November 26, 2023 Twenty-fifth Sunday After Pentecost The text is Matthew 25:31-46.

[Jesus said to the disciples:] ³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family you did it to me.’ ⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Over the past several Sundays our Gospel lessons have focused on the various ways that Jesus announces what the kingdom of heaven will be like.  We have learned the need for preparedness as we witnessed the lamps of the Foolish Bridesmaids become extinguished because they neglected to have sufficient oil on hand to keep them lit.  We discovered that the invitation to the kingdom is made without regard to status or station as we heard the parable of the elites who refused to attend the wedding celebration of the king’s son.  And just last week Jesus admonished us to not bury the talents we have, but to put them to good use as we await the coming of the kingdom.  In fact, in Matthew’s gospel there are no fewer than twelve parables which Jesus uses to describe what the coming heavenly kingdom will be like.

And these come to their conclusion this morning as we acknowledge that the Reign of Christ has begun and that all he has taught is brought into unflinching focus on this, Christ the King Sunday.  Today marks the end of the church’s liturgical year and we begin anew next week as we celebrate the First Sunday in Advent; we await the birth of Jesus on Christmas.  But before we get ahead of ourselves we must necessarily dive headlong into just what it is that Jesus is teaching us on this day.  Over the last year of Sundays we have read about the peace, mercy, and love of God as taught by Jesus, and the promise of God’s grace has been the predominant theme of the gospels we have encountered to date.  However, this morning the focus changes somewhat as Jesus sets forth the parameters within which God’s people are to act if they choose to follow Christ.

The promise of forgiveness and salvation is tempered with the Old Testament pronouncement of judgement that is meted out for disobedience to Jewish Law.  Let’s not forget that Jesus is preaching to the Hebrew people and much of his teaching is centered on the Law, the Torah.  As followers of Jesus, we Christians assert that belief in him as God’s Son secures for us redemption, notwithstanding Jesus’ own admonition that those who do not obey God’s Law will not receive salvation.  Is Jesus using the Hebrew Scriptures to figuratively compel his listeners to act as faithful sheep rather than disobedient, uncaring goats?  Or is it his intention to preach the literal separation from God for those who neglect the needs of “the least of these”?  Up until now, Jesus’ parables were metaphorical in their approach; “the kingdom of heaven is like…” .

But this morning we come face to face with the consequences of not acting in the ways Jesus has been compelling us to in these last twelve parables.  Many of the illustrations Jesus uses this morning come straight from the books of the Hebrew Bible, the “Scriptures” as Jesus would have referred to them.  The gathering of the nations; sheep versus goats; feeing the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, and welcoming the stranger; these all appear elsewhere in the Old Testament.  But, by coalescing them together Jesus is concluding his parables describing the kingdom by driving home the point that there will be punishment for those who do not act as the Law dictates, and as he has taught them to. 

We tend to struggle with this proclamation of Jesus; our Lutheran theology teaches that we are saved by our faith in Christ, without the need to do good works, but Jesus himself promises eternal punishment for those who neglect the “least of these”.  And to make sure we don’t miss the point, Jesus declares that when we either help or neglect the needy, we aid or ignore Jesus himself.  If we refuse to come to the aid of those in need, we will suffer eternal damnation, Jesus tells us.  Yet, in the very next chapter in Matthew, at the Last Supper Jesus will proclaim that the sacrifice of his body and blood that he is to make on the cross will secure the forgiveness of our sins.  So, did Jesus have an abrupt change of heart and completely reverse what he had previously preached about serving the “least of these”?  Or is this morning’s gospel intended to teach that we are commanded to serve as best we can, keeping in mind that when we serve others we are serving Christ?; and also remembering that Jesus has redeemed us and that we are saved even when we behave as goats and not sheep.

It seems most likely that Jesus intends for us to attempt to emulate his divine behavior, even as he knows that our human nature often results in our inability to do so.  Even when we acknowledge that we are ignoring Jesus when we pass by a member of the “least of these”, often we continue on our way without stopping to render aid.  But what about the times when we do find ourselves acting in a Christ-like way; when we feed, clothe, or house a needy neighbor?  Are we either sheep or goats, one or the other, all the time?  Or, are we both, all the time?  Maybe this is exactly the point Jesus was making when he spoke of damnation when we ignore the needs of others, and also of redemption even if we do nothing to help.  

Martin Luther embraced the notion that we humans are “simul justus et peccator”.  “At the same time, sinner and saint”.  Maybe we should simplify this concept a bit and admit that we are, “at the same time, sheep and goat”.  We are commanded to act as servants to those who are in need, and we are to treat those we serve as though they were the very embodiment of Christ himself.  Jesus teaches that when we do this we are blessed by God.  Yet, knowing our innate disobedience, Jesus also reminds us that when we fail in our call to servanthood, that our salvation remains secure.  He has done the work that we have not done.  In his letter to the Romans Saint Paul writes that we are saved by our faith in Christ, without the need for works.  Jesus’ “work” on the cross assures God’s forgiveness when we neglect to do the “works” we are called to do. 

So I don’t think that Jesus changed his mind between teaching that we are commanded to treat everyone as though they were Jesus himself, and then proclaiming that all who profess faith in him are saved when they don’t act that way toward others.  It seems more likely that after a dozen parables explaining the nature of the kingdom of heaven to come, that Jesus intended for us to treat one another in ways that express our belief that we are already living in God’s kingdom, in the here and now.  There are definitely times when we have reached out to the “least of these”, and in turn, served Christ.  And just as likely, we have neglected to come to the aid of another, and doing so we have turned away from Jesus.  And, while we’re certainly not proud of these times, we may still ask, “When was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?”  Jesus is pretty clear on this one; “just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”  And we find that this response is the one that hurts the most, when Jesus scolds us for ignoring him, in spite of what he has done for us.

But it’s clear that whether we act as the hands, feet, and heart of Christ or not, we have been promised salvation by the One who has completed the work we have not.  But the command remains; we are to try to act as he did, to refuse to be the uncaring goats from which God may withhold God’s blessing, and instead behave as the faithful goats that Jesus wants us to be.  Always remembering that we are not one always or the other, but both.  Sometimes we are blessed for our service, and often perhaps not so much, given our propensity to disobedience.

Yet, we have been granted a righteous relationship with God, not because we have acted as we have been commanded, but in spite of our neglect of our neighbors.  When we ignore the works that we have been called to do, we are reassured that our salvation has been secured by Jesus, the One who has done our work for us.                               

Will you pray with me?  Good and gracious and Holy God, guide us when we hesitate, when we fail to see Jesus in the faces of those we encounter.  Forgive us for his sake when we act as goats who ignore the needs of your people.  Help us to obey Jesus’ command to behave as sheep; faithful followers of Christ who long to serve in his name.  And we pray these things the name of Jesus, the One whose sacrifice for us proclaims him as Christ the King.  Amen.  

God is Good, all the time.  All the time, God is Good.  Amen.