bishop's perspective
A shocking trial
Yes, there is a big trial that scares the wits out of me. It is a-coming! The consequences will be dire.
This trial is scheduled (according to Matthew 25:31) “when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him.” It will be Judgment Day. No church trial on the face of the earth compares with it. All the posturing won't matter then. This will be a Jesus event. False piety and the mere religion of words will be revealed for the sham they are.
What is shocking and telling about this upcoming trial is that Jesus indicts the “righteous” (Matthew 25:37). But this should not really surprise us. During his earthly ministry, Jesus saved his harshest words for the religious folk who kept the law – people who determined to kill Jesus for breaking the Sabbath law to heal a lame man. Jesus told them that though they conscientiously attended to all the religious rites – and though they appeared holy and clean on the outside – they were full of crud on the inside. They were spiritually bankrupt.
On that great Trial Day, Jesus has a litmus test. He asks:
"Did you feed the hungry?" (And this means more than opening soup kitchens. Did we provide a decent wage for the migrant worker? Did we ignore those who were out of sight and pretend they didn't exist?)
"Did you welcome the stranger?" (How many refugees can we allow to wallow in misery all over the world, including right here in Holston?)
"Did you clothe the naked?" (Did we do anything about the outrage of 24,000 children who die every day in our world of preventable diseases? Did we help the millions without health insurance and proper care in this country?)
Will our answers be any better than the response recorded in Matthew: “When did we see these things?” Perhaps our excuse is that we were too busy fussing over sanctuary carpet colors, or fighting over church laws, or preoccupying ourselves with matters of structure and polity. Yes, there is a need for church buildings, structure and policies. But God forbid that on Judgment Day we plead for mercy because we were so obsessed with secondary issues, we didn't have time for the things that mattered most to Jesus.
There'll be a lot of church trials that will concern me, but the one that haunts me, drives me to my knees, and motivates me is the trial Jesus will conduct. When he looks at how we spent our resources and time and the things we argued about, I fear I know what his verdict will be.
God help us all!
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