Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for this
meditation is written in the 25th Chapter of the Gospel according to
St Matthew: Verses 31 – 46:
31 When
the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels
with him, then
he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will
be gathered all
the nations, and he
will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the
goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but
the goats on the left. 34 Then the
King will say to those
on his right, ‘Come, you who
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 drink, I
was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and
you clothed me, I
was sick and you visited
me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and
give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome
you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and
visit you?’ 40 And the
King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least
of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 “Then
he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart
from me, you cursed,
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 no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me,
naked and you did not clothe me,
sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord,
when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in
prison, and did not minister to
you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I
say to you, 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.”
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come.” We pray this so often that we don’t even really
think about how big and important this prayer is. What we are asking for is that the reign of
God the Father to come to us! - And we say it in a routine manner. The point is, how often do we give thanks to
God that His reign does come among
us as a comforting thing and not as
a cause of terror?
Consider Adam and Eve’s response when God came to them. [Genesis 3:8–10] “They heard the
sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees
of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and
said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard
the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
Adam and Eve were terrified of God because they had sinned. They feared
His judgment. After all, the Psalmist
reminds us, [Psalm 5:4] “You
are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.” For Adam and Eve, the coming of God’s kingdom
was the last thing they wanted.
When we examine ourselves in light of the Ten Commandments, we learn
that we sin daily and deserve punishment here on this earth and forever in
hell. It seems as though we should be
terrified to pray the words, “Your Kingdom come.” - Why then, did Jesus teach us to pray in such a
way if the coming of the Kingdom of God means the coming of judgment?
God’s actions in the Bible teaches that there is another way that He can
come … a way that brings comfort and confidence … a way that removes fear and
despair.
God came to Jacob in a dream. He
came down a ladder and promised, [Genesis
28:15] “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will
bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I
have promised you.” He appeared to
Moses in the burning bush and said, [Exodus
3:12] “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I
have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve
God on this mountain.” Later on,
Moses comforted the people of Israel with these words, [Deuteronomy 31:8] “It is the Lord who goes before you. He
will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be
dismayed.” God spoke words of
comfort to His people through the Prophet Ezekiel, [Ezekiel 37:27] “My dwelling place shall be with them, and I
will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
So it seems that the coming of the Kingdom of God can cause two
completely different reactions. The
first reaction is one of terror. I am a
wretched sinner and deserve God’s righteous, eternal wrath. The second reaction is one of comfort,
reassurance, and confidence. God is with
me. Now I am safe.
We see these two reactions in today’s Gospel reading. The Gospel texts for these past few Sundays
have been working their way through Jesus’ teaching concerning the Last
Day. There was the “Parable of the Five Wise and Five Foolish Virgins.” Then there was the “Parable of the Talents.”
Today, we heard about sheep and goats.
In each case, there are those who rejoice that the reign of God has
come, and there are those who despair at its coming.
The difference is that our Lord Jesus Christ has an ability that we do
not have. He can look into the human
heart. It is as He spoke through His
prophet Jeremiah, [Jeremiah 17:10]
“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to
his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches that it is as
easy for Him to judge the heart as it is for a shepherd to tell the difference
between a sheep and a goat. In fact,
today’s Gospel teaches us that Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves.
The parables for the past few weeks tells us that Jesus will hand out two
verdicts on the Last Day.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus said that He would place some people to His
right and others to His left. Since
Jesus already knows the heart, there is no questioning, no testimony, no
presenting of evidence. There is only
the verdict and the sentence.
The first verdict is for
those on His right. The King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world.” Those on the right enter the
Judges home with a verdict of … forgiven.
There are a few important things about the judge’s statement worth
noting:
First of all, note that the blessing flows from the Father. It is not something that these people work up
for themselves.
Second of all, note that this is an inheritance. You don’t work for an inheritance. You receive an inheritance because someone
put you in the will. You cannot earn an
inheritance.
Finally, note that God prepared this outcome before any of us were even
born. The kingdom is prepared from the
foundation of the world. This tells us
that this eternal kingdom was God’s will for these people from the very
beginning.
The second verdict is for
those on His left. “Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Those on the left receive the verdict of
guilty. The sentence is eternal
punishment.
In this instance the reason of the curse remains un-named. The cursed condition is simply a
characteristic of these people.
Secondly, notice that this condemnation was not in God’s plan for His people.
People end up in eternal fire only because they ignore the teachings of God’s
prophets; they turn their back on our Saviour Jesus Christ and reject God’s
salvation. If they are arrogant enough
to judge God and find Him offensive, then the eternal punishment is the only
alternative. There is no other place to
spend eternity.
As the judge welcomes those on His right into eternal bliss, he recalls
the work that His salvation has produced in their lives. Now here
is the important point of the story.
The sheep don’t remember any of it.
The list of the works is a total surprise to the sheep. “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed
you, or thirsty and give you drink? And
when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and
visit you?” They haven’t got a clue.
Their good works came naturally from the presence of the Holy Spirit in their
lives. It was not a deliberate effort to earn salvation.
On the other hand, those on the left are angry that Jesus gives a
similar list of things that they have NOT
done. You see, they have kept a careful
record of their good works and they know for a fact that their efforts were
meant for their own moral bank account – Jesus was not part of that. Even as they stand before the judge of all
things, they maintained that they have lived a life of good works and high moral
character and are therefore entitled to a place in the Kingdom.
The point is that those who inherit the eternal kingdom do not look to
their own good works for their salvation.
Instead, through Holy Baptism and the Sacrament of the Alter, the Holy
Spirit finds dead souls and brings them to life through the proclamation of
Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.
The Holy Spirit keeps those souls alive through that same proclamation
of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins. The proclamation of our crucified and risen
Lord and Saviour leads the Christian, carries the Christian, and follows the
Christian. The Holy Spirit causes us to
relax in Christ.
Good works are the result of the salvation that we already have. The Holy Spirit inspired the Prophet Isaiah
to write, [Isaiah 64:6] “We have all
become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted
garment. We all fade like a leaf, and
our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” So even our best most righteous deeds are
still sinful before God, but Jesus Christ redeemed our deeds with His suffering
and death on the cross. It is Christ on
the cross who makes our deeds righteous.
Those who have had their good deeds sanctified by Jesus, focus on Jesus
and not on their works. Therefore, they
notice their good works about as much as they notice that their fingernails are
growing.
Jesus warned us and said, [Matthew
6:1–2] “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other
people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your
Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you
give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say
to you, they have received their reward.”
“They have received their reward.” That is one of the saddest statements in the
Sermon on the Mount. They have traded
away their eternal joy for the temporary praise of man.
We are pleasing to God, not because of what we do or don’t do. We are pleasing to God because of what Jesus
did for us. Jesus lived a life that met
God’s perfect standard. He died a death
that paid our sin debt in full. He rose
from the dead as a sign that our Father in Heaven accepted His work for
us. Our salvation has been paid in full:
We can rest in the Lord.
As you rest in the Lord, we will be among those who can pray, “Your
kingdom come,” and look forward to the day.
We can take comfort in the promise of Jesus, [Matthew 28:20b] “Behold, I am with you always, to the end
of the age.” We can look forward in
eager expectation to the day when we hear [Revelation
21:3] a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of
God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God
himself will be with them as their God.”
While we wait for that day, we will produce good works. These works do us absolutely no good, but
they are precious to our neighbour. God
will accomplish His will in this world through our works. We will fail often, but if we confess our
sins in repentance, we receive the forgiveness of Jesus. Our Lords calls for us to live for our neighbour,
and not to waste time trying to measure our good works, because we don’t need
them. We are heirs to the kingdom prepared for us from the
foundation of the world. We can rejoice
that God wants to dwell with us. Amen
The peace and love of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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