Year A

Matthew 25:31-46

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Our King is Here Today

There is a wonderful story out of the 16th century about Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worchester; a great leader of the Church of England before the reformation. One Sunday morning, most likely on this very Sunday the last Sunday after Pentecost, he entered his pulpit and looked out to see King Henry VIII in the congregation. He knew that what he had to say that day would not go well with King Henry. He thought for a moment and then said to himself, but out loud for all to hear, “Latimer, be careful what you say today; King Henry is here.” He thought for a moment longer and again said to himself, but aloud so others could hear, “Latimer, be careful what you say today; the King of Kings is here.”

Today, on this Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday in the Pentecost season, Advent begins next Sunday, the King of Kings is here and we celebrate his presence, power, majesty and glory in our world and in our lives. For, Jesus Christ is truly the “King of kings, the Lord of lords, and his kingdom shall reign forever and ever. But his kingdom is very different from the one we might envision. In Christ, there is a different way of being human in relationship to God and in relationship to each other. And this just might make us squirm a bit just as King Henry made Bishop Latimer squirm a bit in his pulpit that Sunday long ago. Our King of Kings Jesus makes us squirm especially when he talks about sheep and goats, separation, and eternal punishment.

The gospel today from Matthew is a difficult one that can convict us for not having lived up to our faith. Jesus reminds those gathered before him that he was hungry, naked, and imprisoned yet ignored by those who knew better. He brings us face-to-face with the fact that we aren’t always sure if we have fed, clothed, visited or served anyone but ourselves. And how uncomfortable that is to hear and he wants us to be uncomfortable. He wants to prick our consciences, he wants us to sit up and take notice that this whole life on earth now and in heaven forever is not something trite and simple; it cost him, the king, his very life, and in the end that death will be the determining factor for the salvation of the world.

This may indeed leave us squirming in our pews because it makes us realize that God is serious about us and our world, serious about our lives and the lives of those around us and that God will not deny the divine nature of love and goodness by doing away with justice. The point seems to be clear: life is serious business, and it is important how we live it. For those who worry that they will go with the goats, that kind of message can seem small comfort. And it might even cause some to despair, if we were left to our own sinfulness with no divine assistance, and yet the good news is that we are not left to our own selfish ways because our king is Jesus-who we know to be the Good Shepherd.

As the Good Shepherd he seeks and finds lost sheep to return to the fold. Ezekiel prophesies in the OT text today that God will intervene as Shepherd, and as the true Shepherd, God will search for the sheep. “I will rescue my flock from all places to which they have been scattered.” “I myself will be shepherd of my sheep…and I will set up over them one shepherd…and he shall feed them and be their shepherd.” For Christ followers, these words point to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. Our king, Jesus is the shepherd who has come to love us and lead us and we are called to follow him.

We find that today it is just as difficult to follow the lead of our King as it was over 2000 years ago for the first disciples and early church. We too, are asked to give all that we are—heart, mind, body, soul and strength—to him and to love our neighbor in the same way. Paul grasped this understanding today in his words to the church in Ephesus as he gives thanks for the believers and commends them for their love for all the saints. He says, “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus” The love they had toward one another was a demonstration of their faith in Jesus Christ. He then prays for their wisdom, for their inheritance, and for God’s power to work in them as it did in Christ when he was resurrected. 

Paul acknowledges that our ultimate hope is in Christ and he reminds believers then and now, that we have not yet completed our task. And this is what Jesus is stressing today in the parable called the Great Judgment. The one who taught that “the last shall be first” presents the king as bringing to his right hand, a position of honor to all who have lived a life that honored others above their own selfish needs. This king invites and opens his kingdom to those who pay attention to the poor by giving them clothes to wear and food to eat; to those who see human injustice and take the time to visit the ones who are imprisoned unjustly and gives praise to those who welcome the stranger and the migrant by offering them hospitality and shelter.

He says, “As you have done these things to the least of my brothers and sisters, you have done it to me.” This is a radically different image of a king who eats with the poor and the outcasts, honors women and little children and calls us to do the same. Are we challenged by this story to live a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called? Are we repentant for not having done so, asking forgiveness to begin again? If Christ had left us alone without his harsh squirming in the pew words today, then we might be content to keep living lives of selfishness. If Christ had never said the king would return to separate the sheep and the goats, then all of us might fall over the bottomless cliff for lack of a shepherd to herd us to safety.  

As it is, we do have a shepherd, a royal shepherd who is capable of saving entire flocks. With these words of warning and serious judgment, Christ presents to us, instills in us, and places in our hearts the truth of life’s serious nature and leads us to safety while helping us to realize that God loves us and cares for us. Otherwise, why would he bother telling us about bridesmaids without enough oil, talents, sheep and goats? These very words are designed to transform goats into sheep, sinners into the righteous, the hopeless into the fortunate, and to shepherd us to his kingdom in safety. We follow a shepherd who aligned himself with the powerless and the outcasts, who emptied himself of his divinity and took on human flesh. This is our king!      

If we have faith and Christ’s love in our hearts we will take these words to heart and act on them. They may make us squirm in our pews but that is good for us. It means that we are reading, marking, and inwardly digesting his words into our lives. It means that because we are so loved and cared for, we can meet the world and the most vulnerable among us with the care and protection we have received. Our king is here with us today. May we praise his kingship and follow him now, and one day we will flock to the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.