Impact Series – Paying It Forward Matthew 25:31-45
Relate story of my step-father showing patience and kindness when I broke disc hitch.
Okay, so this is the second week in a row that we encounter in the Gospels a portrait of Christ as fearsome. Last week, we read of a Jesus who said he came to bring fire and wished it was already kindled. It was a Christ who said he did not come to bring peace, but division. This morning, we take a look at one example of the kind of division Jesus highlighted – a distinction between those who will inherit the kingdom of God and those who will not.
Hardly any story is told in the Gospels that does not have a referent in the New Testament. This imagery recalls Zechariah 14:1-21. In that passage, the prophet Zechariah describes a time in Judah’s future when it will become under attack. People will turn against each other in a dog eat dog world. You remember Norm on Cheers, who said, “It’s a dog eat dog world, and I’m wearing meat bone underwear.” During that time, some will cave, but others will survive. And those who survive, he says, from every nation will recognize the kingship of the Lord.
The same for our text today, where from the throne, the king uses his authority to separate the people. To illustrate the separation of one individual from another, Jesus likens himself to a shepherd who separates his flock of sheep from the goats who are grazing in the same pasture. The sheep receive the place of honor and inherit God’s kingdom (25:34).
Jesus calls the sheep those who are “blessed by my Father” (25:34). Who are the blessed ones? The blessings of the beatitudes foreshadow Jesus’ eschatological teaching.
In the beatitudes, Jesus blesses those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake and who are reviled for their faith (5:10-11; cf. 24:9-14). Likewise, Jesus’ teaching on the blessing of the sheep comes after he has warned his disciples that they will be hated by the world and tortured for his sake (24:9).
Yet, in spite of their circumstances, they pay it forward. The same is true for us. We can be blessed this very day, by paying it forward to the least of these.
You will never be a perfect position to help others. Just like there is never the perfect time to have children. You will never be as financially sound, or have as much discretionary income, or have all the time in the world to help others. The blessed don’t say, “Oh, I’ll help others and volunteer when I retire. I’ll give to those in need when have just a little more security. I’ll visit the sick or those in prison when I work my way up to four weeks of vacation a year. What do those blessed by the Father do?
Jesus says, “ ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
The blessed pay it forward today. The blessed aren’t so tied up in their own lives that they, don’t have time to help others, or so much in pursuit of one more electronic gadget or of upgrading the car that they neglect the hungry, thirsty, naked, prisoners and strangers in their community.
You’ve heard of Pay-it-forward chains, where customers pay for the order of the person in line behind them? When humans used to man toll road booths, I would sometimes, pay the toll of the person behind me. Just a little thing, a little seed of kindness planted. Well, the owner of a small coffee shop in Crown Point, Indiana, has come up with her own way to spread some love and is making a positive impact in the lives of her customers and the local community every day.
Breanne Zolfo opened Cafe Fresco six years ago. When the shop wasn’t super busy, she and her employees would jot down inspirational quotes on random coffee cup sleeves. Pretty soon, customers started requesting the quotes if their sleeve didn’t have one.
Now, her team writes up to 200 quotes on sleeves every morning before the store opens to make sure all of her customers receive one. They include quotes like:
- “Believe there is good in the world.”
- “Be the good.”
- “Let your light shine.”
“There are people who go through their whole day, who don’t have anything positive or inspirational in their day…To be a small part of that is really cool.” But Zolfo’s mission isn’t just about sharing motivational quotes.
About three years ago, Zolfo began encouraging her customers to go out and perform real acts of kindness themselves by writing a suggested good deed inside the coffee sleeves, like donating clothes to a homeless shelter or putting money in a Salvation Army jar. When they return with a photo or video of the deed, they get a free coffee.
“The customers love it,” said Zolfo. “They feel like they’re doing their small part, too. They see the outcome. They see they can change people’s lives.”
And every week, Zolfo takes all of the money collected in the tip jar (they call it the “Community Love Tip Jar”) and surprises someone local with something special.
After asking a homeless man what he really needed, the Cafe Fresco staff surprised him with a bike. He returned to the shop a few years later and explained how the bike totally transformed his life by enabling him to have transportation to get a job. He is now no longer homeless.
She also surprises people in grocery store checkout lines by paying for their bill with the tip money.
“We planted a small seed in Crown Point, Indiana, and now people are spreading our mission to other cities and states. When we have other people helping us, that’s when we can do it everywhere,” said Zolfo.
That’s what doing it unto the least of these is all about, planting small seeds and paying it forward. And the truth is, the least of these may not be the most destitute person your encounter today. It may be the person in the grocery store who has an anguished look on her face and you offer a smile and a kind word to open up a conversation that may lead to you changing someone’s life. It may be the neighbor kid with a rough home life whom you encourage by offering to help with homework. It may be the stressed out single mother that you offer to babysit for so she can have dinner with a friend or a long, quiet bath at home with a good book. It may be being forgiving and patient with a frightened teenage boy who just broke the hitch on the disc.
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