The “Judgement of Nations”, today’s reading from
Matthew, is about the second coming of Christ, it follows immediately after the
parable of “The Talents” which is also about the second coming. It may seem
both emphasize good works as a means to please God and thus secure salvation
but that assumption would be a mistake. A closer look at today’s reading from
Matthew will show what truly pleases God, faith in Jesus, our Lord. You see,
our faith in Jesus produces right attitudes and those right attitudes are shown
to God and the world by our good works. Good works are not what please God;
right attitudes which are the fruit of Faith please God and give glory to God.
Did you listen to the statements in Matthew; I was hungry, you gave me food, I
was thirsty you gave me drink; I was a stranger you made me welcome. Each of
those statements shows a right attitude. It is the right attitudes that bring
favorable judgement but more importantly it is your right attitudes that show
you are already a citizen of the kingdom of Heaven. God’s judgement just
reflects what you already are. And for those of us who are blessed with Faith
in Jesus, God’s favorable judgement is our fountain of hope. There will be
justice!
Both this reading and the one from Ezekiel are
about the second coming and the second coming is about God’s judgement. For us
God’s judgement gives us hope. We Christians profess our faith and the right
for God to judge us. In accepting the right for God to judge us we accept God’s
Lordship. Because Jesus is our Lord, we have hope.
Both of these readings use similes, primarily
that of sheep and shepherd. We live in a ranching and farming community, we, as
a community have some understanding of the simile of a good shepherd and sheep
used in Ezekiel and Matthew. Some of us may even have first-hand experience
with sheep and herding sheep. This hands on experience helps us understand the
nuances of the simile of sheep and herding and it doesn’t take much, a 4-H
sheep project is enough to know what sheep and sheep handling can be like.
Knowing this you understand how fitting the comparison of sheep to us truly is!
We sheep need a good shepherd and that “Good Shepherd” is Jesus.
When Matthew talks about Christ coming and
sitting on a throne to pass judgement on us sheep our only first-hand knowledge
of judgement is from our legal system in court, but the judgement from our Lord
Jesus is much more. Being judged by Jesus is like standing for judgement in the
US Supreme Court. There will be no appeals; there will be no higher court to go
to. When Jesus our Lord passes judgement on us it will be a just judgement.
Our western culture doesn’t have first-hand
experience living under a monarchy, a Lord. Intellectually we understand what a
monarchy is but we have no personal experience with this form of government or
with royalty. When the title “Lord” is used in Ezekiel we automatically think
of God. This is how Christians are taught to think. But we Christians who live
in a democratic society have no true understanding of the nuances that the
kingly title of “Lord” carry. We have no hands on experience to inform us. What
little experience we have of kings is from news reports and they usually are
negative. The Bible does show kings in this light but not all kings.
In 1st Samuel God’s people demanded
that God give them a king and God listened. God recognized that power corrupts
and left detailed guidance for those who would rule as king. Some of this
guidance for the making of a good king also can make a good shepherd. In
Ezekiel and Matthew’s time the people they were talking to understood
intellectually and through first-hand experience what it meant to be a good
shepherd and what it meant to live under a good king.
As
I pointed out earlier, there’s a few of you who understand what makes a good
shepherd but none of us have any experience with kings and living under a
king’s rule. We don’t appreciate fully what the Bible is talking about when
Jesus is called “Lord” and “King” at least not in the way the people during
Ezekiel and during Matthew’s time understood.
But we do understand and we do have first-hand
experience with citizenship. Earlier I said God’s judgement reflects who we
already are. I want you to know, if we have the right attitudes and act
like citizens of God’s Kingdom we are citizens of the kingdom of God. So
what makes a citizen of God’s Kingdom?
·
We
seek to bring people together;
9 Blessed are the
peacemakers
·
We
are committed to God;
8 Blessed are the pure in
heart, because they will see God
·
We
are sensitive to the needs of others;
4 Blessed are
the ones who mourn, because
they
will be comforted
·
We
know we are helpless without our Lord;
3 “Blessed are
the poor in spirit, because
theirs is the kingdom of heaven
·
We
recognize we don’t see the big picture but God does;
5 Blessed
are the meek,
because
they will inherit
the earth
·
We yearn for a deeper relationship with Jesus;
6 Blessed
are the ones who hunger
and thirst for righteousness,
because they will
be satisfied
·
We
gently correct one another;
7 Blessed are the
merciful, because they will be shown
mercy
Do
any of these statements sound familiar, yes, they are the beatitudes. These
right attitudes of a citizen of heaven are also the attributes God demands of a
King. The type of king God requires is a king whose life is an example to the
king’s subjects. Divine Kingship is not about power and control it’s about
right attitudes and leading by example. Listen again to what Ezekiel and
Matthew say, listen to what God says God will do for His people:
·
I
will seek you out and brings you all together
·
I
will give you shelter, feed you, heals you, make you strong
·
I
will give you peace
·
And
I will correct you
God
leads by example, these are the same attitudes God demands His citizens show
each other. We understand leading by example because we also demand these same
attitudes from our leaders, though our leaders don’t always exhibit these right
attitudes and they don’t always lead by example. Yet our Lord and Savior Jesus,
does exhibit these attitudes and He does lead by example. With a leader that
exhibits these right attitudes and leads by example, that leader instills
confidence in his subjects and with that confidence comes trust. With trust we
can accept his authority to lead. And by his example we can confidently hope
for justice. This hope for justice and this trust that we will receive justice
is critical because our lord does two other things as Ezekiel and Matthew tell
us.
·
Our
Lord convicts us
·
And
our Lord will judge us
Today,
this Sunday, we celebrate “Christ the King”. We celebrate Christ as our leader
who shows by example the right attitudes a citizen of heaven must exhibit.
Christ’s
leadership by example instills confidence in us. Because of this we can trust
in Christ and because of this trust we now can confidently hope for justice and
accept his conviction and judgement of us. Will we follow our Lord? Will we
commit to Jesus, will we accept His authority? While you choose, know this, God
has already committed to us. God has chosen us already. We know this because
God has made a covenant with us. We are God’s people; we are citizens of
the Kingdom of God. All praise and glory to Christ our King.
