Christ the King
Matthew 25.31-end
Are we living a lie? Has Marcion won? A serious question we all need to ponder. Have we damned ourselves by our easy complicity with lies? Is our concern to be happy and offend no one a betrayal of faith? Has Marcion won?
Who was he? He was a self-made man as we might put it. He earnt a fortune in shipping. He was a member of the Church in Rome in the early second century - a great benefactor to the church in fact. But when they realised where he was trying to push them- they gave him
back his money and expelled him from the church. Excommunicated. Why? Because he taught that the Christian Gospel was wholly a gospel of love. What's wrong with that you might say - and that's the first worrying indication that Marcion may have won. We fall into Marcion-like language so easily; it comes naturally to us. Love without love's laws of sacrifice. Grace without cost; discipleship without obedience; feeling good without admitting sinfulness.
Marcion said the gospel had nothing to do with law. Consequently the Old Testament was beyond it and he simply threw
it away. He threw out yet more - much of what we now call the New Testament. The writings of Saint Paul and a much revised version of St Luke were all that he would allow St Matthew who speaks of judgement more than any of the other
gospel, he could not tolerate. The enthroned Son of Man judging between the sheep and the goats wasn't a picture he could entertain at all. Can we?
The tension is this: between the openness of Jesus' unconditional invitation on one hand, and on the other hand,
the language of judgement, of insiders and outsiders. Yes, Jesus invites absolutely anyone who will eat with him to come to his table. The invitation to the messianic banquet is open to all. In that sense, all are invited to experience “salvation” without precondition. But salvation has to be worth something. Both Jesus and Paul saw it not as merely a promise of a blessed afterlife: salvation is something that starts today, and it's about a certain kind of life — specifically, a life in community. And in both Jesus' view and Paul's, that's not just any community: it's God's family. Jesus said that anyone
who hears God's word and does it is his sister or brother or mother (Mark 3:35). And the metaphor Paul most often uses for what we are as the Church, for who we are in Christ, is that we are sisters and brothers. That separates us, that requires of us the painful choices of close relationships, that asks of us obedience, discernment, obligation, and godly values.
Christ the King Sunday tells us of the time in history when the Son of Man will come back and judge the living and the dead. Christ will be the judge. Christ will be the final judge between the sheep and the goats, the good fish and the bad fish, the good wheat and the bad wheat - a fundamental part of the gospel. But, to be honest, nowadays, we don’t take this parable about the final judgment too seriously; most of us aren’t too concerned about our final day in court. We really don’t expect to hear that question, “What have you done?" A folksy archaic tale from the Bible about sheep and goats. What does this have to do with the technological age is which we live? We think it a medieval concern.
So what do we do with such passages about God’s final judgment, God’s wrath and God’s punishment? We become like the heretic, Marcion, who cut out all those passages he didn’t appreciate - all Biblical passages about judgment, punishment, and wrath, anything he didn’t like.
We hide behind the fact that we are saved by grace alone; that we do nothing to inherit eternal life. If we make it through the pearly gates, it is because God is good, not because we are good. It is God’s goodness that saves us. We are saved by grace alone. We never can do enough to merit eternal life. Salvation is a pure gift from God we say. Well yes, but what of response to that grace? What of the sin that separates and corrupts?
Are we Marcionites who scissor out all Biblical references to God’s wrath, punishment and judgment? This is the age of understanding; this is the age of compassion; this is the age of tolerance and leniencies. Once we were all sinners; now we are all victims. Ours a world in which guidance and rehabilitation are the order of the day. Schools would be involved in a lawsuit if they punished anybody. The courts attempt to rehabilitate people; the courts don’t punish people anymore. The concept of punishment is seems archaic, even barbaric. Much of that shift is right and good of course- but has the baby gone with the bath water?
We make a leap: If the parents don’t punish and if the schools don’t punish and if the courts don’t punish, God doesn’t punish either. How could a good, loving, compassionate God punish any one? So when I come before the final judgment day, and I am asked the question, “What have you done? What have you done for the hungry, the thirsty, the starving, the poor, the sick, the impoverished, the imprisoned?” I will say, “Not much.” And I will expect the judge to acquit me because he loves me. How can a loving father, even if he were a judge, punish me? Nobody punishes anymore.
On a gut level, we don't believe we will hear the question,“What did you do?” This question is not part of our spiritual preoccupation today. But it is God’s!!! God, at the end of history, will ask that question, “What have you done? What have you done for poor starving Lazarus? What have you done for the man who was robbed on the Jericho road? Don’t kid
yourself, that question will be asked of you and me someday.
And that question does not contradict the Apostle Paul who asked, “Do you believe? Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour? In whom do you believe?” The primary evidence is that what you do is the real indicator of what
you believe. Not what you think. Not what you feel. Not what you say. Thinking, feeling, talking; these are all easy. Instead, the question is: what did you do? If a person believes in Jesus Christ, they produce the fruits of righteousness. So
in Matthew’s Gospel where the judge asks the question at the end of history, “What have you done?” that is Paul’s way of asking, “Do you really believe in Jesus Christ?” They are the two
sides of the same coin.
If you want an analogy, try this one: I love my children too much. Do any of you have that problem? Do any of you love your children too much? That you love your children immensely? That you love your children unconditionally? That you love your children graciously? That is just the way it is! But I still ask my children the question and so do you, “Have you done your homework today? Have you done your jobs today? Have you cleared the table? Did you make your bed? Did you clean your room? Do you know how many times I have asked my children, “Did you do the work that I gave you to do?” My
excessive love for my children is great but I still ask the question, “What did you do today?”
The same is true of God. God’s love for you is great, but God still asks you and me the question: Did you do your chores today? What have you done?
That God asks you that question does not mean that God does not loves you. It’s just the opposite. Because God does love you unconditionally, God then asks you that question. Have you done your chores? Do you know what the Father wants to have done around the house today and do you do it?
So we are back to the final question: Do you believe that you will experience a final judgment day? Do you believe that? The way you answer that question is very important. When you come before that final judgment day, God will stand before you and ask, “What did you do?” … You may say, “Well, that is the wrong question. We’re good people,
God. We love our own, our spouses, our children, our grandchildren; we have good values, good beliefs. We have good feelings and a heart full of compassion for the poor.” The judge will again repeat the question “I don’t believe you understood. I will ask it just once again, ‘What did you do?”
CS Lewis said,
When we get to heaven there will be 3 surprises: We will be surprised by the people we find there - many
of whom we had not expected to see. We will be surprised by the people who are absent - the ones we expected to see who aren’t there. Third surprise - that we are there!
Who was he? He was a self-made man as we might put it. He earnt a fortune in shipping. He was a member of the Church in Rome in the early second century - a great benefactor to the church in fact. But when they realised where he was trying to push them- they gave him
back his money and expelled him from the church. Excommunicated. Why? Because he taught that the Christian Gospel was wholly a gospel of love. What's wrong with that you might say - and that's the first worrying indication that Marcion may have won. We fall into Marcion-like language so easily; it comes naturally to us. Love without love's laws of sacrifice. Grace without cost; discipleship without obedience; feeling good without admitting sinfulness.
Marcion said the gospel had nothing to do with law. Consequently the Old Testament was beyond it and he simply threw
it away. He threw out yet more - much of what we now call the New Testament. The writings of Saint Paul and a much revised version of St Luke were all that he would allow St Matthew who speaks of judgement more than any of the other
gospel, he could not tolerate. The enthroned Son of Man judging between the sheep and the goats wasn't a picture he could entertain at all. Can we?
The tension is this: between the openness of Jesus' unconditional invitation on one hand, and on the other hand,
the language of judgement, of insiders and outsiders. Yes, Jesus invites absolutely anyone who will eat with him to come to his table. The invitation to the messianic banquet is open to all. In that sense, all are invited to experience “salvation” without precondition. But salvation has to be worth something. Both Jesus and Paul saw it not as merely a promise of a blessed afterlife: salvation is something that starts today, and it's about a certain kind of life — specifically, a life in community. And in both Jesus' view and Paul's, that's not just any community: it's God's family. Jesus said that anyone
who hears God's word and does it is his sister or brother or mother (Mark 3:35). And the metaphor Paul most often uses for what we are as the Church, for who we are in Christ, is that we are sisters and brothers. That separates us, that requires of us the painful choices of close relationships, that asks of us obedience, discernment, obligation, and godly values.
Christ the King Sunday tells us of the time in history when the Son of Man will come back and judge the living and the dead. Christ will be the judge. Christ will be the final judge between the sheep and the goats, the good fish and the bad fish, the good wheat and the bad wheat - a fundamental part of the gospel. But, to be honest, nowadays, we don’t take this parable about the final judgment too seriously; most of us aren’t too concerned about our final day in court. We really don’t expect to hear that question, “What have you done?" A folksy archaic tale from the Bible about sheep and goats. What does this have to do with the technological age is which we live? We think it a medieval concern.
So what do we do with such passages about God’s final judgment, God’s wrath and God’s punishment? We become like the heretic, Marcion, who cut out all those passages he didn’t appreciate - all Biblical passages about judgment, punishment, and wrath, anything he didn’t like.
We hide behind the fact that we are saved by grace alone; that we do nothing to inherit eternal life. If we make it through the pearly gates, it is because God is good, not because we are good. It is God’s goodness that saves us. We are saved by grace alone. We never can do enough to merit eternal life. Salvation is a pure gift from God we say. Well yes, but what of response to that grace? What of the sin that separates and corrupts?
Are we Marcionites who scissor out all Biblical references to God’s wrath, punishment and judgment? This is the age of understanding; this is the age of compassion; this is the age of tolerance and leniencies. Once we were all sinners; now we are all victims. Ours a world in which guidance and rehabilitation are the order of the day. Schools would be involved in a lawsuit if they punished anybody. The courts attempt to rehabilitate people; the courts don’t punish people anymore. The concept of punishment is seems archaic, even barbaric. Much of that shift is right and good of course- but has the baby gone with the bath water?
We make a leap: If the parents don’t punish and if the schools don’t punish and if the courts don’t punish, God doesn’t punish either. How could a good, loving, compassionate God punish any one? So when I come before the final judgment day, and I am asked the question, “What have you done? What have you done for the hungry, the thirsty, the starving, the poor, the sick, the impoverished, the imprisoned?” I will say, “Not much.” And I will expect the judge to acquit me because he loves me. How can a loving father, even if he were a judge, punish me? Nobody punishes anymore.
On a gut level, we don't believe we will hear the question,“What did you do?” This question is not part of our spiritual preoccupation today. But it is God’s!!! God, at the end of history, will ask that question, “What have you done? What have you done for poor starving Lazarus? What have you done for the man who was robbed on the Jericho road? Don’t kid
yourself, that question will be asked of you and me someday.
And that question does not contradict the Apostle Paul who asked, “Do you believe? Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour? In whom do you believe?” The primary evidence is that what you do is the real indicator of what
you believe. Not what you think. Not what you feel. Not what you say. Thinking, feeling, talking; these are all easy. Instead, the question is: what did you do? If a person believes in Jesus Christ, they produce the fruits of righteousness. So
in Matthew’s Gospel where the judge asks the question at the end of history, “What have you done?” that is Paul’s way of asking, “Do you really believe in Jesus Christ?” They are the two
sides of the same coin.
If you want an analogy, try this one: I love my children too much. Do any of you have that problem? Do any of you love your children too much? That you love your children immensely? That you love your children unconditionally? That you love your children graciously? That is just the way it is! But I still ask my children the question and so do you, “Have you done your homework today? Have you done your jobs today? Have you cleared the table? Did you make your bed? Did you clean your room? Do you know how many times I have asked my children, “Did you do the work that I gave you to do?” My
excessive love for my children is great but I still ask the question, “What did you do today?”
The same is true of God. God’s love for you is great, but God still asks you and me the question: Did you do your chores today? What have you done?
That God asks you that question does not mean that God does not loves you. It’s just the opposite. Because God does love you unconditionally, God then asks you that question. Have you done your chores? Do you know what the Father wants to have done around the house today and do you do it?
So we are back to the final question: Do you believe that you will experience a final judgment day? Do you believe that? The way you answer that question is very important. When you come before that final judgment day, God will stand before you and ask, “What did you do?” … You may say, “Well, that is the wrong question. We’re good people,
God. We love our own, our spouses, our children, our grandchildren; we have good values, good beliefs. We have good feelings and a heart full of compassion for the poor.” The judge will again repeat the question “I don’t believe you understood. I will ask it just once again, ‘What did you do?”
CS Lewis said,
When we get to heaven there will be 3 surprises: We will be surprised by the people we find there - many
of whom we had not expected to see. We will be surprised by the people who are absent - the ones we expected to see who aren’t there. Third surprise - that we are there!