Sermon for November 22, 2020 Christ the King Sunday House of Prayer Lutheran Church
Matthew 25:31-46 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
“Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is...life is good when you are happy, but much better when others are happy because of you.” Pope Francis said that, and it stood out to me as a message that fit well for Christ the King Sunday.
The blessings of God’s creation don’t exist just for themselves, but to bring wholeness to the rest of God’s creation. Yet even amidst all of these blessings that we get to enjoy, we have to acknowledge the difficulties of life, too. And that’s what this quote from Pope Francis does; acknowledge the difficulties. We all know too well the difficulties of 2020, and we all can’t wait for them to go away, so we can just get back to simply dealing with the regular old difficulties of a normal year.
But whatever the year, whenever the time, Jesus asks us to always remember the most vulnerable people in society. And he names them specifically: the hungry and thirsty, strangers or homeless, sick, imprisoned--all people we need to turn our hearts to and say, “I see you and you matter. I want to do something to help you, because you are important, you are valuable. God cares about you, and we care about you.”
Jesus makes an audacious claim at this point in the gospel; chronologically, this is right before Holy Week begins, so it’s really getting to the climax of his message and ministry. He says, if you want to see him, if you want to meet him, if you want to know exactly where he is, all you have to do is go meet a person who we are often tempted in our society to overlook. And then, whatever you do “to the least of these” you are doing to Christ himself. Jesus is there among them.
Maybe you know a vulnerable person of the kind who Jesus asks us to remember, or maybe you are a vulnerable person yourself. This pandemic has made it that much harder on those who were already struggling. There is so much need out there. That’s why our House of Prayer congregation has had such a long involvement with ministries like Despensa and Eras/Interfaith; of supporting the Special Olympics, Salvation Army and Lutheran World Relief; of praying for one another and caring for one another when we’re in need, and opening our hearts to the needs of the community. That’s why we give our First Fruits, by way of financial support, prayer support, and volunteer support.
All of these are ways we offer our steadfast commitment and faith to follow the way of Jesus: to see Christ and meet Christ in those who are struggling in life. “As you do it to the least of these you do it to Christ; as you don’t do to the least of these, you don’t do it to Christ.” Their struggles are our struggles, because they are Christ’s own struggles.
Our Lord Jesus, whose body was broken for us on the cross as our crucified king promises to be present within those who feel broken in the world. Our Lord Jesus, whose risen body was recognizable only because of it’s scars, promises to be with people who carry their own scars. This is a challenging message because with it, Jesus calls us to make our faith active in works of love. He calls us to have humility and kindness, compassion and mercy, generosity and open hearts--and he calls us to have all of that when it might be tempting to just give up because the scope of the problems are so large. All of the problems we face today can easily break your heart. But when your heart breaks, it can break one of two ways. It can break apart into bitterness and despair. Or, when we put our faith in Christ, and we can ask him to break our hearts open--not apart but open--so we become more compassionate, and humble, and merciful.
And because Jesus’ heart has already broken open in compassion and mercy for us on the cross, his challenging message that we hear on this Christ the King Sunday is also a word of hope and grace--because it means that whenever we walk into the broken places, whenever we seek people who are struggling the most, whenever you yourself struggle--Jesus is already there. So we don’t do our works of love on our own--instead, we do them with the help of Jesus himself.
It’s more than simple happiness, but deep joy, lasting purpose, and eternal meaning that are given to us as gifts from Christ when we live for others. When we serve others. When, in your own need, you reach out to let someone else help you. When you embrace an attitude of humility to realize “I’m no better than anybody else--we are all equal at the foot of the cross”. And that cross of Christ is the bridge between heaven and earth. Amen.