In the Negro Spirituals, that sacred folk music of enslaved African Americans, we find here and there a tongue-in-cheek criticism of the hypocrisy lurking in the shadows wherever the Gospel shines its light. In the song variously titled “Walk All Over God’s Heaven,” “Heaven, Heaven” and “I Got a Robe,” we find the following verse and chorus:
I’ve got a robe, you’ve got a robe,
All of God’s children got a robe,
When I get to heaven goin’ to put on my robe,
Goin’ to shout all over God’s heaven.
Heaven, Heaven
Everybody talking’ ‘bout heaven
Ain’t goin’ there
Heaven, Heaven
Goin’ to shout all over God’ heaven.
“Everybody talking’ ‘bout heaven / Ain’t goin’ there.” There is, ever and always, the difference between walking the walk and merely talking the talk.
The Gospel of Matthew insists that for the authentic followers of Jesus, that difference makes all the difference. The true disciples of Jesus are not those who talk about what Jesus did, but those who do what Jesus talked about. Those true followers are distinguished by their faithfulness to the words of Jesus and the will of his Heavenly Father—not by their appealing appearance, compelling words, or impressive accomplishments.
For it is in the words of Jesus that his followers hear the Word of his Father which is in Heaven. And it is in heeding that Word that they do His will, picking and choosing between right and wrong, the true and the false, the evil and the good.