Loving God, you call us to see the presence of Jesus in the people around us and to treat others as we would want to treat him.  Empower us and strengthen us by your Holy Spirit, enabling us to serve as Christ for others; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    One of the more interesting ways to approach any gospel reading is by asking the question, “Who are we in this story?”.  Today’s gospel is no exception, and yields some very interesting answers when we begin to delve into it.  Are we among the sheep – the ones who didn’t even know that they were serving Jesus?  Or, are we among the goats – the ones who call Jesus “Lord” and yet failed to serve him?  Are we the people who are in need – the persecuted ones?  Are we the ones who have been hungry and thirsty and sick and in prison?

    Our tendency is perhaps to assume that Christians are the sheep in the story, but that is not the only possibility.  When we read the gospel carefully, one of the first things we notice is that it is “all the nations” who are gathered before the Son of Man when he comes in his glory (Mt. 25:31-32).  The interesting thing is that, in other places in Matthew, “the nations” seems to refer to all those who do not believe in Jesus.  The disciples will be “hated by all nations” (Mt. 24:9), and the good news will be proclaimed “as a testimony to all the nations” (Mt. 24:14).  Finally, at the end of Matthew, the disciples are commissioned to go and “make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19).  So it would seem that the nations are not disciples yet.

    If we add to some of these references a few things from the letters of Paul, we emerge with a picture that suggests that perhaps those who believe in Jesus are the ones who are in need in the story.  Paul writes about himself and some of his fellow apostles:

“To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands.  When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly.  We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day” (1 Cor. 4:11-13).

Meanwhile, in another letter, Paul writes about being imprisoned and hungry and thirsty and cold and naked, always in danger from bandits, Gentiles and even his own people (2 Cor. 11:23-28).

    Wouldn’t people who had heard Jesus’ teaching and who were in situations quite similar to the persecution that Paul faced draw some comfort from today’s gospel?  Would it help them to know that when they were hungry or sick or imprisoned that Jesus was there, sharing their condition with them?  Would it help them to know that those who helped them in their distress would be rewarded, and those who refused to help would be punished?  It becomes relatively easy to imagine how this story would sound to somebody who is in the midst of hardships and persecution.

    Yet, the question remains as to who we are in the story.  In fact, the answer might be different for each one of us, depending upon our own experience at the present time.  Still, in spite of any differences in our answers, the gospel also has a lot to tell us about Jesus and about salvation.  For one thing, in today’s gospel, salvation is very clearly a gift, and there are at least a couple of clues that tell us this.

    First of all, the kingdom, or the acceptance of God’s rule, is inherited, not earned.  In fact, the people are told that they are to inherit the kingdom before they even know why!  Secondly, these people who inherit the kingdom did not even realize that they were ministering to Jesus.  They are surprised by their inheritance.  They weren’t expecting it, and they weren’t trying to earn it.  They simply acted out of compassion for those who were in need.

    In this respect it is interesting to compare today’s gospel to other “judgment stories” that were told around the same time as Jesus’ earthly ministry.  Although most of these other stories also reveal works of mercy as the deciding factor in the judgment, there is one significant difference.  In these other stories, many of which come out of the Jewish faith, the righteous are always boasting about their good deeds. [Stoffregen - http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/matt25x31.htm ]  However, not so in Jesus’ teaching.  The righteous cannot boast, for their left hand did not know what their right hand was doing (Mt. 6:3)!

    In the same way, neither can we say, “Do this, and you will be saved.”  Jesus has already done the saving.  Anything that we do, we do it because we are saved, and not in order to be saved.  And so what kind of a Messiah is it who has saved us?  What kind of a king is Jesus, anyway?

    Certainly, he is not one of those kings who trample on the needy and take whatever they want for their own comfort and satisfaction.  Far from it!  Instead, Jesus has identified himself with those who are hungry and thirsty and sick and in prison and naked and a stranger.  It is almost like Jesus is among us in disguise – right there whenever there is somebody in need.  Jesus is not distant and aloof and out there on a throne somewhere.  Rather, Jesus is within us and in our midst and within many other human beings.

    And so, we can quite rightfully talk about both being Christ for others and treating others as if they are Jesus himself.  In fact, isn’t that what it comes down to? – treating other people as if they are Jesus? – and especially when they are part of our family of faith?  Isn’t this all part of the new commandment that Jesus gave – to love one another as he has first loved us (Jn. 13:34)?

    With regard to treating others as if they are Jesus, I am always reminded of a story that is called “The Rabbi’s Gift” (Stories for the Journey, William R. White, p. 108).  It tells of a monastery which had fallen on hard times and a rabbi who lived in the woods nearby.  The rabbi’s gift was very simply a piece of wisdom that he shared with the abbot of the monastery.  He told the monks, “The Messiah is among you.”  Of course the monks spent some time wondering about which one of them must be the Messiah.  Was it Brother John?  Brother Thomas?  Father Matthew?  Of course they weren’t able to solve that question, but something began to happen that renewed and changed their life together in the community.  They started to treat one another as if that person might be the Messiah.

    Soon, not only was their life together different, but even outsiders began to notice the way in which the monks treated one another and prayed together.  People began to come from far and wide to be nourished by the prayer life of the monks, and young men started asking, once again, to join their community.   And all of this came simply from the recognition that Jesus, the Messiah, was among them.

    Wouldn’t it be a similar cause for renewal if we, too, would treat one another as if that person is Jesus?  In fact, as soon as I start treating others as if they are Jesus, doesn’t Jesus also work through me?  This is the type of king we have, who doesn’t stay on high somewhere but who walks among us and shares in our joys and our sorrows and who cares above all about those who are in the greatest need.  Our king is the one who humbled himself, taking the form of a servant, and giving himself even to the point of death on a cross (Phil. 2:5-8).

    Yet, he is also the one who has been glorified and exalted, for he was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, sending his Spirit in order for his presence to continue here on earth.  It is this same Jesus who will judge the living and the dead when he reappears in all his glory.

    In the mean time, those who belong to Jesus need not fear his judgment, for they have already passed from death to life (Jn. 5:24).  Rather, our job is to live as God’s children, loving one another as Jesus has first loved us.  We do this by the power of the Holy Spirit, who teaches us to treat the people around us as if they are Jesus himself.  The Messiah is among us.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Christ the King(A)                                Matthew 25:31-46
November 20, 2011
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2011 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved