Sermon: Matthew 25:31-46 (Proper 29A)

Christ Church Riverdale, 20 November 2005

The Rev. Robert C. Lamborn, Rector

 ^NRSV Matthew 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³ and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵ for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸ And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹ And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' ⁴⁰ And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' ⁴¹ Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 “King of kings and Lord of lords” we say about Jesus; “Crown him with many crowns,” goes the familiar hymn often sung on this day.  This Last Sunday after Pentecost, the final Sunday of the church year is a time we emphasize the kingship of Jesus Christ–his reign over all the cosmos. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory,” we hear, “and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.”  Christ the triumphant King returns in glory, attended by heavenly beings, no less, to act as Judge, to separate the sheep from the goats.

Goats have never had it quite fair in the Bible--on the Day of Atonement, the Israelites used to put their sins symbolically, on a goat, and drive it out into the wilderness. This is where “scapegoat” comes from.  Now the goats again are the ones who come up on the short end as Christ the King returns in judgment.  Now being a goat is nothing to be ashamed of–it’s just your species; you’re just made that way.  Goats and sheep can graze together during the day, but are separated to sleep at night because goats like to come in for warmth but sheep are comfortable out in the open air.  And to add insult to injury, if you’re a goat, sheep are worth more money!

Jesus, though, is talking about behavior: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison, and you visited me.”  The goats, however, did none of these things.  Think about it; the King of kings and Lord of lords, returning in glory to sit on the throne–was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison. This comes as a surprise to both the sheep and the goats: “Lord, when was it that we saw you” in those conditions.  Christ replies, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

 “Lord, when was it that we saw you?”  What we see depends a lot on what we are looking for, and so we are called to look for Christ in the hungry, the thirsty, in strangers, the ill-clothed, the sick, and in prisoners.  The Baptismal Covenant puts it this way, “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons,        loving your neighbor as yourself?” This passage makes the not entirely comfortable suggestion to me that of all the different things I did this week as a priest and more importantly as a Christian, the most important was how I treated the people who were in need and asked me for money.  I’d say my record was mixed.

Of course there’s more to the totality of Christian life, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to ignore the least of these, the members of Christ’s family.  St. Augustine of Hippo summed up Christian ethics like this, “Love God and do as you please.” (Repeat)  Now maybe this sounds flippant at first, but it leads to a deeper exploration of what it means to love.  We think of love as a feeling, but what Jesus meant, and what I believe Augustine meant by love is a matter of the will, a decision.  Truly loving God will exercise a transforming influence on our will; it will radically change “what we please” to conform more closely to what God wants. 

I heard a speaker[1] once talking about his life of prayer and he said that it was helpful to write his prayers out longhand.  To do so kept the prayers more consistently in his heart, he found.  “It helps to put it through a muscle,” meaning that the process of writing engaged more of his total self.  I’ve always loved that image, and would say that Jesus’ words to us today are all about putting our faith through our muscles.  Seeking and serving Christ in all persons, caring for those in need these are signs in doing as we please, that we indeed love God.