the sol cafe & Mattthew 25

Last night at the sol cafe we looked at some of Jesus' parables and teachings about judgment/ the end/ the final stuff.   On reading Matthew 25 (I was hungry and you either did or did not give me something to eat,..) several things strike me.   First there is the frightening thought that in this bit of "good news" from Jesus, I face the uncomfortable possibility that my actions on this earth have some impact on eternity.   At least that is what this particular thing seems to be teaching.

Let me digress.  I would probably be "classified" as coming from the more "evangelical" end of the spectrum - we are saved by grace/faith and all that good stuff that the Apostle reminds us of.    So of course my tendency is to really "re-interpret" this particular talk by Jesus into something else.  Perhaps it doesn't really mean what it says.  Perhaps it applies to other people, not Christians who are "saved by grace".   Or it is designed to urge me onward to love others (but in the back of my mind I am "saved", so really all this appeal to feeding my neighbour is just a bonus if I get around to it, because it doesn't affect "my salvation").   

I am sure it is simple to figure out and live out, but I am dull, and so I struggle.  Perhaps the evangelical fear of being saved by anything other than the grace of Christ makes us wary of placing such emphasis on "good deeds".   But really, I can only wish that such was my temptation.   I only wish that my life was so full of such actions of love to my neighbour that it could be a temptation to think that I am saved by anything other than grace.  But alas, it is not.

I am hoping that we will learn more deeply what it is to love our neighbours - to see Christ in them.  And I believe (wrongly or not) that one of the ways we do this is to come face to face with those who are "the least of my brethren".  I don't know, there is something about looking another human being in the eye which is different from giving money to world vision, or donating to the local food bank.  Not that those things are unimportant, or that they are not means of love, but I really need to learn to see Jesus in the faces of real people.   

Comments

[Alex]

You mean we might have to work, now that we call ourselves believers? It's much easier when it doesn't affect my pocketbook or my time.... But there is this passage about carrying a cross that keeps coming back to me. Sometimes guilt about this is the only thing keeping me from doing the wrong thing; and sometimes even that doesn't work.

[chuck]

Oh the difficulty of freedom in Christ! How much easier it would be to follow a religion that stated exactly how to behave and what we need to do to earn favor.