“The Year Santa Never Arrived…” Matthew 25: 31-46
Rev. G. Scott Turnbrook ~ Northwood United Church ~ November 26, 2017
Her words just kind of hung there…“And you know there is no Santa Claus, don’t you Johnny?” the elder inquired. Up until that instant, Johnny was a ‘believer’. Yet, in that split second, young Johnny’s world instantaneously fell apart. You could almost see his world disintegrate. It happened so innocently...a well-meaning elder at church talking with him ~ assuming him to be a little older than he was. You see the dilemma, to assume a 10 year old is a ‘believer’ is relegate them to the likes of being a juvenile. To assume they are not is to invite them into the age of maturity. She later asked me: ‘at what age do parents tell their children that Santa isn’t real these days?’ Well…it seems to depend. Sometimes, they learn it quite early in life ~ especially when they have an older sibling who loves to burst their little brother’s bubble, and other times, they are much older until they learn the news. Who’s to know which child still holds the mystery of Kris Kringle in their hearts and which child has had their bubble burst? What happened in the ensuing days ahead? What happened was a wonderful gift to that family. They began to walk a deeply authentic path throughout Advent talking about what Christmas was REALLY all about. The parents began to explain what Christmas was, what the birth of Jesus meant, and what the spirit of Christmas meant and how it was to be lived out. Those upsetting words from the church elder turned out to be the greatest gift to the family that they received that year. It was the year that Santa never came; but yet it was also the year that Jesus did!
This morning, we come to the end of the Christian year. So… if you feel like popping the champagne corks, and dancing, or kissing your beloved, and saying ‘Happy New Year’, it would be appropriate. We have arrived at the end of another Christian year and we celebrate. Yet, we also know that what comes the morning after, is a period of evaluation, pondering and consideration for the New Year that lies ahead. I used to think we should synch our calendars. I wondered if the commencement of the Christian year a month ahead of the Gregorian calendar was problematic, but lately I have come to love this timing. Our spiritual work that begins now and proceeds throughout Advent is all about pondering and preparing for how we will come to receive Christ. For we know that we live in a world where there is no room at the inn; we live in a world that is so contrary to Christ’s Way. And it is good to begin to pause and ponder, in this world filled with a plethora of authorities which vie for our loyalty, how will we embody the Christian Way in our hearts, minds and souls. How will we make Christ the King of our lives?
As we turn to the text, we find ourselves in a very interesting section of Matthew’s gospel. This is the final set of discourses that occur before everything turns ugly and they plot to kill Jesus. Prior to our focus text, there are six preceding parables that centre around the call to live in a state of readiness, a call to living responsibly as followers of the Way. There is the ‘lesson of the fig tree’ ~ where its fresh branches reveal the coming of a new season; the parable of the Son of Man coming like a ‘thief in the night’ ~ and the call to be ready; the parable of ‘the faithful or unfaithful slave’ ~ who is ready even when his master comes even at an unexpected time; the ‘parable of the ten bridesmaids’ ~ with the 5 wise bridesmaids prepared with lamps filled with oil ready for the arrival of the bridegroom arriving in the night; and lastly, the ‘parable of the talents’ ~ where the master rewards the slaves who invests the talents entrusted them, and doesn’t hide them away. These six parables speak to a call of readiness in one’s faith; a call to living one’s faith responsibly ~ with care, with love, and with a deep passion. And then we shift from examining the things we are called to do, to examining the things we have failed to do. You might have noticed that this morning’s text looks at things from the completely reversed angle. What have we failed to do in living the Way of Jesus? What have we left out of our Christian living? What have we neglected in our discipleship? Jesus puts it like this: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”
I must be honest with you…I have some real discomfort with this parable. I don’t know about you, but that is quite a list to live up to, and I feel culpable before I even begin any assessment of my living. I haven’t visited anyone in prison for a long time. And when I did it, it was a required part of my training to become a minister, and I was afraid. I haven’t given many people clothing who were naked. I have given some thrift store donations to folks in need, but I haven’t gone into my own overstocked closet, that I, a person of privilege take for granted, and given from what I have. I see many people who look lost and lonely on the street, and I say ‘hello’, but it is extremely rare that I stop and take the time to hear their story and let them know that they truly matter. Do you see my discomfort with this story? Perhaps you share it as well. Except then I remember…that this is a parable. It is a story designed to point us further towards the Kingdom of God. It is not a “go and do likewise” story. It is a ‘point your life in this direction’ kind of story. I wonder…what final words would you offer at your deathbed to your loved ones? These are Jesus’ parting words! His last words before they begin to stop their ears and plot to kill him. The essence of Jesus’ teaching is a call towards the care for others. This is the heart of the revealed will of God that had first been seen in the Torah and is fulfilled in Jesus. And these powerful, challenging words are ones that we can come back to each and every year, that we must come back to each and every year, as we prepare to enter into a New Year. They are a Christ guiding touchstone that keep us on track, and further point us in the direction of the Kin-dom of God.
I wonder, rather than these words making us feel uncomfortable and inadequate in our Christian discipleship, I wonder if instead their function is to point us to a new way of finding and experiencing God this coming season. For, in this text, we learn that God is not a supreme being on a throne ~ distant in the heavens above. We learn, rather, that God is here ~ right here ~ in the messiness and muckiness of life, just waiting to be received. God is in the hungry, the thirsty, the imprisoned, the naked and the vulnerable. These words are a call to seeing the face of Christ in the needy. And this brings us full circle back to our young family’s conversation with their child about Santa never coming that year. It turned out that the year that Santa didn’t come, became the richest Advent and Christmas they had ever experienced. They saw Christ in ways they hadn’t ever imagined before. They saw him in shut-ins who were lonely; they saw him in people ringing Salvation Army bells; they saw him in the people asking for spare change; they saw him in those losing loved ones to cancer amidst the season of cheer; they saw Christ in the mess and muck of life. Santa did not come that year. Christ did!
The Gospel of Thomas is one of the historical books originating from the same era of many of our New Testament books. While the early church did not assign it into the canon that later comprised the Bible, it is still, to a degree, part of our tradition. There is a section in Thomas where Jesus is reported to have spoken these words as he was passing alms to the poor. “Bless you, if you do not know the good you are doing. Curse you, if you know the good you are doing”. I think this re-examination time we enter into in this New Year season, is about re-tuning, or sometimes re-vamping, or sometimes even overhauling our lives and spirits to the Way of Jesus. It is about separating the parts of ourselves that are spirit ~ the sheep and lifting them up and feeding them, and releasing those other parts ~ the goats which do not lead us in the Ways of Christ. And the more we do it, the more we become enabled to walk in the path that leads us towards the Kin-dom; that opens space for ‘thy Kin-dom come” There is an old wisdom story of a young monk speaking with an older monk, "Father, if God is infinitely merciful, how can He deprive anyone of His heavenly kingdom?" The older monk noticed that the younger man was looking into the sun and squinting. He answered, "my young brother, why do you keep turning your head from side to side?" The younger monk replied, "the bright sun keeps hitting me right in the eye and just won't leave me in peace." "Then you've answered your own question," the older monk laughed. "God doesn't deprive anyone of His heavenly kingdom. Some simply cannot bear the light."
And so, as we come to the end of this Christian Year and proclaim Christ as King, may we do it with the blessing of St. Teresa of Avilla who profoundly said: “May the Christ who walks on wounded feet walk with you on the road. May the Christ who serves with wounded hands, Reach out your hands to serve. May the Christ who loves with a wounded heart, open your hearts to love. May you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet. And may everyone you meet see the face of Christ in you.
Amen.