Come, Inherit the Kingdom
Matthew 25:31-46
2nd Last Sunday in the Church Year, 2009
Pastor Jonathon Bakker
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen. The text for our consideration on this 2nd Last Sunday in the Church Year comes from the Gospel of St. Matthew, which was just read. You may be seated.
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' "Then they also will answer Him, 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?' "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
This is the text.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, most of the time when Jesus tells his disciples a parable, they require an explanation. In fact, most times when Jesus speaks, his disciples require explanation; otherwise, they do not understand Jesus. Today’s Gospel reading is the last of his Parables of the Kingdom, where Jesus teaches the disciples about the kingdom of heaven, and specifically, about the coming judgment.
This parable is different from the other Parables of the Kingdom. The first parable in this chapter of Matthew tells of the ten virgins who were awaiting the coming of the bridegroom. Five were wise and had extra oil for their lamps to last until the bridegroom would return. The other five were foolish, bringing only the oil they had in their lamps. The foolish virgins had to rush to the vendors to buy more oil, and ended up missing the bridegroom when he came. The door was shut to them and the bridegroom said that he did not know them. The wedding took place, but those who did not take care to be ready for the bridegroom missed it. The disciples, and all of us, were to watch, for we know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
The second parable tells of the lord who travelled to a far country, called three of his servants to him, and gave them responsibility over some of his treasure. One received five talents, another received two talents, and the third received one talent. The first two engaged in trade and doubled their holdings, but the last was afraid and instead hid it in the ground. When their lord returned to settle accounts, he was pleased with the first two, telling them that they would be rulers over greater things, and to enter into the joy of their lord. With the last servant, however, the lord was not pleased. This servant was so afraid and lazy that he did not even invest his lord’s money with the bankers, so that at the very least he could have some interest to show for his lord’s trust in him. His lord took the talent from the lazy servant and cast that servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Today’s Gospel lesson is the third parable, and unlike the others, it requires little explanation. For instance, none of us should be surprised that Jesus is going to return in glory and will sit upon a throne in his glory. We expect that from the Son of Man. We even look forward to it when we find ourselves suffering in this world. Two weeks ago was All Saints’ Day, the day we commemorate those of us who have fallen asleep in the faith and who now rest with their Lord. We suffer when our loved ones are hurt, when they fall ill, and especially when they die. We look to the coming of the Son of Man because that means the end of this earthly suffering.
The parable goes on as Jesus tells of the coming judgment. All of the nations will be gathered before the throne, and they will be separated, one from the other, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. The sheep will be gathered at his right and the goats will be gathered at his left. This too is quite clear. To the sheep, the King will say, ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ To the goats, however, he will say, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, in the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’ The sheep will have everlasting life, and the goats will have everlasting death.
The rest of the parable, however, is a bit more difficult. Jesus goes on to describe the sheep and the goats. The sheep feed the hungry, quench the thirsty, and take in strangers. They clothe the naked, visit the sick, and come to those in prison. The goats do otherwise. The reason this parable becomes difficult is because we want to see ourselves as sheep, but we cannot help thinking that the description of the goats is more accurate of ourselves. Is Jesus’ accounting of qualifications for the sheep and the goats some kind of eternal checklist, a set of goals for us to accomplish before he returns? Perhaps we are to perform as many of those things as we can to tip our scales from ‘goat-hood’ to ‘sheep-hood’? The answer is no, of course. Neither of those solutions fits the problem, because in both cases we are looking at the wrong thing.
The day is surely drawing near, dear friends, when God’s Son will return. The dead will be raised, and each of us will stand before the judgment seat. Thankfully, however, we will not be concerned about the things we have done or have not done, for the judge does not look at us. The king, Jesus, does not judge us based on ourselves, otherwise none of us qualifies as a sheep. The conditions are impossible. The judgment of God, however, does not fall upon us. The parable also includes these words. ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’
What else has happened from the foundation of the world? John teaches us in the book of Revelation that the Lamb has been slain from the foundation of the world. In other words, Christ has been crucified from the foundation of the world, and in that crucifixion, he has redeemed humanity from sin. The wrath of God’s judgment has been delivered to the Son on the cross from the foundation of the world. The penalty has been paid and the ransom for humanity has been satisfied. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day is proof that his death means life for those who are in him.
That cross, dear friends, is where we are to look, so that we do not need to wonder whether we are sheep or goats. All of us are sinful goats by nature, but the Good Shepherd laid down his life to make us his sheep. Instead of thinking about what we have done or what we have not done to be sure that we are counted as sheep, Jesus demonstrates that he has taken our ‘goat-hood’, our sinfulness, upon himself, and replaced it in us with his ‘sheep-hood’, that is, his righteousness, his forgiveness, his life.
We do not do the righteous things, but Jesus is the righteous one. Even though we have failed to be that which were created to be in the Garden of Eden, God sent his only Son to fulfill all righteousness in our place. When the King looks at us in that day, he will not say that we left him naked and without clothing. He will instead see that He has given us his own clothing in baptism; a white robe of righteousness. He will not say that we have not given him food or water. He will instead see that he has fed us not only our daily bread, but he has also given us the very best food and the very best drink in his body and blood. We will not be condemned for neglecting him when he was a stranger. Instead, he will see that he has taken us in when we were not only his strangers – we were his enemies. We were also the sick ones. He looked beyond any physical illness that might have been ailing us, and visited himself upon us, healing our most dreadful ailment – death from sin – and replacing it with eternal life. We were the ones in prison to whom he came, and he released us from our selfish bondage of sin so that we might love him, have faith in him, and love and serve our neighbours as well.
On account of Jesus’ giving of himself to us, we are not the goats that our sinful natures try to tell us that we are, we are instead his sheep, and he has made us that way. So come, dear friends, blessed of the Father in heaven, and inherit the Kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The sufferings of this world will be over, and our Good Shepherd will have made us free to dwell at his right hand in his pasture, forever.
To Christ alone be all the glory, both now and forever. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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