This Reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotion written by this blogger for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on November 22, 2020
A reading from the prophet Ezekiel
[34:11-16, 20-24]
Thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.
A reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
[1:15-23]
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
[25:31-46]
Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
REFLECTION
+In the Name of Christ our King+
On this Sunday of Christ the King, we find ourselves at the end of another Church Year. As such, this Sunday serves as one side of a bridge anchored in the old year leading to a new Church Year. Endings lead to beginnings. In the Church Year, endings and beginnings look much the same. The new year picks up where the old year left off. The scripture readings for both the ending and the beginning of a church year are aimed at awakening us to God’s presence in our lives.
Today’s lesson from the Gospel of Matthew is Jesus’ answer to a question his disciples asked as they were touring around the Temple in Jerusalem, commenting on its splendor. As they were doing so, Jesus points out that there would come a time when not one stone would be left standing on another, to which his disciples ask, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” [Matthew 24:3]. At the end of Matthew 25, Jesus answers their question in what can be described as the Great Reveal in which Jesus, as the Son of Man, comes to judge the earth at the end of the age.
One of interesting features of Jesus talking about the end times is that he brings his audience back to the present; to what we are doing in our day to day lives. What is important to keep in mind when reading this selection from Matthew is that Jesus is saying these things in the Temple precincts, a place where people with differing theological and political perspectives came together to worship God and fulfill their religious obligations.
Both goats and sheep are part of the Temple’s worshiping community. What differentiates them at the end of the day, the day of judgement, is what they did in their day to day lives. What Jesus doesn’t make any mention of is how many times they showed up to worship; if they did it right, if they belonged to the right theological/political party (Pharisee, Sadducee, Zealot, or Herodian) or if they threw the right amount of money in the Temple’s coffers.
What Jesus points to is how the individuals of that worshiping community treated people in their communities; especially, those living on the margins. Jesus associates himself with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. He also associates with those who fed the hungry and thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and imprisoned. Jesus makes it clear that giving care to the marginalized is giving and showing care for him. Jesus is also with those who don’t care. Jesus is with all; both sheep and goats. Jesus truly is Emmanuel, God with us.
Perhaps nothing underscores this concept of God going where we take God more than reading the prophets. The prophet Ezekiel is one of the strangest individuals in scripture. He is the prophet who literally acts out his prophecies. Ezekiel and Jesus have shared common features. Both were identified as “son of man” in scripture. In my opinion, it is Ezekiel’s use of this term that Jesus adopts and applies to himself. Both Ezekiel and Jesus acted out their messages; Ezekiel as a prophet and Jesus as the one chosen to live into being the son God proclaimed him to be; demonstrating how we too are to live into being the children God created us to be.
In today’s reading from Ezekiel, we see God taking on the role of a shepherd seeking his sheep, going where they are, and bringing them back into the fold. Jesus would further this image of God in his parable of the Lost Sheep. [Luke 15:1-7]
The prophecies and other lessons appointed by our lectionary during this time of year often depict God as an angry, judgmental, and vengeful god. What doesn’t get much press in these prophesies is God’s hopefulness, God’s faithfulness, and God’s love which are present but frequently couched in terms of restoration and redemption.
Portraying God as being angry, wrathful, and judgmental is a matter of using language we’re familiar with to demonstrate that God is not remote or removed from what we do; that God cares deeply with how we treat each other, and that God does not nor will not ignore the human fray of anger, wrath, and injustice that we inflict on ourselves from time to time. Our unrelenting anger towards perceived and real enemies will kindle (for a lack of better language) God’s anger. Our tendency towards vengeance will kindle God’s wrath. Our injustices will kindle God’s judgment.
When people ask, “Where is God in all of the bad things that are happening in our world today?” The answer is God is with us. When people ask, “Why doesn’t God intervene when we get off course?” The answer is God does intervene in our affairs by being where we are; not by stopping us from doing what we do, but by shaping us through what we do, “So that, with the eyes of (our) heart(s) enlightened, (we) may know what is the hope to which (God) has called (us),” as Paul wrote in the second lesson this morning.
When Jesus answered the disciples’ question about the signs of the end times by pointing them back to how they were behaving in their day to day lives, Jesus was on this side of life and had not yet come to the crossroad of the cross. He used the judgmental language of the prophets that he and his disciples were familiar with. He was speaking from the position of a prophet whose feet was planted on this earth at a given time; as one who had not been tried and crucified. Jesus had not, at the time, rendered his judgment but he would and he did on the cross as one of us, as one with us, and as one who lived fully into being God’s son.
Although Jesus was judged unrighteous for being righteous, Jesus, out of his endless love for all the sheep and goats gathered around his cross, looked upon all through the loving eyes of our Father who created all and handed down the final judgment:
FORGIVEN!
Why did Jesus forgive all?
The well-know hymn puts it this way, “Jesus knows our every weakness” because he lived through them and understands every one of them. While being tortured to death on the cross and feeling abandoned by our Father and at his weakest point, Jesus experienced the strength to trust the faithfulness in, the hopefulness for, and the love of our Father for all. It is one of the great paradoxical teachings of Christianity that God works through our weaknesses. As St. Paul said, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” [2 Corinthians 12:10]
At his ending, Jesus was able to see all of us, sheep and goats alike, through the lens of our Father’s love and spent his last breath, forgiving all; a move so powerful that it shattered the gates of hell and the finality of death. Forgiveness is the victory Christ Jesus attained for us over the powers and principalities of darkness. Forgiveness was the springboard by which God raised Jesus from the dead and will raise all to new life. Forgiveness is the victory we celebrate on this Christ the King Sunday.
As we cross the bridge to a new Christian Year, we will be called to awaken to the new day and the new age that was hoped for; the new day that began with the vulnerability of a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in manger. If we want to know how much God cares about us and how God works through us, we have only to peer into that manger and be enlightened.
Amen.
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Until next time, stay faithful.
Norm
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