Matthew 25:31-46Despite my having the utmost reverence for the King Jesus described in this morning’s Gospel passage, I really can’t say I’m eager to meet Him. Frankly, I find this King Jesus more than a bit frightening. I read the fiery words of condemnation about those seated at His left hand -- those He judges as cursed -- and I feel intimidated down to the most cluttered basement corner of my soul. The word our pew Bibles translate as “cursed” can also be translated even more bluntly as “doomed.” On the eternity sized bench of divine judgment, I do not want to be seated even one millimeter to the left of this King Jesus.
The condemning
declaration against those who do not follow the ways of this King not only intimidates
me, it kind of irritates me too. I’m generally
one who favors preaching about Christ’s all-inclusive, loving grace. I guess you could say the harsh tone gets my goat. Plus, earlier this week, when I first
re-read this widely recommended passage for Christ the King Sunday, I felt like
I’m far too docile a person to preach about people being segregated into the
“eternal fire prepared for the devil.”
It’s safe to say I felt – what’s the right word? – well, I felt sheepish about speaking to this
passage.
However, it’s a good
and faithful discipline not to ignore Bible passages just because they irritate
or intimate you. Comfortable or not,
it’s all the Word of the Lord. It’s all
there for the sheep and the goats and the great purpose of being the definitive
guide for righteous living. We do have a
choice, though, for how we choose to primarily interpret it.
We can choose to first
and foremost focus on and proclaim this as a scary Scripture lesson. Among other reasons for this not being my
first choice is the fact that I grew up in an abusive situation and was
consistently scared by frightening language.
So I can say that strong
condemning language doesn’t exactly inspire me to feel loved and to love others
for who they are and where they are at.
It triggers angry, resentful and generally combative feelings. And that is not good news in any way shape or
form. Can you relate?
I do acknowledge and
respect our Lord’s authority as eternal judge, especially since any negative
judgment is the result of the sin humankind sows. But this lesson has an even more potent
point. It is a very clear invitation to
follow Jesus rightly by faithfully and blessedly loving ourselves and our neighbors as He
loves. I don’t find this passage is meant to scare
the hell out of us so much as it intends to inspire heavenly life into us!
Teaching about what
heavenly life here on earth under the reign of Christ is like truly is the most
potent point of Matthew 25. Yes, it’s
a parable that shocks us to attention.
But it does so to then settle us into the teaching of how we disciples
of the Son of Man are to love Him and love like Him. Matthew
was intentional in using “Son of Man” instead of “Son of God” as his title for Jesus
in this text -- it’s the title that always points to his selfless, sacrificial
suffering on earth. It’s a cue to let us
readers know Jesus’ judgment is based on His incarnate example.
So when
you and I pray and declare “Thy Kingdom Come” do we do so primarily to remind
ourselves and others that eternal judgment will be upon our souls one day? Or do we do so to reassure ourselves and
others that as wounded as this world is, God’s reign of love, justice and peace
in Jesus is and will forever prevail?
I pray we pray to foremost feel reassured and inspired to faithful action. I pray that as we speak the words to Jesus, “Thy
Kingdom come,” we simultaneously say to ourselves, “Thy Kingdom Care.”
Our eternal king is not a power-hungry, people abusing, self-serving autocratic
Pharoah. The Gospels bear consistent
witness that our eternal king is a selflessly caring and universally compassionate
sovereign whose reign is all about God redeeming the injustices of sin. To be His subjects, his ambassadors, his --
in keeping with our parable this morning—the sheep of His fold, is to make serving this divine government our
daily priority. Our king led by
flawless, bold example while physically on earth. Our king now continues to govern our hearts
and minds in this way through the power of His Holy Spirit, power that is given
by grace and received and lived through faith.
How, then, are we to
live into Christ’s kingdom and in doing so inherit it and build it on earth as
it is in heaven? Matthew’s message for
today is crystal clear -- be the sheep and not the goats. Faithfully follow the Good Shepherd in doing
the caring, sin rectifying things Jesus was born to do instead of obstinately,
sinfully ignoring them. Some of these
are very plainly named for us in Matthew 25.
Where there is hunger and thirst, offer food and drink. We are summoned by our King to offer
nourishment to anybody lacking the basic human necessities needed to be
alive. As we share in the sacrament of
the Lord’s Supper today, spiritually feast being mindful of these neighbors and
ask God how you can go forth in this season of thanksgiving as a holy
ambassador.
Where there is estrangement, offer welcome. Those we may consider strangers are not
strangers to Jesus. They are beloved
friends. Absolutely every one of
them. And so our King summons us to
address all shunning prejudices, non-inclusive practices and gross injustices
against our neighbors near and far. By doing
so, we help rebuild our communities and this hurting world in His holy image.
Where there is nakedness and sickness, offer clothing and healing. Nakedness takes many forms. You know the most obvious and what this means
in terms of body warmth and social acceptance.
In the Scriptures, it’s worth noting that it also functions as a way of
naming shame. The nakedness of Adam
and Eve before God was less about their physical condition and more about their
mortified spiritual condition once the sickness of sin factored into their
lives. As our king summons us to
clothe and heal, then, we should be mindful that this is about our soul-care as
well as body-care.
On a similar note,
where there is imprisonment, offer visitation.
While I miss going to the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution at
Graterford during the Advent season, which I did with the men’s group at my
previous church, I also know there are other times of imprisonments needing to
be visited. People are imprisoned by
loneliness, by a myriad of physical and mental diseases, by paralyzing grief, by
economic despair, by lack of feeling loved and accepted for who they are as
precious children of God and so forth. Our
king summons us to visit these realities and these neighbors in prayer and in
person.
We consider all of
these on this Christ the King Sunday, the last day of the year on the church
calendar before we start anew with the season of Advent next week. For truly
I tell you, our caring King has said for our repeated hearing, whatever you have or have not done for “one
of the least of these followers of mine” you did or did not do it for me. (Matthew 25:40, Good News translation).
And friends, we are
not just subjects of our caring king Christ Jesus … even more beautifully we
are all His royal family. Like all
families, there can be great drama mixed in with great love. We have to thank Jesus for dramatically
pointing out what I would find to be the most painful part such sacred
sovereign duty, the part about judging and segregating unrepentant sinners and
unresponsive ambassadors. We have to
thank him for this shock to our system the way we are thankful for pool water
being shocked with cleaning agent. We
are further thankful that in His Kingdom all the street signs direct us to keep
right. And that at every entrance way,
there is a sign that reads “Come, you that are blessed … inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Yes, yes, Lord, good sovereign of all, Thy
kingdom care. Amen.
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