Identity Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46

I want you to reach back…
reach back into the deep recesses of your memory to elementary science class.
Remember the model of the solar system you made
with coat hangers and Styrofoam balls.
Nine planets (now eight) revolving in different orbits around the sun.

Now remember the name Copernicus – Nicolaus Copernicus –
the sixteenth century Catholic priest
who is known as the “Father of modern Astronomy.”
It was Copernicus who first drew the controversial conclusion
that the planets, including Earth, revolve around the sun in a helio-centric model,
instead of the sun and all the other planets revolving around the Earth.
Despite the fact that the church he was a part of at the time thought it blasphemous,
Copernicus had the courage to stand behind his own calculations and observations
and proclaim that you and I are not the center of the universe.

I bring this up because a team of researchers have just identified the remains
discovered in a crypt in a Polish cathedral as those of Nicolaus Capernicus.
They did this by comparing the DNA of these remains
with the DNA of a hair found in one of Copernicus’ books.
They’ve even used the skull they found to make a facial reconstruction
the picture of which is on the back of your prayer list.
It’s amazing! After nearly 500 years scientists working in a laboratory
can make a positive ID through nothing more than a hair and a piece of bone.

Which begs the question…what is the essence of a person’s identity?
What is it that allows a person to be known as unique from every other person?
Is it the microscopic genetic code packed in a single strand of DNA?
Is it the whorls of a fingerprint, the slant of a forehead, the jut of a chin?
Is it the quirky laugh that begins with a gurgle and ends with a snort?
Or the complex set of mannerisms a person might display
from twisting hair to drumming fingers
to a characteristic way of clearing the throat when about to speak?

What is the essence of YOUR identity?
How would a friend describe you to someone you’ve never met?
How would you describe yourself?
What is it that makes you RECOGNIZABLE as you?
I ask this because the question of identity is at the heart of our gospel lesson –
Jesus’ identity AND the identity of his disciples.

Throughout the gospels Jesus’ identity is a moving target.
Is he a teacher first? Teaching is clearly at the heart of his mission.
Is he a healer? An exorcist?
Some call him the Messiah, but, curiously, he shies away from that term.
He’s a child of Nazareth, that we know, the son of working class parents,
but also one who, from an early age, inspires an attitude of worship in others.
In his lesson today, his last classroom lecture
before the quick downward spiral of arrest and crucifixion,
Jesus envisions his ultimate identity as being that of judge.
He sees himself as the Son of Man, coming at the end of days to judge the nations.
He sees himself seated on a throne of glory,
a far cry from where he was born – a crude feed trough in a rented stable.

What are we to think of Jesus? How can we know him? What is his primary identity?
The answer appears to elude those whom he judges.
When Jesus separates the nations as a shepherd might separate sheep from goats
his judgment against the goat-people is that they had seen him
hungry, thirsty, lost, naked, sick and in prison
and had failed to assist him in his time of need.

“Now hold on there!” cry the goat-people. “Time out!”
“When did we see you hungry, thirsty, lost, naked, sick, or in prison
and fail to administer to your needs?”
“We didn’t know it was you!”
“If we’d known it was you, we would’ve pulled out all the stops!
We would’ve spared no expense!
Why didn’t you identify yourself?
Why didn’t you use the secret password?
Wear the proper lapel pin?
Or put on a nametag for goodness’ sake!”
HI, MY NAME IS: Son of Man
“Is that so hard?
“How can you blame us for not knowing you
if you didn’t identify yourself properly?
if you didn’t wear an I D badge?”

The goat-people might have had a point
if not for those blasted sheep-people,
the ones the Son of Man puts on his right side, the side of honor.

It turns out the sheep-people were just as clueless as the goat-people
with one major difference.
Jesus, the Son of Man, the Judge of the nations
says to those on his right hand, to his sheep,
“I was hungry and thirsty, lost and naked, sick and in prison
and you cared tenderly for my needs.
You looked after me so compassionately.”
Like the goat-people, the sheep-people are floored by this.
They too ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, lost,
naked, sick or in prison and take such good care of you?”
We certainly didn’t look for name tags. We didn’t check I D’s.

“Ah, but you did,” says Jesus, Son of Man, Righteous Judge.
Even in your ignorance you registered the one facet
that is the essence of my identity.
“The moment you looked into the eyes of any of those
who were hungry, thirsty, lost, naked, sick, in prison,
without shelter, scared, powerless, cold, or simply poor
and saw reflected there the words “Human being,”
saw stamped there across the forehead in big bold letters,
“Child of God,” you saw me.

That’s what makes Jesus Jesus, what makes the Christ the Christ.
He is the Word made flesh, God incarnate, Emmanuel. That’s his ID.
When we try to deny our humanity by separating ourselves from those who are frail.
When we try to ignore our mortality, our capacity for error, our insecurity
by putting distance between ourselves and those who are sick
or in prison, or lost and alone
we only end up putting distance between ourselves and Jesus.

The author of Ephesians writes of the power that is ours
when we recognize Jesus at work.
But the power spoken of in the letter to the Ephesians
is far different from the way we typically think of power.
We think of power in terms of who has the largest defense budget,
who has the ear of the president,
who has the most aggressive style – tolerating no dissent, taking no prisoners.

But the author of Ephesians knows differently.
He knows that the only power that means anything,
the only power that gives purpose to life
is the power that comes through God’s gift of wisdom
and the ability to discern the presence of the incarnation.
In other words, the ability to ID Jesus in the most unusual people and places.

So it comes to this. After all the pictures painted, all the statues erected,
all the cathedrals built in his name;
the Son of Man, the Judge of all nations,
the Lord, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ
is most clearly seen, most accurately identified
in the face of the one who is most in need.

We have here today in the Fellowship Hall what we’re calling our Global Village Market.
Every one of the tables, every one of the organizations represented
has to do with serving people who are in need.
Some of the people these organizations serve live right here in Nelson County.
Some of them live on the other side of the world.
You will find in this Global Village Market opportunities to buy,
opportunities to give, and opportunities to learn.
I encourage you to take advantage of what they have to offer.
And when you leave today I want you to take with you a question.
Let it be your question of the week.
Use your quiet time after dinner,
or you time in line at the checkout to give it some thought.

What is your ID? Your identity?
How do you want people to know you? To remember you?
500 years from now when they dig up your bones
will they have enough evidence to know who you really were?
Will they know you by your DNA as simply another human being?
Or will they somehow know you as more than that?
A Child of God, perhaps.
Or better still, a sheep, a disciple,
servant of Christ and your neighbor in need.