Christ the King or Reign of Christ, Proper 29

So this is the last Sunday in the liturgical year because Advent begins next Sunday. So here we look at Jesus’s second coming and once again hear a call to follow him with our whole lives as we wait for that day.

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“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

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This represents the final public teaching of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel.

And it’s helpful to zoom out a little and look at the major theme of his teaching throughout the book.

The Jesus that Matthew presents to us begins talking about the kingdom and never stops talking about the kingdom.

His public teaching starts in Matthew 4 with the call to repent because the kingdom is arriving, then in Matthew 5 with the sermon on the mount, that begins by explaining how the kingdom will be populated by the poor in spirit, the merciful, the peacemakers, the people who hunger and thirst for righteousness and justice, etc.

That’s his FIRST word.

It should come as no surprise then that his LAST word here toward the end of Matthew is that … the kingdom will be populated not JUST by the hurting and marginalized but also by those who have shown LOVE to the hurting and marginalized.

In other words, when the kingdom is fully realized upon Christ’s return, it will be populated by people who have started living like citizens of the kingdom now.

If you go back and read through Matthew, this is the point of emphasis for Jesus.

He’s not just inviting people to pray the prayer or have a singular conversion experience

He’s inviting people to follow him with the entirety of their lives and yes, to live a certain way

And I know that point makes some nervous, as if Jesus is preaching salvation by works, as opposed to salvation by grace through faith.

In the wrong hands some of the texts we’ve been looking at could be bent to suggest that Jesus has a standard we have to meet to earn our place in the kingdom.

But if we consider the whole of Jesus’s teaching we’ll see that he’s not preaching AGAINST salvation by grace through faith.

What he’s doing is explaining what faith looks like, with an EMPHASIS on the fact the real faith leads to action.

Sometimes that’s the emphasis we need to hear, but it’s all still about grace.

Our liberation from sin is all grace. It is rooted in the work of Jesus, not our own.

Our ability to follow Jesus is all grace. We are led by the Spirit in the power of the Spirit, not our own.

In other words, without God’s grace we’re dead.

But God’s grace is extended to us SO THAT we can enter into new life or, put another way, renewed lives.

We are saved by grace FOR something.

Let’s look at these passages

Titus 2:11-14 - For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Eph 2:8-10 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

James 2:14-18 - What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

Through God’s grace, our lives are being renewed by the Spirit of God to align with the kingdom of God.

Here Jesus is saying, “when that is happening, it will look like this.”

To drive the point home he doesn’t qualify it or soften it.

But the scriptures make it clear, we’re never going to be perfect and we’re never going to arrive in this life.

The important thing is to begin the journey

The important thing is to respond to the invitation and reorient your life

You may only make it two steps down the narrow road and even then do it stumbling

That’s alright, it’s all grace.

But faith is following. Make the turn and follow Jesus toward the kingdom.

Or, as this passage frames it, follow the good shepherd.

We’ve already seen the imagery of Jesus as the Good Shepherd elsewhere in the gospels

In contrast to the wicked shepherds of Israel (the religious leaders) Jesus is the one who

Binds up the wounds of his sheep

Leads his sheep to water and rest

Protects them from wolves

Goes after the one lost sheep to bring them back

John 10 tells us that he knows his sheep and his sheep know his voice.

And the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

A shepherd in Jesus’s time would separate sheep and goats into different enclosures at night.

So the good shepherd Jesus returns to separate his sheep, whom he knows, from others

And THIS separation is a final one

Some will enter the kingdom and some will not.

What is meant by eternal punishment here is not clear. We have very few verses on it in scripture and even then they are metaphorical.

The imagery of fire here is symbolic. It’s meant to communicate that whatever it is, it’s not good.

The point is that there are two options: life and death.

When the good shepherd returns he will lead his sheep, those who have been following him, into life.

And there will come a time when it is too late to say we’re with him.

Once again, this is a message to get our attention and shake us from apathy.

Jesus wants us to keep our lamp lit and to not sit and wait.

Don’t float through life sort of admiring Jesus from a distance and loosely associating with him.

Repent and turn to follow, the kingdom is at hand.

As unsettling as this can be, let’s see this for the good news that it is.

It is not too late now.

And we are told here what’s asked of us.

It’s love. With an EMPHASIS on love for the ignored, the forgotten, the cast aside, the least of these.

The way of Jesus is the way of love.

If we’re going to bang any drum over and over we’re going to bang this one.

And this isn’t a conceptual, theoretical love. It’s love that is manifest in real choices and real movement, namely toward the type of people who we would typically ignore if we were operating out of self-centeredness.

The poor, the sick, the imprisoned.

Maybe we could add the elderly and any one else hurting on the margins.

But what’s so beautiful about this passage is that Jesus says that’s where we’ll find HIM.

And that if we want to show love for HIM we’ll show love for the forgotten in our world.

The people ask “when did we see you in the world, Jesus?”

And he replies, “In the hungry, the thirsty, and the hurting. That’s where I was. That’s where you’ll find me.”

“If you did it for them you did it for me.”

“If you ignored them you ignored me.”

The good shepherd is leading us to life by leading us AWAY from self-serving, upwardly mobile competition.

The good shepherd is leading us to life by calling us to self-less love of the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are hungry, and those who the world has forgotten.

This re-orientation ought to impact our politics and our priorities.

The way up is down.

Jesus starts his public ministry with this teaching and his ends his public ministry with it.

It’s all grace.

But in God’s grace we’re rescued from slavery to sin and death, liberated from the bankrupt ways of the world to pursue his glorious kingdom of love and begin to experience it even now.

If we’ve never made the commitment to follow him it’s not too late.

If we have, let’s hear the words of the good shepherd and keep walking toward him, trusting that he’s leading us to life.