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November
20, 2011
by Jon Strasman
Once
at a synod assembly in North Dakota I saw a drama about a king who
announced that he was coming to visit the people of his kingdom.
You can imagine how the people worked and cleaned everything up in
order to make things look nice… to put a facade on how they really lived
and treated others. They would
say, “The King is Coming! The King is Coming!” Instead
of coming with pomp and circumstance, the king decided to come incognito.
He pretended to be a person in material need, and wanted to test
his villagers. The test
consisted of their reaction to people in material need.
Those who gave material support to someone in need passed and those
who refused failed. The ones
who passed were rewarded with endless life and reward in his kingdom and
those who failed endless punishment. This
sounds a lot like our Gospel for today… the Judgment of the Nations.
The story of the sheep and the goats.
A similar scenario takes place.
A king visited his kingdom on occasion… incognito in order to
test the people. Those who
were concerned with the last, least, and lost gained eternal life.
Those who ignored the last, least, and lost: the hungry, thirsty,
sick, imprisoned, strangers, naked, and so on, would receive eternal
punishment. Neither knew the
exact moment when they either helped or ignored one of the king’s
family. Today
we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. We
are reminded that Jesus, the Messiah, our King entered his Kingdom
incognito… as a baby boy. Nobody
expected God to come in this manner. And
Kings, of course, have a reign. Jesus’
reign on earth… known in scripture as the kingdom of God or the kingdom
of heaven was concerned with the last, the least, and the lost.
Jesus fed people, he healed people, he gave hope to the hopeless. The king in our Gospel today called the last, least, and lost, “Those in my family” But it literally means “my brothers.” Adelphos in Greek. Matthew uses this word elsewhere for fellow Christians. Could this be a text calling the church to care for its own, or for all people everywhere? I take it to mean everyone. What you have done to the least of my brothers you have done to me. Jesus is saying here, those in material need are honored in my kingdom. And in fact, Jesus promises to meet you when you tend to those in need… especially face to face.
This
story is about who’s in and who’s out.
We all want to be in the in group.
Throughout life we want to be first and best.
In fact, at first glance we identify with the sheep in this
story… soon to enjoy the fruits of eternal life.
But who among us has consistently cared for those in material need.
How have our decisions in what we purchase affect people from other
countries? If I were to be the judge today.
I would say that we are all the goats… destined for eternal
punishment. So
where is the good news. First,
If you are one of those people in need, you are honored in Christ’s
kingdom. Followers of Jesus
are obligated to care for you. Ask
and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door shall be
opened. But as you might
imagine, this text taken in a vacuum gives those who have their basic
needs met… especially Lutheran’s fits.
It sounds like our works righteousness earn us a trip to heaven.
This text says nothing about grace or faith.
If this is the final say, and my salvation depends on me, then I am
doomed. But
thanks be to God for the gracious king… who entered his kingdom knowing
how hypocritical and self-centered we are.
He knew that we will never get it right, and like the prodigal son,
he still loves us and rejoices when we return to him for forgiveness daily
in word and sacrament. So does that mean we can go on ignoring those in material need without any consequence? No. Remember those in need are members of our family. They are part of Christ’s family. Bonhoeffer quote… Caring for those in material need is a response to what God has already done for us in Christ. We don’t do it for reward, we do it because we are so thankful for God has done that we don’t even know we are doing it. It is called the Christian life. Everything we do after we say I believe is the Christian life. I
know through my sins of omission I neglect those in material need.
In fact my heart is hardened toward those who hold up signs on
street corners. I think they
are trying to scam people who try to live out the Gospel.
I don’t give money to those folks.
Food, water, clothing etc. Instead,
I give to organizations whom I
know are feeding people, giving shelter, and helping people with basic
needs. Immediately there are a
few things left on the Community Thanksgiving Dinner our church needs to
bring. Locally, our church supports the Ecumenical food pantry, THE House,
and the Maslow.
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