Today is Christ the King Sunday, and we’re looking at Jesus’ story of the final judgment, where he describes people of all nations being separated as sheep from goats based on their service to the least of these. Also in this service video are have greetings from Chaplain Cindy Breed, who serves on our behalf at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, as well as prayers and music.
The cover photo “Separation of Sheep and Goats” is a Byzantine mosaic dated to the early 6th century. Details here.
This sermon on Matthew 25:31-46 was also preached for the online worship service this week at St. James Lutheran Church in Allison, Iowa.
Two resources I found helpful were Debie Thomas’ column here and this week’s episode of the Pulpit Fiction podcast.
Grace to you and peace from the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our King. Amen
As I said at the beginning, today is Christ the King Sunday, and we have a fascinating teaching from Jesus to explore. For the last two weeks, we’ve heard Jesus telling parables about the kingdom of heaven, using these stories to teach lessons to his followers.
Two weeks ago, we heard the parable about the wise and foolish bridesmaids, and how important it is to keep alert, for we don’t know when Jesus will appear.
Then last week, Jesus’ parable was about a master who trusted his slaves with some talents to take care of in his absence, and some used them wisely while others hid what they were given.
Today’s gospel reading is from the same chapter—we’re still in Matthew 25—but this story falls somewhere between a parable and a prophetic preview of the future.
Either way, it’s not a very comforting story, is it? How do you know if you’re a sheep or a goat? And what happened to being saved by grace?
It sure sounds in this story like if you’ve done enough good things then you get to go into paradise, but if you’ve messed up too much, well, not paradise.
This is one of those parts of the Bible that causes …tensions… between different flavors of Christianity. Some traditions want to use this story as evidence that you’ve gotta do good things in order to get to heaven. The sole criteria for judgment is if you’ve lived as a good person, if you’ve pursued justice, if you’ve stood up for the right things.
It’s a fair point – the king in this story doesn’t seem to care at all about whether you’ve had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or whether you can recite the Apostle’s Creed correctly, or even if you’ve been baptized.
It’s not even just the Christians getting judged here, it’s all nations. It looks like everyone’s got a shot to enter into God’s kingdom if they just did the right things, even if they didn’t know what they were doing.
Other Christians, though, read other parts of the Bible with verses like Ephesians 2, which says, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works.” We Lutherans tend to be more in that group – we’re pretty big on grace. But then what do we do with this story?
Just to make it more complicated, I heard someone this week point out that for both the sheep and the goats, Jesus says, “As you did or did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” One of the least of these. Just one.
So actually, we’re all in pretty good shape, right? My job isn’t to judge, but I’ll step out on a limb here and say every single one of you listening has helped one person at some point. Maybe you’ve given away a piece of clothing.
Maybe you’ve taken care of a sick person. I know we can’t really go visit people in the hospitals or nursing homes right now with Covid, but a little later in the service we’ll hear greetings from Chaplain Cindy Breed, who works at the University of Iowa Hospitals, visiting people on our behalf.
Visiting someone in prison is a little harder too, but surely at some point we’ve all given food or water to someone who was hungry or thirsty, right? Nothing to worry about!
Of course, the opposite is also true. I’ve certainly seen hungry people and not fed them. Within the last few weeks, I’ve literally driven past a person standing in the median holding a sign saying “I’m hungry.”
I’ve never gone to prison to visit anyone. Again, not here to judge, but I’m sure I’m not alone – I’m confident you too have missed at least one opportunity to help someone.
As much as we might like to know who’s in what group, who’s in and who’s out, the difference between the sheep and the goat groups is not clear-cut.
So maybe, that’s not what Jesus wants us to take from this story.
Maybe this story is less of a preview of the future, and more of a parable to tell us how to live here and now.
I love that this is our text for Christ the King Sunday. A few weeks ago on All Saints’ Day, I said that All Saints is the church version of Memorial Day, where we remember and give thanks for the witness of those who have died.
Well, Christ the King Sunday is our 4th of July. Well, it’s sort of the opposite of Independence Day, actually, because we’re declaring our dependence on Christ, not our independence, but it’s as close as we get to a patriotic church holiday. It’s the holiday where we lay down our chips and proclaim where our loyalties lie, who we belong to.
First and foremost, before any other identity of family lineage, nationality, citizenship, race, club membership, political party, or anything else, we are children of God.
You have been redeemed by Christ and claimed forever in the waters of baptism. We are subjects of the King of Kings.
This story from Jesus is about two things: Who our King is, and how we follow our King.
Our King is the one Paul wrote about in Ephesians, the one far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named in every age, the head over all things.
Our king is the one the Psalmist describes, a great ruler above all gods, our maker, who has formed the cosmos.
But our King is also the one who enters into our world and comes to us in the most vulnerable, in the least of these. Our King rules by stooping down. With the eyes of faith, we find our King in our neighbors who are hungry and thirsty.
Jesus is present in the people lying in hospital beds struggling to breathe, and in those alone, forgotten in prison cells.
The way we follow our King is by serving our neighbors, serving those laid off and worried about unemployment benefits lapsing, defending people who are discriminated against, loving people society excludes, caring for the vulnerable who are too old or too young.
It’s fascinating that in this story, neither the sheep nor the goats understand what Jesus is talking about. They don’t remember doing anything good or bad to him, which of course is the point.
You can picture the goat group saying, “Well, we would have helped if we knew it was you! If I’d seen Jesus hungry on the side of the road, obviously I would have helped!”
But if our allegiance is truly to Christ our King, we know who to help. Treat everyone, even the least of these, as Jesus.
This is a parable of judgment. I don’t think we can get around that. Jesus intends to make us uncomfortable, and at least for me, it’s working.
But I’ll betray my own Lutheran bias here, and say I don’t believe this is about doing the right thing so that you’ll be in the right group at the last judgment. This is about where our allegiance is.
In a way, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, like we talked about last week. Last week, it was if you look for a vengeful God, that’s what you’ll find. This week, the self-fulfilling prophecy is that if you refuse to look for Jesus in the least of these, you’ll have a hard time finding him there.
And if you don’t care about loving your neighbors at all, then why would you want to be in God’s kingdom? For one thing, you’re guaranteed to be surrounded by a bunch of the very same people you’re trying to avoid!
And if you do care about being in God’s kingdom, if you care about following Jesus, if you recognize what Jesus has done for you, then you can’t help serving others.
Obviously, you’re not going to get it right every time, but there is grace for that.
And remember, we know who the judge is on the last day. You know what the judge thinks of you. The judge sees you as worth dying for. Remember, your judge is the same one who has claimed you as a child of God.
Beloved of God, may you always place your ultimate allegiance in Christ the King.
May your eyes be opened to encounter Jesus in the least of these around you.
And as you seek to follow your King, may you be blessed to know God’s grace, forgiveness, and love revealed in Jesus Christ your Savior, Lord, and King.
Amen