Oration for the Christ
the King Sunday
Righteous God, our merciful master, you own the earth and all its peoples, and you give us all that we have. Inspire us to serve you with justice and wisdom, and prepare us for the joy of the day of your coming, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Additions to the
Prayers of the people:
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· For our bishops, Susan and Michael and the local
deans,
Let us pray… |
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· For the congregation of Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, London and their pastor, Pr. Katherine Gohm, let us pray... |
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For
all the needs and prayers we hold in our hearts…
(a time of silent prayer)… let us pray…
Amen.
11 For thus says the
Lord God: I myself will
search for my sheep, and will seek them out. 12 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. 13 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. 14 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. 15 I
myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says
the Lord God. 16 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.
20 Therefore, thus says
the Lord God to them: I
myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because
you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with
your horns until you scattered them far and wide, 22 I
will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge
between sheep and sheep.
23 I will set up over
them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them
and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant
David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord,
have spoken.
Psalm 95
1 O come, let us sing
to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our
salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of
praise!
3 For the Lord is
a great God,
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
6 O come, let us
worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his
voice!
15 I have heard of your
faith in the Lord Jesus and your love[a] toward all the
saints, and for this reason 16 I do not cease to
give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. 17 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, 18 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, 19 and what is the immeasurable
greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his
great power. 20 God[b] 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, 21 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. 22 And
he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things
for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness
of him who fills all in all.
Reading: Matthew 25:31-46
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.”
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.’
§ We’ve come to the last
Sunday of the Church year. I realize that doesn’t mean much to a lot of people.
The Church calendar is one we rarely consult. It holds no birthdays or civic
holidays and at most, we use it to find the date of Easter and then work
backwards to the date of Ash Wednesday, were we so inclined.
§ What we hear this Sunday is
something unexpected, although quite familiar. We’ve heard this parable or
exposition before. Some have discounted it because it focuses on neither faith
nor grace as the key to salvation. To some, this looks like salvation by works,
where the king separates the sheep and the goats, those on the right and those
on the left, based on how they treated people. We hold that we are saved by
grace through faith, and here we are faced with these words of Jesus,
pronounced shortly before the crucifixion in Matthew’s Gospel.
§ Maybe our notions of
salvation, the Christian life, and even the presence of God are being shattered
in this apocalyptic speech. Any limited or simplistic idea of Christ as king is
taken apart by the incarnation and the presence of Jesus among the people as
one of the people. The concepts of good and evil and the reward or punishment
for them crumbles before the vision of reward or punishment for being attentive
to the presence of the King in those in need.
§ Since the Church year is
ending, we can talk about what we can look forward to in the weeks to come.
From these final proclamations of the close of the year to the much-anticipated
Gospel word of the celebration of Advent that lead up to the celebration of
Christmas. We hear of the end of all things and before long, the new beginning
of grace in the nativity of Jesus. The message of Advent and of the Christmas
season is one of breaking through and breaking down both barriers to grace and
long-held images of God, of grace, and of righteousness. We might expect and
even hope for that same experience.
§ We leave the old year with a
note of judgement, and it is a judgement based not on doctrine, worship, or
race, but a judgement based on mercy. The judgement comes to those who hear it as
being more subject to the need of the neighbor than it does from some high,
heavenly pronouncement or law of purity.
§ Coming into this, we might
be amazed at just how common and “earthly” all this is. The godly aspect only
becomes visible after the fact. It reminds me of a bit of dialogue from a movie
called “Evan Almighty.” In the film, a family experiences difficulty
coming to terms with a God-given mission for the family’s father. The wife
encounters “God” in a restaurant and wonders to God (disguised as a waiter) how
to get through this. The God character responds like this: Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God
gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he
prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him
opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer,
do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them
opportunities to love each other? We
then might wonder if perhaps God gives what is needed in the moment when the
moment comes. In the case of this passage, the presence of the King in those in
need might only be revealed later, after the grace of mercy is taken up by the
one giving “to the least of these.”
§ Every Gospel parable and
pronouncement proclaims grace in some way or other. This apocalyptic word is no
different. Grace is there and it is there from the beginning, even if it is not
perceived. It is present in the habit of mercy formed in the people who gave
food, water, comfort, or presence even while missing the presence of the King
in those who received those gifts from them. Both groups missed that
connection. The so-called righteous are not commended for seeing Jesus in the
poor, the hungry, the prisoners. They didn’t. They just treated all
such folks with love.
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.’
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