New Year’s Eve , 12/31/2009

Sermon on Matthew 25:31-46, by Samuel D. Zumwalt

³¹ "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³²Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' ⁴⁰And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' ⁴¹"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

IT'S A VERY GOOD PLACE TO START

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Doubtless everyone of a certain age can say by memory these words from Oscar Hammerstein's pen: "Let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start. When you read, you begin with A-B-C. When you sing, you begin with Do-Re-Mi."

At the end of one year and the beginning of a new, it's easy for me to think of Hammerstein's words because we're starting at the very beginning...but we're also ending at the very last second. Hammerstein was a master wordsmith. He knew something about the importance of mnemonic devices...those memory cues that help us remember so easily the things we most need to know. You can't read words without knowing you're A-B-Cs. You can't read music without knowing your Do-Re-Mis.

And so, at the end of the very last second of 2009 and at the beginning of the very beginning of 2010, the Lord Jesus - no slouch of a wordsmith either - gives us a kind of mnemonic device to remember what we need to know about following Him in a life of humble service. Here in Matthew 25 just before the end of His mortal life, the Lord Jesus gives us the A-B-Cs and Do-Re-Mis of discipleship. A equals feed the hungry. B equals give the thirsty drink. C equals welcome the stranger. D equals clothe the naked. E equals visit the sick. F equals visit those in prison.

Now I don't know if we could sing that to the tune of the "Do-Re-Mi" song from "The Sound of Music," but we could try: A, give all the hungry food. B, bring cups to those who thirst. C, don't cling to only friends. D, donate what you don't need. E, enter a patient's room. F, find prisoners to meet. G, go out into the world. H, have hearts for those in need. I, don't think only of yourself. J, means Jesus finds us each day."

OK, so I'm no Hammerstein, but you get the point. When we're ending at the very last second of 2009 and we're starting at the very beginning of 2010, we need to think of the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. As St. John tells us in his soaring prologue: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth." Here in Matthew 25, the soon to be Crucified Christ declares that, at the end of things as we know them, He will come in glory to judge the living and the dead.

Just as Hammerstein reminds us you can't read words or music without knowing the basics. Here our Lord Jesus reminds us you can't be His disciple without knowing and doing the basics. If you know from whom you came and know to whom you're going, then you want to remember the fundamentals of life in this world. As the psalmist puts it: "The earth is the LORD's and everything in it" (24:1). Martin Luther tells us how the creature ought to respond to the Creator: "Therefore I surely ought to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true" (Small Catechism, Explanation of the first article of the Apostles' Creed).

A classical Lutheran Law-Gospel sermon will remind at this point that none of us gives our heavenly Father the glory and honor due Him every day. Because we are by nature sinful and unclean, on our very best day, we are as self-conscious in our goodness as the little boy in the nursery rhyme who "...stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said, ‘O what a good boy am I!'"

We Christians can never forget that at the end of not just 2009, but at the end of all things, we must say with Augustus Toplady: "Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling. Naked, come to Thee for dress; Helpless, look to Thee for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me Savior or I die" ("Rock of Ages," stanza 3). Luther reminds us that our Lord Jesus Christ, true God...and true man...has redeemed me a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death" (Small Catechism, Explanation of the second article of the Apostles' Creed).

In Jesus Christ, the Lord God has come down to earth to save us lost and condemned people. Born of the Virgin Mary, the Son of God has been obedient to His Father even unto death on a cross. Descending to hell, our Lord Jesus has declared His victory over sin, death, and Satan. Christ is risen from the dead and ascended to the seat of heavenly power at His Father's right hand. The Father has poured out His Holy Spirit through His Son, and now that Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies through the Good News of God's salvation in Jesus Christ - creating faith through the Promise given in the washing of Holy Baptism. Day after day in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, the Holy Spirit works through Word and Sacrament to raise us to new life in Christ, to feed us with the true body and most precious blood of Christ given in bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins, to make us holy through no effort or merit of our own, and to keep us united in the one true faith. At the last He will raise us and all the dead and give us and all believers in Christ eternal life.

So, then, when we hear the Lord Jesus' call to follow Him in lives of humble service, we do so not out of some sense of quid pro quo by which God exchanges His treasures for our good works. Rather we do so, because now it is no longer we who live but Christ Jesus who dwells in us. Because we have been fed with the true body and blood of Christ, we give food and drink to those who hunger for daily bread. Because we have been welcomed though we were estranged from God, now we welcome the stranger. Because God has in Holy Baptism clothed us with the righteousness of His own Son, now we go to clothe the naked. Because our Great Physician has visited us in Jesus Christ when we were sin-sick, we now visit the sick. Because God's dear Son has on His lonely cross freed us from our captivity to sin, death, and Satan, now we go to visit prisoners.

Because God has come down to earth, because God has a heart for all that He has made and wants to lose no one, because God is always within Himself relational and thus cannot think only of Himself, because the Lord Jesus keeps seeking His wandering sheep, therefore we the Baptized people of God will do what He does in and for us today!

By God's grace in Jesus Christ, we are sheep and not goats. As God the Holy Spirit calls us again out of the world of opposition to God, we are called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified to be the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand!

So, then, as we end at the very last second of 2009 and begin at the very beginning of 2010, let us give glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. And let us do so not only with our lips but with the work of our hands that God has given us while it is yet day!

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

STS Samuel D. Zumwalt
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Wilmington, North Carolina USA
E-Mail: szumwalt@bellsouth.net

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