“Let’s Go!”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,

“Let’s go.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby. 

Luke provides the details of the first coming of Jesus, the coming we celebrate at Christmas. I wonder what it was like for the shepherds. I love how after the angels told them the news, they all just looked at each other and said, “Well. Let’s go. Let’s see this thing that has happened.” And they went. They went where Jesus was. 

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He grew up and lived in Galilee. He died outside Jerusalem. He rose from the grave. He ascended to heaven. He’s coming back to earth. We are now waiting for the next coming of Jesus. 

A year ago in a youth group setting, I asked a group of young teenagers to memorize the Apostles Creed and come back the next week with any questions they had about the creed. They came back the next week and we recited the creed together. Then I opened it up to their questions. One of them asked, “What exactly does it mean that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead?”

I’ve always been comfortable with silence. So I let that question sit for a minute and then turned it over to the rest of the group. “What do you guys think? What does it mean that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead?”

More silence. 

Finally, one girl tentatively raised her hand to offer an answer, “Maybe it means that it’s not our job.” 

Out of the mouths of babes. 

We like to judge, don’t we? We enjoy having that job. We have a good idea of who should get in and who should be left out. But that girl’s answer, “Maybe it means that judgment isn’t our job.” Brilliant. 

So what is our job? As we wait patiently for this next return of Jesus, what is our job? Jesus is coming and he will judge. Without that on our plate, what should we be doing?

Matthew 25 answers both questions – the job of Jesus and our job. We read that he will separate the people just like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Matthew continues with words from Jesus regarding that judgment, “If you want to be one of the sheep, feed me, clothe me, invite me in and look after me.” His audience is confused. “Feed you? Clothe you? Invite you in? How could we ever do that?”

Jesus instructs them, “Whenever you do that for the least of these, you do it for me.”

 

“Nobody gets into heaven without a letter of reference from the poor.”

James Forbes

Between the manger and the cross, Jesus demonstrated how to do that. There were no outcasts with Jesus. He fed those who were hungry. He healed those who were sick. He clothed the naked.

He loved. He loved his Father. He loved his neighbor. He loves us. 

What do we need to do? We need to get to know Jesus. We need to be like him. We need to go where he is and we need to stay there. Just like the shepherds, we need to look at each other and simply respond, “Let’s go.”