Ezekiel 34:11-24, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46 two sets of reflections are contained here but with slight ly different emphases
Reflection 1
We are pointed to three things (amongst others) this week
as we think about what it means
to follow Christ as our Leader, our King:
Hope, care and justice
Hope
The Christian hope is not an idle optimism
which sort of says everything will turn out OK in the end
rather it is a way of looking at the world.
Not optimism, but world view.
Paul uses the expression in one of the readings “the eyes of the heart” (Eph 1:18)
When we look in faith what we see is hope.
We are drawn into relationship with Jesus
the language that is used is seductive
we have a “glorious inheritance” and “the immeasurable greatness of his great power”
But unlike power and glory in the world
we understand & experience
Christian life as one of sacrifice, dedication and suffering.
The hope is not drawn from idle optimism
but from Jesus himself who shares with us the experience of the Cross.
Care
Another image we see today is “shepherding”
perhaps we would be happier with a word like care
Most of us will not be called to martyrdom
as Jesus was
we will not be physically put to death
rather we will have to translate
our sense of commitment and dedication
into our day to day to day lives
and I suggest that the idea of shepherding or care
is a useful one presented to us as an ideal
We are to care for ourselves and each other,
for the world in which we live
and for those who have no one to care for.
Our care should be expanding.
If we were to do a Care audit now
how would we compare with last year
or ten years ago.
It is difficult to measure, but perhaps worth five minutes of our time this week
Others
Like all these issues we need in the first place
to scrutinise ourselves first
so often we see the failures in others very clearly
but are blind to the harshness
of our own insensitivity
and care-less-ness
A rule of thumb, given by Jesus himself,
look at the beam in your own eye
before we try to remove the speck in another.
Justice
It is in this sense that we note
that we don’t get this right all the time
and some will choose to not get it right at all.
There will be a judgment in relation to this
and how quick we are to make it sometimes.
But it is not ours to make
it is the judgment of God
and our part is not to judge
how defective, stupid or bad others might be
We often do this and forget
that the principle judgment
will be based on how well or badly
we have heard this challenge of Christ
and put it into practice.
It is tricky stuff:
but we are reminded
- our hope is in Jesus, and it is a hope full of responsibility and promise
- our rule of thumb is care, practical care in our own smallness of life-family, parish, friends, neighbours etc
- steer clear of the judgment that is not ours to make save to challenge ourselves to be more firmly committed to Jesus, with outcomes in practical sharing and caring for others.
Reflection 2 (longer)
Whenever I read Ephesians 1 I am drawn to that expression in verse 18
"The eyes of the heart"
I don't know that we fully appreciate what a curious expression that is
It is not so much a statement about the sort of "heart" that we should have
as the type of eyes...
we should see with the heart.
What does this mean, let me highlight three dimensions that can be taken from todays'reading:
Hope
Paul himself says
"with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power"He is not here talking about some sort of idle optimism
---cheer up and everything will be all right in the end...
But rather a transforming hope which will change the character of our day to day existence
Although we are often seduced to filter everything through our brain, reason, and intellect
It is the "heart" that actually inspires us,
charges us up, fills us with passion and hope.
We can allow other filters, too,
to seduce us: success, wealth, prestige and so on
it will be the transforming nature of relationship with Christ
that will fill us with hope.
the relationship is both the source of and end of our hope.
We are filled with hope in so far as we are filled with Christ.
This transformation is not the transformation of the intellect,
or some material bag of goodies
it is, and will be
the conversion of our heart
to be like Christ and for Christ
Care
Ezekiel reminds us that
the affairs of the heart
will be like the affairs of the shepherd,
The word we often use in churches
to talk about caring for people
is "pastoral"
and that word strictly means
"shepherdlike".
It is the popular image of the people of Israel
used to small flocks of sheep cared for by the shepherd.
Jesus would have been familiar
with the sight of a shepherd
going slowly and carefully about his business of being a pastor.
It is not hard to come to the realisation
that caring ....being pastoral...
is essentially an affair of the heart.
The shepherd cares for the sheep.
I know this for myself
what ever else we may want to be and do
as a parish, as a family, as a country
will be expressed as we care for each other.
We are sometimes very care-less
with people's sensitivities and needs;
we can justify almost everything we do
no matter how bad
but if we set ourselves up against Jesus's standards
the standard of the heart
then the poverty of our own response
...no matter how rational, logical or clever....
will often be exposed to be shallow.
Why are our communities light on hope,
it is because we simply do not care
like Jesus cares,
with the heart.
Justice
Finally, as we draw all these things together
we note that the practical application
of the affairs of the heart
is justice.
There will be a separation between what is good and what is bad.
We, who so often misname justice,
to allow scope for the venting of our own evil desires
and for the hardness of our hearts
should recognise
with fear and trembling.
That justice is the application of love,
whenever it is less than that
then it is not just.
We will, by and large,
separate ourselves from Christ
when the time comes.
Unable to bear his purity
and integrity,
his compassion and forgiveness
sheep and goats will be separated.
We can have hope,
if we like Christ are people of the heart,
we can be people of the heart,
if we like Christ care from the very depths of our being,
we can be Christ's if we are committed to the application of love.
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