an unusual ordering of things…

“When the son of man comes in his glory…”  Matthew’s Gospel promises a great reckoning at the end of things, but point to something more current – more “present”, if you will.  This simple equation – goats + sheep (divided by) a righteous judge, equals fair warning.  Not to treat one another with love for the sake of some glorious heavenly reward – no, this is about our attitude toward the divine.  When you love your fellow creatures, you love me, the King says – and when you ignore the hungry and naked, thinking they are somehow “sub-human”, you have turned your back on God.  Simple, really – the least desirable one among us is God-soaked. in their every atom.  See them, and you’ve seen me, says the King – and we can only shake our heads in wonder, at the miraculous simplicity of Incarnation.  We’ve made it harder (of course) than it ever needed to be.  The coming King – this King of Glory, bound and killed by human arrogance, Jesus, the Christ, insists on this simplicity:  “I was hungry, and you gave me food.  I was thirsty, naked, sick and alone and you spoke up, stepped up, and filled my need – that is how the Kingdom works.