"The Hands of God"

Pentecost-Christ the King Sunday: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46

November 20, 2011

    Role playing is fun. But seriously how did you on my right feel about being judged the righteous? Lucky? Even though you have flubbed up from time to time you were accepted anyway. And so you feel great. But those on my left are saying that those on my right are no better than you are. And so if judgment is this arbitrary it isn't fair. We're good people too. We try to do right just as much as they do. Why aren't we acceptable?

    Of course, this was all predetermined before you got here this morning to be sure. No one had an inkling about the significance of where you chose to sit. Some have believed though that God predestines people to heaven or hell like this. That where we go after death doesn't depend on what you do or how you live but by how God predestines us. This is called double predestination.

    You will be glad to hear then that John Wesley the spiritual founder of Methodism didn't believe that God was arbitrary. While our role play this morning was for fun, the great judgment assumes that God gives us a real role to play during our life on earth. And when Jesus comes as the Son of Man to judge he won't have to ask us any questions because he will already know which side we are on. He will know us by our deeds in caring for the needs of a suffering humanity.

     "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… And just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did it not to me."

    Neither the righteous nor the unrighteous know that Jesus is represented in the sufferings of humanity. And often today we don't recognize Jesus either.

    For example, when we see or hear about the hungry and the thirsty who are homeless, who are caught in a famine, who can't find a job that would put food on the table, do we see Jesus?

    When strangers knock on the doors of America from Mexico, Africa, Asia, Europe do we recognize Jesus wanting to come in?

    When we see or hear about those who are naked because of hurricane, flood, earthquake and tornado, do we know Jesus is suffering there too?

    When we see or hear about children dying from malaria in Africa, do we see Jesus? Or see or hear about people with serious illness with no access to healthcare, do we see Jesus?

    And when we see or hear about those in prisons of torture and abuse, blindness, paralysis do we see Jesus?

    These modern issues that are so much in the news beg a response because the parable of the great judgment is all about how we see and treat Jesus represented in the needs of our neighbors, near and far away. This is not about seeing Jesus literally, of course. It is seeing and understanding that Jesus cares for the needs of those who suffer. And so if Jesus cares then we need to care too.

    This parable brings full circle an emphasis on the incarnation that is found consistently in the gospels. The incarnation is defined as the belief that God entered into our world as flesh and blood in the life of Jesus. In Mark's gospel the incarnation begins with the baptism of Jesus in which Jesus hears the voice of heaven: "You are my Son, the beloved. With you I am well pleased."

    In the gospels of Matthew and Luke the incarnation begins with the announcement that a Savior had been born in Bethlehem of Judea. The gospel of John does not have a story about the birth of Jesus, but he gives the most profound description of the incarnation in chapter one when he declares that 'the Word that was in the beginning, the Word that was with God and was God, the Word through which all things were created, this Word became flesh in Jesus Christ, full of grace and full of truth.'

    The life of Jesus in its entirety is the incarnation of God – from pre-existence to birth, ministry, rejection, suffering, death and resurrection – his whole life is the incarnation of God. When Jesus heals a man paralyzed from birth, when he opens the eyes of the blind, when he casts out demons, cures sickness, feeds the hungry, when he forgives sin and raises the dead all of this demonstrates God caring for those who suffer. By restoring the people of his time to wholeness, Jesus introduces the advent of the Kingdom of God and rule of God over all creation.

    Jesus comes not to provide an escape from the world, but to bring healing and wholeness to the world. And so he prayed to God: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He talks about himself in the gospel of John as: "the way, the truth and the life and the only way to the Father." What I'm doing is what God is all about.

    In Colossians Paul declares: "In Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross."(Col 1:19-20)

    To know God and God's purpose for life, 'getting to know Jesus' is the key because he is God in the flesh. As the Word of God lives in Jesus, so the life of Jesus is to live in us.

• "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus." (Ph 2:5)
• "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Ga 2:20)
• "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father." (Jn 14:12)

    God gives us a role to play in Jesus Christ. We are to be an incarnation of him. This doesn't mean we will be as perfect as he is, but our connection with Jesus should be visible in our lives and especially in how we respond to the sufferings of God's people around us.

    Our world is much larger than it was long ago. Today we know more about human suffering because of instant communication. No one Christian or one church can respond to everything. But we do carry a heavier load of responsibility. We can't pretend ignorance.

    As mentioned when the Son of Man comes to judge he will not have to ask us any questions. He will not care whether we are baptized or what method was used if we are. What matters is how our baptism has influenced the way we live. It won't matter what church we have joined or how many times we have been to the altar or even what we believe. What matters is how our faith and our business at the altar have transformed our lives to care for the needs of our neighbors beyond the walls of the church. Deeds reveal beliefs.

    After John the Baptist was arrested, he heard about what Jesus was doing. And so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Are you the Messiah, in other words, the Savior for whom we have been waiting. "4 Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me." (Mt 11) These were the signs of a Savior and they are the signs of the people who follow him.

    "Let the mind that was in Christ be in us" helping to open the eyes of the blind, lifting up the lame to walk, cleansing the lepers, opening the ears of the deaf, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the prisoner and blessed is anyone who takes no offense at us." 'For just as we do these to one of the least in the family of Jesus, we do it to him.'