Last Sunday after
Pentecost: Christ the King Cycle A
proper 29 November 26, 2017
Ezek. 34:11-16, 20-24 Ps.100
Eph. 1:15-23 Matt. 25:31-46
We in the church say that there are seven sacraments. Sacraments are outward and invisible signs of an inward and invisible grace, which is to say that we believe we find Christ present in the events of the sacraments. In the Eucharist, we find Christ in bread and wine, in the Baptism in the blessed water of the rite, in marriage in the vows of the commitment of spouses, in ordination and confirmation in the laying on the hands, in unction in the anointing with oil and in reconciliation in the declared absolution of sins.
We in the Church also find Christ present in the reading of Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures provided the flood of a worded environment to form and constitute our inner moral and spiritual lives.
But we can also sometime limit God and Christ to the sacraments and the Bible but the Bible and the sacraments do not exhaust the presence of God and Christ. In fact, they are to be invitations to find the presence of Christ in all the times and places in our lives. And in our social habits sometimes we behave as though we don't want to find Christ somewhere, like in homeless people, in poor people, or in the people who often disagree with us or disturb us. When people can seem to be an inconvenience to us and our schedules and programs, why would we want to find the presence of Christ there?
Because of our tendency to want to domesticate God and seemingly control Christ and lock him up into the Bible and churchy activities, we need to be trained to look for Christ in other places.
This was an issue in the early churches. The writer of the Epistle of John wrote that we are hypocritical to say that we love God when we don't love our brothers and sisters.
The ancient summary of the law is about loving God and our neighbors and the two cannot be separated. If we loving God, then we are loving our neighbor. If we are loving our neighbor, we are loving God.
But sometimes we need motivation to put God and neighbor together as those to be loved and cared for.
And so we have the wonderful motivational parable of the Gospel. How can God get us to love others? By convincing us that the divine presence is specially, and unknowingly found when we minister to others.
How can we be genuine in our love? We are genuine in our love when we practice it without even knowing it.
When the king reviewed and appraised the behaviors of his subjects, his subjects were startled. When did we do something for you? When did we fail to do something for you?
When you did it to the hungry, the poor, the prisoner, the ones without clothes on their backs, you did it to me.
When did we fail to serve the divine king? When we failed and neglected the poor, the hungry, the prisoners, the ones without clothes on their backs, we failed to serve the king and Son of Man. Gospels present Jesus as a completely ironic king; he was not one to be minister to on a mighty throne where his majesty was obvious. He was the lowly, seeming powerless one on the cross, who needed our ministry. He is the king who resides within the lowly and seeks the most unselfish ministry of all.
The outcomes of the parables often seem very harsh, because they represent the seeming finality of the character of our lives. If we neglect the obvious needs of people that lie before us in this life; this is character that we take with us which sums up our life.
The lesson of the parable of Christ is this: We do not want to miss ministering to Christ. If we minister only to get approval and reward, we can miss the purpose of our ministry. Christ is buried in the need of others and it is to Christ everywhere that we are to minister.
Such thinking, is an indication of the kind of motivation which Jesus left the church so that we do not limit where we think Christ is in our lives.
This is stated quite clearly in our baptismal vows: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? And we answer: "I will with God's help."
The parable of Jesus is the parable of our baptismal vow, and so I end by asking us all. Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
And we answer: "I will with God's help." Amen.
Ezek. 34:11-16, 20-24 Ps.100
Eph. 1:15-23 Matt. 25:31-46
We in the church say that there are seven sacraments. Sacraments are outward and invisible signs of an inward and invisible grace, which is to say that we believe we find Christ present in the events of the sacraments. In the Eucharist, we find Christ in bread and wine, in the Baptism in the blessed water of the rite, in marriage in the vows of the commitment of spouses, in ordination and confirmation in the laying on the hands, in unction in the anointing with oil and in reconciliation in the declared absolution of sins.
We in the Church also find Christ present in the reading of Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures provided the flood of a worded environment to form and constitute our inner moral and spiritual lives.
But we can also sometime limit God and Christ to the sacraments and the Bible but the Bible and the sacraments do not exhaust the presence of God and Christ. In fact, they are to be invitations to find the presence of Christ in all the times and places in our lives. And in our social habits sometimes we behave as though we don't want to find Christ somewhere, like in homeless people, in poor people, or in the people who often disagree with us or disturb us. When people can seem to be an inconvenience to us and our schedules and programs, why would we want to find the presence of Christ there?
Because of our tendency to want to domesticate God and seemingly control Christ and lock him up into the Bible and churchy activities, we need to be trained to look for Christ in other places.
This was an issue in the early churches. The writer of the Epistle of John wrote that we are hypocritical to say that we love God when we don't love our brothers and sisters.
The ancient summary of the law is about loving God and our neighbors and the two cannot be separated. If we loving God, then we are loving our neighbor. If we are loving our neighbor, we are loving God.
But sometimes we need motivation to put God and neighbor together as those to be loved and cared for.
And so we have the wonderful motivational parable of the Gospel. How can God get us to love others? By convincing us that the divine presence is specially, and unknowingly found when we minister to others.
How can we be genuine in our love? We are genuine in our love when we practice it without even knowing it.
When the king reviewed and appraised the behaviors of his subjects, his subjects were startled. When did we do something for you? When did we fail to do something for you?
When you did it to the hungry, the poor, the prisoner, the ones without clothes on their backs, you did it to me.
When did we fail to serve the divine king? When we failed and neglected the poor, the hungry, the prisoners, the ones without clothes on their backs, we failed to serve the king and Son of Man. Gospels present Jesus as a completely ironic king; he was not one to be minister to on a mighty throne where his majesty was obvious. He was the lowly, seeming powerless one on the cross, who needed our ministry. He is the king who resides within the lowly and seeks the most unselfish ministry of all.
The outcomes of the parables often seem very harsh, because they represent the seeming finality of the character of our lives. If we neglect the obvious needs of people that lie before us in this life; this is character that we take with us which sums up our life.
The lesson of the parable of Christ is this: We do not want to miss ministering to Christ. If we minister only to get approval and reward, we can miss the purpose of our ministry. Christ is buried in the need of others and it is to Christ everywhere that we are to minister.
Such thinking, is an indication of the kind of motivation which Jesus left the church so that we do not limit where we think Christ is in our lives.
This is stated quite clearly in our baptismal vows: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? And we answer: "I will with God's help."
The parable of Jesus is the parable of our baptismal vow, and so I end by asking us all. Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
And we answer: "I will with God's help." Amen.
