And the King Shall Say – November 24, 2024, Christ the King

Psalm 95, Matthew 25:31-46
November 24, 2024

This is Christ the King Sunday!  And as all you liturgy buffs out there know, it is the last Sunday of the liturgical year.  And of course the liturgical year is that series of events, we hold throughout the year, that celebrate the life and ministry of Jesus the Christ here on earth.

Well, Christ the King is the last celebration.  And it’s not just the last.  Christ the King is also the culmination of all of the other celebrations.  It’s the event that everything leads up to.  It tells us that after all that God has done, Jesus Christ is King, both now, and at the end of all time!

I think this story from Matthew is very appropriate for today, and for two reasons.  First, it is an “end time” vision.  It has all nations gathered before the king when he comes in his glory.  And the second reason it’s appropriate is that Jesus gives this vision in what is essentially his final teaching in public.  Chapter 25 ends with this, and the beginning of chapter 26 says, “When Jesus had finished all these sayings…”  And then after that, we go on to read of “The Last Supper,” and of course his passion and death.

So this is Jesus’ last public teaching.  And it begins, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he shall separate them as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will place the sheep at his right hand, and the goats at his left.

And I think I’ve asked you before, don’t goats get a bad reputation in the bible?  Here they’re associated with the bad people, right?  And how about left handed people here?  My son lives on a goat farm.  And these are “show goats!”  I never knew there was such a thing as a show goat!  But they are, and these goats are cool!  And there are something like 60 of them on this farm!  Of course now the reputation of goats has been recovered somewhat, because now “goat” stands for “Greatest of All Time.”  But, I digress…

So, the nations are gathered, they’re separated as the sheep are separated from the “greatest of all time.”  “And the king shall say,” – and that’s the title of this sermon.  “And the king shall say, to those at his right hand,” the sheep, of course, “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  And why?  “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

Those are beautiful words, aren’t they?  And we know what they mean, don’t we?  We the readers, that is.  But the sheep didn’t.  And what I love about this story, and I’ve quoted it many times, is that the sheep didn’t!  They didn’t know what he meant.  They didn’t say to the king, “Yeah, we sure did!”  “We sure did those things!”  No!  They asked, “When?  When did we do all these things for you?”  And of course, the king shall say, “When you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”

And I want you to notice something here.  I want you to notice that God calls the hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned, his “brethren.”  Do you get that?  I used to think he was addressing the sheep with the words “my brethren.”  But no!  The poor and the downtrodden are not just loved by God, he calls them his brethren!  Isn’t that a challenging thought?!

Another thing I love about this story is that I believe it shows us that God honors the godly things people do!  Think about that!  There are people in this world who wouldn’t call themselves godly people, but they do more of God’s work than some people who would call themselves godly!  Isn’t that true?  There are people in this world who wouldn’t call themselves Godly, but they do more of God’s work than others who would!  And you know people like that, don’t you!  I know I do!  And I believe God honors that!

I knew one woman – and I won’t say who she is right now – but she definitely fit that category.  She wouldn’t have considered herself a woman of God, but she definitely did more of God’s work than many who call themselves God’s people!  Her life was all about “the least of these.”  And I count her among the sheep in this story.

The final thing I love about this story is that this is the last thing Jesus said to the crowds.  And as I said last week when we looked at the end of “The Sermon on the Mount,” it’s often the last thing said, that’s remembered the most.  And so here in the last of all his teachings, I believe Jesus was saying what he wanted them, and us, to remember the most.  And lo and behold, his final word was not about what we believe, or even about how we live.  It was about how we treat each other!  Isn’t that great?  His final word wasn’t about doctrine, or faith, or belief, or practice, it was about how we treat each other!

Remember his earlier words.  He said the greatest Commandment was, “Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”  He said those two things contain all of the Law and the Prophets.  And if you remember, one of the times he said that, in Luke’s Gospel, he was pressed farther. (Luke 10:37)  He was asked, “But who is my neighbor.”  And do you remember how Jesus answered that?  He told the story of “The Good Samaritan.”  And remember, that wasn’t the story of “The Good Jew.”  It wasn’t about a “godly man” who helped a man who was more of an outcast.  No Jesus turned that story around – in what would have been a shocking way!  He had the outcast – he who would not have been considered a “godly man” by his listeners – doing the godly thing!  How much does that emphasize God’s concern about how we treat each other?

So in the end, and literally in the end of days, God cares about how we have treated others, even his “brethren” the poor and the downtrodden.  Jesus tells us that here in his final teaching.  And the king shall say,  “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  And that’s how the kingdom was prepared.  It was prepared for those who would care for one another.  “For as often as you cared for the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.”

Prayer

Eternal God, as we seek to follow Jesus Christ the King in this life, prepare us to be his people who are part of his kingdom throughout all eternity!  Help us to follow him more closely, and to be more like him in all we do.  For we pray in his name, Amen.