Rector's Sermon - Sunday, 20 November 2005

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24	Psalm 100	Ephesians 1:15–23	Matthew 25:31– 46

           Jesus talked very little about how the end of the world and final judgment would be. However, when he did, as in this Sunday's parable, it was unlike those who usually talk or write about the end today. Jesus didn't offer an image of insiders self-righteously and smugly on one hand, and all non-believers, trembling and wailing for their sins, on the other. Indeed the word that is usually translated "all nations"¹ quite specifically meant in Jesus's culture all non-Jews and people outside the community of faith. For the Gospel's first readers, this was an image of the last judgment of all outsiders, not the judgment of the good and bad among the faithful.

        The eons of changing culture and times have made this distinction mute among most of us, but however the image of all nations gathered around the throne is viewed, this vision of the end bodes surprise for all and is not simply a confirmation of expectations of a certain in-group. The astounding thing about the parable of the sheep and the goats is that both the sheep and the goats are stunned at the way God exercises judgment. It's perfectly understandable that the goats would plead that they didn't know what they were doing. After all, the goats were self-centered, inconsiderate, insensitive clods, who throughout life never had a real thought for anyone but themselves. Those who were judged the sheep apparently had no clear insight into God's criteria for salvation either. They never behaved smug and self-assured thinking that what they had done or by virtue of their own actions guaranteed a place on the right hand. They never calculated that they were running up credits in heaven just by the way they lived their life and treated other people. They acted out of love, not knowledge.

      Perhaps for people of faith the parable is reminding us that if we are prepared to let God enter and guide our lives, we are going to be surprised. We are likely to go places we might not like to visit; will accept some tasks we would prefer not doing; will be a bit bewildered, and at times we may feel we are strangers in an alien land. Nonetheless, only an open heart can be filled. A classic Christian tale recounts a disciple who once asked, "Help me to find God." "I can't," said the teacher. "No one can help you do that." "Why not?" asked the shocked disciple. "For the same reason that no one can help fish to find the sea." An open heart discovers God, hidden, disguised, or in the depths; God, often mysterious and whose presence is apt to be perceived in reflective hindsight; God, inevitably available, yet never yielding to our force.  

      The Good news of the Gospel is that God loves the flock, not just the animals of our fold. God wants everyone on the right hand. What if God places twice as many of the flock on the right as on the left? What if there are hardly any goats at all? What if there are ultimately no goats whatsoever? Would we be upset with that? Would that upset our calculations? God appears to be more interested about the everyday practical treatment of humanity than in the theoretical constructs and speculations of our theology.    

      This is the last Sunday of the Christian year. The hymns and lessons point to the end of time and the triumph of God. Note it's not the triumph of our civilization over a foreign one, not the triumph of the church over non-Christians, not even a triumph of the underdogs over the top dogs. The triumph is about the reconciliation of the whole world, of all nations, of all creation. It is about the peace of God's kingdom and of opposites finally living together, of the lion lying down with the lamb. All that is damaged and broken in our humanity will be restored; human nature will be transformed into what God meant it to be. The triumph is one of surprise to us as it is for others. It is like a dream we can hardly dare to dream. Those who refuse this peace are only those who are insulted by the scope of God's love. Disciples of the living Christ will always be astounded, discovering the goodness of the Holy Spirit at work in many places, including those who do not share our views and who are not openly people of faith. Only an open heart can be filled, for it is God who makes the difference. It is God's victory, not ours.

    And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.

¹Matthew used this word ("ethne") also in 10:5 where it is usually translated "gentile ".