“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
“‘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 took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’
“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” [Matthew 25:31–40]
It’s the Tuesday of Holy Week. The verses you read above were delivered by Jesus as part of his Olivet Discourse, so called because he spoke them from the Mount of Olives to his disciples on his way back to Bethany for the evening. He’d arrived in Jerusalem two days prior, triumphant and applauded. The day before his Discourse, he’d cleared the temple of money-changers and those defiling that sacred place by making financial transactions within its walls. Now, he continues to use his final days of earthly ministry to teach those who love and follow him. And this is what he wants them to know: Our actions will serve as proof of our devotion to Christ.
We are called to emulate our Savior in our treatment of others. We demonstrate our commitment to Christ by living out our repentant heart-change in how we care for, love on, give to, and show God to the world around us. The scope or scale isn’t what’s important—the smallest of actions can have the greatest of impacts—it’s the obedience we show in following Christ’s call to action and embodying his purpose to share his gospel through the ordinary, everyday, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that speak Jesus into the hearts and lives of those we know.
As a side note, for context: We got to visit the Mount of Olives during our trip to Israel with some Trinity friends in February of 2020. (Ah, the good ol’ days.) The place we stopped to learn from our tour guide overlooks much of the Old City of Jerusalem from the eastern side. This horribly lit photo of me on the Mount of Olives gives you a little idea of where Jesus was when delivering the Olivet Discourse. Although there were probably fewer fences, among other things (I’m guessing).
Oh, by the way, it’s Kathy again. 🙂
For your reading accompaniment: Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20
The recording above is a remastered version of a 1956 recording from the Cleveland Orchestra (or, as my youngest son calls them, the best orchestra in the entire galaxy—and he’s not wrong), but the reason you need to listen to this piece is to appreciate its complexity before watching this short video from a 1999 performance of the same piece. The soloist at that time, Maria João Pires, was called in as a last-minute substitute for an afternoon concert and sat down to perform thinking she would playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23. It wasn’t until the baton came down that she realized it was No. 20 instead—a piece that she thankfully knew but was not prepared to perform. I’ll tell you what: If that had been me, the outcome would not have been so great.
April 15 is kind of a big deal
…for three reasons that we’ll look at today. I’m sure there’s other reasons too, but I only have so much time.
First off, today is the 113rd anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, where hundreds perished in the cold water of the northern Atlantic and Kate Winslet couldn’t be bothered to scooch over on a piece of floating debris. There’s something inherently fascinating about the Titanic: not just the tragic circumstances of its sinking but also the dramatic discovery of the wreckage in 1985 and then, of course, the 1997 blockbuster movie that took the world and my little 15-year-old heart by storm. My friends and I would buy a ticket to see Titanic and then, once our showing was done, we’d sneak into the other theaters to watch whatever we could of the movie in those showings as well. (Hey, I was a teenager, okay, and the pull of a soon-to-be-frozen Leonardo DiCaprio was strong. I’m not proud of it.) But the appeal of James Cameron’s epic film has remained strong even in the 25-plus years since its release. Lately, however, I find myself rewatching this version instead whenever I need a good laugh. Watch to the end—it’s worth it, I promise.
Speaking of anniversaries of significant historical disasters (my apologies for this accidental theme), Sunday marked 55 years since the explosion that crippled Apollo 13 en route to the Moon during the third manned lunar landing mission. (On today’s actual date in 1970, the astronauts were still trying to make their way back to Earth after having missed out on a Moon landing.) I got the opportunity to visit Johnson Space Center in Houston last year and saw the Mission Control room where the actual events of all the Apollo missions took place. I’ve been a space nerd since my dad took me to see Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks when I was in 8th grade. The launch sequence in that movie is not only impeccably directed by the great Ron Howard but has a phenomenal score behind it courtesy of James Horner. (If you watch the clip linked above, the Mission Control room where that scene begins is an exact replica of the actual one in Houston!) For those who might not know, or who are not as obsessed with 1970s-era NASA as yours truly, Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon’s character) was a last-minute replacement for Control Module Pilot Ken Mattingly after Mattingly was exposed to the measles two days before launch. (Last-minute replacements: yet another theme in this week’s blog!) The three astronauts (Swigert, Fred Haise, and Jim Lovell—a Cleveland native!) had to overcome so many obstacles in their six-day mission to bring them home even without landing on the Moon.
Oh, here’s a fun fact for parties (or never): Because of the way the Apollo 13 spacecraft had to loop around the Moon on a free return trajectory and the angle at which they approached, the Apollo 13 astronauts hold the Guinness World Record for traveling the furthest-ever distance from Earth. Isn’t that so cool?! No? Just me? That’s okay.
And finally, of course, everyone’s favorite thing to celebrate on April 15 is Tax Day. I didn’t realize Tax Day was an actual thing, but then one time I bought a calendar and it had the little text right in the date box: “Tax Day.” It’s even (I just checked) on our Outlook calendar that we use for church-related events and scheduling. I am going to give the Calendar People, whoever they are, the benefit of the doubt and assume that they do not intend Tax Day to be celebrated in the manner of Christmas or New Year’s. So if you’re one of those people who are running a little bit late in your Tax Day “celebrations,” here’s your final reminder to get that party started (or whatever).
Or, if you just need a little extra time, you could always do what Jack Swigert did (we’re back to Apollo 13, sorry) and get an extension because you’re “out of the country.” (Yeah, no kidding!)
Holy Week ahead
Even though this blog has a broad reach and not all of you who are reading are in the northeast Ohio area, I still want to extend an invitation for those who are to join us this weekend as we observe Good Friday and celebrate Resurrection Sunday at Trinity Church. You can find out about all the times and details right here. We’d love to see you.
Thanks for sticking with me for another Tuesday Afternoon—Pastor Paul will be back next week (with probably less to say about lunar missions, but you never know)! In the meantime, I leave you with this…
A prayer for Holy Tuesday
Almighty ever-living God,
grant us so to celebrate
the mysteries of the Lord’s Passion
that we may merit to receive your pardon.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
