://blog.iamnotashamed.net/2007/01/04/guestrooms-for-jesus/
In my opinion, and my opinion only – if one gives to the poor because he or she afraid of going to hell, one will still go to hell.
Giving to the poor and generally doing good things, in my opinion, is only admirable if it’s done without any reasons or benefits to the giver, out of pureness of one’s heart.
Just my 2 cents.
Alexander-
Well said. I definitly don’t mean to imply by this post that your motivation should be out of fear, rather it should be out of love.
Your absolutely right that what we tend to admire in people’s giving is a pure heart. We aren’t impressed by donations for tax breaks, or service under compulsion of punishment or otherwise.
I think this passage of Jesus’ words needs to be closely tied to his calling us to the commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”