11-26-23 “Come, You who are Blessed!”

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Matthew 25:31-46

Pastor Jenny Lee, Ph.D.

“Come, You who are Blessed!”

I want to start with something funny. I heard about this couple who moved to a new neighborhood. While having breakfast one morning, the wife looked out the window and noticed that their neighbor was washing their clothes. The wife said to her husband, “I think they don’t know how to wash. The clothes they washed are so dirty. I am sure they didn’t use detergent.” Week after week, it was the same. She looked out the window, saw the clothes, and made the same comments about how dirty their laundry was. One morning, she looked out the windows in the same way. She was surprised that their clothes were so clean. She said to her husband, “Honey! Look at them. Finally, they learned how to wash.” Her husband smiled and said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

This same analogy works for all of us in our lives. Each of us has a window we look through to see the world, see people, and see things. However, sometimes, we need to notice what we are looking at things through. The window is our mindset, such as our beliefs, bias and prejudices. The window might be the principles of our lives, which is formed by what we have learned and by what we have experienced. The principle might have been great when we first made it. But, my point is that it is time to retake a look at our window, or it may be time to clean and renew it again.

I want to share my foolishness and how I renewed my selfish mindset. I was too foolish to God because I used to pray, “Loving God! I will do whatever you ask me, and I will go wherever you send me as your faithful servant, except two things. One is that “don’t make me work at a hospital”, because I had stayed in a hospital for a long time when I broke my spine. So, I hated being in a hospital. The other is that, “don’t make me a missionary” because I have lived separated from my family since my teens. So, I would like to live with my family members, or at least near them. What do you think of my prayers? Are they reasonable prayers? I made a limitation to serve God and said, “O Lord, I will do whatever you ask me; I can go wherever you send me,” and I should have left it at that.  But, I said, except for two things. Guess how that turned out?!

I met a good adviser, Dr. Ken Ehrman, at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in 2016. When I considered which classes I would take, he suggested I take Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), an introductory course in Hospital chaplaincy. I shared my prayers with him: not to work at a hospital and not be a missionary. Hearing me, he said, “Why did you place limitations on God’s work? Don’t you think that it may be a block on the way God blesses you?” Then, I rethought it and realized how selfish I was being. So, I changed my prayers: “God, whatever you want of me, I will do it with your help.” Then I felt God telling me, “Why don’t you do the two things for me that you previously didn’t want to: hospital and missionary work?”

Then, I worked at a hospital for one and a half years as a chaplain before I came to Wisconsin. At that moment, I worked at the hospital and was incredibly grateful, which renewed my biased mindset and my faith. I was able to recover and renew my body, soul, and spirit by visiting many patients. I was able to get help from many patients instead of helping them. Then, I opened my eyes widely to see God’s guidance and vision. I prayed to God again, “Whatever you ask me, I will do it, and wherever you send me, I will go, period.” The chaplaincy experience made a huge and strong bridge for me to connect with cross-cultural ministry. I might have had cultural shock if I hadn’t had the chaplaincy experience before coming to Wisconsin. Now, I visit those who stay in a hospital, are home bound, and in nursing homes with a grateful heart because I know how much they need visitors. Also, I noticed that the Wisconsin Conference of the UMC requires all candidate-ordained pastors to have chaplaincy experience. How wonderful God’s prophetic guidance is! What if I rejected becoming a chaplain? What if I showed persistence to God to not work at a hospital? Like in my case, our bias blocks God’s blessings. Let’s come to God closer with open minds, hearts, and doors to receive God’s abundant blessings!

Today’s scripture may help us to open our minds and hearts to the Good News. The Good News is that Jesus Christ is coming to gather us together to bless us, even though it is unclear when it will be. One obvious thing is that Jesus will be everywhere, whether we recognize it or not. Then, if you serve Jesus, who will be everywhere, you should be blessed!

Let’s listen to the scripture: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from goats. And he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (25:31-34).

Would you sit at Jesus’ right or left hand? Yes, indeed, we would sit at Jesus’ right hand, because you are blessed. If you are still determining where you will be seated, don’t worry, it will be clear. Those who will sit at Jesus’ right hand are the people who are to give him something to eat when Jesus was hungry, to give him something to drink when he was thirsty, to invite him when he was a stranger, to clothe him when he needed clothes, to take care of him when he was sick, to visit him when he was imprisoned. However, you may say, “No, we never saw Jesus, who was hungry, sick, a stranger, imprisoned, and in need. Of course, if we saw Jesus, we should treat him well.” Both people who sat on Jesus’ right and left hands don’t remember when they served Jesus or didn’t serve him. They both asked him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry, sick, thirsty? When did we see you as a stranger or imprisoned?” Then the king answered them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these members of my family, you did it to me.” Jesus would be among the poor, the strangers, the prisoners, the sick, and those in need. I hope we find a little Jesus among our family and neighbors. If anyone comes to your mind now, that will be Jesus whom you should take care of.

We are going back to my foolish prayers. One of my prayers was not to be a missionary. But, I realized that we all are missionaries whom God sends to our home, church, community, country, and the world to care for the little Jesus’ around us. There might be a Jesus in our family, church, community, and neighborhood. I would complement those who work for missions near and far, such as Operation Christmas Shoe Boxes, Mitten Tree, Food Pantry, Helping Neighbors, school backpack programs, homeless shelters, relief of disasters, and any going the extra mile. They all are to serve Jesus among those in need.

Obviously, the king comes to judge both those who serve the little ones and those who do not, saying, “Just as you do not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”  Remember, if you don’t help those in need, you’re also judged for not helping Jesus. As we learn to love God and our neighbors, let’s love them actively until “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” When the coming Jesus is present, we may hear, “Come, you who are blessed!” Thanks be to God. Amen!