WEBVTT

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit, amen. In this last Sunday,

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before we enter into Great Lent next week, and

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before that last lesson that we will hear next

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Sunday, we are given every year this story about

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the Great Judgment, the Last Judgment. This parable,

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if it is a parable, and I'm not sure it is, it

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may actually be our Lord literally describing

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what is going to happen, is given to us in a

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general way for a couple of reasons. A couple

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of reasons that are very important today. The

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first is that there is judgment. In our world

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today, and maybe it's always been thus, An easy

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temptation to fall into to think that our Lord

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will not really judge us. Our Lord is compassionate.

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He's loving. But we also forget that he's just.

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And we forget when we hear parables like this

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that he reminds us that there is judgment. That

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at the end of our lives, there will be a judgment.

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There's a kind of a temptation to a universalism

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in our world today. that says God is so kind

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of compassionate that no one will go to hell.

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That he is so kind and so loving that no matter

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what anybody did, no matter how far away they

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turned away, that he would not allow them to

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go to hell. The second general and overarching

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theme, if you will, of this parable is that the

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content of that judgment is very clear in the

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words of the Lord. The content of that judgment

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is mercy and love. That we tend to think that

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God is going to be this judge in the sense that

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we think of a judge in a court of law, where

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he will hear the evidence, that I will stand

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before him, and those who love me will give evidence.

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Well, you know, he did this, and he did this,

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and he was this way, and those maybe who don't

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care for me will also present their case. And

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that we think sometimes that, our Lord has this

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kind of scale, this cosmic scale. And we say,

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okay, Lord, here are all these good things that

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I did. And the scale begins to tip in my favor.

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And then the Lord says, but wait a second. We've

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got to consider the other things too. And so

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we consider the things that are not so good.

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And the scale begins to come back up. And we

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think that if the bad side outweighs the good

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side, then... Game over. God isn't that kind

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of judge. The judge that we are going to face

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is a judge that will simply show us who we are.

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That's going to be the content of our judgment.

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He's going to open that book of life and he's

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going to come down to my name and he's going

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to rip open my chest and he's going to look at

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my heart. And my heart will reveal where I belong.

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My heart will reveal whether... I am a sheep

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or a goat. There is no other content. If we have

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a merciful, loving heart, it will manifest itself

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in the way that we live our lives, and it will

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show itself in the way that we treat others.

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Now, in the parable, we hear about the judgment

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being that he comes to the sheep, the people

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who are on his right hand, and he says, come

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all you blessed to the kingdom of heaven that

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has been prepared for you from the foundation

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of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me

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food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I

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was estranged and you took me in. I was sick

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and you came to me. I was in prison and you visited

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me. You ministered to me. And they were all surprised.

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All of them were surprised. When? When, Lord,

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did we see you in any of these ways? They said,

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when you did it to the least of these, my brethren,

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you did it to me. And then, of course, it's the

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opposite for the goats. You didn't feed me when

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I was hungry. You didn't give me a drink when

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I was thirsty. You didn't welcome me when I was

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a stranger. You didn't visit me in prison. You

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didn't take care of me when I was sick. When?

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When did we not do that to you? And it's the

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same answer. When you didn't do it to the least

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of these, my brethren, you didn't do it to me.

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And you are going to the place prepared for the

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devil and his angels from the foundation of the

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world. So we know that there are two places from

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the foundation of the world that have been prepared.

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The kingdom of heaven and the eternal fire that

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has been prepared for the devil and his angels.

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And the judgment is, where will we be? Where

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will we be? So let's look at that chart, if you

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will, of behaviors. I have to tell you a story,

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and it's an important story because it happened

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not far from here, just down the road in San

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Francisco. quarter, back when we could still

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travel as well as we did before COVID and everything

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else, we would have diocesan council meetings

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in San Francisco. And I was always there on Tuesday

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for the advisory council on Tuesday afternoon.

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And then we would go for dinner. And after dinner,

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San Francisco is a lovely place to walk around.

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And I would go for a long walk. And our hotel

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was across the street, kind of catty corner from

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a Walgreens. It's on the corner of Polk and Broadway,

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I believe. And I was coming up to the end of

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my walk, and there was a man sitting there in

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front on a little stool with a can, and he was

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begging. And as I came closer and closer, he

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decided that he was done. So I didn't have a

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chance to encounter him or anything. I didn't

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have a chance to give him anything. and I went

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past him, and I was waiting for the light at

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the corner, and I watched him, and he folded

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up his little chair, he picked up his can, he

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walked into the parking lot of the Walgreens,

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he got into a Lexus SUV, and drove away. Now,

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you talk about a temptation. You talk about the

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demons coming and poking you, saying, see, that's

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why you don't have to take care of anybody. See?

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When I lived in Las Vegas, and I was the pastor

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of St. Paul's Church, Every way that we went

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to church always ended up passing one corner,

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Pecos and Sunset. For nine straight years, there

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was a guy on the corner every time I came by

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it, and he was holding up a sign. And it said,

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need gas money for California. Nine years. And

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I almost wanted to roll down the window and say,

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how much gas do you need? All of that can pollute

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the power of this story. When you look at those

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categories, hunger, okay, I don't really know.

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I mean, we can pass people in our journeys, but

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I don't really personally know anyone who is

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in danger of not eating dinner tonight. I honestly

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don't. I don't know of anyone. who, if they really

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were thirsty, could not find a tap of water to

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turn on and drink. I don't know, by definition,

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I don't know strangers, but I don't know in all

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of the years that I've been on this earth, in

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all of the years that I've been in the church,

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I've only known one person to go to prison. One

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person. I'm almost 70. One person in my entire

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life that I know that has gone to prison. And

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of course we know sick people, but oftentimes

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sick people are so sick that we can't visit them.

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So when I encounter these examples of the beggar

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in San Francisco or the beggar in Las Vegas,

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and I know that when I look at my own life, I

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really don't know a lot of people who are hungry

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and thirsty and naked and in prison and all those

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kind of things. Does that mean that the Lord

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then didn't know what he was saying to us? Does

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that mean that what the Lord was saying was only

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good to the people who were listening to him

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back 2 ,000 years ago? Did he not know what the

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21st century was going to be like for those of

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us calling us as Christians to the same behavior?

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I don't want to stand in front of God and say

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that. I don't want to stand in front of the Lord

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and say, you know, you really didn't know what

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you were talking about. So then, what can we

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look at? Does it mean that all of us have to

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make that effort to go out, literally to go out

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and work in food pantries and everything else?

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Tell that to a young couple with four children.

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Find the time to go do that. Find the time to

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go and do all the other ministries. It does mean

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that we can support those ministries. It does

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mean we can pray for those ministries. But it

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seems to me that Those people are also people

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in our lives in a way that we sometimes don't

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think about. There are people around us who are

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so hungry. So hungry not for a hamburger. They're

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so hungry for God. They're so hungry for light.

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There are people walking around in darkness that

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don't know anything. They're searching and looking

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and they're hungry. And we have the food to give

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them. But sometimes we don't. There are people

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who are so thirsty for God, they don't even know

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that they're thirsty for God, and we have the

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rivers of wisdom, which is the Holy Spirit, to

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give them. There are strangers among us right

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now. Have we welcomed them this morning? We know

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sick people. Not only people in hospitals, not

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only people who have been diagnosed as sick,

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but we know people who are sick. In a spiritual

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way. We know that people are led astray by the

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things of this society today. We know people

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that are in prison. We know people who are imprisoned

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in their own passions, imprisoned in their own

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sins. So we know people in all of these different

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categories. So what does that mean for me? What

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does that mean for me? It means that when I know

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someone is in darkness, I can offer them light.

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When I know someone who's imprisoned by their

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passions and by their sins, I can help lead them

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to Christ. I can help bring them to the church.

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All of those different categories, we know people

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that are not so obviously sick, not so obviously

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thirsty. And we can reach them with effort, but

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maybe even more importantly, we can reach them

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by the way that we live our life. And so I think

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the church gives us this passage just before

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Great Lent. Not to say, okay, during Lent, make

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sure you go out and feed someone. Make sure you

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go out and give someone a drink. Because I think

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ultimately what this parable is given to us today

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for every year is to remind us that when we talk

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about taking care of the least of my brethren,

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when we talk about taking care of the other,

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we have to begin by being reminded by God himself

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that I am the least of the brethren. I am the

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other. And our Lord Jesus Christ has come down

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to take care of me. And during Great Lent, we

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make the effort at breaking away from our hunger.

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We're fed by the Lord, but we go out into the

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world and we feed ourselves with all sorts of

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garbage. We feed ourselves with all sorts of

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things on mass media and social media and all

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these other kinds. We eat it by the spoonful.

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And during Great Lent, it is a time that we try

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to feed ourselves with the word of God and feed

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ourselves away from that stuff. We are thirsty

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because we have denied that Holy Spirit in the

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way that we live our life. We are strangers to

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God because we have walked away from him. We

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are imprisoned by our own passions, by our own

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sins, and we are called by God to be healed from

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them by confessing and bringing them to the church

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and letting God heal us. parable is given to

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us on this last Sunday before we enter into Great

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Lent next week so that we are reminded that the

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only way we can attain salvation is to take care

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of the other. That when Jesus tells us to take

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care of the least of my brethren, he tells us

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to do it because he has done it to us. As we

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enter into that great fast and as we enter into

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the rigors and the struggles against ourself.

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May God strengthen us to begin that care of the

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other, to begin that care of the least of the

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brethren, by remembering that I am the least

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of the brethren. In the name of the Father, the

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Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.