Today brings about the end of another Church Year. A year that seems to go so quickly when we hope for a time of rest after a busy Easter. But those 25 weeks seem to go in an instant. Likewise life can seem to go in an instant as we grow another year older which means another year less before we reach our home in heaven. It’s something we don’t like to think about but the reality is that the life we live now is not the life God has prepared for us. In fact Jesus himself said that in our Gospel reading today. He talks about the great gathering and division where he gathers his sheep to the right and the goats to the left. The sheep, he says, he will usher into our eternal home with the words: Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; Now isn’t that interesting. Being brought into a kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world. Not an after thought. Not a place God built after we had fallen away because of our sin. No. A kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.
What this helps us to understand is that despite how the world looks and how out of God’s control it might seem, God has a plan because God knew that this world was going to go pear-shape because of sin. And that plan is to have us live with him in a Kingdom that has been prepared before we were born – from the foundation of the world where nothing evil can enter.
Which does raise a question which I can’t answer – Why didn’t God take us straight there instead of here first. I don’t know.
And I don’t know why, when Satan rebelled against him, that he didn’t destroy him straight away but allowed him to fall to the earth and wait his judgment. And while he’s waiting his mission is to “kill, steal and destroy”.
It’s very easy to be discouraged about the state of the world but in our Gospel reading Jesus encourages us to overcome the things that discourage us and be part of the solution. He says: I was hungry and you gave me food – rather than asking why does God allow starvation. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, – rather than wonder why does God allow floods and droughts. I was a stranger and you welcomed me, rather than complain about shortage of housing. I was naked and you gave me clothing, rather than complaining that I haven’t got anything to wear even though my cupboard is overflowing. I was sick and you took care of me, rather than complaining about the cost of going to the doctor, the wait time or our crumbling health system. I was in prison and you visited me rather than complaining about them being a waste of taxpayer money or hope they rot in jail. This is not about doing things to earn our place in heaven or having God love us. No, our place in Heaven has been prepared since the foundation of the world – assured by Jesus’ death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. God loves us not because of the good things that we do – no – it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us – the assurance of God’s love For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son for us so that whoever believes in him will not perish but receive eternal life.
No, we don’t do things so God will love us but because God loves us. This is love, not that we loved God but that God first loved us. And it is because of that love that all these actions to love and care for our neighbour become an expression of gratitude for God’s love us. As Jesus says: Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. And as we see in this parable by Jesus, these actions – these responses to God’s love – were so natural that the people didn’t even know they were doing them. Wait a minute – 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?
As we recognize today as Christ the King Sunday we are reminded that Jesus is a very different type of King to that of the world. Worldly kings live in comfort and separate from the common person. Even though we might refer to a new King as “the people’s king” the reality is that they don’t experience what the common person experience. Jesus is different as we hear in our parable. Jesus is one who was hungry, thirsty, naked as they gambled for his clothes, imprisoned as he faced a mock trial and unfair execution. He is our great high priest who suffered all that we suffer but did not sin. And so he identifies with us because he was one of us. God’s Word made flesh who dwelt among us. The King who came to serve and not be served. The King who emptied himself of all his regal qualities to live as a servant among us.
And that’s why as we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, feed the naked and visit the sick and imprisoned we are doing to him and for him. To Jesus our King and our Saviour of all human kind.
