You Sustained Me
Matthew 25:31-46
Matthew 25:31-46 (NRSV):
31 “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. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 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, 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘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?’ 45 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.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.”
Usually when someone says “there are two kinds of people in this world” I think “oh goodie, here comes an oversimplification, let’s hear it!” This passage does this, but it’s a parable, and it seems within the bounds of the genre to make such a stark contrast. It’s meant to challenge us to take stock of our lives and our world, not to obsess over whether we’ve done enough to get us into the sheep column. Real, actual people aren’t so easy to categorize. Like my wife, none of us really know what to make of her! People are complex. But the message of this parable is kind of simple.
I once preached a sermon on this parable that more or less got me kicked off a church planting team in Olympia, WA. This happened in a home group style church meeting and it was when I was really starting to question a lot of my inherited theology that was, for me, just “true” Christianity. I explained to folks that this parable makes it seem like heaven and hell have nothing to do with your beliefs or personal conversion and everything to do with Love, with how you care for people, particularly those whom the King character calls “the least of these.”
Well, the super conservative lead pastor of this church plant didn’t like this. We were supposed to be a theologically diverse pastoral team but it turns out he didn’t do theological diversity very well. He told me he sympathized with my doubts and that he’d support me on my way back to the truth. But of course “truth” was his truth. That partnership ended soon after.
Now while in that season, an inclusive vision of the afterlife was important to me, my present day faith is not centered on the afterlife. My faith is more centered around the question: how can I love my neighbors and myself well? I don’t believe Jesus was trying to tell us something about the next life, as much as about this life. He was using fiery prophetic rhetoric–which can be taken too far and used to harm, not help–to mobilize people to action and change. To wake people up who are failing to love their neighbor and either don’t know or don’t care. To show people that if you want to find God, look no further than the person who needs help.
I’m not sure there’s a more central passage to who this community is today. I think this passage is kind of a subtext around here, something many of us carry in the back of our minds, maybe more than any other text. Not the sheep and goats and heaven and hell parts, but the bottom line–who needs me, who needs us?
Why? Why is this text so central to who we are? Maybe it’s because it’s the ultimate “we used to think that really mattered but now we recognize this is what really matters” passage, which I think encapsulates the spiritual journey of many of you here.
It also outlines one version of what our Catholic friends call the corporal, or bodily, works of mercy–ways that we practice mercy, or compassion, with our bodies for the sake of other bodies; ways that meet needs like hunger, thirst, shelter, warmth, health, and the physical presence of others.
And I also think it’s a touchstone for us and our work in the world; are we feeding people? We have a food pantry. Are we clothing people? We pay for others' laundry. Are we giving shelter? Our emergency fund often helps with rent or hotel stays or tents. And so on.
This text answers the question: what matters? But it also speaks, more specifically, to what we can do for each other, what people who Love actually do. I know some of us are wary of “doing,” because we’re rightly concerned about burnout and busyness and self-neglect and performative virtue and other ways that “doing” can be more harmful than helpful. But “doing nothing” is not the answer, when it comes to Love. Love listens for what people need to sustain them on their way, and then, when it is our opportunity or responsibility to do so, Love gives them the sustenance they need.
In the parable, all nations are invited to this moment. And what the sheep have in common with sheep and the goats have in common with goats has nothing to do with nation, or religion, or culture, or politics, or ethnicity, or wealth, or gender, or ability, or any other such marker. It has to do with one thing: when someone was in need, and you could do something about it, what did you do? Did you live with a reverence for the Divine in each person, and how did that impact how you treated them? Was Love the energizing force in your life?
Those who Love, inherit the Kingdom of Love. I think that eternal punishment, here, is not like a conscious experience of unending pain, but more like: if you don’t put love into the world, through acts of compassion like these, you’ll be punished with never getting to experience that reality. Your fate is sealed, because you’ve become what you are: either a person who sustained others with Love, or a person who did not.
This passage is all about sustenance, in a way. How do we sustain each other?
In this parable Jesus celebrates those who sustain others with food, with water, with welcome or shelter, with clothing, with care, and with presence or connection, and laments those who did not offer this sustenance. What’s it like to be in the parable, as a listener, hearing this divine verdict about the person you were or became on earth?
If you’re in the parable, discovering that you were a goat, you might move through a progression of expectations, surprise, regret, and resolve. Your expectations about where God is, or what truly matters, or what we ought to do with our time here–those expectations are subverted. That’s what parables do, they upset, they destabilize, they expose the limitations or flaws of our understanding and practices.
Maybe you’d then feel surprise. “We had no idea this mattered so much!” But maybe you knew, and you didn’t care. You’d feel the regret, maybe. “Man, I wish I’d done things differently.” And then the resolve. “I will do better moving forward…we have to do better.” Almost like A Christmas Carol–right?–where the outcome of this reckoning, this careful and painful assessment of your life is not an end, but the spark of change. Jesus was not declaring the final word about anyone–it’s just a parable!–but inviting people to take stock of themselves and their lives, knowing there is still time to change.
But what a plot twist! You were in them? What?! People asking for food? People who want drinkable water? People who want a house to live in? People who are sick that want to stop being sick? Naked people? Prisoners, people who broke the laws that we made up and inconsistently enforce? Really?!
Where is Christ? It would be true to our tradition, to say, “in every one.” But this passage leans toward specifics. Consider this: who is someone you’d do anything for, to make sure they were fed, housed, not alone? Now what if that person were every person? Obviously we’re finite, and just don’t have the capacity to practically love everyone like we love our child or partner or closest friend. It’s no use pretending we would. But I do think Jesus is challenging our tendency to generalize and lose sight of the individual. I cannot love everyone like I love my child. But doesn’t everyone deserve to be loved, to be fed and welcomed, like they are someone’s child?
Jesus raises the stakes. The ones you walk past, the ones you’ve forgotten, the ones you demonize, the ones you use for your own gain? When you sustain them with Love, you sustain me. When you give someone what they need, you do the most holy thing. Your rituals, your prayers, your ideas about God–that’s…great. There’s a place for that. But there’s nothing as holy as a drink of water when you're thirsty, and no more sacred task than being the one to offer that relief, that refreshment, that sustenance.
This parable speaks of human needs. Do they speak to our needs? What do we need? I need food–healthy food, tasty food, ethical food. I also need practices and people that feed my soul, that energize me to keep going. I need water, if my body is to function. I also give a lot to others, like many of you, and need other means of refreshment, so I can function.
I need a place to call home, where I’m not a stranger, where I can breathe, where I’m safe. I also need a community that is glad I exist and am part of that community. I need clothing, to keep warm, among other reasons. I also need to be clothed with protection and security, so that I am less vulnerable to the elements of life.
I need to know that if I get sick or hurt it’s not the end, that good care is available. I also need the support of allies, advocates, and friends. And, even if I’m not a literal prisoner, I need the presence of others in my life, visiting me, remembering me, holding me in the light, keeping me connected, sitting by my side, laughing and weeping with me.
Food, drink, welcome, clothing, care…a visitor. This passage is about sustenance. To sustain something or someone is to support it, to nourish it, to strengthen it, to give it what it needs to keep going or even to thrive. A piano has a sustain pedal that enables the sound to continue, even after you’ve taken your fingers off the keys. But beyond musical tones, what needs sustaining?
Well, there’s our Earth. Is the way we’ve ordered our lives together, sustainable? How do we sustain life on Earth, and especially for those most at risk, if things get dire? There’s also your life. What sustains you? I mean, what literally keeps you alive? But also what keeps you hopeful, keeps you showing up for others? There’s also your commitments to important goals or projects or causes. What will sustain your pursuit of those goals, your work on those projects, your commitment to those crucial causes?
You may share in common with me a spiritual commitment to Love. What will sustain that Love within us, and will sustain our Love for others? You have relationships that matter to you. What kinds of practices sustain those relationships? Maybe it is food, whether physical nourishment or meeting together for a meal. Maybe it’s a virtue like humility, or courage, or resilience, or kindness.
This community’s compassion is great, your hearts drawn to many good things. How will we sustain our commitment to these things? What do the people we are trying to respond to need to sustain them as they navigate the challenges they face, whether potential deportation, bullying, getting kicked out of their home, houselessness, lack of food, or the water being turned off, among other things?
By now you may have guessed that elders and I would like to offer the word “sustain” to you as a word for us for 2026, a touchstone, a thematic connection to hold our many sacred commitments together. Let me share a longer list of queries, before we focus on just four of them today, that might open up some possibilities for reflection and action, as we move into a new year.
What good work is Camas Friends doing that needs to be sustained? How can I participate in ways that help sustain the life and ministry of CFC? What sustenance do I receive from this community? What sustenance do I need? How do and can we sustain each other in the challenges each of us are facing? What sustenance do we provide those outside of our community? What loving work are others doing in the world that we are called to help sustain? How does the Earth sustain us? How will we help ensure the Earth can continue to sustain us? How can we sustain (and grow) our commitment to inclusion?
How will we responsibly maintain our meetinghouse that provides sustenance to many? What kind of sustenance do the children in our meeting need? Are they getting this? What kinds of playful activities and gatherings will sustain our connections with each other? What practices will help us sustain our most sacred commitments as a community who follows Jesus in a Quaker way? How can we sustain our community’s commitment to growing and evolving? How will joy, bravery, curiosity, authenticity, and empathy sustain us this year?
Now since that’s too many for us to sit with today, let’s focus on four of them, and we’ll return to the others in time. By the end of open worship today, I should be finished categorizing the room into sheep and goats and will make a very public announcement about which one you are, with supporting data. Just to be helpful! :)
Queries:
What sustenance do I receive from this community? What sustenance do I need?
How do and can we sustain each other in the challenges each of us are facing?
What sustenance do we provide those outside of our community?
How can I participate in ways that help sustain the life and ministry of CFC?