Sermon on Matthew 25:31-46 | By Brad Everett | 

 

Today is Christ the King Sunday, which marks the last Sunday of the church year as we prepare for a new year next week with the beginning of Advent.

 

Christ the King Sunday is a relatively new feast day, established in the 1920s by Pope Puis XI, and adopted by Lutheran churches a few years later. A quick look at art, liturgy and various writings throughout Scripture and the history of the church quickly confirms the fact that images of Jesus Christ as King had always been celebrated within the church. But in the early decades of the 20^th century, society was facing unprecedented challenges. The rise of Mussolini in Italy, the growing popularity of the Nazi party, Communism in Russia, economic instability on a global level (i.e. the rumblings of the coming Great Depression), the decadent and hedonistic reaction to the horror that was WWI, the widespread notion that religion was now a “private affair”—these were but a few of the indications of the godless direction modern society was moving in.

 

In the face of all that Pope Pius XI established today’s feast to be a proclamation of the truth that no matter what might be going on in society, Jesus Christ is Lord of the world. The genius of a feast is that it reaches all levels of society; it touches all segments of the church, from the most learned theologian to the person in the pew. All who will listen have the chance to hear and be reminded of the truth of Christ as King. Further, as a feast, this is not a one-time event, but an annual one. At least once a year, there will be a public proclamation of Jesus Christ as King of all creation.

 

This is vital because it annually provides us with some much-needed perspective concerning who Jesus is, who we are and how we are to live our lives in this world. Given all the upheaval in the world today, we need to be able to fend off the fear, anxiety, confusion and frustration that threaten to overwhelm us as we struggle to make sense of it all. This feast gives Christians a framework within which they can sort out the specifics of their lives.

 

First and foremost, Christ is King. Note well the present tense—not Christ will be King, but Christ is King. As his disciples we confess and believe this truth, and allow it to shape us. Jesus Christ is King—not some particular political leader, philosophical ideology, social movement, economic strategy or even pandemic. That doesn’t mean these other things aren’t challenging for position and power, trying to gain our attention and energy for good or bad—they are. But they are not King of all that is created in heaven and earth, seen and unseen. They are all passing competitors of Christ, no more no less, each one temporary and transitory. None have the last word over us, because that word was spoken by Christ in our baptism, when by his birth, death, resurrection and ascension, he claimed us for his own, blessing us with forgiveness of sins and eternal life in and with him.

 

Secondly, this feast of Christ the King calls us to remember that as followers of Jesus, it is he, our Lord and Saviour, who is the focus of our attention. It is him we look to first, before anything or anyone else. He is the one who provides us with the lens through which we see and understand everything that’s going on. As the one who created us, Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. If we are willing to listen, we will hear him through Scripture, liturgy, prayer and song, remind us of the promises he made to us in our baptism, and renews to us in the sacrament of Holy Communion, to love us, never leave nor forsake us, to keep us in his steadfast love and mercy now and unto the ages of ages. This is who he has called us to be, who he says we are, and there is nothing in heaven or earth with the authority to contradict him in any meaningful way. Of course, there will be those who will try and convince us otherwise, who will attempt to get us to question or doubt Christ’s faithfulness, who will endeavor to get us to believe we are something or someone other than who Jesus says we are. These dark powers will try to use reason, fear, circumstance or even brute force. We can expect to be subjected to fearful things, but we need not fear, because we belong to Christ the King.

 

Finally, we look to Christ the King not just for who we are but for direction in how to live. The gospel for today sketches out for us what the lives of Christ’s faithful followers look like.

 

One can read the parable of the sheep and the goats as a cautionary tale demonstrating the rewards or punishments to be expected depending on one’s actions. But I there is something more there. The sheep didn’t somehow become sheep because of what they did i.e. it wasn’t the things they did that made them righteous—rather it was because they were sheep, because they were righteous that they fed the hungry, gave the thirsty something to drink, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, cared for the sick or visited those in prison. Those actions reinforced who they already were by the grace of God.

 

They engaged in these tangible, concrete acts of mercy for others, because they themselves experienced, received and lived in the mercy of God. These deeds weren’t a means to earning God’s favour, rather they were the result of already having God’s mercy and living in such a way that others might also experience it, however imperfectly or partially through their deeds. Such actions are expected of the faithful throughout the Old and New Testaments—not as a way to earn mercy, but as a consequence of having already received divine mercy.

 

Because Christ is King, because you are his dearly loved child claimed by him in baptism and blessed with his steadfast love and mercy, it is our blessing to live out our faith in the ways that share God’s steadfast love and mercy as described in today’s gospel. There is nothing going on at this moment in the world that has more authority over our lives than Christ the King, nothing that loves us more or wants better for us than him.

These tasks of mercy (and don’t for a moment think this list is by any means exhaustive, but it certainly is a good place to start), are a means of blessing for us. In these acts, we are putting into action the faith we read, talk and think about. Recall in the book of James we are reminded that faith and works are two sides of the same coin, or as the German martyr and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer put in in his work The Cost of Discipleship “Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.”

Doing these acts, living this life keeps before us our King Jesus Christ for whose sake we serve in this way. These acts of mercy, remind us of the many mercies we ourselves have received from Christ. These acts of mercy, allow us to see our faith, the promises of God in action in our lives and the lives of others. These acts of mercy, keep us from getting caught up in whatever else might be vying for our attention to cause us to doubt or despair.

 

Simply put, when your heart, head and hands are active feeding the hungry, giving the thirsty something to drink, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick or visiting those in prison, (or whatever other things God might lay on your heart to do for others) the time and energy you have for anxiety are reduced, you find yourself thanking God for the gifts you have been given and have to share, as well as receiving from both God and your neighbor as mercy is given and received, faith is exercised and encouraged and Christ is proclaimed as King.

 

Pr. Brad Everett

Ascension Lutheran Church, Calgary, AB