Christ the King: great joy or harsh judgement?

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Matthew 25:31-46

 

You might wonder where the story “Great Joy” that I read earlier fits into today’s worship.

(You can hear it read

here )

When I picked it up and read it this week I couldn’t help hearing today’s parable in my head. 

The little girl, Frances, is worried about the old man (& his monkey) – is he homeless? Is he cold? Is he hungry?

She wants to help – first of all by inviting them into their house – but her mother say they can’t because he is a stranger. As they leave in the evening for the play at church, Frances gives the man some money, but also invites him out of the cold into the church for the play.

It seems as though her mother, and everyone else, is so focussed on the play, on the costume, on the words, on the audience.. that they haven’t seen the old man.

 

But at the play, when the moment comes for Frances to speak, she can’t – she can only think of the man, the stranger, the one who is cold and homeless and hungry. 

 

Only when he comes through the church door, Frances can deliver her line.

“Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy”.. Great joy.

 

There can only be great joy when everyone is welcomed, when everyone is included.

The angels in heaven rejoice over the one who was lost and is found – the one has come in from the cold – and meanwhile on earth the church manages to make the old man welcome. I love the final scene at the party where the monkey is climbing on Frances’ shoulders and the old man is sharing a drink with her mother.

And Jesus says ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

 

And yet we might think that the whole parable Jesus tells, with its talk of judgement, does not quite have the same feel-good factor.

Last week I pointed out that we are treated to 3 parables from Matthew in 3 consecutive weeks – to help us get ready for Advent, which starts next week, and which is, in turn, our time of getting ready for Christmas.

 

2 weeks ago on Remembrance Sunday we heard the parable of the wise and foolish girls, and thought about how we wait for peace. Last week’s parable was the parable of the talents, which helped us to tune in to signs of God’s kingdom and God with us. This week’s parable – of the people divided like sheep and goats  - helps us look forward to the birth of Jesus, our King, by asking what sort of King we are expecting?

 

So is the parable warning us that Jesus is coming among us as a stern judge? When Jesus talks of judging people, we might imagine a scene like a courtroom. In a tense and difficult, hushed space, Jesus will judge people at the end of time.

 

But Jesus doesn’t paint a legal picture at all – he paints a picture more like an agricultural show. His judgment is about checking over the animals – seeing that they are put in the right category. Like the picture of God as the shepherd in Ezekiel’s prophecy, we can imagine Jesus running his hand over each animal to check condition, build, breeding.

 

But unlike judging animals as a farmer might, looking for the best and the strongest; Jesus is concerned most for the weakest and the helpless. And his concern for the weak ones, the little ones, means he wants to warn his followers that our concern should be for justice and care for all God’s people.

 

Jesus is the fulfilment of Ezekiel’s prophecy, and in the parable of the division of the sheep and goats he describes judging between the animals, just as God says in Ezekiel “I will judge between sheep and sheep”.

 

Let’s look for a moment at the promises of the prophet Ezekiel. The reading we heard from Ezekiel does not use the term ‘king’ at all – and yet it has so much to say about the sort of King , the kind of ruler, we see in Jesus.

 

Ezekiel is writing to the people of God after a time when they have been defeated in battle and many of them have been taken off into Exile in Babylon. As the people return to the promised land, Ezekiel warns their leaders that they have behaved like unfaithful shepherds, leading the people astray.

 

And so God now declares that he will rescue the people of God – God will be their shepherd and will seek the lost, tend to the injured, and strengthen the weak.

In echoes of Psalm 23, God speaks of being the shepherd who will provide good pasture for his sheep to lie down in.

 

But we know God is not talking about actual sheep, he is referring to being the shepherd of his people.

God says he will ‘judge between sheep and sheep’ – because the stronger ones have butted aside the weaker ones. God will save the weak, the needy, the cast aside.

 

Then God does mention a former king by name – David. David was the perfect king, and God says he will rule over the people and be the shepherd with God. 

Ezekiel’s prophecy is that there will be one like David who will be the perfect shepherd of God’s people, bringing justice and judgement and making sure that the weak are cared for.

 

We know that Jesus (in John 10) declares himself to be the Good Shepherd, and that he talked of the shepherd who seeks the lost sheep (in Luke 15).

 

In seeing Jesus as the fulfilment of Ezekiels’ prophecy we see that Jesus is not just telling us we should be nicer to poor people, or we should give to charities at Christmastime – although those are good things to do in themselves.

Jesus is painting a picture of the kingdom of God – where Jesus himself, the Good Shepherd, will care for the flock and see that the weak are not barged out of the way, but are found and included and loved. If we cannot be part of Jesus’ project to love the whole world, we will place ourselves outside the party God wants to throw for all humanity.

 

When we hear the angel declare ‘I bring you tidings of great joy’ we should remember that this is a message for all people. This Advent, we can prepare ourselves to be part of declaring that message to all people. 

When all are welcomed in, there can truly be Great Joy.

 

May it be so,

In the name of Christ the king.

Amen.