THE JUDGMENT OF NATIONS. . .

Thus far, historians agree:  ALL who live in the United States are descended from immigrants, refugees or folks forced to come here (think: slaves, convicts and indentured servants, etc.).  Our Statue of Liberty is clear as to what we, as a Nation, are committed to: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

My father’s family immigrated to Massachusetts from England in 1635 (I am a descendant of Edward Winship born in England in 1613).  My mother’s family immigrated to the United States from Poland in 1872 (five years before Ellis Island began to register immigrants).  Gentle reader, do you know when your family immigrated (by choice or by coercion) to America?

Given the current intolerance for immigrants and refugees that many of those in our country embrace I thought it would be helpful to remind us of both our heritage – we are truly a country of immigrants and refugees – and our commitment to embracing them – which is literally written in stone on the Statue of Liberty.  Our ‘heritage’ became our ‘commitment’ and our growing intolerance puts both at risk.

Now, I am going to up the ante for those of us who espouse to be Christians.  Jesus-The-Christ was crystal clear that we have an obligation to live into and out of our ‘in-stone-commitment.’  I will provide us one example which comes from Matthew, Chapter 25.  Jesus-The-Christ leaves us no wiggle room when he offers us The Judgment of Nations [‘Nations’ is a key word]

31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, 32 and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them [the Nations] one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 36naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ 40And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ 44 Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ 45He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ 46And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”   

The ‘Good Christians’ who are refusing to invite and embrace those immigrants and refugees who are seeking safety within our Nation – especially, I think, our elected officials who are ‘Good Christians’—are in for a rough time when their leader, their God, their Savior arrives for the ‘Final Judgment’ – the ‘Judgment of Nations.’  Jesus-The-Christ was clear; He did not mince words.  ‘Let He Who Has Ears’ heed His words.  By the by, ‘Good Christians,’ your self-judgment speaks volumes.

When I share Jesus-The-Christ’s words with ‘Good Christians’ I often hear these words bursting forth from their lips: ‘But we are afraid for our lives!’  Lest you forget: The three words most often repeated in Scripture are: ‘Be Not Afraid!’  Your ‘fear for your human lives’ reveals your lack of trust in God; it exposes you for a person of little faith and less belief in Jesus-The-Christ.  Perhaps your ‘fear for your human lives’ also reveals your ‘non-belief’ in a ‘final judgment’ and in an eternal ‘life-here-after.’