The Eyes of Our Hearts
“The Eyes of Our Hearts”
Ephesians 1:15-23 Matthew 25:31-46
Reign of Christ Sunday, Proper 29, Year A, November 22, 2020
First Presbyterian Church, Sandpoint, Idaho
Andy Kennaly, Pastor
Matthew’s trying to hold together a beleaguered church. His community is suffering. The dominant culture is not treating them very well. The early Christians tolerate this abuse to a point because they assume Jesus is returning in glory at any moment; he’d judge against those causing harm, and reward those who are innocent.
Reward and punishment, a future fulfillment, coming soon. This worked, for a while, until it didn’t. By now, people are weary of waiting, fatigued in faith, and despairing during delay as they wait for Jesus to come, and yet the world continues to have people who are hungry, thirsty, displaced, needy, sick and imprisoned. It sounds like the headlines of our own day, so maybe we can relate?
Robert Funk, in the book, A Credible Jesus, Fragments of a Vision, talks about reward and punishment, saying, “the rewards that Jesus offers are intrinsic to the deeds for which they are the reward, and the punishment consists in the lack of recognition that one is a child of God.” (Polebridge Press, CA, 2002, pg. 114). The sheep are rewarded, intrinsic to the deeds done. In other words, in caring for the vulnerable, the poor, the overlooked, is to actually be interacting with the Lord. Through love enacted, in relationship, through unity, Christ is experienced, manifest, and real. And the reverse is true, that in not caring, one is denying the very image one is created to be. Without loving action, not only do we harm others, but we reject our own core identity. In helping others, you are living into the loving image you are created to be, and Christ is there; no need to wait.
Another layer to what Matthew’s community is dealing with, I describe as “already/not yet.” Jesus has already returned. Jesus has not yet returned. Both are true. We already experience the fullness of God. We do not yet experience the fullness of God. Both are true. Heaven is already here. We have not yet experienced heaven. Both are true. Matthew carries paradox through metaphorical teaching about sheep and goats and the coming judgment that recognizes we already encounter Christ’s fullness, especially when we help those in need, and we already suffer judgment when we fail to recognize we are children of God, which by extension causes harm.
In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul hints on how to deal with this paradox, and claim hope in the midst of struggle, even as we recognize future fulfillment happening in the now. Paul prays, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you….” He goes on, linking the power of God at work in Christ to our own experience in the here and now. We are called to live lives of resurrection even now as transformed people – the eyes of our heart illumined.
Paul and Matthew are playing with time, looking back, holding the now, looking forward, and God’s eternity gets mixed into our perceptions. We hear the word “eternity” and we tend to think of it as time with no end. We assign our perception of time, our experience as linear thinkers. But this type of eternity is less an unending time continuum, and more a quality or state of being. On both ends of the dichotomy, rewards and punishment are qualitative experiences of blessing or struggle. With the already/not yet aspect, heaven and hell have influence on us now.
As Catherine of Siena puts it, “All the way to heaven is heaven, because Jesus said, “I am the way.” Or as others say, “It’s heaven all the way to heaven, and it’s hell all the way to hell.” That’s why Paul prays for the eyes of our hearts to be enlightened.
Cynthia Bourgeault gives us something to consider as we talk about heaven. She says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is really a metaphor for a state of consciousness; it is not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed awareness that literally turns this world into a different place. . . The hallmark of this awareness is that it sees no separation—not between God and humans, not between humans and other humans. And these are indeed Jesus’s two core teachings, underlying everything he says and does. . . . When Jesus talks about this Oneness . . . . what he more has in mind is a complete, mutual indwelling: I am in God, God is in you, you are in God, we are in each other. (Cynthia Bourgeault as quoted by Richard Rohr in his daily devotional for Wednesday, November 18, 2020, Jesus and the Reign of God, The Kingdom as Consciousness).
Matthew is trying to keep his community hopeful, even though the politics of the world are against them. In the dialogue of the sheep and goats, as they ask “when did we see you, naked, hungry, in need, etc.” Jesus answers, as you did or didn’t do, you did or didn’t do to me. “As you did” has another aspect of already/not yet. It’s already done. He uses the word, “did,” past tense. But he says, “As you,” which is more ongoing action. The greatest commandments, to love God and love your neighbor as yourself, are actions because love is more an action than a thing, a verb than a noun. “As you” puts love in action, or denies it. In denying it, we deny loving our neighbor as ourself, we deny God’s image and the inherent unity of divine connection. In loving, we live into the blessings revealed, and it’s the eyes of the heart that perceive those blessings. Our mind may never see it, our experience may never realize it, but the eyes of the heart perceive love in action transforming everything in Christ’s image.
To close this reflection, lets turn to Psalm 100 as a reminder of putting love in action and waiting in hope as one connected to all things, in Christ. This gives us a glimpse of the Reign of Christ as the psalmist says, “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
As the headlines rage on and life unfolds moment by moment, may the eyes of our hearts be enlightened, going to the roots of our consciousness, transforming our ways of thinking, and in this changing the world; for Christ is in our midst. And may the humble, vulnerable love of God be with us NOW, even as forever. Amen.