Taking the Test
Have you ever received an inheritance?
If you are a fan of murder mysteries, like I am, you know that receiving an inheritance makes you a target of suspicion. The detective or inspector always questions you first, or at least right after the spouse. It seems spouses can be deadly.
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 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, 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.' - Matthew 25:34-36
In today's reading from Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is telling his disciples that there are some who are blessed, some who will inherit the kingdom.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
But I'd like to look at this another way, from the perspective of the responsibility involved in managing what one inherits.
A friend and I were talking about this yesterday. What if the kingdom Jesus was talking about is here right now? What if our inheritance is all we see and all we encounter in this world, while we walk and breathe on earth?
It changes the picture, doesn't it?
There is no need to wait for something to happen later. It sounds bizarre, since we are so accustomed to the idea that one has to die before an inheritance is received, but we also know that the one who dies is not the recipient. The one who dies leaves something to others who are alive.
If our mission in this life is to take on the responsibility for what we have inherited, now while we are stewards of it, how are we doing?
Jesus lays out a self-test for us. Are we feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting those in prison?
If you take this test, are you happy with your score?
Instead of looking at this as a reward situation - if you do these things you win - looking at them the other way around for me is more meaningful.
If I am responsible for these things, am I doing them?
I think one of the problems we humans have with each other is we really don't care about each other. We care about ourselves first and maybe stop there.
The thought may sound like this, "I'm going to heaven and you're not!"
But what if we get to meet our maker when we die and he asks a simple question - how did you do on the test?
What excuse would we have for not having a good answer?
Time to get to work. We've got a kingdom to manage.
More to come...
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