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The Gospel of Matthew Bible Studies
The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
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Last Sunday After Pentecost – Christ the King (A) Matthew 25:31-46 November 2, 2008 If you look back to the Hebrew Bible, and read Ezekiel the prophet, he is lecturing ridiculing people, because he looks at them and he sees them behaving like animals—like a wild heard of sheep—that’s how he describes them—and it seems to be survival of the fittest with them. And so God speaks through the prophetic voice, saying: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide. I don’t know about you, but to me this sounds a lot like recess. You know... recess, on the playground when the teacher wasn’t looking closely enough and the bigger / older / stronger kids scattered the little, younger weaker kids. Possibly even taking your turn on the swings…?! Throughout human history this has repeatedly happened—different societies at different times have fallen from one degree to another into a state of (what I call) primal instinct, where there is little regard for civility, or respect, or even regard for human life. It seems to me that this is one way to describe the continuing saga of our human situation. We are stuck between the realm of the animal kingdom and the kingdom of God; negotiating two entirely different sets of instincts: one where Darwin’s natural selection or survival of the fittest is the rule—or a “solution,” if you will to the “burden” that the weak have on our society. The other realm of course—the Kingdom of God—is exactly opposite. One can look at the record of Jesus’ life in scripture to see quite easily how much God values the weak. For to God, the weak are not a burden, but a purpose. This is the gospel (good news) that runs through the entire Bible (both the old and the New Testament) that God, the great shepherd—love us (the sheep) regardless of our weakness. Yet Ezekiel, the prophet, is bemoaning the sad truth that, although we are not created to live like animals, the people are acting like it! For thus says the Lord: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them…I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong (those who like to think they can fend for themselves by acting like wild animals) I will destroy them. I will feed them… with justice (they will no longer be a part of my flock). You see, God’s kingdom is not supposed to be like the wild heard, but like a flock tended by a good and vigilant shepherd. Back in Ezekiel we hear judgment against the bully who would take advantage of those with greater weaknesses. Of course this is still relevant. We can still relate to this and see where it is happening in our world. We have victims and victimizers—those who would abuse their power. The newspaper and the new broadcasts are screaming out about the same thing every day. Now… in the Gospel reading today from Matthew, we have Jesus telling a parable… and he also uses this same familiar image for God: The Great shepherd tending to his flock. We can almost hear the crowd’s questioning complaint against the image of Ezekiel… “What does this have to do with me? I’m not a bully. I’m not a fat sheep, and I really don’t think of myself as a victim either. This really has nothing to do with me. I’m not involved. I’m minding my own business.” And this is perhaps another human instinct for us to beware of today, as we contemplate belonging to the kingdom of God… In the 1960’s there was a phrase coined… “Bystander apathy,” which refers to witness of a notoriously problematic event. What follows is from a psychology journal (Uncommon knowledge: Bystander apathy – it’s none of my business! By Mark Tyrrell): On Friday 13 March in 1964, 28-year-old Catherine Genovese was arriving home in her built-up neighborhood from a late night shift as a bar manager in Queens, New York. She was suddenly attacked with a knife by a man named Winston Moseley. She screamed aloud “Oh my God, I’ve been stabbed! Please help me!” We know what she screamed because people heard her. People who didn’t lift a finger to help. People who didn’t want to ‘get involved’, who didn’t call the police.
Moseley saw lights come on in the apartments nearby. He knew people were watching. He ran off, leaving Catherine to drag herself into a doorway where she lay bleeding – she could possibly have survived at this point. But her attacker decided to return to finish off what he’d started because, as he later said in court: “It didn’t seem like anyone was going to stop me!” Although badly weakened by now, she again screamed for help. 38 witnesses heard or saw some part of the attack (which took place over about half an hour in total), not one took action to help her. By the time the police were eventually called, she was dead. Why did no one take action? Were they bad people, these 38 witnesses… It’s not that they didn’t care. In fact the journal says that they were quite distressed about the occurrence. The problem was that they didn’t act! Now it’s tempting for all of us to assume that we would have acted differently, however the psych. Journal goes on to report about several studies/ experiments conducted as a result of this event. As it turns out, this so-called “bystander apathy” is not uncommon. Rather, it is normal human behavior. For instance, if a fire alarm goes off in a building and no one else seems concerned, most people will continue to do nothing – because other people are doing nothing. Or in the street, if someone falls over and no one helps, you might not help either – because other people aren’t helping. After conducting several experiments where volunteers would come in and witness something in a room full of people who were told not to react—most often the subject wouldn’t react either. So, if someone had a seizure, and nobody else did anything about it, the subject of the experiment (70% of the time) would not do anything either. The one that I found really amazing and startling was while filling out an application, the room started filling up with smoke. What the outcome of the experiments showed was that people (we the sheeple) tend to base our actions, or our inaction, on the social cues of those around us rather than on the evidence before us. They had smoke in their eyes…coughing and sputtering, but still continued doing nothing about it (because others were doing nothing). It is no wonder the Bible continuously compares people to sheep! It seems people would rather risk their lives than go against the grain and ‘break rank.’ But following Jesus means breaking rank sometimes. In the words of Jesus found in Matthew, we find that we are being called, with Jesus Christ as our namesake, to work with him, for the sake of his kingdom. This is what Christians are to be, when we ourselves take our cues from the good shepherd. And you see, according to this new parable of Jesus’, we are no longer merely victims our victimizers, we, with our Christian faith have become like shepherds ourselves… We have been empowered to break rank—living out the prophecy of Ezekiel in the name of Jesus Christ… even when no one else seems to be doing anything… brothers and sisters in Christ, it is so important to hear what this gospel is telling us. We have a king who we follow and serve. While it is easy to get distracted by each other, we need to keep refocusing (not on each other) but on the king—on Jesus. And it is by this faithful act that we will become those who take care of the weak, not by your own strength but by a deeper strength (by his strength and his love within us). With him as our shepherd, we will feed the hungry, visit the sick and imprisoned, provide for the poor and needy. This week is Thanksgiving week and I think it is a good week for these scriptures, because as Christians, our identity is found in our weakness. Those who think they have all the answers and all the strength; they have no need for Christ—for they have become their own God. Contemplate this, this week. We all have something to be thankful for, but only when we recognize how God has been gracious to us... in our weakness. Then we also, will be empowered to serve him. -------------------- Pastor Joshua Magyar 418 W. Main St. Sidney, MT 59270
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