November 20, 2011
The King is a Shepherd and the Shepherd is a King
- Matthew 25:31-46
- Rev Ruth Chadwick Moore
All week long I have struggled with our scripture passages for today. There is so much to digest in these scriptures about our Shepherd King, about our God and about Jesus. But of course I focused on the judgment parts because that is just the kind of person I am. When I first read Ezekiel and Matthew I thought: “Oh good, loving shepherd images for God and Jesus. That will be easy to preach about!” Both of today’s scriptures help us to understand who God and Jesus are. They are shepherds who care for their sheep, their followers. Matthew goes on and tells us how the sheep should live their lives. And as instructive as these passages are, what has really disturbed me are these words from Ezekiel: “ I will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. And I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and strong I will destroy.” And how about these words from Jesus in Matthew: “ You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Pretty harsh don’t you think? There is also the issue of grace in the Matthew parable. It sounds like Jesus is telling us that we can earn our salvation if we care for those who are less fortunate than we are. Judgment and salvation through works – these are difficult biblical texts.
Let’s look at the Matthew parable first. This is another parable about the Kingdom of God. The first problem I encountered is that Jesus picks the sheep to enter the kingdom and I am afraid I am a goat…. So I am destined for eternal punishment. I think I am a goat because I am reacting against being a sheep. Sheep are not very intelligent and they’re smelly and helpless. A goat on the other hand is more independent. A goat tends to be stubborn. A goat eats anything! I’m pretty sure I’m a goat.
The other thing that bothers me about this parable is that the sheep and goats are separated to the right and the left. The sheep go to the right. The sheep get to inherit the kingdom of God. The goats go to the left and enter the eternal fire. I am left handed – I always go to the left. I’m pretty sure I am doomed!
But let’s step away from the judgment part of this story for a minute. What is Jesus telling us to do here? As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this coming Thursday this is what we hear: “… 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.” This is what followers of Jesus Christ are to do and to be. As ones who have been found and brought safely home again by our shepherd, as ones who have experienced the Shepherd’s tender love, we are called by that same Shepherd to share that love and care with someone else. We are called to care for the “least of these,” which means those who are weak and vulnerable, the little ones, the small ones – especially the children. We are called not to ignore or overlook, but instead to look into the face of others and to see there the face of Jesus Christ. What we do for and to the least of these – the sick, hungry, homeless, oppressed, imprisoned – we do to Jesus. When Matthew tells us that the sheep will be welcomed into the kingdom of God, this is because sheep need more care and tending than goats do. They are the needier of the two species. Jesus is always on the side of the neediest – the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and those in prison – Jesus is always on the side of the weak, the vulnerable and those on the margins of society. He is always looking after and caring for his sheep.
Today is Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday. It is the last Sunday of the church year. We start a new year next Sunday with the beginning of Advent. And even though in these bible passages the kingly images are suggested and not obvious, both of these texts suggest that the king is a shepherd and the shepherd is a king. God and Jesus are shepherd kings who look out for the needy and the vulnerable. Americans often have problems with a kingly image for Jesus. We’re not too crazy about kings. But it is worth noting what kind of king our God turns out to be. The righteous judge is also the humble one who was judged on the cross. The God of Jesus, the God of the bible, is not some remote supreme being, some patriarchal king on a throne up in the clouds somewhere. God is here, in the messiness and ambiguity of life. And God is here in your neighbor. God is here in the one who needs you. If you want to know who God is, and if you what to know what kind of king God looks like, look into the face of one of the least of these – look into the face of the vulnerable, the weak, the children, the sheep. And there staring back at you is our Shepherd King.
Now of course we do need to get back to the judgment stuff in these texts, especially the Matthew passage. One thing to remember is that it is only in the 25th chapter of Matthew that we hear about the last judgment in the New Testament. I think it is also important to notice that there is nothing in this parable about correct religious practices or theology or creeds or beliefs – things that people often argue about when they discuss who gets into the kingdom. There is only one criterion here and that is whether you saw the face of Jesus Christ in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner. You enter the kingdom of God when you give yourself away in love in his name. And while there are consequences for bad behavior, our shepherd doles out justice just like any good parent imposes discipline. And I use the word discipline here instead of punishment because discipline implies teaching and learning instead of harm. I do believe that at some point we do have to answer for the poor choices we make in life. The good news of the gospel is not always sweetness and light. But who is the judge that will judge us? It is none other than Jesus, who died so our sins would be forgiven and who loves us unconditionally. This is the king we worship and celebrate today.
Perhaps we shouldn’t just take one or two texts and assume that they tell us everything we need to know about grace and judgment. Our judgment scriptures from today’s readings need other texts in Matthew and throughout scripture to place them in a larger context. Other scripture readings might remind us that Christians are always both recipients of grace and witnesses to it. Each of us is both unbeliever and believer, and we are all commanded to care as well as in need of care. All of us are both judged by the Son of Man and identified with him in our weakness and vulnerability. We are all under judgment for our failures to pursue justice and we are all saved by grace. In other words we are both sheep and goats.
The one, the king, who sits “on the throne of his glory” and has the power to separate the sheep and the goats, to judge the fat sheep and care for the lean sheep, is also the one who lends his identity to “the least of these.” This Son of Man even has the humility to identify himself with those who live dependent on others – which after all is what we all do whether we admit it or not. We are all dependent on others in some way. So maybe we can identify ourselves this way too – as dependent and in need of care – and not assume too much about ourselves and our place in the Kingdom of God.
I believe that the biblical witness of our scriptures is not about punishment or judgment or who gets into the kingdom and who doesn’t. And here at Northminster our ministry is not focused on own personal salvation as much as it is focused on caring for others. Our HOSTS welcome strangers to worship. And if you are new and visiting us today I hope you feel the warmth and welcome of this congregation. We fill the food barrels for Westminster Neighborhood Ministries and write letters to Congress on behalf of Bread for the World and hunger issues. We visit people in the hospitals and those who are homebound. We are in the process of raising funds and recruiting volunteers to help us buy warm winter clothes for 75 children from School 55 on December 1st with our Clothe a Child project. For me, the good news of the gospel is that God not only wants a new world modeled on the values of Jesus, God wants us – each of us. God is a God of love who wants to save our souls and redeem us and to touch our hearts with love. God wants to save us by persuading us to care for and see other people who need us. And as we prepare for our Thanksgiving feasts and our holiday celebrations – as wonderful and joyous as they may and should be – God wants us to remember; “What you do for and to the least of these – the sick, the hungry, the homeless, the vulnerable, the oppressed, and the imprisoned – you do to me.” We are being called to a different way of living our lives. And as we love those for whom Jesus gave his life, particularly those who are undervalued, we express our love of God and experience God’s love for us. May it be so. Amen.
Sources:
Feasting on the Word Proper 29 (Reign of Christ)