Christ The King; Proper 29
Preaching
PREACHING MATTHEW'S GOSPEL
A Narrative Approach
We come to the end of the Church Year. We come also to the climax and capstone of Jesus' teaching ministry in Matthew's Gospel. Jesus tells a story, an eschatological vision, which serves as the climax of his five discourses recorded for us by the Gospel writer Matthew. What a spectacular teaching it is! Jesus' vision of the final judgment is unique to Matthew and unique in the ways it reveals certain aspects of the gospel.
In the two preceding chapters we have spoken of the context for this week's text. The disciples asked Jesus for a sign of the end. They asked when the time would come (Matthew 24:3). In the material from 24:45--25:46 Matthew arranges five stories of Jesus that give an answer to the question: "When will this be?" In the story appointed for this week Jesus goes beyond the other stories he has told and actually sketches what "when " will look like. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on the throne of his glory" (Matthew 25:31).
Like the farewell discourse of John 13:31--16:33, it sums up the life of Jesus, comments on his death, and addressed the church quite directly about its own life situated between his lowly ministry and his glorious epiphany.... The questions When? and What sign? have entirely faded from sight, and every phase is concentrated on describing as literally and nonparabolically as possible the meaning of preparedness and watchfulness. Or, the question of When? is given a different and surprising answer: The Son of man is coming now, in the lowly. And what is the sign of his coming? The poor and needy are themselves odd and often unwelcome signs of his presence.1
In his vision Jesus portrays the world on trial before himself. The One who had no place to lay his head, the One who will shortly be condemned to death on religious grounds, this One will judge the world. This is a breathtaking vision. The Lowly One reigns! Truly such realities need to be revealed: 11:25-30; 13:10-17. All the nations stand before the Sovereign. (Cf. the "all nations" in Matthew 28:19.) The day of reckoning has come. Peoples and nations are separated. The sheep live at the right hand of the Ruler of all Nations. The right hand, of course, was the traditional place of honor. The goats, on the other hand, live in infamy at the left hand. And the Sovereign speaks blessing to those on his right hand. "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you..." (25:34). The blessing of the Sovereign One reminds us of the Beatitudes. Jesus reveals to us a God who speaks words of blessing on the little ones!
Righteousness has been a constant theme of Matthew's Gospel. The very first story is about a righteous man by the name of Joseph: Matthew 1:19. (In Chapters 1 and 3 we spoke of the contrast between the righteous Joseph and the unrighteous Herod. The theme of righteousness was also treated in Chapter 5.) Matthew's alpha story is about righteousness. His omega story, the last word he reports from King Jesus, is also about righteousness. In his vision, Jesus gives us an in depth picture of righteousness. The sheep, those on the right hand, are righteous. And we know why they are righteous. They are righteous because of their deeds. They have cared for the Ruler. They saw him hungry and gave him food, they saw him thirsty and gave him a drink, they saw him a stranger and invited him home, they saw him naked and clothed him, they saw him sick and imprisoned and they visited him.
Now for the stunner. The righteous are surprised. They don't know their deeds. They haven't kept score. Their left hand doesn't seem to know what their right hand is doing (Matthew 6:3). "Then the righteous will answer him, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you drink?" They protest each act of kindness for the King that Jesus has ascribed to them. Jesus gives them an answer: "...as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."
The righteous were righteous because of their deeds and they didn't know it. They didn't know their own righteousness. We have spoken earlier in this work of Luther's concept of alien righteousness. The righteousness of the sheep was precisely an alien righteousness.
They didn't even know they possessed it! How can this be? Theologically it can be because the blessed are those in whose lives Jesus has taken up residence. Saint Paul could write: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:19-20). Or, this from Colossians: "...for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). The Sovereign's people are people in whom the Sovereign lives. Righteous people are the people in whom the Righteous One dwells. Just so it can be true for us that our left hand does not know what our right hand is doing. Just so it can be true for us that we are righteous on account of our deeds and yet not know what our deeds are. To be righteous is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Such righteousness is based on faith! (See also Romans 3:23-25; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:6; Philippians 3:9.)
Note that in the story the opposite is also true. The unrighteous ones know their deeds. They have kept score. This is true of "Pharisees" of every age and religion. "Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' " The unrighteous are quite confident about their righteousness. It is always so with humanly crafted righteousness. Those who measure their righteousness on human scales are in for a shock at the day of judgment.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven..." (Matthew 7:21).
There are other themes in this story which occur throughout the Gospel of Matthew. The Emmanuel theme is here. (See Matthew 1:23; 18:20 and 28:20 for instances of the Emmanuel--God with us--theme. This theme was discussed in our Chapter 1.)
It is in this eschatological vision of Jesus that we have our eyes opened to the presence of Jesus among us in the needs of common humanity. Again, "...just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." We have adopted language in which we describe our faith as receiving Jesus into our heart. In Jesus' eschatological vision we discover that when Jesus does come into our heart, he brings all of needy humanity along with him!
This reality alerts us to another Matthean theme: love of God and love of neighbor (Matthew 22:34-40). This theme is developed in our Chapter 32. There we asserted that for Matthew love of neighbor is our way of loving God. This reality is underscored mightily with Jesus' words that love of the least of these, love of the little ones, is love expressed to Jesus. What will be the sign of Jesus' coming? Jesus is here, now. He is present in the least of these. They are the sign. Matthew would appear to be encouraging his community to care for the little ones. His words give direction to our lives as well.
Jesus' vision makes it clear. The life of the Christian is a life given in love to the least of these. But that's good works, isn't it? Won't such good works for our neighbor destroy the "faith alone" foundation of our faith? (We Lutherans actually worry about this at times.)
The answer to our question is "No." Our good works will not destroy our "faith alone" posture. We can do all the loving of the least and little ones we can possibly imagine and not be liable to belief in works-righteousness. We are called to do lots of good works. We are also called not to keep score. When we keep score of our deeds we want to credit our love of neighbor to our heavenly bank account. Loving our neighbor is not the problem. Keeping score of our good deeds of neighbor-love is the problem. The truly righteous don't keep score. Their left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing.
Such as these will stand before the Sovereign one day clothed in Christ's righteousness alone.
These words of Jesus, identifying with the world's outcasts, stand immediately before the narrative of his own betrayal, arrest, torture, and execution. As the vision ends, everything is ready for the Passion Narrative to begin.
Indeed that great and final vision (25:31-46) prepares readers for the Passion Narrative (chaps. 26-27). In his vision Jesus speaks about being identified with the world's outcasts, and in his passion he actively and actually identifies with them. The Son of God (27:40, 43) stands deliberately and voluntarily in the shoes of the powerless, the weak, the defenseless, the hated, the tortured. He began as a refugee and he ends as a condemned criminal. He gave his blood for them and for many (20:28; 26:27).2
Homiletical Directions
This text is simply too rich to be confined to one Sunday of our preaching. Hopefully you have alluded to it in earlier sermons during the Matthew year. There are many possibilities of narrative analogy. The themes of righteousness, Emmanuel, and love of neighbor relate to many other stories in Matthew's Gospel as we have indicated above. Our sermon could certainly link this week's textual story with one of these themes in Matthew.
Jesus' eschatological vision is appointed for Christ the King Sunday. This is a fitting text for such a Sunday in that it speaks quite directly to Jesus' reign. It also speaks clearly of the final day of judgment which is the liturgical emphasis for Christ the King Sunday. How shall we stand before Jesus on the day of judgment? Maybe we don't talk about this topic much anymore. But here it is, and it is a topic which is well worth our preaching time.
Our suggestion is that we deal with the theme of our own standing before judgment as we preach on this glorious text. Rather than finding narrative analogies in other stories from Matthew to tell in our sermon it might be best to tell just this story well. Set the context. Tell the story. As you tell the story, make what points you wish to make as you go. Let the story itself supply the structure of the sermon. Alternate between story and application of story as you walk through these powerful verses.
There is certainly a textual proclamation that can be put to service for the conclusion of our sermon. That proclamation is: "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world..." (25:34). When we stand before the Sovereign on the final day we believe the Sovereign will speak this blessing over our lives.
All who put their faith in the righteousness of Christ as their basis for standing before the Ruler will surely hear the Ruler say on that final day: "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world...."
All who have eaten at the Ruler's table where Jesus comes to live within us through forms of bread and wine will surely hear the Ruler say: "Come, you that are blessed...."
All whose left hand does not know what their right hand is doing in serving the neighbor will surely hear the Ruler say: "Come, you that are blessed...." Amen.
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 296.
2. Ibid., p. 299.
In the two preceding chapters we have spoken of the context for this week's text. The disciples asked Jesus for a sign of the end. They asked when the time would come (Matthew 24:3). In the material from 24:45--25:46 Matthew arranges five stories of Jesus that give an answer to the question: "When will this be?" In the story appointed for this week Jesus goes beyond the other stories he has told and actually sketches what "when " will look like. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on the throne of his glory" (Matthew 25:31).
Like the farewell discourse of John 13:31--16:33, it sums up the life of Jesus, comments on his death, and addressed the church quite directly about its own life situated between his lowly ministry and his glorious epiphany.... The questions When? and What sign? have entirely faded from sight, and every phase is concentrated on describing as literally and nonparabolically as possible the meaning of preparedness and watchfulness. Or, the question of When? is given a different and surprising answer: The Son of man is coming now, in the lowly. And what is the sign of his coming? The poor and needy are themselves odd and often unwelcome signs of his presence.1
In his vision Jesus portrays the world on trial before himself. The One who had no place to lay his head, the One who will shortly be condemned to death on religious grounds, this One will judge the world. This is a breathtaking vision. The Lowly One reigns! Truly such realities need to be revealed: 11:25-30; 13:10-17. All the nations stand before the Sovereign. (Cf. the "all nations" in Matthew 28:19.) The day of reckoning has come. Peoples and nations are separated. The sheep live at the right hand of the Ruler of all Nations. The right hand, of course, was the traditional place of honor. The goats, on the other hand, live in infamy at the left hand. And the Sovereign speaks blessing to those on his right hand. "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you..." (25:34). The blessing of the Sovereign One reminds us of the Beatitudes. Jesus reveals to us a God who speaks words of blessing on the little ones!
Righteousness has been a constant theme of Matthew's Gospel. The very first story is about a righteous man by the name of Joseph: Matthew 1:19. (In Chapters 1 and 3 we spoke of the contrast between the righteous Joseph and the unrighteous Herod. The theme of righteousness was also treated in Chapter 5.) Matthew's alpha story is about righteousness. His omega story, the last word he reports from King Jesus, is also about righteousness. In his vision, Jesus gives us an in depth picture of righteousness. The sheep, those on the right hand, are righteous. And we know why they are righteous. They are righteous because of their deeds. They have cared for the Ruler. They saw him hungry and gave him food, they saw him thirsty and gave him a drink, they saw him a stranger and invited him home, they saw him naked and clothed him, they saw him sick and imprisoned and they visited him.
Now for the stunner. The righteous are surprised. They don't know their deeds. They haven't kept score. Their left hand doesn't seem to know what their right hand is doing (Matthew 6:3). "Then the righteous will answer him, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you drink?" They protest each act of kindness for the King that Jesus has ascribed to them. Jesus gives them an answer: "...as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."
The righteous were righteous because of their deeds and they didn't know it. They didn't know their own righteousness. We have spoken earlier in this work of Luther's concept of alien righteousness. The righteousness of the sheep was precisely an alien righteousness.
They didn't even know they possessed it! How can this be? Theologically it can be because the blessed are those in whose lives Jesus has taken up residence. Saint Paul could write: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:19-20). Or, this from Colossians: "...for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). The Sovereign's people are people in whom the Sovereign lives. Righteous people are the people in whom the Righteous One dwells. Just so it can be true for us that our left hand does not know what our right hand is doing. Just so it can be true for us that we are righteous on account of our deeds and yet not know what our deeds are. To be righteous is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Such righteousness is based on faith! (See also Romans 3:23-25; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:6; Philippians 3:9.)
Note that in the story the opposite is also true. The unrighteous ones know their deeds. They have kept score. This is true of "Pharisees" of every age and religion. "Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' " The unrighteous are quite confident about their righteousness. It is always so with humanly crafted righteousness. Those who measure their righteousness on human scales are in for a shock at the day of judgment.
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven..." (Matthew 7:21).
There are other themes in this story which occur throughout the Gospel of Matthew. The Emmanuel theme is here. (See Matthew 1:23; 18:20 and 28:20 for instances of the Emmanuel--God with us--theme. This theme was discussed in our Chapter 1.)
It is in this eschatological vision of Jesus that we have our eyes opened to the presence of Jesus among us in the needs of common humanity. Again, "...just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." We have adopted language in which we describe our faith as receiving Jesus into our heart. In Jesus' eschatological vision we discover that when Jesus does come into our heart, he brings all of needy humanity along with him!
This reality alerts us to another Matthean theme: love of God and love of neighbor (Matthew 22:34-40). This theme is developed in our Chapter 32. There we asserted that for Matthew love of neighbor is our way of loving God. This reality is underscored mightily with Jesus' words that love of the least of these, love of the little ones, is love expressed to Jesus. What will be the sign of Jesus' coming? Jesus is here, now. He is present in the least of these. They are the sign. Matthew would appear to be encouraging his community to care for the little ones. His words give direction to our lives as well.
Jesus' vision makes it clear. The life of the Christian is a life given in love to the least of these. But that's good works, isn't it? Won't such good works for our neighbor destroy the "faith alone" foundation of our faith? (We Lutherans actually worry about this at times.)
The answer to our question is "No." Our good works will not destroy our "faith alone" posture. We can do all the loving of the least and little ones we can possibly imagine and not be liable to belief in works-righteousness. We are called to do lots of good works. We are also called not to keep score. When we keep score of our deeds we want to credit our love of neighbor to our heavenly bank account. Loving our neighbor is not the problem. Keeping score of our good deeds of neighbor-love is the problem. The truly righteous don't keep score. Their left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing.
Such as these will stand before the Sovereign one day clothed in Christ's righteousness alone.
These words of Jesus, identifying with the world's outcasts, stand immediately before the narrative of his own betrayal, arrest, torture, and execution. As the vision ends, everything is ready for the Passion Narrative to begin.
Indeed that great and final vision (25:31-46) prepares readers for the Passion Narrative (chaps. 26-27). In his vision Jesus speaks about being identified with the world's outcasts, and in his passion he actively and actually identifies with them. The Son of God (27:40, 43) stands deliberately and voluntarily in the shoes of the powerless, the weak, the defenseless, the hated, the tortured. He began as a refugee and he ends as a condemned criminal. He gave his blood for them and for many (20:28; 26:27).2
Homiletical Directions
This text is simply too rich to be confined to one Sunday of our preaching. Hopefully you have alluded to it in earlier sermons during the Matthew year. There are many possibilities of narrative analogy. The themes of righteousness, Emmanuel, and love of neighbor relate to many other stories in Matthew's Gospel as we have indicated above. Our sermon could certainly link this week's textual story with one of these themes in Matthew.
Jesus' eschatological vision is appointed for Christ the King Sunday. This is a fitting text for such a Sunday in that it speaks quite directly to Jesus' reign. It also speaks clearly of the final day of judgment which is the liturgical emphasis for Christ the King Sunday. How shall we stand before Jesus on the day of judgment? Maybe we don't talk about this topic much anymore. But here it is, and it is a topic which is well worth our preaching time.
Our suggestion is that we deal with the theme of our own standing before judgment as we preach on this glorious text. Rather than finding narrative analogies in other stories from Matthew to tell in our sermon it might be best to tell just this story well. Set the context. Tell the story. As you tell the story, make what points you wish to make as you go. Let the story itself supply the structure of the sermon. Alternate between story and application of story as you walk through these powerful verses.
There is certainly a textual proclamation that can be put to service for the conclusion of our sermon. That proclamation is: "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world..." (25:34). When we stand before the Sovereign on the final day we believe the Sovereign will speak this blessing over our lives.
All who put their faith in the righteousness of Christ as their basis for standing before the Ruler will surely hear the Ruler say on that final day: "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world...."
All who have eaten at the Ruler's table where Jesus comes to live within us through forms of bread and wine will surely hear the Ruler say: "Come, you that are blessed...."
All whose left hand does not know what their right hand is doing in serving the neighbor will surely hear the Ruler say: "Come, you that are blessed...." Amen.
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 296.
2. Ibid., p. 299.
