Last Pentecost - Christ the King

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Last Pentecost - Christ the King
PROPER: 29A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: November 21, 1999

TEXT: Matthew 25:31-46 - Vision of the Last Judgement
'Come you that 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 something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' . . . . '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.'

ISSUE: This passage is Matthew's apocalyptic vision opf the final judgment. From one point of view it appears to be a judgment on those who persecute early Christians, "the least of these who are members of my family." In this sense it is good news for the discipleship of Jesus. But from another perspective the passage is a call to compassion for all of God's people, and the whole world is under God's judgment to serve one another as if Christ were in all. It is not in being religious and of privilege that counts, but in how much we love one another in Christ.
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Today is the last Sunday of the Church Year, the Last Sunday after Pentecost, or Christ the King Sunday. On two of the last Sundays, the Scripture reading deals with Jesus's ordeal at his crucifixion. Pilate questions Jesus as to whether or not he is a King in the Johannine account, and in a Lukan account Jesus is dared to save himself if he is truly the King of the Jews. In these accounts it becomes quite obvious that the Kingship of Jesus is different from what the world sees as royalty. He is truly the suffering servant whose demise makes the world look hard at what is right and wrong, what is truth, and what is the meaning of life.
On this Sunday in Cycle A, we have the a vision of the Last Judgment from Matthew's perspective. All of the miracles, parable, and sayings of Jesus are now set aside so to speak, and Matthew is setting the scene which raises the issue as to what does the meaning of Christ's ministry and teaching come down to.
There are essentially two interpretations of this vision wherein Jesus is seen as the Son of Man seated in Judgment at the final age. Some see the passage as God's judgement upon those who do not accept the proclamations of the first early disciples and Christians. Anyone who has received, fed, clothed and visited the "least of these my brethren and members of my family, have supported Christ himself. Those who do not respond compassionately to the "community of the little ones" which was a name for Christians in Matthew's community, will enter into harsh eternal punishment. For the early disciples in difficult times this was a passage of hope.
But what also is very much a part of this passage today is the understanding that the Judgement of God is a univeral thing. All the nations are gathered and everyone comes under the inescapable judgement of God. Please keep in mind that this portrayal here is not to be taken literally, but is a vision, a perception of the fact that our faith is to be taken seriously, and we are all accountable for our lives and how we live them.
In this vision Jesus is the Son of Man for Matthew, and he is the King who stands in judgment over his subjects in the world. He, the King, separates them as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. God in Jesus separates the truly honorable folk from the shameful. Goats you see were dishonorable or shameful animals. Women cared for them. Also, the male goats were known for allowing other male goats to have access to their females, which was considered at the time to be quite shameful. Sheep on the other hand were honorable in that they were a symbol of virility and strength. Sheep suffered silently. Honorable men suffered in silence. Remember that Jesus is portrayed in the gospels as "the lamb of God." Quoting from Isaiah's suffering servant passage (53:7f), "He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly; he never said a work. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, like a sheep about to be sheered, he never said a word. He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die, and no one cared about his fate." At the final judgment the truly honorable ones will sit at the King's right hand.

The sheep the honorable ones will hear and receive the great invitation: Come, you that are blessed (honored) by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." They are invited to step into the Kingdom of God. Now what makes these sheep-like people honorable is their compassion. In this period in history your honor was thought to be something that you inherited by birth. Your great attention to the law and religious observance, piety, your maintained status. You avoided associations with outcasts and people of lesser status. Jesus is, however, pointing out here that there is another honor that is more truly honorable in the sight of God:

"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,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me."

This is the honor of compassion, of hospitality, and of great concern for others. What is of special interest here is that the honorable ones, the rightesous say to him, "When was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty . . . or a stranger . . . or naked . . . or sick . . . or in prison . . . etc?" They are unaware as to when then they did these things. And the king replies that "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." True honor in the Kingdom of God is not something you seek, it is a matter of attitude. It is a matter of who you are. It is an engrained attribute that comes from a proximity with Christ so close that you aren't even aware of it. The truly honorable folk are those who are hospitable to the whole family of God. They are the ones who are the servants of and with Jesus the Christ, and are at one with God, and in loving relationship with the way of God, espressed in Christ.
The accursed, the damned are those who had no sensitivity to the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the imprisoned, the stranger, the sick. They are caught in their own concerns and complacency. They neglect the great need of and for hospitality in a harsh cruel world. They are simply not servants of and with Christ. The Christ-like way is not in their lives. They are lacking in hospitality, sensitivity, compassion, love, forgiveness. Not to possess these attributes is not to be human so far as Jesus was concerned. They are not needed; they have no place in the Kingdom of God. They are those cast out into eternal punishment of having no quality of life.
As we try to interpret a piece of Scripture like this one we have to understand that we do live in a different age. We have to be careful how we interpret it to others and to ourselves. There is the inclination for ourselves to become judgemental. The parson looks over his congregation and thinks to himself, "Well now there's Mr. Jones, and he's a goat, because he's not very regular in his church attendance and doesn't make a very big pledge. And then, there's Mrs. Brown, and she's a sheep, as she worships and teaches in Sunday School." We can be very judgmental, and since we see these persons for such a small fraction of their entire lives, our judgments can be very very wrong. Way off base. This Scripture today is not about setting ourselves up as judges of one another as to who is or is not going to hell.
We can also use such a passage to say well, the Jews or the Moslems, or the pagans for that matter are the goats. They don't serve Christ in the way we Christians do, so they must be among the cursed and the damned. Again that is not by any stretch of the imagination ours to judge. The righteous in this passage didn't even know they were serving Christ when they were, inspite of themselve. "When did we see you hungry?" . . . "When you folk - Jews, Gentiles, Moslems, . . . you nations of the world . . . .when you did it to the least of these my brothers and members of my family you did it to me." Let's be very careful not to make ourselves the judges. The King is the judge, not the sheep or the goats.
Another thing to be careful about is that we may chide ourselves for not being hospitable enough. We may think badly of ourselves, because we don't shell out some change to a pan-handler. Or we feel guilty about not picking up a hitch-hiker along the side of the road. We have to be so careful about taking passages such as this one too literally. One dear soul I know told me how terribly upset her family was over her picking up a hitch-hiker. She felt real anxiety over wanting to help the poor and being sensitive to human need. Common sense makes sense. I doubt God opposes it. We are not expected to put ourselves at risk. Picking up hitch-hikers can be very dangerous in our world. Giving hand-outs to panhandlers can only perpetuate and enable a person with bad habits to persist in them. Panhandling is proved more often than not to be the work of scam artists. Responding to these scams is not helpful to most communities. Being overly patient and subservient with people who are troublesome may be more destructive than helpful.
More sensible constructive and safe response to human need is through institutions and organizations. Giving and responding to charitable causes is the way to be more helpful and often gets you more for your buck anyway. Realizing that sometimes our church and our government needs to set up programs for single women with children is imperitive. We may resent the taxes and the demands for donations, but there is human need that can better be supported through professional persons and organizations. There is a need for welfare, for care homes for both children, the retarded, the physically and mentally challenged. And sometimes they have to be and maybe even should be encouraged and welcomed in our own neighborhood. It is in this sense that we can welcome and express hospitality to the sick, the hungry, the poor, the least, the last, and the lost.
The passage from Matthew today is important in that it helps us to understand that we are all under judgement. Having spent a year studying together the scriptures each Sunday, and worshiping together, how do we fare? Have we grown in our journey to a deeper and profounder understanding of what it means to love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Has the grace of Christ sunk in, and are our attitudes and outlooks changed to serve him better? Have we found new ways to have a 'specific' ministry of giving, sharing, and being hospitable with others? Has there been some growth in our lives. Has there been growth in what we do as a Christian community here at St. John's? I mean are we still struggling to simply maintain the status-quo, and living fearfully that we'll not make ends meet, or do we move ahead in mission and prayerfull ask God to help us to discern our mission in his world in this day. Chances are we have had moments of change and renewal. It may be that we still as both a church and as individuals have a ways to go. That, of course, is what Advent is about as we begin again to let Christ come and renew us. But today, we are under the judgment. And the judgment is not bad news to condemn us. The judgment is the call to examine our lives and to see where it is we stand, and with whom we stand. We can live without care and concern for others, failing in our mission as Christians and persisting in a world that is cruel, insensitive, or we can cry out for mercy and with the responsive longing to be truly honorable and serve Christ with new vitality and initiative. There is a time of reckoning; we are accountable. Whether the hungry are fed, the thirsty assuaged, the sick visited really matters, doesn't it? The time is now.