Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 2--24, Psalm 100, Ephesians 1: 15-23, Matthew 25: 31-46 (NOTE: The great wheel of the Christian liturgical year turning once again and we enter next Sunday into Year B cycle with First Sunday in Advent. Christ the King is the last Sunday of the season of Pentecost and of the church year. Today it completes the Christian journey through the life of Jesus Christ on earth.) This morning we come to an end of the Christian year. This last Sunday of Pentecost is called in the Christian calendar Christ the King Sunday. It may be difficult for Americans to view monarchy critically. There is more than two hundred years between the present moment and the American colonial experience. In fact there is a tendency to romanticize sovereigns. Consider, for example, the contemporary popular infatuation with princesses Diana and Kate. We also learn from history that ancient monarchies were achieved and maintained by brute force. Power bestowed in one single person in human experience corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely (Lord Acton). We have recent examples in Mubarak of Egypt, Assad of Syria, and Kaddafi of Libya, how these despotic rulers ruled with iron hands. We do have our own examples of powerful Clergy, CEO’s, Hedge Fund Managers and football coaches who have absolute power to build or destroy people’s lives. This week I read an article by Sportswriter Michael Weinreb about the sad affairs of Penn State in whose shadow he grew up. He writes: We grew older, and we came to understand of the central truths of human nature, which is that when you brush up against a truly powerful force, it is never quite as benevolent as you imagined it to be. In order to acquire power, you have to be at least a little ruthless. All you can hope for is that those who do acquire power operate by some sort of rough ethical standard…”1 We are aware that last week Penn State’s head football coach Joe Paterno and university President Graham Spanier were fired (along with several other administrators), not because they necessarily abused their power, but they failed to use 1 http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7205085/growing-penn-state it correctly to protect innocent children from being abused by a member of the football coaching staff. The appointed lessons from the Holy Scripture invite us this morning to focus on how God uses power. God’s divine power, we are told, is always focused on the weak, the hungry, the injured and sick, those in captivity. In the experience of the faith community of the Bible we learn God wields that power not as a despotic autocratic ruler or football coach, but as a shepherd who goes out to search for one of the flock that is hurting, lost and in need of rescue and healing. Shepherding has long been a metaphor for religious leadership and monarchal sovereignty of the God of Israel. This image of God is appealing who nurtures and protects. The famous shepherd of the twenty-third Psalm is a comforting presence to the psalmist. God the shepherd (ro’eh) feeds (ra’ah) the sheep near water and in good pastures. Through prophet Ezekiel God assures people in exile: Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out….“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.” This reading is about a caring and compassionate God whose mission of rescue and renewal is complete in the person of Jesus whom we worship and acclaim this morning our Lord and King. So what kind of king is Jesus [Yeshua Hamashia- Jesus is Lord]? Andrew Daughters, looking at the life of Jesus, has tried to answer this question for us. What kind of a Kingdom has Jesus? Neither castle, nor palace has he. No congress, nor parliament sitting, deciding what laws there will be. Perhaps he has need of but two laws: Love God and your neighbor as well. To obey them is all that is needed, as all of the saintly can tell. He has neither army nor navy, no air force to guard the frontiers. Jesus was an unusual king. In fact we notice that Jesus is a strange king who starts his mission by calling the ordinary to become extraordinary, heals the unclean and socializes with the riffraff of his society! Henri Nouwen points out our dilemma: "Our lives in this technological and highly competitive society are characterized by a pervasive drive for upward mobility…… To be a real man or woman is to show that one cannot only survive the long competitive struggle for success but also come out victorious." It is the successful who are celebrated, promoted and receive celebrity status. But in the kingdom of Jesus God surprises us again. In Christ’s kingdom he identifies with the poor and the outcast, he challenges the powerful and questions the autocrats. In Jesus’ personal example he does not cling to his own power or dominion. He had come from the glories of heaven and the adoration of its hosts. He bent down over the feet of uncouth, unlearned fishermen, washing them, humbling himself by taking the form of a servant. Apostle Paul conveys that mystery in his letter to the Church in Ephesus and calls on them to follow Jesus’ example: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2: 5-11) It is true that Jesus is a very different kind of king! He is the one who walks with the homeless, hungry, naked and poor of our society. He understands our spiritual and physical poverty. But let us not forget, he is the one who “God has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1: 23). He is the king whose power is manifested when a blind man cries for his attention and next we see his dark eyes are lit with 20-20 vision (Jn.9:1-12). He is a king of the universe who calls the storm and the wind, and when it hears the creator’s calling it hushes and calms down (Mk.4:35-40). He is the breath of life who raises Jairus’ daughter from the dead (Mk. 5:35-43) and calls his friend Lazarus to come out of the rotten grave and live life again (Jn. 11:1-16). He is the creator God who looks on ordinary water and it blushes and turns into wine. He is such an amazing king and Lord of Lords! My friends, this week we enter into holiday season. There is much that calls for time and attention this time of year: Thanksgiving dinners, shopping lists, decorations, family gifts to buy and wrap. Into this fray of time, distraction, and money enters Reign of Christ Sunday, the day that centers around the crucified and risen Christ who reigns in glory for all eternity. He is Alpha and Omega, the one to who we owe ultimate allegiance. There is no King or god to rival this Lord [Yeshua Hamashia]. Not shopping countdowns or holiday trappings, but Christ, is the Lord alone. O come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation (Psalm 95:1) with thunderous thousand acclamations: Crown him of Lords of Lord, Who over all doth reign, who once on earth, the incarnate Word, for ransomed sinners slain, now lives in realms of light, where saints with angels sing their songs before him day and night, their God, Redeemer King. Crown him with many Crowns. Resources used to prepare this sermon and quoted from: Pope Benedict XV1, Jesus of Nazareth, Holy Week. Ignatius Press, 2011. John Stott, The Incomparable Christ, InterVarsity Press, 2001. Leonard Sweet, Frank Viola, Thomas Nelson, 2010. N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus, IVP Academic, 1999 David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol.4. 2010. Michael Green, Matthew For Today, World Publishing, 1989. Commentary on the Gospel: Chapter 23-24 Matthew has tremendous amount of teaching in these two chapters about judgment, end of world’s history and about the return of Christ, or “parousia” as it is often called. In Chapter 23: 2 speaks plainly of the fall of Jerusalem. Some verses foretell the terrible days of the siege of Jerusalem, one of the most gruesome in history (VV. 15: 22). Some Verses deal with the persecution which the followers of Jesus will have to endure (vv. 9, 10); others of the threats which will develop against the life and purity of the Church (vv. 4,5, the end of the world (vv. 3, 14, 27, 28). With the birth of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice on the cross, resurrection and ascension the Kingdom of God has come. It has been inaugurated, but it has not yet been consummated. Disciples are citizens of two countries. They belong both to this age and the age to come. They live at the intersection of the ages. Hence the glory and the shame of the Christian life and the Christian Church. The kingdom which was inaugurated at the first coming of Jesus will be consummated by his return at the end of history. Then his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then his writ shall run everywhere. History is not “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” It is, in a real sense, Jesus Story. He made this world. He came to dwell in it. He will return at the end of history to wind it all up. The is the Christian hope. History is moving steadily towards that grand day. We will not go out like a light. We will not be blown sky-high in a nuclear holocaust. This world will not go forever. He will come again, not this time to suffer but to reign. And his coming will settle the future destiny of all people (vv. 39-41). That is the central point of this chapter. At the end we shall see Christ as he is. It is not a question of rewards and punishments. Matthew does nothing to encourage detailed speculations about the millennium, the rapture or whatever. He is steadily fixes our eyes on the King, who is one day coming back to be crowned. And that is something to look forward to. This is something which neither humanist nor communist, Muslim nor Buddhist can match in Jesus eschatology (theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind (theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world) . It is good news. Matthew 25:31, the Son of Mann will return in glory. His coming will be sudden, unexpected, decisive. It will be the end of human history. It will determine human destiny. What should Jesus people be doing when he returns? His church should be engaged in telling the good news of work of salvation to the world. There are still 2 billion people who yet have to hear the Gospel. They should be caring for the poor, the naked, the stranger, the prisoner, and the sick. In this way they express the love of God that they talk about. It has to be tangible to be real. Such caring is the express command of Jesus the Messiah. He lived like that. He expects his followers to do the same. The return of Christ also speaks of triumph. The triumph of good over evil. The triumph of God’s purposes over human and satanic rebellion. The triumph of God’s will in human hearts, human society, and natural world. The return of Christ is the future dimension of the Kingdom of God. It is the greatest importance that citizens of that Kingdom are ready to meet their King when he comes. The five parables which Matthew has gathered together here show believers what Jesus expects of us in the time between his first coming and his last. He looks for his servants to be watchful, holy, ready to meet him at any time, reliable in the use of their gifts and opportunities, and above all full to overflowing with his self-forgetful, self-sacrificing love. There is no higher calling. And it is open to the humblest disciple.2 2 Michael Green, Matthew Today, Chapter 16, Word Publishing, 1989, Pp. 228-245