Sermon - Christ the King (11/22/2020)
Ezek. 34:11-16, 20-24; Ps. 95:1-7a; Eph. 1:15-23; Mt. 25:31-46
Some of you may have heard about a famous psychological experiment that was conducted a number of years ago at Princeton Theological Seminary. A group of seminarians studying for the ministry were asked to prepare a short sermon on the Good Samaritan – you know, where the priest and the Levite ignore the injured man at the side of the road, but the Samaritan stops his journey and cares for his neighbor in need.
On the day they were to deliver their sermon, they first had to go and answer a bunch of questions for the experiment, and then they were sent to another building to give their sermon. And on the path to that other building, an actor hired by the psychologists running the experiment was lying in the doorway, in apparent great medical distress. Would the seminarians stop to help this man, and risk being late for their sermon? Or would they be so focused on the sermon they were about to give – on the parable of the Good Samaritan – that they would literally step over a neighbor in need in order to get there? (You see the irony in this experiment.)
What do you think the seminarians did? It was about half and half – which isn’t really all that surprising. Pastors, and people who are studying to be pastors, aren’t all that different from everybody else. One of the interesting findings is that the religious motivations the students said they had didn’t have much impact on what they actually did in the experiment. Students who said this world isn’t important, their call was to help people give their lives to Christ so they wouldn’t go to hell when they died, and students who said their motivation was Matthew 25, today’s gospel reading, doing good in this world for people in need and the least of these – regardless of what they said about their faith, when confronted with an actual person in need, what they did was pretty much the same.
The main difference was that some of the students were told, “OK, you have some time before you have to give your sermon, but you might as well head over now,” and some of them were told “Oh no, you’re running late, you’d better hurry up and go give your sermon.” Most of the students who thought they had time stopped to help; most of the ones who thought they were going to get in trouble for being late for their sermon didn’t stop.
It’s what we think that we’re responsible for, it’s whatever is the basis that we think we’re going to be judged by, that motivates so much of what we human beings do. In today’s gospel passage Jesus tells us how, on the last day, the King will judge the nations of the world: did we feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty, did we recognize the human dignity of the least of these by clothing the naked and visiting the sick and imprisoned? Which seems pretty straightforward.
And yet, as the Princeton psychology experiment shows, whether we say we believe this or not doesn’t necessarily affect what we actually do. As Jesus himself made clear in today’s parable: even though we know what’s going to be on the test at the last judgment, people are still going to be surprised. In the parable of Jesus, both those who did what the King expected and those who failed to do what the King expected are surprised at the judgment. Which, itself, is kind of surprising.
Remember, though, this parable is one of three parables that Jesus tells just days, even hours, before his arrest and crucifixion, to describe the coming day of judgment. The first two parables we read on the previous two Sundays – and in all three parables there is surprise at where Jesus is to be found. Just as the disciples will be surprised when Jesus is arrested and crucified – and they will be surprised on the third day when he is raised, even though Jesus already told them what was going to happen on many occasions. All three of these parables turn on a surprise discovery of where Jesus is.
In the parable of the ten bridesmaids, we might have thought that Jesus was the bridegroom who rewarded the bridesmaids who kept their lamps filled – even if it meant hoarding their oil and not sharing with those in need – and who punished and excluded those who couldn’t fulfill their duty. But surprise! Jesus is actually the one foolish enough to allow himself to be crucified. The one who is with those were excluded, waiting for God’s justice and mercy to be revealed and for the real wedding feast to begin.
In the parable of the talents entrusted to the slaves of the crooked crime boss, we might have thought Jesus was the one distributing gifts and then judging the results we produced with what we were given, by any means necessary. But surprise! Jesus is the one who refuses to break legs and take advantage of others and so who is cast out into the outer darkness. Jesus is not the one whose philosophy is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, so make sure you’re one of the rich ones – Jesus’s philosophy is that the last shall be first and the first shall be last, so taking advantage to get to the head of the line and the greatest reward is actually self-defeating in the end.
In the parable of the sheep and the goats, we might have thought Jesus was the king sitting on the throne at the last judgment – and this time, he is. The third time is the charm. But once again, surprise! It is revealed that the king has been present all along, not in glory on the throne, but in the hungry and thirsty, in the dehumanized naked and imprisoned, in the sick, in the crucified, in the least of these. The seminarians at Princeton thought they were going to be graded by the teacher waiting to hear their sermon – but surprise! They were actually being graded by the sick man in the doorway.
In this parable, Jesus says that when the king comes in glory, he will gather all the nations before him, and separate them like a shepherd separating the sheep from the goats. All the nations – for a Jewish audience, this means the others, the unbelievers, it is primarily their judgment about which Jesus speaks. They do not know where the king has been all along, they will be surprised to learn it. But we know. People of faith already know where Jesus is right now, where the king can be found. We have been told the secret, we have been let in on the story, we have followed the king and learned where he lives, there is no need for us to be surprised.
And notice that, in the parable of Jesus, the king does not send the sheep and the goats to their different fates. There is no sentence. Just a revelation, an unveiling, a clarification of what’s really been going on all along. Those who have been feeding the hungry and visiting the sick and caring for the least have been living all along in the kingdom of the God who is love, whether they knew it or not, and so the judge doesn’t need to let them into the kingdom of heaven – they’re already there. And those who have only taken care of themselves have already rejected the kingdom and don’t need to be kicked out of it – they’ve already chosen to leave it. But we have been given the faith to see already where the kingdom is to be found, we have been invited to discern it more carefully and to learn how to see Christ present right here and now, and so for us none of this need come as a surprise.
The psychology experiment doesn’t work if the subjects know what’s really going on. If the seminary students knew all along that it was the sick man in the doorway who was giving the grade, they would have known what to do. Well, God isn’t conducting an experiment on us. God is passionate that we get it right, that we – all of us – find our way into the kingdom of heaven which is already here and present in our midst, if only we have the faith to see it. God is passionate that we learn to live as Jesus does, in service to the least among us, carrying the cross with a love that holds back nothing, because that’s what the kingdom of heaven is going to be like – is already like. Because that’s what God is like.
And this, ultimately, is the point of faith – that we become able to see that God is already here and present in the world, not in glory and not in judgment, but in love, in mercy, in compassion, in those who need our love and mercy and compassion, inviting us ever deeper into the kingdom that is already here. One day, when God’s work is complete, everyone will see it clearly, and some may be surprised. But we are invited to see it right now, in faith, to live in the kingdom right now, if only we follow the way of Jesus with trust. And even if, like him, we find ourselves among the hungry and the thirsty and the sick and the excluded and the dehumanized, we have nothing to fear, because the King has already shown us the way, and will be with us. We will already be in the kingdom, we will be inviting others to see the kingdom and join us there in faith. That is a judgment that does not terrify or control, but the comforts and frees. The kingdom is already here; turn around and enter in, believe the good news.