Sermon 26th November 2023 – Last Sunday of the Church Year
Text: Matthew 25:31-46 –
The Kingdom prepared for us.
Today brings about the
end of another Church Year. A year that seems to go so quickly when we hope for
a time of rest after a busy Easter. But those 25 weeks seem to go in an
instant. Likewise life can seem to go in an instant as we grow another year
older which means another year less before we reach our home in heaven. It’s
something we don’t like to think about but the reality is that the life we live
now is not the life God has prepared for us. In fact Jesus himself said that in
our Gospel reading today. He talks about the great gathering and division where
he gathers his sheep to the right and the goats to the left. The sheep, he
says, he will usher into our eternal home with the words: Come, you that are
blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world; Now isn’t that interesting. Being brought into a kingdom prepared
for us from the foundation of the world. Not an after thought. Not a place God
built after we had fallen away because of our sin. No. A kingdom prepared for
us from the foundation of the world.
What this helps us to
understand is that despite how the world looks and how out of God’s control it
might seem, God has a plan because God knew that this world was going to go
pear-shape because of sin. And that plan is to have us live with him in a
Kingdom that has been prepared before we were born – from the foundation of the
world where nothing evil can enter.
Which does raise a
question which I can’t answer – Why didn’t God take us straight there instead
of here first. I don’t know.
And I don’t know why,
when Satan rebelled against him, that he didn’t destroy him straight away but
allowed him to fall to the earth and wait his judgment. And while he’s waiting
his mission is to “kill, steal and destroy”.
It’s very easy to be
discouraged about the state of the world but in our Gospel reading Jesus
encourages us to overcome the things that discourage us and be part of the
solution. He says: I was hungry and you gave me food – rather than asking why
does God allow starvation. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, -
rather than wonder why does God allow floods and droughts. I was a stranger and
you welcomed me, rather than complain about shortage of housing. I was naked
and you gave me clothing, rather than complaining that I haven’t got anything
to wear even though my cupboard is overflowing. I was sick and you took care of
me, rather than complaining about the cost of going to the doctor, the wait
time or our crumbling health system. I was in prison and you visited me rather
than complaining about them being a waste of taxpayer money or hope they rot in
jail. This is not about doing things to earn our place in heaven or having God
love us. No, our place in Heaven has been prepared since the foundation of the
world – assured by Jesus’ death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. God
loves us not because of the good things that we do – no – it was while we were
still sinners that Christ died for us – the assurance of God’s love For God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only Son for us so that whoever
believes in him will not perish but receive eternal life.
No, we don’t do things
so God will love us but because God loves us. This is love, not that we loved
God but that God first loved us. And it is because of that love that all these
actions to love and care for our neighbour become an expression of gratitude
for God’s love us. As Jesus says: Just as you did it to one of the least of
these who are members of my family, you did it to me. And as we see in this
parable by Jesus, these actions – these responses to God’s love – were so
natural that the people didn’t even know they were doing them. Wait a minute -
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?
As we recognize today
as Christ the King Sunday we are reminded that Jesus is a very different type
of King to that of the world. Worldly kings live in comfort and separate from
the common person. Even though we might refer to a new King as “the people’s
king” the reality is that they don’t experience what the common person
experience. Jesus is different as we hear in our parable. Jesus is one who was
hungry, thirsty, naked as they gambled for his clothes, imprisoned as he faced
a mock trial and unfair execution. He is our great high priest who suffered all
that we suffer but did not sin. And so he identifies with us because he was one
of us. God’s Word made flesh who dwelt among us. The King who came to serve and
not be served. The King who emptied himself of all his regal qualities to live
as a servant among us.
And that’s why as we
feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, feed the naked and visit the sick
and imprisoned we are doing to him and for him. To Jesus our King and our
Saviour of all human kind.
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