St. Timothy Lutheran Church

I don't know many people, at least not within the Church, who wouldn't want to meet with God, to have a bona-fide, no doubts about it, absolutely certain that I just met with the Creator of the Universe encounter.  I definitely would.  There have been times in my life that sent me reeling as my world and my self got reoriented and resized by suddenly finding myself in the presence of God, and while those times aren't the norm for me, the few that I have had have, like a potent drug, left me with an addiction and a craving for more.

Tonight I was up at St. Timothy praying with a few other people who, like me, have felt a longing for this presence of God not only in our own individual lives, but in the life of us as a group of believers, as His Church, His Body.  We all have the same experience: we long for God's presence, yet so rarely feel it. 

As we were praying, a thought occurred to me:  maybe I've been searching for God in the wrong way and in the wrong places.  In Matthew 25, Jesus is talking about His future return, telling us that when He returns, He will welcome His true followers and grant them their inheritance in His kingdom (Wow!), because of the kindness and love that was demonstrated toward Him by His followers.  He talks about those acts of love - "I was hungry and you fed Me.  I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink.  I was naked and you clothed Me.  I was sick and You cared for Me.  I was a stranger and you invited Me in.  I was in prison and you came to visit Me."

Naturally, everyone who hears Him say this thinks the same thing you and I are thinking: "Wait a minute...when did I feed Him or give Him a drink or clothe Him?  I also kinda thought that Jesus was perfect and never gets sick. And how can I visit Jesus in prison?"  Today, we also might wonder how we can serve someone who was on earth 2,000 years ago.  Come to think of it, I don't remember reading about Jesus ever being in prison or anyone coming to visit Him there.  So anyway, everyone standing around starts asking Him questions a lot like that - "When did we do those things for You?"

His answer is startling if you really think about it.  He says "Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me."  He is identifying with people in need, taking deeds done toward them personally. 

The thing that really blows my mind is that He - Jesus, the Son of God, the Eternal King - is identifying with convicted criminals!  I don't think He's only referring to wrongfully imprisoned people.  I think He's saying that He is putting Himself in the place of people who deserve the isolation of prison, who have willfully broken not only human law but God's law, and so earned their lonely position.  Yet when we visit them, He says He'll take it as though we were visiting Him.  If that's the case, then it's also safe to assume that the needy people He identifies Himself with aren't only those who have just had a bad run, but are also those who got themselves there through their own laziness. 

I feel ashamed to say this, but I like living in my little segregated suburbia with the rest of the decent, proper folk, away from the "criminal element," away from poverty, away from the sick or needy.  They mess up my nice, safe, comfortable world.  I know God asks us to love them, really love them and serve them, and while I think about that a lot, it's hard for me to act on it. 

In that same chapter in Matthew, Jesus goes on to say that those who are not His followers will be sent away because "I was hungry and you did not feed Me.  I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink.  I was naked and you didn't clothe Me.  I was sick and you didn't take care of Me.  I was a stranger and you didn't invite Me in.  I was in prison and you didn't come to visit Me."  When I avoid the poor, the sick, the needy, the criminal, I avoid God, I segregate myself from Him.  No wonder I find it hard to meet with Him.