Christ The King Sunday ~ November 20, 2005

Sheep. Our lessons for today seem to focus on sheep. Christ the King Sunday is the last Sunday of the church calendar. Next Sunday we begin with Advent and the preparation for Christmas, the birth of the Christ Child. But what does Christ the King have to do with sheep? Jesus is our Shepherd King who gathers His sheep!

We usually think of sheep as the cute and cuddly stuffed animals that we buy for a baby’s nursery. In my last congregation we had a member who raised sheep and I had the privilege of seeing sheep up close. Well, lets just say they look cuter from a distance. I learned that domestic sheep require 24 hours a day care and attention. And that is the full time job of a shepherd.

Being a shepherd, while a necessary job, was not considered a very glamorous job or one sought after by many. But a shepherd and sheep is the image the Old Testament and New Testament use over and over again in reference to God’s relationship with us. And it is an effective image. Like I said before, domesticated sheep aren’t the smartest animals in the world and require constant care. They get lost easily, are frightened by the littlest of things, and often get hurt or in trouble if they aren’t being tended well.

We are like sheep. Because of sin we are scattered, shattered, and scared. We are broken because of sin. We have been separated from God and we often get hurt or hurt others because of our sinful nature. We, like sheep, have a lot to be desired in our actions. We have been lost in our sin.

But God is our Shepherd. As Ezekiel points out, He is the one who will gather us back to Him. Ezekiel also points to a great king of the Old Testament – David. David was a Shepherd King. He was the one who was chosen over his brothers to lead the people of Israel. As the story goes, Samuel was told by God to go to David’s home and choose the next king of Israel. David was a young boy and was given the task of tending to the sheep since his brothers and family had better things to do. When Samuel came to their home they didn’t even get David from the field but paraded his other brothers before him to see who would be king. But God had other plans. When Samuel didn’t find a king amongst David’s brothers David was reluctantly called in from the field. As Samuel looked at this young, probably dirt, boy God told him that he would be the next king. God chose the least likely to be the greatest king Israel has ever seen. And in David we see the image of God’s relationship to us – A Shepherd.

God seeks after us and gathers us like a shepherd gathers his sheep. It is a “dirty” job but God loves us so much that He seeks after us who are lost, broken and scattered by sin. God the Father sent His Son not only to be our Shepherd but He also became one of us “sheep” and died on the cross for us. He became the very Lamb of God who was sacrificed for us and rose again to be our Shepherd King.

Did you see in our Ezekiel passage today how many times it references what God is doing for us, His sheep? He seeks after those who are lost. He gathers us together in a safe place. He restores us to “green pastures.” He feeds and nourishes us. He heals and binds up the broken. He rescues us from all danger. And He judges us. That leads us to the Gospel lesson for today from Matthew 25. Here we see Jesus, the King, separating the sheep from the goats – those who follow Jesus and those who don’t.

Did you notice what the King asked of the sheep and goats? He asked if they were aware of their service to “the least of these.” Matthew is not only pointing out how Jesus is our Shepherd but he is also showing how the sheep are to help other sheep of the world – with acts of service. The Great Shepherd of the sheep – the one, who seeks, gathers, feeds, heals, and rescues – calls us, his sheep, to do the same. We are called to be the ones who bring God’s healing and guidance to the world.

Martin Luther referred to this idea of our helping as “masks of God.” God uses us to accomplish His goals of reaching the lost. We are the ones who fulfill God’s divine providence to the world. When some one is hungry – God sends us to feed them. When some one is thirsty – God sends us to give them a drink. When some one is hurting and broken – God sends us to bind them up and bring healing. When some one is sick and in prison – God sends us to visit them. We are the masks of God in this world. We are the very Body of Christ carrying out the task of seeking the lost and bringing them to Jesus.

Our Shepherd King, who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, calls us to be His hands and feet to the world. And we do that in the very places God calls us. In our everyday tasks, no matter how big or small we view them; God will use them to accomplish His purpose – rescuing the lost. The Shepherd was not a glamorous or highly sought after job, and yet God takes on the title to show that He cares for us, His scattered, broken and hungry sheep. In that humble yet glorious image we can see that God can use any task we have to accomplish His purposes. A mother changing her baby’s dirt diaper is a better image of God using us than a High Priest going through the ritual of worship. Not that worship isn’t important, but all tasks are important to God as we serve others. Veith says in his book, The Spirituality of the Cross, “God ordained that human beings be bound together in love, in relationships and communities existing in a state of interdependence. In this context, God is providentially at work caring for His people, each of whom contributes according to his or her God-given talents, gifts, opportunities, and stations.” That is a mask of God.

On this Last Sunday of the Church Year we celebrate Christ as our Shepherd King. He is the one who seeks after us and continues to seek after the lost. He gathers us, feeds and heals us and protects us. He is our King and Shepherd and we are the sheep of His pasture. We can rejoice in what God is doing for us and through us, as we are a part of His seeking after the lost. Allow God to use you as His “under-Shepherd” and rejoice in His as our King! Amen.