Reigning Compassion -- A Message for November 26, 2023

 

Scripture                 Matthew 25:14-30

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 

He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 

I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 

When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 

When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 

For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 

I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sermon                    Reigning Compassion

Today is the last Sunday in the Christian year, a day we have adopted as “Christ the King Sunday” or “Reign of Christ Sunday.”  This is the Sunday that leads into the season of Advent….Today, we celebrate that we believe Jesus is greater than all earthly rulers – our loyalty is to the Christian faith above all loyalties.  Followers of Christ believe that Jesus will eventually rule over the earth – our goal is to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and we seek to have all people on earth become followers of Jesus.

When Jesus walked the earth in the first century, he had a limited amount of time to teach his followers. He wanted to prepare them for life without him. He wanted all of us to know strategies for living lives focused on living according to his teachings, according to Christian teachings.

Jesus wanted the people of the world, and especially his followers, to live lives oriented towards God. We are the hands, and legs, and brains, and hearts here on earth to do God’s work. In today’s passage, Jesus delivered a parable pointing this out – we show we care for Jesus by taking care of the “least of these” – people who are hungry or thirsty or outsiders or unclothed or ill or in prison.  We are the group of people here on earth that is directly doing God’s work. 

We celebrated Thanksgiving a few days ago, and in many families or friend groups, part of the meal or prayer was spent with the diners taking turns lifting up things from the last year they appreciate.  Everyone can usually think of things to mention when we look over the past years’ events, even if in addition to those good things, we have had bad things happen. This is novel, because many of us are more likely to focus on negative things than positive things. Often, when we wake up in the middle of the night and take stock of our lives, we focus on the things that are happening in our lives that are bad – poor relationships with family members, sadness about things that have happened with our children, awkward interactions we have had with people at work, worries about our health or our livelihood – we often focus on the hard things or the sad things or the difficult things. But, we have an annual holiday to remind us to be thankful, to be grateful, to appreciate that positive things have occurred lately and good things will happen in the future. 

As people of faith, we are called to be people who help other people have those positive experiences. We are called to pay attention to other people and their needs. Many people are carrying heavy emotional burdens – we are called to notice those people and work to support them and encourage them.  We also know many people in our community are struggling financially – inflation has caused the prices of many items we use to increase.  Food costs more, rent costs more, clothing costs more, things cost more. And many families are making difficult decisions about how to divide their resources. For those of us who are able, this is the time to contribute our extra food to the Daily Bread Food Pantry… This is the time to buy a girls coat to give to the pantry for kids in our community who have outgrown last years’ coat….This is the time to buy an extra tube of toothbrush and an extra bottle of dish soap so that our neighbors in need will not have to do without. We are called to help lift the burdens off the shoulders of people who are weighed down with too much to handle.

            We are easily overwhelmed with we take stock of the problems others are facing. Sometimes the troubles of the world seem enormous. We can’t fix everything as individuals. Fortunately, Jesus anticipated this….he preached to groups…he gathered a band of 12 followers and that group is the model for our churches.  Jesus built into the Christian faith the structure that we don’t do this faith alone – we are supposed to be part of a group of people who practices Christianity together. And, by working together, we can take on projects that individuals are not able to tackle alone.  As individuals, we are not going to rehouse homeless people in our homes. As individuals, we aren’t going to open a soup kitchen in our living rooms. As individuals, we are not going to take a hundred kids shopping for schools clothes and supplies on our dime. But, as the church, as people of faith working together, we can accomplish great things. We can help many people. We can do the work Jesus outlined in today’s parable: feed the hungry, give drinks to the thirsty, welcome refugees and immigrants, provide clothing for growing children whose families don’t have enough, care for people who are sick, visit people who are in prison, and help relieve the burdens people are trying to carry on their own.

            Working together, we can make a much greater difference than we can on our own. Let us do so with love and compassion in our hearts today and all days. Amen.