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 Guides to the KingdomWhy our church attends to prodigals, children, the poor, and those with disabilities.
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St. Francis of Assisi, it is said, found the sight and smell of lepers repulsive. Normally, he could spot them from afar and give them a wide berth. Yet on one occasion, Francis came upon a roadside leper and something entirely different occurred. Compassion rose from within and Francis felt compelled to get off his horse, offer the leper alms, and embrace the wretched soul—sores, smells, and all—even giving him a holy kiss! Climbing back into his saddle, Francis turned to bid the leper adieu, only to discover he was alone in an empty field. In that moment, he awoke to the conviction that he had encountered Christ himself in leprous disguise. His heart and ministry were altered forever. Francis became a channel of God's love to the poor and the diseased, for in and among them, he had seen the kingdom and the face of God. Fast-forward to the present. I'm not so interested in asking, "Who are the lepers of today?" This is already well-traveled territory. My interest is more challenging. I'd suggest that those we often regard as insignificant are not to be regarded as mere target groups of Christian charity, but rather, our as mentors in the kingdom. They are guides to understanding God. The Bible suggests that the marginalized—those the world regards as "the least of these" (in Jesus' words)—hold the keys to spiritual doors of God's kingdom that are inaccessible apart from their unlikely aid. To use Isaiah's imagery (57:14–15), the "lowly" remove boulders and obstacles that would otherwise block our way to Mount Zion. We often imagine that by attending to "the least" (literally, "little ones"), we were doing them a favor. But when we discern the presence of Christ in them, an undercover visitation of God, we realize the least are real mentors with spiritual keys. The biblical foundation for this begins with God's promise to reveal himself uniquely to and among the least and lowly. It climaxes in the revelation that whatever we do or neglect to do to Jesus' little ones (namely, the poor, naked, hungry, thirsty, sick, the stranger [literally, "the immigrant"], and the inmate, and so on), we are doing or neglecting to do to Jesus (Mt. 25:31ff). In this text, Jesus creates two theological quandaries: First, Jesus seems to make acts of service the deciding criteria for judgment day, seemingly disregarding the gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone. Was Jesus really identifying good works as the true test of who enters the kingdom and who does not? We ought to wrestle with this question rather than simply using Ephesians 2:8–9 to trump the very words of Christ. I would suggest that in Matthew 25, Christ transcends later faith-versus-works doctrinal debates with his own perspective of a "love-righteousness" that is the inevitable fruit of following him (thus pre-integrating the writings of Paul and James). |             |
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