The Unanticipated Surprise
Ezekiel 34:11-17
Psalm 95:1-7
I Corinthians 15:20-28
Matthew 25:31-46
Tim
Christoffersen
St. Anselm’s
November 24, 2002
Let
me share a story of 'unanticipated surprise'. An Episcopal priest and a
rabbi were involved in an automobile accident that wrecked both
their cars but miraculously neither of them was hurt. The rabbi is looking
at his wrecked car when he notices a bottle of Mogen David wine that had
not been broken. He took it out and said to the priest, 'This seems
to be a symbol of our good fortune that neither of us were hurt. Shall
we have a drink to mark this occasion?" The priest nods his assent and
the rabbi opens the bottle and passes it to the priest. The priest takes
a swallow and passes it back to the rabbi. The priest looks surprised as
the puts the cap back on and sets it down on the ground. The priest says,
"Aren't
you going to have some?" The rabbi replies, "No, I think I will
wait until the police arrive."
There are several 'unanticipated surprises' in the parable of the
sheep and the goats we just heard. The biggest surprise,
I believe, is that everyone was lined up on the good side or
the
bad side
before 'word one' was
spoken about what factors determined whether one ended up
on the good side or the bad side. No one appeared to know
what
the rules
were that
determined
their
future.
In this parable, at the outset, we have an image of the Son
of Man as the King. It is from this image of Jesus sitting
on a
heavenly throne
with
all the angels
with Him and judging all mankind that this last Sunday of
the church year has become known as "Christ the King" Sunday.
Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent and we begin the
church year anew
preparing
for
the birth
of Jesus.
When we dig a little deeper into this parable of the sheep and the
goats, we find some new insights into how we
understand Jesus and his teachings.
Let's
go back to the surprising fact that everyone is lined
up on the good or bad side before any words are spoken.
The
parable
opens
with the
description the Son of
Man described as the King sitting on the throne in
heavenly glory and separating
the people of all the nations as a shepherd would
separate the sheep from the goats.
The use of the agricultural image of the shepherd and sheep is a
little strange to us today. But the image of
the shepherd as king is prevalent in the Bible.
Abraham, Issac and Jacob were shepherds. A dominant
image of shepherd as king is that of King David. David was a
shepherd
before he slew
Goliath and became
king. Throughout the Bible we also have the theme
of the relationship between God and his people using the analogy
of a shepherd
and his sheep.
Jesus speaks of the sheep knowing and obeying the
voice of the shepherd. This is the clue that
gives us further insight into why the
righteous were surprised
to find themselves among those who were saved
and set apart for an eternal relationship with
God. Remember what Jesus has said. "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 something to eat...I was
sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came
to visit me."
And the righteous answer in great surprise, "Lord, when
did we see you hungry and feed you...when did we see you
sick or in prison and go visit you?
The King replies, "I tell you the truth, whatever
you did for one of the least of these
brothers of mine, you did
for me."
Like the sheep, the righteous heard and obeyed the
Sheperd's
voice. They fed the hungry and visited
the sick and those in prison as a natural
part of
living their life as children of God.
Their lives had been transformed.
There is another surprise or two here as well. In this
story, Jesus turns the traditional morality story on
its head. We
would expect
the traditional morality
lesson to be that doing good deeds earns
a reward. But the surprise of the righteous surprises
us.
We are so used to keeping score and piling up points.
Our whole culture sells the image of earning
what you get. Or somehow one
is responsible
for what
you don't get. But the righteous
don't have a clue in this parable.
They don't even know they
are the righteous. The story makes
clear
they were,
in fact, not
keeping score.
But when the King speaks to the
unrighteous, it is clear that they
have been keeping
score. Or if they have
not been keeping
score,
they manage
a strong
bluff. "Lord,
when did we see you hungry or sick or in prison and
not help you?" But
the answer is blunt. "I tell you the truth,
whatever you did not do for one of the least of these,
you did
not do for
me."
And we have yet another surprise. The King not only
sits on the heavenly throne but he also
is identified with the hungry, the
sick, the stranger,
and the
prisoner. God's words
in the reading from Ezekiel
fit right
in. "I myself
will tend my sheep and have
them lie down...I will search
for the lost and bring back
the strays.
I will bind up the injured
and
strengthen
the
weak,
but the sleek and the strong
I will destroy.
I will shepherd the flock with justice."
The deeper meaning of the parable
turns on the surprise of the
righteous at
being chosen. They served those
in need
and did
not keep score.
It was part
of their
life as children of God.
Their ego was not involved
in keeping track
of
how righteous they were and
how many
good deeds
they had accumulated.
This parable creates
a lot of discomfort for
Protestant
denominations.
It
reminds them of 'works
righteous' or earning your way' into heaven.
The parable does not
mention faith at all. But when we take
the surprise into account it is not 'works
righteous' or
earning your way into
heaven at all. The righteous
had
no clue they were
chosen. They
had not
kept score
and they inherited the
reward. The King bestowed
it; they had not earned
it
by the points they had
accumulated. They were
genuinely surprised when
they were told they were
in
the Kingdom of God.
When Martin Luther in
the 1500s put a renewed
focus
on faith
in Christ
as the
way to salvation,
he was reacting
to the
Roman Catholic practice
of selling "indulgences"
or kind of a ticket you
paid for that would
lessen the
time
in purgatory
for a family
member or friend
who had died. The famous
line that
captured
the transaction
was
"For every coin in
the coffer than rings,
a
soul from purgatory
springs."
This parable centers
squarely on the
Kingdom of God and
selfless or non
ego centered
behavior. The story
brings
to mind Jesus'
description of the Kingdom of
God in Luke 20:17.
The
Pharisees
had asked
Jesus when the
Kingdom of God would come.
Jesus told
them the Kingdom
of God does not
come when someone says, "Here
it is" or "There it is" for "the Kingdom of God is within you."
The Kingdom of
God and eternal
life are not
a place but a
relationship
with God.
Every Sunday
before the
confession
of sin, we
repeat Jesus'
answer to the
Pharisees,
who were
experts on keeping
score,
on what
is the greatest
commandment
of God. "hear, o Israel, the Lord
our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all
your soul
and with
all your
mind and
with all your strength. The second is this:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
AMEN.
