“Last Judgement” Matthew 25:31-46

 I have a small display of sheep in my office. Different sized sheep. Different textured sheep. Every time I see it, it reminds me of the first miniature sheep I ever saw. It was part of the Fisherprice Barn set. Do any of you remember those and the *bong* sound it would make when it would open? My parents still have that barn, and as I was thinking about my nieces and nephew playing with it recently in light of this particular passage I realized that it doesn’t have a goat with it. And I don’t have goats displayed in my office. 

Because, even culturally, when we think about this particular passage of Scripture we equate sheep with being “good” and goats with being “bad”. But in order to understand how we get to what is perhaps the most well known line of this passage from the Gospel of Matthew, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters, you did for me”, we need to step back and explore the heart of what Jesus is trying to say to those listening. 

Jesus pick up teaching about the Kingdom of God, as he writes about the fullness of that Kingdom coming into view when the Son of Man (who we would call the Messiah) comes in all of his glory to reign. It sounds so much like Revelation does it not? Christ sitting on the throne and the angels surrounding him as the nations praise his name. At that time the great judgment will come and he will separate the sheep from the goats. 

To all of the sheep, he will call for them to come and take part in their inheritance. Why? Because before this moment of judgment they had fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, invited the stranger to come in, clothed people in need, took care of the infirm, and visited those who were in prison. 

And the sheep are confused. 

Because they are looking into the face of the Messiah and they have no recollection of doing any of those things for him. But Christ reminds them that whatever they did for the least, they did for him, even if they did not recognize at the time that it was giving their Lord and Savior all the honor and glory. 

The opposite is true for the goats - they didn’t attend to the needs of the least and Christ states that whatever they did not do for the least they did not do for him. Full stop. 

A few weeks ago, my dad and I were talking about what surprises await us in heaven. Some of the folks we assume will be there, may not be. And some of the people we have judge as  not being in heaven with Christ - well they may just be there. 

Because we are saved by faith. And sometimes it is really hard to tell if people have faith and believe. 

Which is one of the struggles with this particular passage of scripture. It seems like saying that the last judgment is being based on works - but that is not what Christ is saying, my friends. Instead, Christ is pointing out that our works, or how we treat other people, are an expression of our deep faith in Jesus alone. In other words, actions (or praxis) flow out of our belief and faith. 

The things is that the sheep, or the righteous, in this parable didn’t even know that they being judged. Some scholars emphasize that when Jesus says “all the nations” in this parable, he is including the Gentiles. Those who were believed to be far from God. Yet, they simply cared for the strangers that came across their path. They didn’t know anything about a potential reward or punishment - they were just living from their heart. 

And if the Gentiles - those were believed to be far from God - could live righteously, then how much more so should the Jews - as they had an ethic of care. An ethic of care that has been passed down to us as Christian. 

If I ask you why we love, Church, what would your response be? Because Christ first loved us. Or if I asked you what the greatest commandment was - you would respond… to love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. If we are people of the Word, brothers and sisters, we love with the heart of Christ. 

When we serve other people, it is to be as if we are serving Christ. In the Hebrew Scriptures we find the law to “love your neighbor as yourself.” When we serve people we are to serve them with the respect and compassion we would want others to treat us with.

While this passage has been used to incite fear into people about whether you will be found to be a sheep or a goat, that tends to just make us fixate on that question alone and quite frankly does not help the sheep to move past fear in order to become committed disciples of Jesus Christ. 

So where are some potential areas where our love can grow?  Or where are some stumbling blocks we should address? One trap that church folks can fall into is thinking of the people we are serving as “the other” or “those people” who are so different than me. When we do that, we start to assume what people need and can end up belittling them instead of treating them like we are to treat Christ or like we would want to be treated. A few days ago I was speaking with a colleague about holiday food items that her congregation collected. They collected simple food, thinking that each of the three items they collected would be packaged together and given as a meal at a local food pantry. She had to explain to them, that all items once they were given were sorted onto shelves so folks could shop for what their specific family unit needed. Some people in her congregation were upset because there food wouldn’t be given as a package - they couldn’t understand why the food pantry couldn’t force people to take it since they went to the trouble of collecting it. Sometimes our own desire to serve, can get in the way of serving people in a compassionate, merciful, and respectful way.

Friends, we do not need to fixate - we need discernment. We do not need to have all of the answers before we act in love - not our love, but in the love of Christ. Because our belief and actions are intwined. 

In this parable even the righteous did not know they were caring for the Son of Man, but I bet they were still people in their hearts who hungered and yearned for righteousness.

I don’t want to send you out of this place today with a checklist - who did you serve them today? Did you serve them as Christ? Because we aren’t judged for our work, we are judged for the work that Jesus did on our behalf. But, I do want you to really, deeply pray about what this passage says about discipleship - how you are following Christ and sharing yourself with others for his sake. Are you someone who hungers and thirsts for righteousness? And is that flowing out of you and into the world? Amen. 

“Bridesmaids” Matthew 25: 1-13

  “What are you waiting for?” Have any of you ever heard that phrase? Have any of you ever said that phrase? Let’s be honest - we are not a people who actively enjoys waiting. We would like what we want and now, please. Yet, waiting is part of life. 

And not just part of our everyday, routine lives. I’m not just talking about waiting for kids to get home from school. Or waiting for the workday to end. Or waiting in line at a store. We also wait in our spiritual lives - wait for Christ’s triumphant return. 

By 50CE - only 20 years after Christ’s resurrection, the early church also had folks in it that were tired of waiting. Even with Jesus saying that no one knows and the day or hour of his return. Even with Peter and Paul’s teaching on the unknown element of the timing of Christ’s second coming. By 50 CE folks were getting restless.

But Jesus in this parable is predicting just that. He knows that God’s view of time (what is call kairos - heavenly time) is different from our earthly view of time in terms of days and hours and minutes (called - chronos time). What we see as a delay in Christ’s return, is just as much a part of God’s perfect timing as when God sent Jesus in the form of a babe over 2000 years ago. 

So Jesus tells this parable - one of the last that he will tell before his arrest, death, and resurrection. And in this, one of his final messages to his disciples, he is tells them the story of a bridegroom. 

Last week we sat with a parable about weddings that was difficult to understand. This one too may appear to be difficult, but for different reasons. For here, its aspects of culture that we need to unpack to more fully understand what Jesus is trying to communicate to his followers. 

The bridegroom has been delayed. The period of engagement in Jesus’s time was typically a year. But before the wedding, there may be last minute details of the marriage contract that were hammered out between the groom and the bride’s father. It could very well be that this was the reason for the delay that we find here. 

So the bridesmaids need to wait for the grooms return in order for the wedding to take place. When night falls, they break out their lamps, which required both a flame and oil - something to keep the flame lit. 

Two things happen because the groom is taking so long. First, everyone, all ten of the bridesmaids fall asleep. Yet, that doesn’t seem to be a problem in the parable itself. Except that for five of the bridesmaids, they wake up and realize that it was actually a lot later then they had anticipated, and as a result there had not been enough oil in their lamps to keep the flame going. 

They try to beg oil off of the five bridesmaids that still had some - but they didn’t have enough for both themselves and these other five in need, so their only recourse is to go to buy some. Only when they were away, in search for more oil for their lamps, that is the moment when the groom returned and the wedding festivities began. When they returned and found the banquet in process, no one would open the door for them so they could join in. 

Jesus knew that what would be perceived by his followers in a human sense as his delay in returning would be a problem from the very beginnings. So he offers these words that on one level amount to “stay ready”. But here we are almost 2000 years later - asking some of the the same questions as those first believers - now what?

We need a space to honor that question, church. Because our desire for Jesus’s triumphal return is real. We see the suffering around us and we are ready for it to end. But God is not yet ready to send the Son to return because there are still people he drawing to himself and bringing salvation to. Whenever folks tell me that they wish Jesus would come back today - I get it. I, too, yearn for that. But then I think of those I know who have not yet chosen the love of Jesus Christ and found salvation in him, and my heart breaks. And in that heart break is a reminder to trust in God’s timing alone, even in the midst of my yearning. 

While we have the question of “now what?” that may be rooted in deep distress and the realization that this world is not yet as God intended, I think there is also a gentle answer that we get from God to act - to get moving. To see our waiting as an active act of faith. 

Because we know the end of the story in many ways, friends, because it is contained in our Holy Scriptures. And as a result we live in the midst of human suffering knowing the hope that is to come. Envisioning a new day and the new creation. Knowing that there is a great wedding feast waiting on the other end. And that should cause us to live differently. 

And that way that we live differently is not a call to live callously. To be assured in our own salvation and not care about the souls of anyone else. No, we live our lives in anticipation of what is to come and praying that the Holy Spirit draws people into God’s kingdom until that time comes and uses us to be part of that sharing of hope, grace, love, and truth. 

The tension that this parable highlights is between preparing for the future and living in the present. And I’ve got to tell you, we don’t always live this out well, Church. We can get so caught up in the present - our day to day living - that we don’t live in a spirit of holy anticipation of what is to come. Or we can live so much in the unknown of the future, that we fail to proclaim God’s Kingdom in the here and now. 

And in both scenarios, we aren’t truly investing in the Kingdom of God. 

We need to live into that tension while trusting Jesus. 

Which raises another question for us in this parable - what does investing in God’s Kingdom look like today? It looks like being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Communicating with him in prayer. Being part of a community of faith. Serving in a way that reflects and shares the heart of our Savior. It means growing closer to him, day by day. Spending time in the Word. Sharing the faith with people who do not yet know. Raising up the next generation. It means being faithful with each and every thing that God has given us. 

I’m curious Church - how can we be part of that work in the waiting? Kingdom investing work? How can we help each other stay vigilant and prepared in this time of waiting? How can we live into the tension of the present and the future? In other words, how can we be faithful followers of Jesus Christ until he comes again, even if we do not know the day or the time? Amen. 

“Wedding Banquet” Matthew 22:1-14

 Friends, this is a hard parable. It’s a parable that has been misunderstood, twisted out of context, and abused. I just want to start out time together this day acknowledging this. My hope and prayer is that as be dig into it together this day that there would be clarity and illumination that can only come from the Holy Spirit. 

If we are honest, part of the reason that this parable is hard is because it is different than any wedding we have been invited to. I still remember the first wedding I was invited to as an adult - not as a plus one on my family’s invitation. My friends and I drove to upstate New York to bear witness to two of our scrabble-playing friends get wed at a place that was equal parts rustic and fancy. It was a wonderful experience!

Now, I also know that not all weddings are that wonderful. You do not need to tell me that as a pastor. But even in some of the worst moments of weddings that went sideways that I’ve witnessed as a pastor, nothing has come close that what we find in the Gospel of Matthew - a tale of folks who do not even want to come. 

Jesus starts out telling about a king whose son was to bed wed in a grand celebration. The king had prepared the most lavish of wedding banquets for his son - so lavish that he apparently didn’t have a concrete guest list in mind. So he starts sending out his servants into the streets of the land to tell folks that they had been invited to the wedding feast. 

Only they would not come. 

So the king tries again, this time though the invitation was to be explained - hey you, you who’ve been invited, don’t you know that the King has prepared a dinner to honor his son. The best of the best has been prepared. It’s ready! You’re invited! Come.

But the people who were invited actually laughed it off and went about the rest of their day.

By now the king is mad. Mad that folks weren’t honoring his son and his hard work celebrating this marriage. Mad that he is being dismissed and dishonored as king of the land. But before his anger could get out of plan, he was able to step back and come up with a new plan. If the folks who were invited didn’t want to come and then why don’t we just invite other people. People who will listen. People who will come. So now the servants went out with a new message - everyone is invited. And soon the banquet hall was filled. 

At first the invitation fell on deaf ears and busy lives, so the king continued to the host the banquet just for unexpected guests. 

This is the last of three parables that Jesus gives to engage the temple authorities. They had been confronting Jesus, day in and day out, about where his authority came from. So Jesus responds with a story. A harsh tale of hostility and people not showing honor.

But that’s not the most confusing part of the story. Its that it simultaneously shows judgment for all and grace for all. 

That moment when the king was mad - he was actually beyond angry; he was enraged. He wanted to send out troops to burn the city down. That, my friends, is judgment for all. The king didn’t start out by inviting the whole town, yet the whole town was to be judged and to suffer harshly. But the king seemed to realize that would leave zero people to come to this momentous occasion, so instead he shows lavish grace. Invite everyone. Every last person. All are welcome to come. 

This uncomfortable parable isn’t just because of the staunch judgment and lavish grace. It’s uncomfortable because we are meant to find our place in it. Who are we? Where are we in this parable? How would we have responded to the king?

Throughout the centuries, in wrestling with this parable it has been assumed that the King is God, the son is Christ, but what about the banquet hall. Well the banquet hall, friends, is the church. Not just the physical building, but the people who make up the church. 

The parable continues… the servants found people both good and bad, and invited them to come. To come and celebrate. To come and fill the banquet hall. 

The truth is we don’t know what folks reasons are for coming to church. I once heard it said that if you have a hundred people in worship, you have a hundred and fifty different reasons that people came. Everyone has a different reason to worship. We are not those in the place to judge folks reasons - we simply exist to invite people to come and experience the lavishness of grace. To have the opportunity and to let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

But if all are invited then what do we make of this last part that makes an already confusing parable even more confusing. What is up with this person who wasn’t dressed right so they were kicked out?

Does that really mean that we are to displace people who don’t dress to the nines or look like us? Absolutely not. That is not stated to be a model for our Christian behavior. Instead, it is to say that the king and the king alone saw into this persons heart and still exacted judgment on the fact that his demeanor made him just as ungrateful to the response to come as those who decided not to come in the first place. 

Did you catch that, Church. It is the king that sees into folks hearts and motives, not us. 

The religious leaders of the time were judging Jesus, thinking that they could see into his heart and he reminds them that isn’t their job. Their job was to invite folks to come to God and they weren’t even really doing that. 

So what about us? How are we doing today when it comes to inviting folks to come. To come and hear the good news. To just come and trust God to do the rest? 

I think a lot of us are probably afraid that if we go out with this message as the servants did that we will be laughed at. Or dismissed. But friends, its not about us. Its not someone rejecting us if they reject the offer that God has sent us out to communicate to come. 

We are also not to be the ones who limit the invitation. By the third time with the servants going out with the invitation it is scandalously large. Everyone. Don’t prejudge who is worthy. Just tell them to come. 

What about us, church? Are we prejudging that people will say no? Or that they won’t fit in? Or that they don’t deserve to hear the good news? Because that isn’t our judgment to make. 

Ultimately, this parable in all of its cutting rawness is a reminder that we have received unmerited grace. And then asks us how we are going to respond. With humility? With gratitude? With obedience? Or with judgment that is not ours to hold? 

What about us church? 

What about you and me?

Amen. 

“Laborers in the Vineyard” Matthew 20:1-16

 “But, that’s not fair!” Has anyone heard that statement from one of the children in your life? Or have any of you said “Life’s not fair” in return. 

It is true that life is not fair. But even though we try to teach our children that amidst their cries demanding fairness, the reality is that even as adults we seek out fairness. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that this parable, which is only found in the Gospel of Matthew, rubs us the wrong way. We recognize that it isn’t fair - and we don’t like it. 

Jesus is once again trying to teach folks what the Kingdom of God is like, using something that they understand - vineyards. Vineyards that needs extra workers when it is time for the harvest. So a landowner goes out and starts collecting people to help with the task before them - clearly stating what he would pay them for the work of the day. 

Only the first group of people weren’t enough for the work - so when he saw people standing around the marketplace, he asked them if they would like to work as well. He did this again and again, until it got time to call it quits for the day. He told the foreman to bring in all of the workers and one after the other, he handed them their wages - the agreed upon denarius. 

Only the folks who were there with the morning sun, those who had worked the most hours - they wanted more than what had been agreed upon when they saw that everyone was getting the same wage as them without putting in the same hours. You can hear the cries now, can’t you “but that’s not fair! We don’t deserve to be equal with everyone else. We’ve been here longer.”

In some ways this parable reminds me of another that is found in the Gospel of Luke - the parable of the prodigal son. I can hear the cries of the older, obedient, hardworking older brother who was faithfully at his father’s side, and who was upset when the prodigal son returned home and was showered with a homecoming party. “It’s not fair!”

While the Gospel of Matthew never uses the word “grace” its still talking about grace in this parable. A grace that is lavish and a grace that is not fair. 

This is also a unique parable because we find Jesus pointing to the landowner, as an image for God. While Jesus often speaks about the Kingdom, he does not often use these parables of teaching to speak of God’s divine governance. Except here. 

God doesn’t rule by the niceties of the land. God rules with a heart of grace.

And the grace of God is generous. The grace of God will not let us go -as the landowner goes out again and again, four times in total, even to the final hour before the workday would close, to find people to come. To come and be part of this work. 

But how do we respond to the generosity of God, church? Well we can end up sounding a whole lot like those folks who showed up to work first. Those who were in the right spot to get the job early in the morning. Those eager to work hard. 

Until.

Until we end up being a little envious because God is just as generous to everyone else. 

Ouch. 

This parable can rub us the wrong way, friends, because it can hit a little bit too close to home. Too close when we say that folks who are new to the faith 'haven’t been around long enough’ to have their voices heard. Or when we say that people need to ‘pay their dues’ or ‘get to know how things are done around here’ before we have them as part of the leadership. Or when we seek to serve ourselves, those already here first, instead of seeing that the mission of the Kingdom of God is for those who are not yet here - as evidenced by the landowner going out again and again and again. 

Then we can sound a little bit like those first workers. Shouldn’t we be taken care of first? Shouldn’t this put us further ahead in the Kingdom? Where’s our bonus for working harder and longer?

To which God replies - I’m not being unfair. I gave you exactly what I promised - life and life abundant. 

The grace of God shakes the very foundations of our understanding - turning everything around so we see it not from the eyes of the world, but from the eyes of the Kingdom. And we are okay with that when it’s to our benefit, but when it looks like we aren’t the ones being favored - then we aren’t as happy about the economics of the Kingdom and grace. 

This parable ends with perhaps one of the most well known verses in the Gospel of Matthew - “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” When we hear that its not just about turning the heiracrchy of the time - which was a real thing - upside down. It wasn’t just about higher and lower rank. It was also about upending who comes earlier and later. Temporal time does not mean the same thing in the Kingdom of God. 

My parents have been teaching Sunday school since around the time I was born. When their class first started, it was mostly young parents like them - trying to wrangle kids into coats and carseats to get to church on Sunday morning. Knowing that work to be rough at times, they named their class “Better Late than Never”. Even as the participants in that class have moved from being parents to grandparents, the name has stayed the same. Because the name is an act of grace. Even if you can’t be here first - come when you can. God has something here for you. 

Friends, we do not earn a gold-star with God because of the length of time that we have been on this journey of faith. That isn’t how it works. The gift that we receive for being on this journey is the journey itself. Being a disciple. Sharing the faith. Growing closer to Jesus. 

But in order to accept that gift we need to come apart from the ways of the world that tells us about earning and deserving. Those are not words within the Kingdom. And replace them with mercy and grace - which is how God deals with us and with others. 

What would it take to transform the way you see the world and how would that change the way you live out your faith? Amen.