To love is to live

At the risk of starting this with a whinge, today I feel like I’ve drawn the short straw. I quite like most of Jesus’ parables but this is not a favourite. I don’t find it easy to understand and I don’t love thinking about Jesus as judge. I thought long and hard about finding another reading for this ‘Christ the King’ Sunday but ultimately think it’s really important to remember to wrestle with what we read in the Bible. So here we go.

This passage is included at the end of a series of two earlier parables; or stories which Jesus uses to tell us what the kingdom of God like. That’s important to bear in mind so we don’t run the risk of taking the idea of Jesus treating us literally like sheep and goats, or treating the picture of the ‘fires of hell’ literally. Jesus is using examples familiar to those around him to share something of who God is.

But first let’s have a bit of fun: [Sheep or Goat quiz] https://act.heifer.org/sheep-or-goat/

Let’s recap the story:

In our passage Jesus describes the end of God’s rescue plan for humanity and his creation, in which the decisions which all of humankind have chosen to make are ultimately reflected in their inclusion or separation from God.

Using the metaphor of the (right)eous sheep and the goats on the left, we’re reminded of that Jesus is ultimately in charge of our future. Those of us who have chosen to ignore Jesus by avoiding the needs of the hungry and thirsty, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned - those Jesus calls ‘his brothers and sisters’ – are the goats, who face permanent separation from their Creator. Those ‘sheep’, who acknowledged Jesus by noticing and acting on the needs they saw, are welcomed into the eternal relationship they already entered into in their earthy life.

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I reckon most of us have a ‘king lie’. These are the things we think about God or ourselves that are just plain wrong, but that bind us internally in knots. They’re patterns of thinking that we have to keep bringing to God for redemption and deliverance. For me, one of mine is a fear of rejection by others, and by God. So you can imagine that for me reading that there will be a point when ultimately Jesus will shine a light on my actions can sometimes frighten me.

And this parable is about the time when Jesus comes back, which we are told will include a moment when Jesus will assess the trajectory our lives have taken. If you’d like to read some reputable reflection around this I’ve printed off some material I’ve found helpful as I prepared for this week which you are very welcome to take home, which I’m not going to go into in depth today.

But it’s safe to say that most of us have not experienced many spaces of judgement for our actions. One of my moments of judgement was my mum finding the half-eaten packets of raro (powdered juice) under my bed and I distinctly remember how indignant I felt. Probably like me the most frequent experience of judgement is like this, when a parent found you out for something you did as a child; or perhaps at worst as an adult, a speeding ticket or parking fine. Our Kiwi culture doesn’t usually like one person to sit in judgement over another, and many of us particularly don’t super-love the idea that it’s a king who has authority to cast judgement over us.

But I reckon if we’re honest most of us look for justice for those who we feel are wronging us or others. If I look at politicians I dislike for example, I might not want them to be punished, but I certainly think a good consequence of their actions might be them being removed from office. We also see the desire for justice but playing out this week with the news of the temporary ceasefire in Gaza, which was wrestled out gradually by both sides deciding what they thought was fair.

This longing that we have for justice that we all have comes from God our creator; made as we are in God’s image. Ultimately, much as I’d like to wriggle out of it, I don’t think I would like to live in a world in which there are no consequences for the things in this world that are evil. And I’m as much a part of that world as anyone else.

The thing about Jesus though is that he’s not a politician, or an ineffectual monarch inheriting power based on nothing but birthright. He’s the King of all Kings, who has died for us in the most unjust way, and in doing so defeated death and achieved for us the relationship with God that we did not deserve. In our Ephesians reading we’re reminded that everything in heaven and on earth is ‘under Jesus’ feet’ and he is the head of everything. We often focus on Jesus as our friend and brother and it’s right that we do so, but we mustn’t forget that there’s also our Jesus is ultimately in charge too. That’s really amazing as then from next week settle into Advent, that period of waiting for the creator of the universe to arrive as a fragile, vulnerable baby.

Here's the things we should find encouraging about this passage, and from other parts of the Bible:

· In a world which seems enormous and in which we can feel absolutely insignificant, this passage reminds us that our lives and our actions really matter. We are created with meaning and purpose. God wants us to help make his world a better place.

· The thing about the goats is that they just didn’t notice at all. The call of Jesus is actually really simple- just to notice and act on what we see around us, to make the world a better place for those who need it most. And most importantly to do it in the name of Jesus. This passage is the only description of the last judgement in Matthew and there’s no mention of whether or not the sheep or the goats did the right religious practices or followed the right creeds or orthodoxies. The only criterion is whether you loved those who needed it in Jesus name. To put it really simply, this passage shows us that to love is to live.

· It is the most ordinary acts of kindness and service that matter; so ordinary that we didn’t even realise we were doing them. We feel overwhelmed today with the amount of need around, but remember in Jesus’ time there was no global media stream to make us feel overwhelmed. The primary call was to do what you could for the immediate people and community around you. That’s what makes our local church great because we focus on learning how to care for those immediately around us.

· And when we do this, we see the face of God; not a remote, far away deity but real and involved in the messiness of human life.

Finally, let’s remember that God is so full of grace, second chances, overwhelming love and longs for all of creation to be drawn into himself. A king of justice, who’s in control, who gives us lives of meaning and a simple task to do that makes the world a better place, who inhabits this world with us and the messiness of our lives – this is good news.