This is the sermon manuscript from the sermon preached on the weekend of November 19/20th, Christ the King Sunday, 2011. The Gospel text is Matthew 25:31-46.
Have you ever noticed that Jesus has a lot of celebrations? We celebrate his birth on Christmas, his Resurrection on Easter, his baptism in January, and today, his kingship. Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday, the last festival day of the church year. Today is the day when we crown Jesus Christ as our king.
You would think that on the day that we celebrate his kingship the story would be all about Jesus, telling us about what he does as our king. But it’s not. The story is actually all about us. And it’s not a pretty picture. It’s a story of judgment, the great judgment story in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus Christ the king will judge us. Jesus gathers the nations around the throne and separates the sheep from the goats. He sends the sheep to the kingdom prepared by God; he sends the goats to eternal punishment. It’s a harsh judgment to deal with. But not so fast, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, there’s a word missing.
It’s a Greek word, a small word. It’s the word de that is translated as “but” in the English. Now the word “but” is a conjunction, it’s a word that signifies a shift and a change, something is now different. This de is found in verse 31, at the beginning of the judgment scene, it sits right at the hinge between the parable of the talents and the final judgment scene in Matthew’s Gospel. It’s a shame that we do not read the two passages together. One interprets the other. In the Greek original text, there were no verse numbers or chapter numbers, the words even run together, so the two stories would have to be read together; meant to be read together.
Last week we explored the parable of the talents and one of the issues with that parable is how the master doesn’t sound much like God. Remember what the master tells the third servant, “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” That just doesn’t sound like God to me. That doesn’t fit with the wild generosity of God’s grace that I know to be true. It sounds more like our world; those with all the stuff get more stuff, while those without stuff continue to slip further from the master, further from the positions of power and popularity, perhaps even cast into the outer darkness because they are not good enough. It’s not a hopeful picture.
And this is where that little Greek word comes in, that little de which is left out of verse 31. This de is important because it shows the contrast between the way of the master, the way of this world, and the way of Jesus. Verse 31 should actually begin, “But when the Son of Humanity comes in his glory...” When our king arrives, when Jesus Christ comes into our world, this is how it’s going to be. The hungry will be fed, the thirsty watered, the naked clothed, the sick and imprisoned visited, the stranger welcomed. An active life of love takes over in the kingdom of heaven.
No longer is the judgment scene in Matthew a picture of judgment, it’s a picture of hope. It’s a picture of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ the king will move around his subjects, making sure that everyone is fed, and watered, and clothed, and in community with one another. The kingdom of heaven is people helping people, strangers reaching out to strangers. The kingdom of heaven is people recognizing the humanness of each other, recognizing the child of God in each other.
I saw on the news this week that there is a woman in Knoxville Tennessee that has taken it upon herself to transform the neighborhood around her. She got tired of passing the abandoned, depressing, foreclosed homes in her neighborhood. Houses with empty eyes, no lights on, no one home. This woman borrowed $50,000 and bought one of those foreclosed houses and moved in. Over the next few months she went to work, putting the house back together. She redid the bathroom and kitchen and brought new life into the home. “I had no experience, I just saw the potential,” she said, “I thought I could do it.” With the help of gracious neighbors she continues to buy and rent homes in her neighborhood. They put their hands and hearts to work fixing up the broken houses. Their hard word continues to bring homes back to life. She rents out the repaired homes to others, providing them with a place to stay. A place to call home. She makes enough money from the rent she collects to pay off the mortgages and then donates thousands more to charities. The kingdom of heaven breaks into our world through the labor of love of this woman. And Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, just as you have done to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you have done to me.”
The Kingdom of Heaven breaks into our world everyday through ordinary people like you and me. Everything and everyone can be an encounter with God, if we are open to possibility that Jesus Christ is at work in our world now. That his kingdom has come and his will is being done in our lives and on the streets we call home. The kingdom is here when we reach out to others, when we recognize our shared humanity with strangers, when we see the child of God in everyone we meet. Be they the least of these, or the greatest of these, the kingdom of heaven breaks into our world when we act out of love for one another.
I have seen the kingdom of heaven break into our world over and over again the past couple of weeks while in the monotonous rhythms of the elliptical at the YMCA. One of the physical trainers who works at the gym, who is there every time I walk in the door it seems, is helping to bring the kingdom of heaven into our world. He works with a fair number of what I would call normal gym people, not the superstar athletes we see on TV, but folks like me who are just looking to get into better shape and perhaps drop a few pounds. But he also works with those who I would not normally consider as part of the gym crowd. The man in the wheel chair who needs help getting onto the weight machines. The older man on his walker who needs a boast onto the stationary bike. The woman who can barley use her arms who just needs a little help getting the fitness machine going. The veteran whose battle wounds left him scarred for life who needs help on and off the bus because of his wheel chair. This personal trainer treats these people with the utmost respect and care. He treats them like they are human beings. He treats them like they are children of God. I see the kingdom of heaven in him because he reaches out and gives a helping hand. “Just as you have done to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you have done to me.” That’s what the kingship of Jesus looks like in the flesh and blood of humanity. That’s the kingship we celebrate today.
Today is Christ the King Sunday. Today we celebrate the shepherd king who looks to edges, to the margins, to the least of these and claims us all as his family. Have you seen him; our king, Jesus the Christ? He’s here and his kingdom is alive and well in this world. The kingdom of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of heaven is here with us now. In flesh and blood. In you and me. In what we do every day of our life.
To declare Jesus as our king is to declare that Jesus has a claim on our life. His baptism is our baptism, his death is our death, his resurrection is our resurrection, and his kingdom is our kingdom. We are stewards of Jesus Christ the king and our stewardship in this world is everything we do after we say I believe. If we say “I believe in Jesus Christ” then how we live our lives will be different. How we use our resources will be different. The way we talk and interact with other will be different. People will see the kingdom of heaven breaking into our world through the lives we live and the way we walk through this world.
Today we have the chance recommit ourselves to the kingdom of God. As we look forward to 2012 we have the chance to stand up and claim Jesus as our king by the way we choose to live. Through our financial giving, the use of our time, our talents, the gifts that God has given us, we can participate in the kingdom of heaven breaking into our world now.
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