Caring for All People

History

Towards the end of last year, my parents brought around a book which for most of you would hold no significance at all, but to me it was greatly significant. It was a book produced in the mid-eighties - but none of you would have heard about it. That’s because it is a book about my family tree.

Some distant relation of mine decided that they would take their great great grandparents who emigrated from England and came to Australia in the 1840’s. They then did a lot of research to find all of the descendants of this couple, of which I was one of them.

Their names were Philip and Ann Wheaton. They arrived at Port Adelaide on August 14 1848 on a ship called Gratitude.

Their daughter, Catherine, had a daughter called Linda. Linda was my great-grandma and I had the privilege in the 1990’s to attend her 100th birthday.

Now all of this is recorded in that book that my mum brought over. The great thing was, not only did the book list the names, it also went to the effort to write up something about each person in the book. Of course, I was only about 3 or 4 when the book was written so I hardly got a big write up.

Now I could bore you with lots of stories of my ancestors, but you can rest assured, I won’t do that.

But what I do want to do, is share a brief remark that the author of this particular book made. You see, these ancestors in this book were deeply committed Christians. In the section on my great-grandmother, it remarked about the unusually high number of Christians ministers and missionaries amongst her descendants.

The point I want to make is that history matters. What happens in the past, shapes what happens in the future.

The Christian influence of my ancestors has shaped the lives of many many people.

Now just to be clear, I’m not suggesting that what happens in our past limits our future. Regardless of what is in your past, anything is possible.

The reason I bring this up is because historically, today is a very significant day - but it is a day that initiated a change for many groups of people that has had a generational impact to this day.

Today of course is 232 years since Captain Arthur Phillip took formal possession of the colony of New South Wales by hoisting the flag in Sydney Cove.

Of course, it is also the day we now celebrate as Australia Day - and of course there is a lot to celebrate about our culture and way of life. We might not be perfect, but we’re a country that, particularly recently, has embraced our diversity.

He hoisted the flag in Sydney Cove

But while we do have much to be thankful for, as I mentioned before, the history has not been a good one for the longer residents of this land. And unfortunately it was not just the initial taking possession that was the problem.

And as a result, the Aboriginal people

For many subsequent generations, successive governments implemented policies, which though for some people that might have thought they had the best intentions, were actually based on deeply prejudiced ideas.

Aboriginal people were forced into confined areas. On occasion killed in large scale massacres. You can now go online and find maps indicating where the known massacres took place.

Not only were they not allowed on their own land, their language was stolen.

And then we had the deeply regrettable stolen generation, where children were forcibly taken from parents, with the reasoning that they would be better in a white family.

The point I want to make is that the situation the Aboriginal people find themselves in, is not because they aren’t very good at managing themselves - but because for generation after generation they have been mistreated.

Now this morning, it is not my intention to make any political statements about whether the date should be changed or what sort of policies we should have today to rectify the situation - they are of course deeply complicated issues.

Instead what I want to do is to explore the parable that I read earlier, because in this parable, I’m going to suggest that our care for vulnerable people like the Aboriginals, and our love for Jesus, are actually not two separate things, but go hand in hand together.

So let’s first look at the parable before I bring it back to the context of our first nation people.

Sheep and Goats

Now this is a very powerful parable - although some question whether it should be classified as a parable, but I’ll leave that debate for another day.

So it comes at the end of a speech from Jesus that started back in the previous chapter ().

Jesus is sitting with his disciples. And he’s sitting in a place with a good view.

He’s sitting on a relatively speaking small hill called the Mount of Olives which is just to the west of the great city of Jerusalem. From this vantage point he and the disciples overlooks this great city and can see the temple of God standing strong.

This of course is the temple that had been at the centre of the worship of God for roughly one thousand year prior to Jesus.

But while the view and the company might be good - as Jesus looks out over the panorama, he can see the future. He can see the change that is about to come.

At this point in the Gospel we are only a few days from Jesus dying on the cross - so this change he’s talking about is not just some abstract theoretical talk - it is something that will deeply affect him.

And so, if you read through , (which I’m not going to do today), you’ll see him talking about, firstly, the destruction of this temple in their view, but then more broadly about the end of the age and all that will go with it.

So you have Jesus, sitting on this mountain overlooking the city and talking about its destruction, but once he finishes his description, he then moves into a series of parables.

The parables actually start at the end of chapter 24, but if you look at chapter 25, your bible will most likely have three headings relating to the three parables.

The three parables each represent a different aspect of how we should respond in relation to the fact that Jesus is coming again.

In very broad terms, the first, is the parable of the ten virgins, and this reminds us to always be ready.

The second is the parable of the bags of gold. This reminds us to make good use of the resources God gives us, and do it for his glory.

It’s the third one that we’ll focus on today.

Judgement

This parable starts with a decisive judgement.

And in our pluralistic society - this can be confronting!

Looking at verse 31 - it starts with “When the Son of Man comes in his glory” - in other words, where talking the second coming of Christ.

But Jesus puts more than just himself in the picture. It tells us that he will be surrounded by all the angels.

And at this time every single person will be gathered to him.

But they don’t all go the same way.

Image of sheep and goats

And here Jesus gives us the image of sheep and goats.

Interestingly, while we might think of sheep and goats looking completely different, if you look at picture of sheep and goats from the Middle East, the difference is much more negligible.

But they were different - and in this image, Jesus puts all of the sheep on his right, and all of the goats on his left.

He then pronounces judgement. For the ‘sheep’ on the right - they get their inheritance - the kingdom that has been prepared for them.

For the ‘goats’ on the left - they are destined for the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels.

Now in the process of this judgement - Jesus makes a very important distinction between them. And I’m going to look at this difference and make my main point from it today - but before I do an important clarification I need to make.

You see, Jesus is going to make an observation about those destined for heaven, but it would be wrong to imply that therefore this observation is what gets them to heaven.

You see, this passage doesn’t actually tell us what it is we must do to be saved - we can learn that from other passages. What it does tell us it that for those who have been saved, there is a distinct transformation that happens in their life - and one of the manifestations of this transformation is what Jesus talks about here.

Love for Jesus

In short - it is love for Jesus.

But this love for Jesus will not just be a bunch of words. Saying you love someone, but then showing no loving action is not love at all - that’s just empty words.

Rather, if we love Jesus, we will feed him when he is hungry. We will give him a drink when he is thirsty. We will invite him in when he needs it. We will give him clothes when he is lacking. And when he is in prison, we will go and visit him.

Now, except that you are probably familiar with this parable, saying what I just said seems like a very strange thing to say.

How could Jesus be thirsty or hungry? Why would he need a place to stay or be lacking in clothes? And most bizzarely - why would Jesus be in prison?

Isn’t he God after all? Surely God doesn’t need this sort of looking after.

Jesus identification with the vulnerable

But to understand that you need to understand Jesus’ identification with the vulnerable and oppressed.

To understand this, you need to understand the significance of what we refer to as the incarnation - that is, God, emptying himself and taking the form of a man in the form of Jesus, and experiences of the pain and hardship that we go through.

You see, when Jesus came, he did not hang out in palaces and fancy places. He was a traveller with next to no earthly goods. He was harassed. He was insulted. And ultimately he was punished in such a way that he was left hanging on a cross - the form of punishment they reserve for the worst criminals.

Not only was he a man with next to no earthly goods, but he spent his time with the people that people from polite society should not be with.

And that identification carries on today. Jesus feels the pain when people are mistreated, or are hurting. It breaks his heart.

It breaks his heart because he knows the way the world should be - indeed the way it was created - and this is the very antithesis of it. He longs for it to be the way it should.

And so this parable teaches us, that this love for Jesus that comes with being saved should result in us loving those that Jesus identified with.

It means finding the people that are hungry, thirsty, lost, naked and imprisoned - and looking after their needs.

It just doesn’t make sense to turn our noses up at them and still think we can say - I love you Jesus.

Imagine for a moment that there was a person who you wanted to honour. Let’s say they’ve worked hard and given a lot of time and you want to acknowledge that.

And so you think of some great things to do - maybe giving them chocolate, showering them with gifts and compliments.

But at the same time, you’re not too fond of this persons children, and so you unfairly harass and bully them. Do you think the person you’re trying to honour would feel honoured?

I suspect the person would feel frustrated and upset. If you want to honour that person, you need to treat the people he loves with dignity and respect.

This is precisely what Jesus is teaching here.

In verse 40, the words of the King are: “truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”

Now just to be clear, Jesus essentially repeats his message he gave to those destined to heaven, to those destined to hell, only with the opposite message.

These people did not honour Jesus, because they didn’t feed the hungry, or clothe the naked or visit the ill and imprisoned.

For them, it was about looking after number one.

And the reality is - why not? If there is no basis for compassion, why not keep yourself at top. Helping others is more about making sure people will help you if you need it.

But that’s the difference with the love of Jesus. We don’t love others because of what we might get in return. We love others because they are made in the image of God and they have inherent value.

Caring for the Aboriginal

And that brings me back to the issue I raised earlier.

The Aboriginal people of this land have been mistreated for generation.

Initially they were mistreated because they were believed to be of an inferior race.

Actually, Darwin’s theory of evolution has a lot to answer for, because it was on the back of this theory that Aboriginals were inferior. The notion of the survival of the fittest, combined with the assumption that they were inferior, meant that literally, the policy was to wait to they die out and then we won’t have to worry about them.

It is horrific to say that, but that was how many of them thought.

But this is in stark contrast to what the bible teaches.

The bible, right from , teaches that every single human being, male and female, are created in the image of God.

Now of course, those horrific policies and ideas are gone - our Government has even apologised for the wrong doing of those who came before us.

But as I mentioned before, the legacy remains.

And for this reason, I bring this back to this end times parable that Jesus taught in .

While many have broke through their past to become successful in many ways (and these people should be acknowledged), a significant amount do not enjoy the privileges that other Australian enjoy.

They have lower levels of education.

If you look at the close the gap report - despite stated intentions to close it, the reality is, Aboriginal people have far worse health outcomes compared with the rest of the population.

Look at the incarceration rates. Aboriginal people make up about half the prison population in Australia despite only representing to percent of the population.

This is the result of significant mistreatment over many generations.

There is no easy answer to all of this. We’re not going to find a quick fix.

What this needs is generations of love and care. To raise the dignity of these people who bear the image of God.

And I believe that as we read this parable of Jesus - as we wait for Jesus to return, we should have no other response other than to reach out to them.

They are our brothers and sisters. They are right there before us and we should not deny them.

Conclusion

As I said, there is no easy fix. But it starts with a change of attitude.

It starts by changing the way we think - and rather than thinking of them as a problem to fix, we need to think of them as a people to love.

Because that is what they are. The bear the image of God just like every other human being on this planet.

Of course this parable applies to much more than the aboriginal people. There are people who are hurting, and who have been abused in all sorts of places. Our heart needs to reach out to them as well.

The message I want you to take home today is that, if you think you really love Jesus, then you need to ask yourself - I am showing love and compassion to those people that Jesus himself identified with? Am I loving the sick, the imprisoned, the hungry and the poor? Because if you aren’t, it might be that you have a warped view of who Jesus is.

Let me pray...