Christ the King

Sermon Notes, Christ the King Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020 Eze. 34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. We have come to the end of the liturgical year on this Christ the King Sunday. Our journey with Matthew is almost complete. Through his eyes we witnessed the birth of Jesus, the visit of the Magi, and the escape to Egypt. We sat with the crowds to hear the sermon on the mount. We witnessed the miracles of Jesus. We saw the building tension between Jesus and the Jewish authorities. We were there when he sent out the twelve disciples, when he pronounced himself the Lord of the Sabbath. We heard his parables and like his disciples strove to gather in their meanings. We stood amazed at his transfiguration and appalled at the plots hatched to destroy him. We witnessed his triumph on Palm Sunday and then more parables of the end times and of his own approaching moment on the cross. We were there at the foot of the cross when he gave his life for the soul of the world. And we gathered around the empty tomb to look in wonder and awe at the empty grave that could not contain him. And finallyto this day when we honor Him for whom the cross became a throne. Christ the King. Our King. That means, of course, that we are the kingdom. We say he is our King now, on this day. We live this day in his kingdom. The readings for this day beg us to look around and ponder what kind of a kingdom this is and what kind of King we serve. Ezekiel starts us off humbly enough. Our King is a shepherd. We are sheep. Not nicely behaved and orderly sheep meekly following a patient shepherd. No, we are scattered sheep. Sheep in all the wrong places. Sheep battered by the worst weather imaginable. Sheep absolutely unable to find their own way home. If we look around, we don't always see the shepherd. We may hear his voice, but not see his person. HJe's somewhere out there in the fog and storm, calling to us. This doesn't feel like a kingdom at all. More like a wild, fenceless wilderness. I would have to say that is a fairly good description of where we are in this last gasp of calendar year 2020. As one called to shepherd this congregation, I look out and wonder, where is everyone? I don't know. Some are watching this service on their home computers or smart phones. Many may not even be doing that. I long to see familiar faces but they aren't looking back at me. Others, who , who are yet strangers, may be watching from the edge of the wilderness. They are seeing what it is we are about before risking their lives to join us. Ezekiel knows who we are when he calls us the lost, the wounded, and the weak. This shepherd could not give an accounting for his flock if the Good Shepherd asked for it today. I would have to say they are scattered. They're hiding. I try to reach them but I know I have not found them all. It demands a better shepherd than me. But Praise the Lord, we have such a shepherd. A King Shepherd. He says, " And 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 ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares 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, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice." He will take this scattered flock and shape it into a kingdom worthy of his Lordship. You cannot judge the kingdom by how it looks today. It's a mess today. It's been a mess since Adam sinned. It was a mess in Ezekiel's day too. Yahweh had strong words for his priests who were supposed to be leading the flock but instead made the pasture into a colossal mess. They were supposed to let the sheep feed and drink from pure water. Instead they tromped through it themselves, muddying the stream and contaminating the inheritance. They made the promised land into a sty, a mess. But he is Lord of the mess. The mess is his chosen home and he left his Kingdom to live in it and in the fullness of time to die in it so that he might redeem it and make it into a kingdom Holy and deserving of his Kingship. We need to do some adventurous forward thinking to picture that future kingdom. But the King is already at work assembling his kingdom in this present time. We who are in the kingdom mess today are also in the glorious kingdom in the making. We don't need to move to a better location. He's coming to us to be where we are. He brings the glorious kingdom to us and this fearful COVID ridden earth will, when he comes, be heavenly. The message to us on this Feast of Christ the King 2020 is "Stick around for it. It'll be worth it." So what exactly should we expect this kingdom to hold for us? Our reading from Matthew is the fullest glimpse of the coming kingdom Jesus provides, after his parables about the last days. Jesus here steps back from saying the kingdom of heaven is like...to saying " When the son of Man comes in all his glory..." This is not analogy, this is prophecy. And what is prophesized is strangely familiar to what we already know. Except the goats will be gone. All that remains are the sheep. Who are the sheep? The ones who love each other blindly just as Jesus loves us blindly. Who feed the hungry because it's their nature to do that. Who welcome strangers because they are strangers themselves. Who clothe the naked because they can. Who care for the sick because they know what it is to be in pain. Who visit the prisoners because they themselves were once in prison. And none of them has a clue that when they performed these acts of decency and courage, they entered into the kingdom. On earth as it is in heaven. In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.