November 23, 2008

In 1944, Spanish soldiers returning home from war deeply affected by the loss and devastation they had witnessed, began discussing their Christian beliefs.  They soon discovered that they felt disconnected from their faith and were not really sure what being a Christian meant in day to day living.  Together they devised an intense “short course” for a Christian life.  The first model involved fifteen talks on various aspects of faith interspersed with worship services presented over the course of a three day weekend. 

Led by both laypersons and clergy, the experience was meant to jumpstart a heightened awareness and an intentional dedication to living the way of Christ on the fourth day and every day that followed the weekend.  This “short course,” which was called “Cursillo” in Spanish, grew into an expansive movement repeated in countries around the world and was replicated by several denominations.  The Cursillo approach is one that centers on charisms, the movement of the heart over a purely intellectual understanding of faith.  Some people are profoundly touched by the weekends and find their spiritual lives changed forever.  Other people are moved and see God working in their lives in new ways and still others are less affected, but come away from the experience more confident in their head over heart relationship with faith.  Whatever the response, folk appreciate the time apart focusing on their Christian beliefs.

In fact, about forty years after its birth, Cursillo participants decided its effects were so positive, they ought to offer the weekend to younger people giving them new tools for their spiritual journey.  The course was modified slightly and became the Happening weekend for senior high teens.  Several of our own youth have recently returned from this diocesan held event.  About three years ago, I served as the spiritual director for two of these weekends.  On one of the Saturday afternoons, I had a particularly engaging conversation with one of the candidates.  Sitting on a stone fireplace, he told me about his reluctance to be called a Christian.  He was wary about putting himself in that camp because he had seen people claim the name “Christian” and then act in very un-Christ-like ways.  I was not astounded.  Sadly, we had this experience in common.  He then gave me a memorable example. 

Coming home from a date one night, he stopped in a convenience store for a can of soda. Inside, a man was at the counter shouting at the young woman behind the register.  He was cursing and carrying on, calling her stupid and worthless.  He was ranting because the slurpy machine wasn’t working correctly. 

I started laughing.  I could not believe someone would compromise his self-respect over a defective slurpy.  I couldn’t imagine degrading one’s humanity over the issue of cherry slush.  My new friend said, “Wait, it gets better.”  He moved closer to see what was going on and he noticed the irate man was wearing a black hat and, on the front, in big gold letters it was WWJD – what would Jesus do?  I said, “No Way!”  He said, “Way!”  “Seriously?”  “Yes, and he was using terrible language.”  “I can’t believe it.”  “Wait, it gets even better.” 

The man just keeps yelling, slamming the cup down and the girl just keeps staring at his hat.  And finally she leans over the counter and smacks the cap off his head.  She says, “There’s your answer!  If Jesus was standing right here and you were talking that way to him, that’s exactly what he’d do!  And you should be ashamed of yourself.  You can’t be wearing that hat and acting all nasty.  You’re giving Him a bad name!”  I just shook my head and said wow, that’s some story.  There’s a lot going on there.  He said, “I know! But, what was up with that man?”  And I said, I think he was a goat in sheep’s clothing.

And I reminded him of the lesson we just heard from Matthew’s gospel.  Our faith teaches us that on a day that God determines, he will send his Son back from heaven to make the once and for all time judgment.  On that day, Christ will look over all the earth and he will determine the true heart of every living soul.  He will examine each life and he will not be fooled.  God’s Son will see exactly how what people said they believed matched up with how they behaved.  God’s Son, Jesus the Christ, will be looking for the true believers and the pretenders.  He will separate the people with pure hearts and right intent from the people with sweet sounding words, but self-serving wills.  The sheep and the goats will be identified and separated.  The sheep, those judged as faithful, good and righteous, will be welcomed into the eternal ecstasy of heaven.  The goats, those determined to be callous, hypocritical, unaffected by God’s grace, will be left to the eternal agony of isolation and abandonment.

The picture Jesus paints for his disciples is gripping and graphic.  It is very, very clear that the sheep get the better deal.  It is very, very clear that one wants to be in the sheep line.  One wants to do everything one can to avoid the goat pen.  The reality of the Final Judgment is intense and worrisome because the consequences are so severe and because they are permanent.  There will come a time of no more chances.  For all humanity, there will be a day of reckoning where explanations and excuses and extenuating circumstances won’t matter.  The truth will come out and win out.  The infallible judge will make the last and lasting ruling.  All fates will be sealed.

This certainty could be terrifying and overwhelming except that God’s irrevocable judgment is tempered by His expansive mercy.  Jesus tells us, “You are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  This is the Almighty Creator’s default position.  From the beginning, from before the beginning, God wanted all of us with him for all eternity.  It was never, never his intent to choose some for glory and some for ruin.  It is not the nature of God to want his beloved creation to suffer or to be separated from his loving, protective embrace.  It is the essence of God to want everything that is his own to be close to his heart.  Second, third, sixtieth, eightieth, one hundred eleventh chances are the nature of God.  He forgives, pardons, redirects, encourages, clarifies his expectations again and again.

There is no hidden agenda, no secret challenge to be undertaken to win God’s approval and secure eternal grace.  The requirements for the sheep line are straightforward and clearly spelled out.  Love the shepherd and take care of the other sheep.  Love God and love all those whom God loves…remembering that God loves every life he has created.  Those Jesus puts on his right hand are those who listened and followed the great commandments.  Love God with your heart, soul and mind.  Love your fellow human beings, respect their place in your Father’s heart.  The folk Jesus puts on his left are people who steadfastly refuse to acknowledge God for his gift of life and presence in their life and refuse to acknowledge their connection to the welfare of their fellow human beings.

On the day of Final Judgment, Christ does not decide who we are.  He does not make us a sheep or a goat.  We make that determination ourselves by how we live our lives.  One the last day, God’s Son just calls us by the name we answer to.  Sheep, sheep, goat.  We fall where we belong.  A hat with gold letters won’t help us switch lines.  The only thing that saves us, that puts us on the preferred side is the intention of our hearts and the actions that flowed out from that intent.

Folk who love God, and love those whom God loves do not wait around looking for his Son to serve.  They instead get about the business of serving his brothers and sisters.  They welcome strangers and feed the hungry.  They visit the lonely.  They figure that in these acts of every day compassion, they are following his example and living as God desires.  They aren’t hedging their bets or calculating salvation points.  They aren’t relying on pious apparel to get them into God’s good graces.  The righteous, the good, the sheep of the world just love the Lord.  They appreciate his presence in their lives.  They are grateful for his blessings and his care.  They understand their responsibility to look after those who need a little extra attention.  From their place of gratitude, they respond.  When one is well loved, the natural response is to love in return.  This is really all that God asks.  This is the criteria by which we will be judged.  Did you love me and mine or did you ignore us?

Best decide soon.  Today is Christ the King Day.  Any moment, the Son of Man could arrive in his glory calling sheep, sheep, sheep, goat?  We will want to be confident in our identity.  We will want to avoid a final eternal surprise.  How sad to be found out, to end up a goat in sheep’s clothing. 

And now, to the business of adding new sheep to the fold!  We will mark Emery, Theresa and Antonio so Jesus will recognize them and then for their lives in this body, we’ll show them the way to the better line.

Amen