Preacher: Gary Carpenter (Trainee Reader)

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.

Today we celebrate the festival of Christ The King. The King on the throne of his glory. It is a festival when we especially think about Jesus as Lord - Lord over all creation. You’ll know that many of our church festivals come to us from really early in church history but Christ the King is a relatively recent addition to the calendar. Pope Pius 11th established it in 1925 (less than 100 years ago) as a counter to the destructive forces of the world at the time: there was the rise of the communist tyranny in Russia and the fascist tyranny in Italy and Spain, the forerunners of the Nazism soon to engulf Germany. He was particularly concerned by the popular rise of the dictator Mussolini in his native Italy. Church members were being drawn along, perhaps unwittingly, by these populist dictatorships and Pope Pius wanted to make a statement – dictators were not the ultimate authority but the Christ is King. He is the one we obey. 

Do thank God for, and pray for, today’s church leaders who stand up boldly to today’s world’s ideologies to declare Christ as King. As they stand up to populism, individualism, nationalism, with the message of the gospel: Christ is King. He is Lord of the earth and all principalities and powers are subject to his authority and, in the context of today’s gospel reading, will one day be called to judgement. 

Let me remind you where we are in today’s gospel reading. It is hard for us to picture the circumstances in which these words were uttered – they were spoken by a single man standing in the midst of a tiny band of disciples, looking out over a city where, even at that moment, his enemies were planning his arrest and his execution. By every human appearance Jesus was defeated; the powers of darkness seemed to be triumphant; the shadow of the cross was looming ahead; his friends were fearful, and one of them was to betray him. And yet as Jesus looked towards the future, he saw what was yet to come, and, in that hour of seeming defeat, he declared “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.” He will be enthroned  - as king. Christ the King.

And, when we are in the midst of apparent defeat and despondency, when we are tired of the seemingly endless battle against Covid and are depressed about restrictions and not seeing family and friends; or when we see the weakness of the church in the face of forces of evil and hatred; or when we experience apathy and lack of care, it is good to remember that we have a victorious king, a powerful king, a king who has beaten even death…... and, yes, he is a king who will come in judgement. 

Judgement is not a comfortable topic. It is disturbing. We do not like to think of it. But, on the other hand, we do want there to be justice, don’t we?  We want the bad people out there to ‘get their just desserts’. We don’t want them to get away with their greed and corruption and tyranny. We do want a restoration of justice and fairness. We just wish it were others who would be subject to judgement and not us, not our friends, our families. 

But Jesus does not permit that. The picture in today’s gospel is a picture of sheep and goats. It is not a picture of sheep and wolves. 

In Palestine, sheep and goats would graze together as a single flock. When they came back in the evening from their grazing, only then would they be separated – the goats to be tethered indoors or under shelter, the tougher sheep left outside. 

Sheep and goats all in the same flock – difficult to distinguish from each other. And so they represent people who claim to belong to the family of God - people who look just like us. And so this message of the separation of sheep from goats is the separation of the real from the phoney, the separation of the true from the hypocrite. 

And it is astounding that Jesus is clearly saying that the ultimate mark of the sheep (the authentic Christians) is not the church they attend, nor their style of worship nor their Bible knowledge, but the concern which they show to those who are in need. By their fruits you will know them.

But did you notice that the reaction to the Lord’s judgement is one of stunned surprise? The sheep ask: “….when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food……? And when was it that …we welcomed you, or …. gave you clothing? And when was it that we ….visited you?”

They did not realise that they were providing supporting evidence for their judgement, in their service for the poor – they were just getting on with their lives. They did not notice. ….. “when was it?” They were not notching up brownie points to ensure they passed some arbitrary pass mark when it came to their judgement.. 

Indeed, wouldn’t the sheep who’d studied the bible expect that Jesus’s welcome to them to “inherit the kingdom” be on the basis of faith? Wouldn’t they be thinking that justification before God is by faith alone? As St Paul writes in the letter to the Ephesians: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)

But the issue really is one of faith. The sheep are asked to take their place at the right hand of the throne because, in their lives, their genuine faith has been producing its inevitable fruit of good works. Unthinkingly, unconsciously, born of love for Jesus, taking on board his compassion for the marginalised, the sick, the refugee, they have been responding to the needs of those about them. They were simply obeying Jesus in serving the poor. 

But it is easy to be overwhelmed by all the need around us, isn’t it? So much poverty, hunger, inequality, injustice. Isn’t there just too much to do? How can little old me make any difference to such a great problem? 

Did you notice though what response the sheep had to people in need? They were simple responses – the sorts of responses we can all do. You see someone hungry or thirsty – you can feed them or give them a drink. The response isn’t about solving the world’s food shortages (although that would certainly be a good thing to do). I was a stranger and you welcomed me. You are to make strangers welcome. This is not primarily about solving the crisis of refugees risking their lives crossing the Channel (although again agitating for a more humane response to refugees would be a great thing to do). But you can do the simple thing - get alongside individuals. I was naked and you gave me clothing. Yes, there is economic injustice but our first instinct is to get alongside a needy individual and meet their need. I was sick and you took care of me – you are not being asked to heal. You are not being asked to find a cure for Covid but it is for all of us to get alongside the sick and take care of them. And you are to visit the prisoner, not ensure their release. Walk with the oppressed, share your life with them – you don’t necessarily need to solve their problem. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am certainly not saying that we should not be concerned about world food shortages, or economic inequality, or refugees. And I am not saying that we are not sometimes called to go to great lengths to show Christ’s love in the world. I am just saying that, if we are sheep, we can all get alongside people in need – we can give ourselves to them – our time, our interest, our concern, our money, in really practical ways and in doing that you will be living your life in a way consistent with your faith – providing evidence of your love for Jesus. So the challenge is in what way are we, each of us, doing just that?  

A story is told of a young man strolling along a beach early in the morning – it was a beach covered in drying starfish which had been stranded as the tide went out. He stopped to watch an elderly guy stoop down slowly to pick up a starfish and toss it back into the sea. Then he would stoop down again, pick up another and toss it back into the sea. “Why are you doing that?” the youngster asked. The older man said he was rescuing the starfish before the hot sun could bake them. The young man said, “But there are hundreds of starfish here. How can you make any difference at all?” The old man looked at the single starfish in his hand before throwing it into the waves. “It makes a big, big difference to this one,” he replied.

Jesus says “….. .just as you did it to one of the least of these ….., you did it to me.” 

You know that any number of good works cannot earn you salvation. Good works are a consequence of salvation, not a cause of it. Indeed, there has only ever been one life that has been good enough to care perfectly for the least of these, the least of the hungry, the thirsty, the least of the sick, the poor; and only one life that is capable of responding with pure, unselfish compassion to the needs of others; only one person who is capable of ministering to all the needs of all humanity. And that is the life of Jesus Christ. If we have not received him into our hearts, we do not have that life and we need to seek his grace: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

Look to Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, the great king, for your salvation and then respond in love and gratitude to serve him.  Amen