Judgment of the Nations

Series

Ready for the Reign. Getting ready for Kingdom of God which Christ will inaugurate with his second coming.

Today we celebrate the arrival of that great day itself.

It is a joyous day it gratifies our hope for justice, yet that necessarily means that the Day of the Lord is a day of judgment. Therefore, our lessons today teach us what we must be doing to be ready.

First Reading

First reading is from Ezekiel. 6th BC prophet. Among the exiled Judeans in Babylon. Speaking to a people who had broken faith with their God and suffered the consequences. Throughout his lengthy prophecies, a consistent theme emerges. God will bring a day of justice. In our reading today Ezekiel describes God as a shepherd who will provide for his flock…and who also promises that a new “David” will come to be the shepherd-king, Jesus.

Ezekiel 34:11–16 NRSV

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

Ezekiel 34:20–24 NRSV

Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

Second Reading

Gospel of Matthew. Jesus near the end of his Jerusalem ministry.

Disciples have asked him when the Kingdom of God will come. He has been warning them to be ready at all times, for they cannot predict the day or the time. It is always near.

We have heard several parables. The kingdom of heaven is like:

Like: A man who threw a wedding feast…some accepted the invitation, others did not.

Like: bridesmaids waiting through the night for the festivities to begin…some had enough oil to keep their candles lit, some did not.

Like: Servants entrusted with great wealth by their master…some invested and made a profit, others were too afraid.

Today Jesus does not speak to us in a parable. He describes the Great Day of his return in as it will actually happen. He does not say “the day will be like…” rather he says “on that day…this is what will happen.”

Matthew 25:31–46 NRSV

“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. 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, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 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; 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.’ 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? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 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, you did it to me.’ 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; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 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.’ 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?’ 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.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Introduction

I hope you had two nice holidays this weekend. Two holidays? Yes: Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Or at least it seems like two holidays to me.

Thanksgiving. Food, family, friends. Maybe even time of prayer and worship.

Black Friday. Launch the holiday shopping season. Get amazing deals on things you been wanting for a while.

Almost being pulled in two directions:

Thankful for what I have.

How can I get more?

Then I saw something that brought in a third element…a focus that was missing in the other two.

Pulling out of a gas station. Getting ready to turn on Granada. A man sitting with a sign. Homeless. Help. Thanks. Bless you.

As I was giving thanks, as I was thinking about good deals…I was not thinking about those less fortunate than myself.

Not a guilt trip. Rather, a God prompt.

Jesus teaches today that on The Great Day, the question is going to be: What did you do for those in need around you.

Exegesis

On the Great Day of the Lord: The Son of Man will come in his glory and all his angels with him and he will sit on his throne of glory.

Jesus is the Son of Man. Though he is the eternal Son of God, he was born of Mary and lived a life like us in every way. He came in humility. He could be seen, touched, eat and drink, poor, be killed.

But on the Great Day he will come in glory and He will sit on the throne of his glory.

Jesus as King and Judge sitting in state.

Think of pictures of the royal family, etc.

Then all the nations will be gathered before him.

All the people that have ever existed. From Adam and Eve onward. All who were ever born.

From Population Reference Bureau (prb.org) Sept 2022: Calculating the number of people who have ever lived is part science and part art. No demographic data exist for more than 99% of the span of human existence. Still, with some assumptions about population size throughout human history, we can get a rough idea of this number:  About 117 billion members of our species have ever been born on Earth.

Then he will separate the people, one from another. Just like a shepherd with his flock.

in the ancient world. Flocks would mingle. But the shepherds knew their own and their own knew them. They could be separated at the end of the day.

Jesus will sort them, not based on what their body was like, but what their soul was like .(anonymous ancient writer)

Two kinds of people

Some will go the right. A place of honor.

Some will go to the left.

Then there will be the king on his throne. Two groups of people.

To those on his right. In the presence of all and the angels, too:

you are blessed by my father. Come into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

There is a place for humans in the Kingdom of God. Come into it.

To those on his left, with the witness of the angels and the blessed:

You are accursed. Go away to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

There is a place for evil. Never meant for humans, but there you must go.

Jesus is clear. For each soul there is an eternal destiny: Blessed Kingdom OR fire of perdition.

This is a necessity for the human soul is immortal. It must exist somewhere.

It can exist in the presence of God which by definition is blessedness and greatest joy.

Or it can exist outside of the presence of God which is by definition agonizing.

The Devil and his angels rejected God to his face.

Hell is their necessary domain.

The two groups of people will ask: When did we ever see God face to face to merit blessedness or damnation?

The king will reply: In the needy around you. KingJesus says, how you treated the least, the last, and the lost, is how you treated me.

when you fed the hungry, clothed the naked, cared for the sick, visited the imprisoned, …you did it to me.

when you did not do this…you did not do it to me.

Stark revelation:

Those who enter blessedness because of what they did.

Those who are reject because of what they did not do.

A reversal of our thinking. You will go to hell for what you do and to heaven for what you refrain from.

King says, heaven for those who put love into action. Hell for those with a failure of love.

Sin of omission is to leave Christ unattended.

Two great companies of people. An eternal judgment is rendered. What does the Great King care about: how did you treat “the least, last and the lost.”

Be ready for the kingdom of God. Be like wise bridesmaids, like the good stewards. Disciples: How shall we be ready, what do you want us to do? Lord: You must love one another, as I have loved you (John 13:34).

Interpretation

We can say that the standard by which we will be judged is Jesus himself.

Jesus cared for the least, the last and the lost. We see it in particular examples.

He fed the hungry, multiplied the loaves.

Thirsty: turned water into wine.

Strangers: he welcomed the children and the gentiles and the women.

Naked: he covered the nakedness of the woman in adultery. The demoniac who was naked.

Sick: healed lepers, blind, deaf, lame, mute.

Imprisoned:Sending comforting word to John. The penitent thief on the cross.

His local ministry during his incarnation continues to all of us through his holy spirit after his resurrection and ascension to heaven.

he thirsted on the cross for us. Now, as King, he feeds us with his word.

He was taken out of the city, like a stranger for us. Now as King, he makes us his people.

He was stripped for us. Now as King he clothes us in his righteousness.

He was loaded with sickness of sin for us. As King he gives us strength of his righteousness.

He was shut up in the prison of the tomb, for us. Now as King, he sets us from with new life.

Jesus is the King. He has loved us. We are right to be thankful.

Even more: we are to put the love we have recieved into action.

1 John 3:17–18 “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”

For those who love are born of God; those who do not love abide in death.

Chrysostom: Pity of hungry dog, but walk by the Lord in need?

When we stand before the Jesus the King in his glory he will decide our eternal destiny.

The deciding issue is love expressed to others.

Christians have taken this seriously.

hospitals

orphanages, adoption

poor houses

burials for the public

welcome in monasteries

preaching and teaching publically and for free

St. Teresa, (16th C) encourages us to love others as an assurance of our love of God.

Saint Matthew’s Gospel (The Last Judgment (25:31–46))

The surest sign that we are keeping these two commandments is, I think, that we should really be loving our neighbour; for we cannot be sure if we are loving God, although we may have good reasons for believing that we are, but we can know quite well if we are loving our neighbour....And be certain that, the farther advanced you find you are in this, the greater the love you will have for God; for so dearly does his Majesty love us that he will reward our love for our neighbour by increasing the love which we bear to himself, and that in a thousand ways: this I cannot doubt” (Interior Castle, 5, 3). Teresa of Avila

How can we love God? By loving others. How can we love God even more? By loving others. Loving others like a superhighway to the Kingdom of God and Christ the King’s approval.

Application

Back to my Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Jesus the King speaks into the moment when I saw that homeless man.

Not guilt tripping: you should feel bad about circumstantial blessings or you should not be excited about good deals.

Rather: do not let these goods distract you from what you know is really the important thing: love for the least, last, the lost.

No one of us can meet all the needs around us. But we can do something. We can take steps.

Start taking action. Do.

Stewardship. Offerings, tithes, donations. Especially good for those of us who don’t have strength, but do have money.

$20. Didn’t you give me $20 once?

Service.

No money, but I can build or clean or sew.

i appreciated that quilt, that meal!

Making a strong church, attending and welcoming.

we feed by instructing, so they can be nourished to right living and hope.

including in community, that they are welcomed.

Prayer.

clothing in grace and power.

you sent me a card!

Membership question:

Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his word and showing his love? I will, with God’s help.

Conclusion

The love of God has been revealed in Christ: We want to experience that love: and we do it by sharing it with the least, the last and the lost: Jesus that was me right there — love me and let me love you.