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 food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:34-40 ESV
Spoiler Alert – Stop reading now if you haven’t seen the Internship, and still want to!
The premise of the Internship, is that a competition for a Google internship. It essentially comes down to a team of misfits and a pompous rich kid and his team of stars. The bad guy makes it clear he doesn’t have time for anyone but those he thinks are important.
This becomes most clear in his interactions with a scruffy headphone guy who is painfully shy, and never listens to music but wears the headphones because it lets him keep to himself. One of the two bumbling protagonists goes out of his way to befriend headphone guy, while the pompous villain makes fun of him.
At the final announcement of who won the internship, the pompous guy can’t believe he lost, and interrupts the announcement to say, “lets get someone down here who matters.”
Headphone guy appears, is revealed to be the head of a major department at Google, and he’s been listening to the whole thing. He tells the villain – you haven’t shown very much googliness. We learned earlier in the movie, this googliness is all about community and creativity. But the villain says, “what does that even mean?”
The headphone guy sums it up, “The fact you don’t even know is why you’ll never work here.”
Jesus says this about his kingdom. Compassion is a sign that you get what my kingdom is all about. Its part of kingdomliness. The way you treat those who don’t seem important, is actually very important.
Jesus even puts himself in their shoes – says it’s like you’re serving him when you serve others.
He goes so far as to say that this is how he sorts out those who want to be in his kingdom, with him, and those who want to take a pass. He says its like separating sheep and goats – the ones who want to be in his kingdom will act like it, and those who don’t, won’t. He says this twice, and I only read one version here, which is the positive describing who gets in, but he also tells the story in the negative, describing who stays out. What becomes clear is that we choose God’s kingdom, or separation from him, not just with words but with actions.
We’ll see tomorrow how this applies to our neighbours.
Question: How do these six actions benefit the recipient, the doer, and Jesus?
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A friend of mine had a baby recently – and her husband took a week or so off before heading back to work. I asked him how it was going.
He said, work is alright, but it’s different now . I just don’t find it matters as much as it used to. I won’t quit or anything, but it just seems less important to me.
True enough. My friend still needs to work, but there is a new member of his family who is far more important than every possible promotion, raise or accolade.
We all need this kind of shift in perspective – not by all going and having a kid – but by inviting God to be at the center of our lives.
When there is no ultimate goal or concern in our lives, or that varies day to day, or simply becomes whatever is most urgent, busyness consumes us. We can’t stop it or get away from it.
If God is the ultimate center of our lives, then everything else falls into place around Him. James, who we interviewed a couple weeks ago was consumed by the lifestyle his lucrative career could buy, and lost himself. In the end, he quit, took a break, and eventually came back – but able to see that work wasn’t everything. You can watch the video again by clicking "Extra" or here: https://vimeo.com/72458543
He and my friend with the baby both realized they were enslaved to their work, sometimes without even realizing it.
This kind of slavery to work is something God wanted to prevent Israel from ever experiencing again, or inflicting on anyone else. In Deuteronomy 15:1-2 and Deuteronomy 15:12-15:
“At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor.”
“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.
We’ve heard a lot about the Sabbath day so far, but this introduces the idea of the Sabbath year where Israel was meant to release every debt, and release every person who was so indebted they had sold themselves into slavery.
Why? Because God had released their nation from slavery, and this would be a constant reminder. Every week, a day off, and every 6 years, a year off for crops and for the lowest servants. This would be a clear sign they were not worshipping work, but worshipping God.
That same act of liberation needs to be in our rest. We need to tell ourselves we are resting to prove we are not slaves to our employers, to our bank accounts, to our pride or anything else. We are children of God, not defined by work.
There is more to me than my work.
This inner shift has to come before we try making outer, structural changes to our weeks and years, like we’ll discuss next week.
Question: What would it take for you to see your work differently? What could change for a year, or what life event, would break the cycle?
