Grace,
mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
The sermon
text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Matthew.
And we read from this gospel reading today where Jesus says:
Truly, I say
to you, as you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.
Prayer: Dear
Lord Jesus, send to all us the gift of the Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach
well, and to all of us, that we may hear well. Amen.
In the book of Genesis, we read
about where Joseph makes himself known to his brothers. Joseph had been sold
into slavery by them, and now he was a prince in Egypt, second-in-charge to the
Pharaoh. And after giving his brothers various tests, he is eventually
overwhelmed and says to them, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near.
And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”
Can you imagine the emotion and
the joy and the relief on this occasion! Joseph says, “It’s me. You can trust
me. I won’t hurt you.”
In the same way, we read in our
Gospel reading today: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the
angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
We see something very special
here: who’s coming in glory? Who’s sitting on throne of his glory? We read: The
Son of Man. It’s Jesus. As we read this passage, remember that it will be our
brother in the flesh that we meet on the last day. Sure, with Judas, we were
responsible for selling Jesus over to be killed, we sold him into the slavery
which we ourselves deserved, and we spit in his face and nail his hands
continually through our sin. But then Jesus will reveal his loving face to us
on the Last Day, just like Joseph, and say: “Look! It’s me! Don’t be afraid!” Jesus,
the Son of Man, reveals his love and his friendly face, just like Joseph to his
brothers.
So Jesus says today: When the
Son of Man comes in his glory, with all his angels with him, then he will sit
on his glorious throne.
There is not a flicker of fear in
Jesus' eyes here. Jesus is preaching this in the week before he dies. And he
wants to encourage his disciples before he goes to die. He says: When the
Son of Man comes in his glory, with all his angels with him, then he will sit
on his glorious throne. Here Jesus promises a number of things: first of
all, he prophesies that he will rise from the dead. The Son of Man will come
in his glory. This is a prophecy of the resurrection because he calls
himself the Son of Man. God cannot rise from the dead, unless he has also
become a true man, and taken human flesh. Someone who is truly God cannot die,
and someone who is truly God cannot rise from the dead--unless God himself
takes human flesh and becomes a human being. Jesus, who was true God, begotten
of the Father from eternity, descended from heaven in all his glory, and took
flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. So Jesus says: The Son of Man will
come. He emphasises his human nature--his true human body--by calling
himself not the Son of God, but the Son of Man. On that occasion all his angels
came to earth and celebrated with him. And they sang Glory to God in the
highest when they went to the shepherds in their fields.
Jesus also prophesies that after
the resurrection he will ascend into heaven. He says: The Son of Man will
come in his glory. If he's coming in his glory, where's he coming from?
There's no glory in hell. If he's coming in his glory, he must be coming from
heaven. And if he's coming from heaven, he must have gone there--he must have
ascended into heaven. It also says: He will sit on his glorious throne.
Therefore, he must be sitting at the right hand of God the Father.
But also, Jesus prophesies that
he will come to judge the living and the dead. This Jesus describes in the rest
of the reading.
So this fact that the Son of Man
will come in his glory, with all his angels with him, and sit on his glorious
throne, gives the disciples wonderful comfort, because they know that after
Jesus has suffered, been crucified, dead, and buried, he will triumph over his
enemies. He will be victorious. He will win the victory. He will be clothed in
all the glory of heaven.
Jesus says: Before him will be
gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Many Christians today don't like
to think about judgment. We might not think it’s very relevant—but we have to
distinguish between what we want to hear, and what Jesus wants us to hear. Judgment
means that there will finally be a time when the followers of Jesus will be
separated from their persecutors. Even now, there is a growing separation in
our times between those who hope in Jesus and those who don't. We can see this
in the way some people cannot bear to tolerate Christian chaplains in public
schools, for example. In politics, the catchphrase "separation of church
and state" is often used as an excuse to keep Christians quiet, even when
Christians are not making much noise! Christian young people are feeling more
and more isolated in their faith among their own generation that knows nothing
of their faith. Jesus promises that there will come a time at the end of the
world, when he will return as the judge of all the nations, and he will
separate people one from the other as a shepherd separated the sheep from the
goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then
the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.
Notice, here Jesus calls himself
the King: The King will say to those on his right. Jesus will receive a
wonderful crown, but it will be a crown of thorns from the Roman soldiers, he
will receive his royal robes from them, he will be given a reed in his hand,
and then he will be led along a long road to ascend his throne on the cross.
Yes, the Romans think that they are pretending when they mock him, but what
they don't realise is that the crucifixion is where Jesus is crowned as the
king of the whole world. This King is the Lamb of God who was slain, and he
will speak to his fellow sheep. This King is the suffering servant of God and
he will lift up his hands of blessing upon his flock, and they will see the
glory of God, brighter than the sun, shine through the nail wounds in his
hands, and he will say to them: Come, you who are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.
The king, the Lamb, makes all his
sheep kings as well. In the next life, there will not be one single person who
does reign with Jesus in his kingdom. We will all be kings and queens. Jesus
says: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. I
will crown you and make you a king, a queen. And this kingdom that is given at
the end of the world, is prepared right from the beginning of the world.
This is what Holy Baptism is: it
is when people are called out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of
light. It is where we become disciples of Jesus, and are blessed by his Father,
and named with the Father's name: I baptise you in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Here at baptism is given the kingdom
prepared from the beginning of the world to all who believe it.
Then Jesus says: 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.'
As Lutherans, we hold very
strongly to the biblical teaching that we are saved by grace, through faith,
for Christ's sake, apart from works. But sometimes people think from this
reading that we really might be saved by works after all. Some people think
that Paul taught salvation by faith, and that the Gospel of Matthew and the
book of James teach salvation by works.
But this isn't true. There is
only one way that a person can be saved: through Christ's work alone, which is
given to us by grace alone, and is received by faith alone completely apart
from works. However, if we are talking about how Christians can perceive and
distinguish, either in ourselves or in others, a true living faith from a
pretend and dead faith, if we want to know the difference between true faith
and a delusion, then James teaches that faith is dead if good works and the
fruit of the Spirit of every kind do not follow. Love and good works are the
evidence of faith. This is what it means when James says: You see that a
person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Also he says: As
the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
He's talking about the evidence of faith.
So in our reading today, Jesus
puts the sheep and the goats on trial. And just like any courtroom, he judges
people by the evidence. He commends the sheep for their good works, and
condemns the goats for their lack of good works.
He says: For I was hungry and
you gave me food. Can you see how Jesus hides himself here not in those who
are full and satisfied, but he comes and makes himself a friend to those who
are hungry? Often the Christian Church grows powerfully in places where there
is the greatest suffering. Our greatest teachers are always those who suffer
the most. The Gospel is felt most strongly by those who need it the most. We
often think that God’s kingdom is only found in those places where there are
successful, happy and important people. But Jesus always builds his kingdom
through the cross—he draws people to the cross and he sends them out having
blessed them with the cross.
In our country, we would like to
think that Jesus would say in our reading: I was bored, and you entertained
me. We are so fat, so full, so satisfied—and this is the devil’s work. And
you must, must, must understand this. Listen to me, as if I were pleading to
you from the other side of the grave. If you are bored with the Christian
faith, then you must understand that this is your problem. You must understand
that the reason you are bored is because you hate God’s word, and that your
boredom is the most serious cancer that overtakes people’s heart and that has
put you so close to the gates of hell that you can’t even feel anything
anymore. You must see through the lie that the church is not here to entertain
you, it is here to feed you. Jesus says: I was hungry and you gave me food.
It is a good thing for Christians
to perform acts of charity and works of mercy to all people that we meet. And
in many places in the bible, Jesus encourages us to be charitable, and merciful
to all people. But in our reading, Jesus is talking about a specific kind of
people. He says: As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you
did it to me. Normally, when Jesus speaks of his brothers, he is talking
about his disciples, and often his apostles. He says: He who does the will
of my Father is my mother and sister and brothers. He also says to Mary
Magdalene and to the disciples to tell the news of the resurrection to his
brothers. He doesn't mean his flesh-and-blood brothers, but his disciples
and his apostles.
Jesus also says: I was in
prison and you visited me. Here we see that close connection between Jesus
as he suffers on the cross, and those who suffer for sake of the gospel. They
will be persecuted for the name of Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 11, St Paul boasts
of all the hardships he endured. He says: Who is weak, and I am not weak?
Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of
the things that show my weakness. James begins his letter by saying: Count
it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know
that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
What do you think you would do if
you were alive at the time of St Paul and knew he was suffering nearby? What
would you do if an apostle was enduring hardship? If the people who speak God's
word to you were suffering greatly? If a dear Christian friend who encourages
you so deeply and profoundly in your faith suddenly falls into hard times? Just
as Jesus was crowned with thorns, what would you do if you saw a fellow
Christian neighbour crowned with many thorns of Satan? Wouldn't you want to
protect that person from harm? Wouldn't you want to savour the last words of
Jesus that you could from them? Wouldn't you feed them if they were hungry,
wouldn't you give them a drink if they were thirsty, wouldn't you clothe them
if they were naked and welcome them if they were a stranger, wouldn't you visit
them in prison and strengthen them in their sickness?
Of course you would-- How
beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news! Anyone would do this
for the sake of that Christian encouragement that we so desperately need.
Anyone would do this to hear the word of life from the lips of their Christian
neighbour. Those who don't value the word of Jesus, wouldn't do anything to protect
the people who bring it to them--these people are called the goats. How often
the apostles address the readers of their letters so affectionately and with
such friendliness and with such gratitude for the love which is showed them on
account of their words!
This passage is not about
salvation by works--it's about our reception of the living words of Jesus
through the messengers of Jesus.
And just so that you know this
passage is not about salvation by works, listen to the way in which the sheep
respond: Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you
a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you
sick or in prison and visit you?'
They don't even know that they
were serving Christ.
And the King will answer them,
'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,
you did it to me.' The least of these my brothers: not just the
apostles and the St Pauls of the world, not just the bishops and the pastors,
but every simple Christian who receives hardship because of the words of Jesus.
And just as the sheep had no idea
that they were serving Jesus, the goats had no idea that they were rejecting
Jesus. Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or
thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to
you?'
They do not value these living
words of Jesus, and treat those who bring this word to them with contempt and
so at the end they will depart from [Jesus], [as] cursed, into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels. Hell was never made for the sake of any
human beings, it was prepared for the devil and his angels. And just as there
is an eternal life for the sheep, there will be an eternal punishment for the
goats.
This reading is almost too harsh
for our times, and our society today. People have so much, and the more they
have, the more they are afraid of losing. Many Christians don't value the
simple message of Jesus and his cross, and also don't value the
simple--sometimes even simplistic--Christians who speak it to them. Many
Christian reject their baptism, reject the church, reject the authority and
care of their pastors, and reject the fellowship of Christians. When did we
see you hungry and not feed you? they will say. This word is such a
thunderbolt for our country and our times which are full of small churches with
few people. Would that the Holy Spirit open the floodgates that people may hear
and receive the precious words of Jesus, and hasten to meet him as their
brother, their king, the Son of Man who shares their flesh and blood!
Listen to those words of Jesus! Come,
you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
beginning of the world. Come, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. Friend, come up higher!
Come to the banquet, for everything is ready. Come, and hear the dear
voice of your shepherd!
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Lord Jesus
Christ, we thank you for your gracious promise to come and judge the living and
the dead. We pray that by your gracious Holy Spirit that you would strengthen
and keep us firm in your word and faith until we die, and let your good and
gracious will work in us. Amen.
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