Closing Reflection: The Church

 In this final article I give the inspiration and intention of the series. 

It began in June of last year when I read Stephen Ambrose’s book, The Victors. Ambrose laid out the seeds of democracy that fed the determination and initiative of the soldiers. He vividly showed how democracy prepared the forces of the West for the destruction of the Third Reich. 

The parallel for me was the power embedded in the church. Against the Body of Christ the gates of hell cannot stand. That power, that divinely established presence of God’s kingdom, could take down the worst evils of the world.  While I was ruminating on this, the lectionary brought the first chapter of Ephesians. There, Paul makes clear that the church reflects the glory of God and the counsel of his will. 

My Premise:

That became my premise: As the church contains the power of the Holy Spirit and displays God’s will, the church confronts the evils of the world and overwhelms them. 

I located the evils of the world in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. The sheep cared for the needy of the world. The needy and their oppressors were those I wanted to address: the hungry, the poor, refugees, and slaves. To them I added three more: children, the persecuted followers, and those who had not yet heard the gospel. 

God’s Other Children: 

Jesus called these sheep “my brothers,” or in the wider context of the word, “my family.” I refer to them as “God’s Other Children,” a term that sees them en masse. As with any family, some would claim kinship while others depart the fold.

The Least:

Jesus gave a further clarification of the needy. He referred to them as “the least of these.” That meant ones who are too unimportant to make the news, unknown to most. That rationale took me to refugees from South Sudan, the hungry in Chad, slaves from Ghana, and the persecuted in North Korea. 

My model for “the least” has been the Musahar people of the Chitra of Nepal. They are ostracized and mostly ignored—by neighbors, the government, and the church. As a consequence, they have little education, poor health, bad jobs. They offer no advantage to any who help them, they bring no benefit to society, and they live with under the cloud that tells them they are unworthy and undeserving. 

That is what it is to be among “the least.”

The Sheep and the elect: 

There is another image for the sheep, for followers of Christ. This definition describes them by evangelical statement of their beliefs. They have repented of their sins and are saved by the blood of the Savior. But when Paul speaks of these as the elect, the saved, he is talking about the very same believers whom Jesus called the sheep. They are not a separate category of Christians. They are one and the same.

The Sheep are the elect, and the elect are the Sheep.

Christ’s expectation:

This parable is the last one Jesus gave before he left the world.  He impressed these memorable images on his followers to show his favor. What is noteworthy is what he described. There was no message, no admonition, no illustration. Simply this:  He observed that the sheep were feeding, were freeing, were welcoming. That is what drew his attention and favor to the sheep. That was what Jesus expected of his followers.

When we translate this into the present tense, Jesus is stating: “I see you, my people, feeding, freeing, welcoming.” And that is what he expects the church to be doing. He is not haranguing, not advocating, not commending—just telling us what he expects to see in the life of the church.

In the words and images of Ephesians, Paul encourages the church to do the same: “We live to praise of the glory of God. What we accomplish is the counsel of his will. Through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be displayed” (Ephesians 1:6, 11; 310). The images are not of sheep and goats, but the truth is the same.

So, unless we remove abused children and slaves to outside of the glory, will, and purposes of God, then the church is expected to defend these, the least of the world. 

The Warning of Shiloh:

If we do not walk in paths of justice, God may walk away from us. “Pruning” is the operative word here. If there is no fruit, then the gardener removes the dead branches.

Consider the crowd who heard John the Baptist. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Many who heard repented and wanted to receive forgiveness and grace. They asked John what they were to do, what signs of repentance for them. And John listed ways “to do justice and love mercy” (Micah 6:8).

Or Jeremiah’s Temple sermon in the 7th chapter. He was simple and direct: “Treat your neighbors with love, stop murdering innocent people, welcome the refugee, don’t exploit widows and orphans. If you don’t, God will do to you what he did to his people at Shiloh” (7: 5,6,12).

The story of Shiloh comes from I Samuel 4. God saw how his people turned from him and did evil. So he responded: the Philistines defeated the Israelites, captured the ark, and killed the sons of Eli. When a baby was born to one of Eli’s sons, the name reflected the life of God’s people, “The glory has departed from Israel” (I Sam. 4:22). 

That, too, translates into the present tense.

The Church, Alive and Splendid:

God constantly revives his people, the church. We are the divinely empowered agency of God’s kingdom and the carrier of the wisdom of God. With all our flaws and failures, when we set to get it right, he restores in us the brightness of his glory. 

Isaiah captured this eloquently. Here, he tells the nature of the Lord of the church, Jesus Christ:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-              hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners; They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory."

(Isa.61:1-3)

And so the church ash the high honor and calling to reflect the Savior's love. We rise humbly, stand boldly, and make war on his enemies:

"Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darknes shall cove the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but on you the light of the Lord will shine, and the brightness of his presence will be upon you."

(Isa. 60:1-3)