Matthew 25:31-46
The Judgment of the Nations
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. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then 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; 35 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, 36 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.’ 37 Then 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? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And 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,[a] you did it to me.’ 41 Then 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; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I 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.’ 44 Then 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?’ 45 Then 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.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
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I originally preached this sermon to people in a specific place and time, but I believe that the Holy Spirit can (and DOES) work through time and space. So I hope this sermon might have a word for you today. You can read the sermon manuscript below, or you can watch the sermon (and the whole service) at the link here.
This year has been a difficult one for everyone. As we rounded on October, I kept hearing people say that we are almost done! The year is almost over! It kind of made me sad that people wanted to skip over this wonderful joyous season of all of these holidays and go right into the next year. Especially when we all know that buying a new calendar and flipping things over to 2021 won’t REALLY solve all of our problems.
But THEN I realized, for those of us in the Christian community, we don’t have to wait until January 1st to ring in the new year. This Sunday, Christ the King Sunday, is the very last Sunday of the church year. And there really is no better way to ring in the new year than declaring what we know to be true deep in the identity of our Christian hearts: Jesus Christ is King.
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, we hear about God who is a grand ruler. Sometimes seemingly even harsh and vengeful. In the Psalms we hear that the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. We have an incredible God who fashions the caverns of the earth and the heights of hills, our God who created the seas and the dry land. This is a mighty God who directs judges, armies, and destroys our enemies. For the ancient Hebrew people, this was not a bad God to worship. This was God of protection and devotion.
We even hear about different kings throughout scripture who are not exactly kind and gentle people. God’s people had a lot of expectations about kings. It makes sense that the people of Jesus’ time expected the promised king to come as royalty, a fierce warrior, wearing a crown.
And today, in the age of HBO series about stealing thrones, we mostly understand kings to be someone who rules with power, prestige, and often times an iron fist. I have watched a lot of tv shows about kings and queens and most of the shows involve intrigue, secrets, and most of the time lots of murder. All that is to say, we don’t often think of kings as being gentle, kind, and humble.
So it is surprising when we encounter Jesus. It’s surprising for the people around Jesus too. Over and over again his life, Jesus demonstrates not only the wonders befitting the messiah, but he also surprises people with his humility and association with the least, the last, and lost of God’s people.
When we encounter Jesus here, he is surprising his followers once again with his teaching about what it means to be a king, what it means to sit on the judgement seat of God.
Jesus says that those who will be counted as righteous will not be those who achieve some kind of human success or conquer people in wars. They will not be the richest and most important people in society. No, Jesus says that there is a completely new understanding of who is righteous in God’s kingdom:
They will be the ones who saw the least of the world and saw the hungry and gave them food, saw the ones who were thirsty and gave them something to drink, the ones who welcomed the stranger, the ones who clothe the naked, the ones who cared for the sick, and the ones who visited the prisoner.
The most righteous, Jesus says, are those who do these things, because just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. The way we treat one another is the way we treat Jesus. And especially, it would seem, the way we treat the most vulnerable among us is how we treat Jesus.
So on this day, when we declare that Jesus Christ is King, we declare a different kind of king, we declare a different kind of kingdom. One that our world will not recognize. One that treats the vulnerable and needy with care and dignity, one that values kindness and generosity more than power and strength. We know this kingdom to be one where the meek and the lowly are lifted up and the most powerful will be cast out and cast down.
And it really is the perfect way to begin the new year, because next week we will begin the season of Advent. And we will anticipate the coming of this new king. We will hear about a king who is not born into royalty, among purple velvet ropes and golden crowns. Our king is one who comes as a tiny, vulnerable baby among farm animals outside of a inn that was too full to house his family. Our king is one who was born of a regular, obedient, young family, one who comes from a place called Nazareth. But I don’t want to spoil it for you… I know you’ve been waiting in eager anticipation of the next season all year.
But what I will say, is that everything we might expect from a king is totally reversed and turned upside down with the arrival of Jesus. And it is going to take all year long to truly understand what that means for us and what we are called to do and be in response. Amen.
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