SUNDAY Reign of Christ DATE 26 November 2017 (Year A) PREACHER The Revd Gill Rookyard Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 - For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. Eph 1: 15 23 - I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Matt 25: 31 46 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, 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. Then he will say to those at his left hand, You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. 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? Then he will answer them, Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
There has been much media hype this week about the uprisings in Zimbabwe, the resignation of Robert Mugabe at the age of 93, and on Friday the swearing in of their new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. It brings to an end his 37-year reign as the political leader of what was once one of Africa s most wealthy and prosperous nations. For some, Robert Mugabe will always remain a hero who brought independence and an end to white-minority rule. Even those who forced him out blamed his wife and "criminals" around him. But to his growing number of critics, this highly educated, wily politician became the caricature of an African dictator, who destroyed an entire country in order to keep his job. In the end, it was the security forces, who had been instrumental in intimidating the opposition and keeping him in power, who made him go. Didymus Mutasa, once one of Mr Mugabe's closest associates but who has since fallen out with him, once told the BBC that in Zimbabwean culture, kings were only replaced when they die "and Mugabe is our king". BBC News 21 November 2017 Joseph Winter The irony of the liturgical-timing of these events this week has not been lost on me, and I m sure not on you either. Today the final Sunday of the Church year - we commemorate the Feast of Christ the King, the Reign of Christ. The One to whom we, as Christians, pay ultimate allegiance, not because it is demanded of us, but because we desire to offer it. The One whom we serve first, because he modelled the epitome of service, not the expectation to be served. The One whom we love first, because he loved the most not power, nor possessions, but people all people. Can we imagine, just for a moment, what the world would look like today if all our leaders modelled their leadership on the example of Christ? Can we imagine, just for a moment, what the Church would look like today if those with religious authority modelled their leadership on this example of Christ? And can we imagine, just for a moment, what our lives would look like today if we each modelled our attitudes, behaviours and decisions on the example set for us by Christ?
It s no secret that the world is broken and needs fixing. It s no secret that the Church is broken and needs fixing. And even though we often shy away from admitting it, its no secret that we re broken and need fixing. That s why today s worship is important. That s why the feast of Christ the King is important. That s why a focus on praying for, pleading for, the reign of Christ to come once more is so so so important. Because that s the only hope of getting the brokenness fixed. That s the only hope of restoring that which is fractured, and of bringing transformation, renewal and wholeness to our world, our church and our lives. But as in all the most important things, we cannot sit by as passive observers and wait for it to happen. We need to stand up all of us - roll up our sleeves, and step into the messiness and the brokenness, prepared to advocate for, work towards and do all we can to partner with Christ our King in the ushering in of his Kingdom once more. Our readings today from the Old Testament and Gospel account provide two vivid images of what this looks like. The first is of the shepherd. Shepherds are symbolic of leadership and particularly religious leadership because of the images of nurture and tenderness that are portrayed particularly in Christian iconography.
However, ancient Israelite and other Near Eastern shepherds did much more than cuddle their lambs. They fought, sometimes valiantly, against predatory animals and human predators in defence of their flocks. The famous shepherd of the 23 rd Psalm is a comforting presence to the Psalmist because the shepherd is armed to the nines with a rod in one hand and staff in another. The shepherd s ability to act violently to appropriate provocation is an overlooked, but integral part pf shepherding. I m not sure about you, but how awesome would it be if our leaders in our country, and the world and the Church were armed and ready to fight valiantly not for power, not with weapons of mass destruction, not for economic success, not for popularity but were armed and ready to fight valiantly for people all people for their rights, their freedoms, their true expression of who they are and who they are created to be. Leaders who would stand up against and fight corruption, and abuse and prejudice. Leaders who would work and strive for the common good of all people where creed and colour and name don t matter. Where what does matter, is the personal wellbeing of each individual, each community. This is the shepherding we see present in the life of Christ. And Christ the Shepherd-King the One who lived it fully and completely, calls each of us to do the same. The second image is one that focuses our attention on the least of these where the imperative is to feed the hungry, offer water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the prisoner. I don t know about you, but I can t hear these words without acknowledging the knot that twists in my stomach as I consider the plight of refugees and asylum seekers who have sought refuge in our country. The dire situation which we ve watched unfold on Manus Island over the past few weeks has left me sick to the stomach, and agonisingly helpless in the face of such political abuse. Hungry and thirsty strangers, naked, sick and imprisoned they each have a name, a face, a family, an identity. And the king will answer them, 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. Elaine Pagels says Jesus words in Matthew s Gospel today are the basis for a radical new social structure based on the God-given dignity and value of every human being.
What you do for and to the least of these sick, hungry, homeless, oppressed, imprisoned you do to me, Jesus said. And in these familiar words of Jesus are three profoundly important ideas for us to consider The first is a statement about God. The God of Jesus, the God of the Bible, is not a remote supreme being on a throne up there above the clouds or out there somewhere in the mysterious reaches of the universe. Jesus said, God is here, in the messiness and ambiguity of human life. God is here, particularly in your neighbour, the one who needs you. You want to see the face of God? Look into the face of the least of these, the vulnerable, the weak, the refugee, the children. The second radical statement is about the practice of religion. You cannot read the papers or watch news reports and not be concerned about the role religion plays on the world. Terrible atrocities are committed by people who proclaim, God is great. Religious officials hide clergy abuse, deny sacraments to those with whom they disagree. Religious leaders condemn each other, ex-communicate each other, invest inordinate amounts of energy and resources fighting one another over who gets in and who is kept out, over whose doctrinal formulas are true and whose are false over a whole laundry list of issues about which Jesus had absolutely nothing to say. He did, however, say this: When you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me. There is only one criterion here, and that is whether or not you saw Jesus Christ in the face of the needy and whether or not you gave yourself away in love in his name. And the third most important thing about this subject, is not social, political, economic or religious. It s personal. God wants not only a new world, and transformed church, modelled on the values of Jesus. God wants us each of us. God is a God of love who wants to save our souls. God wants to save and redeem us, and give us the gift of life true, deep, authentic human life. God wants to save us by touching our hearts with love. God wants to save us by persuading us to care, and to see other human beings who need us. God want to save us from obsessing about ourselves, our own needs, by persuading us to forget about ourselves and worry instead about others.
This is God s favourite project: to teach you and me a fundamental lesson, the secret, the truth that to love is to live. And that s why we re dedicating this coming Advent to this very cause. Over the next three weeks, we ll be unpacking our broken world, our broken Church, and our broken lives, and exploring the fixing that each of them needs. We ll be praying for and anticipating with eagerness the very coming of Christ that is our only hope of this happening. And as we look forward to celebrating the first coming of Christ at Bethlehem, we ll be sure to keep our eyes and hearts focussed on the promise that he will come again, and that when he does, he ll make all things new. Christ our King yesterday, today and forever. Amen.