Jesus the G.O.A.T.

November 22, 2020 The Rev. Mark Pendleton Christ Church, Exeter Jesus the G.O.A.T. 31 "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. 32 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, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 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; 35 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, 36 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.' 37 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? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 40 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,[a] you did it to me.' 41 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; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 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.' 44 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?' 45 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.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matthew 25 Last Sunday I offered a list of what I suggested were qualities about the nature of God and what Scripture tells us that God does. You may remember the list: God loves. God heals. God creates and makes. God gathers and re-gathers. God forgives. God strengthens. God breathes new life into people and communities. And finally: God gives. What I chose not to mention, intentionally or not, was what we see in today's gospel in Matthew 25. The Son of Man comes in his glory sit as a King on his throne to judge and separate. God judges and separates. Quite a shift, wouldn't you agree? We are familiar with Jesus cast as shepherd, and a very good shepherd. David of Bethlehem in the Old Testament was a shepherd before he was a King. We can trust these shepherds that leave 99 sheep behind untended to search for the one that wandered off. This fits into our faith, especially when we are that lost sheep; for who doesn't want to being searched for and found, cherished and valued? Judgement runs throughout scripture. It is a by-product of the Free Will we are given. Humanity is given Free Will to believe or not, to create or destroy, to remember or forget, and to follow God's direction or not. God will, in turn, judge. God judged the people of Israel harshly and often. Still loving and calling, but judging nevertheless. To hear how a parable on the Last Judgement can be any kind of Good News Gospel, we first might want to make our way through the baggage and limits of the word 'judgement.' What comes to our minds first? Yes, Jesus said "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:37) Jesus came to the defense of a woman about to be put to death for her alleged crime, and silenced the crowd with: "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (John 8:7) The judgement that Jesus is pointing to is not about being judgmental and hypocritical: It is about God who is sovereign who will settle and put things right in God's time. We are saved by God's judgement. This chapter of Matthew's gospel is the culmination of Jesus' ministry before he enters Jerusalem for the last time. It is the hinge point of the beginnings of a new way of living and believing. This Son of Man will have all the nations 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. What do I know about sheep and goats? As it turns out, not very much. I spent years not having any idea of why people were calling Tom Brady the goat. I thought how is he a goat, until, much later did I unlike the mystery of the acronym: Greatest of All Time. For those who might be counting Tom Brady's name will make into two sermons in a row, indicating clearly that I am still very much stuck is first phases of the grieving process. Back to the Gospel. What I've learned about Middle Eastern herding animals in the time of Jesus is that sheep and goats probably looked a whole lot more alike than they do today. Today we think of not-very-smart wooly sheep and jumpy rambunctious active goats. Sheep are dependent on the shepherd for protection. Goats are independent and curious. Perhaps the more important observation is this: if the two animals looked alike and goats could hide in plain sight, it was only the shepherd who could tell which was which. At the end of each long day, it was the shepherd who had to separate the one from another. The point is this: for goats and sheep like you and me how will God know who to separate when God gathers us all up? According to these verses, it comes down to mercy. We will not be separated by tribe, or wealth, power, race, politics, gender or even piety or doctrinal purity. We will be recognized by how we see others. These words in Matthew 25 ground the social gospel, why Christians have long cared about the poor, the homeless, the incarcerated, the foreigner, the refugees, the outcast. We look to see Jesus in those many believe are the "least of these" Jesus was pointing to: 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, 36 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.' Who are the goats? Those who did not feed the hungry, give the thirsty something to drink, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked and visit those in prison. Who are the "least of these" in our world, in our communities, in our lives? Who is in need of company, hope, friendship, food, water, dignity. How does seeing them invite us to see our lives in a different light? This shepherd king doing all the separating provides the name for today in the church calendar: Christ the King Sunday, where it is God's will to restore all things in God's well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords - a turn of phrase that I cannot hear without Handel's Messiah coming to mind. I would agree that is quite a leap from looking for and seeing Jesus in the naked, hungry, thirsty, imprisoned and stranger and then worshiping Christ as King. And remember it was the Kingdom of God that Jesus spoke about more than anything else. Writer Brian McLaren sums it up like this: "Jesus bursts on the scene with this scandalous message: The time has come! Rethink everything! A radically new kind of empire is available-the empire of God has arrived! . . . Open your minds and hearts like children to see things freshly in this new way, follow me and my words, and enter this new way of living." Next week we will begin the season of Advent and start counting down the days to Christmas. This week our Thanksgiving Day will undoubtedly be smaller, quieter and calmer, which may not be a bad thing about such a tumultuous year. May we all pause for a moment this week to do as the Pilgrims did in 1621 some miles to our south: give thanks God for what God has provided. And in the spirit of gratitude in in the words of we use at our offertory (Hebrews 13: 15,16): But do not neglect to do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.