PENTECOST LAST A
(Last sermon using the 1979 BCP lectionary)
Text:
Matthew 25:32-33 ( NRSV ) 32All the nations will be
gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd
separates the sheep from the goats,
33and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the
left.
John 5:26-29 ( NRSV ) 26For just as the Father has
life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; 27and he has given him authority to execute
judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
28Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are
in their graves will hear his voice
29and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of
life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
2 Corinthians 5:10 ( NRSV ) 10For all of us must
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense
for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.
Romans 14:10 ( NRSV ) 10Why do you pass judgment on
your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For
we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
Hebrews 9:27 ( NRSV ) 27And just as it is appointed for mortals
to die once, and after that the judgment,
He will come again in glory to judge
the living and the dead (Nicene Creed)
He will come again to judge the living
and the dead (Apostle’s creed)
Today is
commonly called Christ the King Sunday. As indicated by our gospel lesson, and
the passages I just read, an important
element in our faith that Jesus is the King of kings is the not very popular
concept of a coming judgment of our lives.
Now I
need to say right off the bat that this is not an easy subject, even for theologians. I read a little this
week about judgment and by and large, of those I read, they did not have much
more to add than the fact that this is a doctrine of our faith drawn from such
passages as I just read. But for a few
minutes I want to launch into some of my own thoughts about this subject.
This week
in our Christian Believers class we have been reading about how the human being
is created in the image of God. For me,
part of what this means is that we humans have a sense of justice, and this sense of justice comes from God,
because God is just. What parent has not heard their child say a thousand
times: “it is not fair.” And which one
of us has not a million times felt that we have been treated unfairly, or looked out on the world and seen what we
felt was injustice.
What kind
of God would we have who totally ignored evil and injustice? How could we worship a God who did not care
what human beings did to one another? Could you worship a God who did not care
whether a child was beaten and abused?
Could you worship a God who did not care about what happened in Nazi
Germany? Or
There is
in the heart of all of us a longing and desire for justice. The doctrine, or
teaching of judgment tells us that God will, somehow and in someway, uphold justice. What is right and good will
triumph and what is evil and unjust will be judged and abolished. This is the
gist of Paul’s argument in the passage we read from the letter to the
Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 15:24-26 ( NRSV ) 24Then
comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has
destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his
enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy
to be destroyed is death.
All that
is evil and wrong in the human situation will come under the judgment of God
and then will be destroyed.
So on the
one hand, while we all see and feel a
need for justice, on the other hand we
realize that we too then will come under the judgment of God. This is where the concept of God’s judgment
gets tricky for Christians. Listen to this passage from the gospel of John.
John 3:18 ( NRSV ) 18Those who believe
in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already,
because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
We have
many passages which talk about us putting our faith in Jesus and being saved.. But
then we read the Gospel lesson for this morning, which seems to indicate that we are not just
going to be judged by our faith, but by
what we do. As in much of the theology of the Bible, we are confronted with two different ideas,
or theologies, which are not easy to
reconcile. So what do we do. Well, I have been working on this Christian
faith seriously for 35 years, and it is
still a struggle, but let me share how I deal with these seeming
contradictions.
First, I
realize that I cannot understand the ways of God. Divine truth is always going to be way beyond
my ability to understand. Therefore, I
accept truths which I see in the Bible,
even if I cannot reconcile them.
Therefore, I accept the truth of the Bible and our
creeds that I will stand before Jesus on a day of judgment and that what I do
with my life matters. But I also accept the truth that I will find grace and
forgiveness and mercy for all my failings by putting my hope and faith in the
life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
I like to
see my life as standing upon a foundation of God’s love and grace. I am
accepted and loved by God, and I know this because of Jesus. Therefore, out of thanksgiving and reverence for all
that God has done, I try and figure out
what is important to God and how God wants me to live my life. Listen to this
scripture.
John 3:17 ( NRSV ) 17“Indeed, God did
not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through him.
The
purpose of the parables of Jesus, like the 10 virgins, or the parable of the giving of the
talents, and the sheep and the
goats, is to teach those who are willing
to listen, how we are to live our lives.
In them and the other teachings of Jesus we are taught what is just and right…
we are taught what matters to God.
At the
end of the video that we saw before this sermon, we were asked the question: “Are you a pilgrim? How will the world know?” One of the
distinguishing characteristics between those who are pilgrims, or followers of
Jesus and those who are not is that we have a different value system. The
parable of the sheep and the goats is a fascinating insight into what is
important to God in human behavior, and
it is so important that it becomes the standard of judgment. All the nations of
the world are gathered before Jesus, and
he separates people into two groups,
using as the standard how they treated the hungry, the thirsty, the
stranger, the naked, the sick, and those in prison.
One of
the complicating truths about us reading this parable in the era of Television
and now instant news on the computer is that we can now see the hungry and the
suffering by the millions all over the world. In the days that Jesus told this
parable, most of the people hearing it probably never traveled more than a few
miles from their homes and thus it was a little easier to help those in need
around them. Sure some traveled and saw greater suffering and need, and these
people would be stretched just as we are today. But for us, because of the
constant barrage of human suffering and need, we can become hardened and
overwhelmed, so much so that we simply become apathetic. We can even travel to
a country like
As I
thought about the three parables in Matthew 25,
I would summarize their teaching in this way: Those who care about being a Christian, a Christ follower, live their lives with serious intentionality. There is a verse
in Philippians which sums this up:
Philippians 2:12 ( NRSV ) 12Therefore,my
beloved ……….work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
Work out
your own salvation with fear and
trembling.
This verse
says that even though we have received God’s grace and mercy, we still are called to live our lives caring
about what we do and how we live. For the Christian there is still a sense of
fear and trembling when they think about the justice and judgment of God. Just
because we say that God loves us does not mean that we then go out and live
selfish and self centered lives, not caring about anyone but ourselves.
At this
time of year there will be good hearted people serving Thanksgiving meals and
there will be news stories about giving to the needy and the poor. It happens
every year. And this is a good thing.
But the Christian pilgrim has to go deeper, and work into his and her life
intentional and regular caring and giving. The truth is, Justice is going to rise up and condemn all
of us on the day of judgment. The money we spend on our cell phones could save
thousand of lives from disease and hunger. The money we spend on cable TV, or bigger houses than we need, or nice
cars, or more clothes… this money could
build churches and pay for pastors and keep people healthy and more. This is why we desperately need God’s mercy.
This is why we pray:
Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy
And if we
then truly understand how wonderful this mercy of God is, it changes our hearts, and becoming intentional and serious about
living our lives for the Lord becomes the focus of our lives. We then live our
lives as if what we do really does matter. We strive to be ready, to live fruitfully, and to care for others.
Brothers
and sisters in Christ, let us not
presume upon the grace and mercy of God.
Let us not assume easily that we are the sheep and not the goats. Let us not assume that what we do does not
matter. Let us live our lives with a
certain sense of fear and trembling, for
our faith tells us that we will all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ. AMEN!