A Final Lesson

Focus Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

November 26, 2023

“A Final Lesson”

Today is Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday, the final Sunday in the church year. Next week is the beginning of Advent, the first Sunday of the year.

Today’s lectionary texts make Jesus’ status as King over all the nations clear. Paul writes to the Ephesians about Jesus’s position “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (Eph 1:21). Jesus himself talks about himself sitting on the “throne of his glory.” Yes, Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. We celebrate his reign on this special day.

It is vital that we spend some time with the Matthew text because it is different than what has preceded it over the last weeks. Many of the Gospel lessons leading up to this point were parables, each with scenarios that describe behaviors of those who believe and those who don’t, those who work hard for the kingdom of God and those who hide and keep their heads down.

Last week, the lesson was the parable of the talents. Take what God has given you and be productive with it. This very church building could be considered a talent. What have we done with it? See Matthew 25:14-30.

The wise and foolish bridesmaids taught us a lesson about being prepared for Christ’s coming on November 12. Again, it was a parable in Matthew 25:1-13.

And before that, we had scene after scene, one interaction after another, that showed Jesus being critical of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, hypocrites all. The sermons and speeches, delivered in settings large and small, drove vital, core points.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

That brings is to today. From the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, Jesus taught us to love one another, and how we treat others is how we treat the Lord. Plotting the arch of Matthew simply, we begin with the genealogy and birth of Jesus, the visit of the Magi, the escape to Egypt, and then the beginning of Jesus’s ministry after being baptized by John and tempted in the desert after a 40-day fast.

What is his first lesson? Matthew 5 – The Beatitudes. Jesus describes the virtues of those who will inherit the kingdom of heaven: mercy, peacemaking, meekness, those who seek righteousness.

Fast forward to today, and we do not have a parable. Instead, we have a direct statement describing what will happen when our judgement comes. If we truly believe, repent, and love both God and neighbor, we will receive our inheritance. And if we don’t…well, the goat’s destiny is ours.

Again, this is not a parable. Jesus does not begin this lesson with that kind of language. He does not say, “It is as if…” Jesus does not say, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”

No! Jesus states in this passage that immediately follows the parable of the talents – within the same chapter – that he is talking about himself, his role as judge, and how that will go for all of us.

Verse 31: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.” The image of Christ the King is explicit in this statement. Kings get thrones.

Verse 32: “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Sure, there is simile to create the image, but that’s it. No parable. For the goats, this is a sobering statement.

For everyone else, though, the sheep, this is a promise and a foretaste of heaven. Jesus states plainly, “…all the nations.” Not some of the nations. Not just Israel. All the nations. Jesus came as the light of the world, for both Jew and Gentile, that all might be saved.

So, what will be the criteria? Love combined with faith and God’s grace.

When we look at the entirety of our faith, from the earliest days when the Ten Commandments were handed down, we see that love is central to God’s message and Jesus’s rescue mission. If we review the commandments, each is about either loving God or loving neighbor.

The messages from the religious leaders at Jesus’s time, though, was something else. It was about rules, laws, deference, pretentious displays of religiosity, and public prayer that was credited to the speaker, not penitent prayer to God. In a word, it was hypocrisy. Words with no action. Legalistic religion without mercy, and certainly no humility. That is a goat.

The sheep behave differently. The sheep are compassionate, merciful, caring, humble – the things that Jesus talked about at the beginning of and throughout his ministry. Matthew 5, the Beatitudes, and Matthew 25, the sheep and goats, bookend Jesus’ ministry as recorded by Matthew.

Also, the cultural context of this message is vital to understanding it, considering our Reign of Christ lectionary. This King Jesus was and is like no other king that came before or has been experienced since.

When Jesus was sharing these words, the people hearing it were under Roman rule. The Romans deified the emperor. The Roman Empire grew and sustained itself through force, violence, public executions, and heavy taxation.

Jesus of Nazareth was as far from that kind of king as anyone could be. The Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world, the soon-to-be slain and victorious lamb, served humbly. He cast our demons, cured the ill, restored the bodies of those with disease and disabilities, and gave himself up for those who were hearing this message. He did it for us.

What Jesus did for those who surrounded him in his time on Earth, he expects us to do for others within our abilities to do so. Food, drink, visits, compassion, mercy: you just heard the gospel.

As for the sermon title – “A Final Lesson” – let’s point out that this message is the final formal teaching in this gospel. Though this is not the very end of the Gospel, it is the end of sermons. From here to the end, Matthew 26 through 28, the Gospel turns to the persecution, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. Teaching is in the privacy of the Upper Room. In other words, Matthew turns to what we will be remembering during Lent and Easter.

The point of this message and the placement of it could not be clearer. Most speakers conclude their teachings by summarizing or emphasizing the main point. That is true about most sermons. What do we most want the hearers of the message to remember?

So, what is the final point? What you do for the least of these, you do for me. That’s it! Could the messages of Matthew 5 and 25, along with all the ministry and teaching in between, be more obvious?

When we believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, when we repent, and when we serve others, we can anticipate our reward through God’s grace. We are being sheep of the Great Shepherd.

Choose to be a sheep. Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

God’s purpose is to love us. And our purpose is to be the sheep who love neighbor and follow God. Amen.   

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This is the full text used as the basis for the sermon delivered by Bill Florin at First United Methodist Church of Shelton, Connecticut on November 26, 2023.