Sermon for Second to Last Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 26)
2 Thessalonians 1:3-10 + Matthew 25:31-46
(No audio or video of today’s service is available. Service folder can be downloaded here.)
Collect of the Day: O God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by Your Holy Spirit that, being ever mindful of the end of all things and the day of Your just judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here and dwell with You forever hereafter; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns, with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
The Last Day is coming, the day we are all waiting for as Christians. It was still a long way off when Jesus spoke today’s parable to His disciples during Holy Week. But it’s much closer now. It’s the day when God will finally make a distinction between believers and unbelievers. He sees that distinction now already, but we don’t experience it. Believers and unbelievers live side by side in this world, and we suffer many of the same things. Even within the Church, among those who outwardly confess Christ, there is a mixture of weeds and wheat, sheep and goats.
But on that day, the Lord will make a visible separation of the people of the earth, moving them into two separate groups. And what will be the basis of the distinction? Not race. Not gender. Not social status. Not the number or the severity of sins committed. Not the number of good works done. The deciding factor on God’s part is faith in Christ Jesus, genuine faith that knows the Lord Jesus who died for our sins, and that relies on Him and on Him alone for justification before the judgment of God. Where there is faith in Christ, God has chosen to see sheep, people who have been baptized into Christ and clothed with Christ and made sheep of the Good Shepherd. Where there is unbelief, He sees only sinners clothed with nothing but their own sins. He sees only goats. And He will make what is already visible to Him visible to everyone when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, when he sits upon his glorious throne and gathers all nations to Himself and separates them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
But lest we think that our Lord is unconcerned about people’s works, as if salvation by faith alone meant that God doesn’t care what we do or don’t do, Jesus focuses in this parable on just one simple piece of evidence that He tells us He will find among the sheep and among the goats. Among the sheep, He will find simple deeds of kindness done for “His brothers” (we’ll talk about that in just a moment), evidence that they are rightly counted among the blessed, while among the goats, He will find a lack of such deeds, evidence that they are rightly counted among the cursed.
Now, who are Jesus’ brothers? People regularly misunderstand this parable, thinking it’s about how we treat anyone in the world. But when Jesus says, “these My brothers” (which includes both brothers and sisters, by the way), He isn’t talking about all mankind. Yes, in the sense that Jesus, like all men, was descended from Adam according to His human nature, He is the Brother of all men. But whenever Jesus talks about His brothers, He’s always talking about Christians. As He once said, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” The same goes for the whole New Testament, where the believers are referred to dozens of times as simply “the brothers” or “the brethren.”
So, in the parable, Jesus first addresses His brothers, that is, His sheep. Come, you who are blessed by my Father! St. Paul uses the same word “blessed” in Ephesians 1 to describe God’s treatment of us in Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.
On the Last Day, the King will confer on His believers that ultimate blessing for which we were chosen before the foundation of the world. He says, Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. The Day of Judgment is, then, a purely joyful day for those who are faithful until the end. No former sins will be recalled or mentioned. No guilt will be imposed. Only the joy of finally receiving the inheritance that has been promised to believers since the beginning.
And why are they invited to inherit this kingdom? Or rather, what is the evidence that proves the King right in giving it to them? For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.’
Those words are confusing to the sheep in the parable, because they know very well they didn’t do any of things for Jesus. We’ve never even seen Him with our own eyes, much less given Him material help in need. But the King explains: Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me.
Now, Jesus could have mentioned many good works done by His believers. He could have commended them for loving and honoring His Word and teaching, or for suffering patiently under the cross, as He does in the Book of Revelation with the faithful churches. But here He chose to mention and to highlight those simple acts of kindness done toward His brothers, toward their fellow Christians. The Judge is watching how His Christians are treated. He accepts those acts of kindness done toward His brothers as acts of kindness done toward Himself, because, after all, believers are all members of one body, His body, of which He is the Head. See how much He cares for each member, how much He cares that His believers carry out His great commandment, “That you love one another, as I have loved you.”
The question is, why does Jesus tell us this parable of how it will be on the Last Day? Why does He focus only on this one thing? First, so that we see how earnest He is that His brothers be cared for in the midst of all the suffering of this world. Second, so that we might repent for ever neglecting a fellow Christian in his or her need, whether it’s the Christians in your own home, or a fellow church member, or any Christian at all who has been placed in your path to help. And, third, so that, having received His forgiveness, we might make it a top priority in our lives to do this thing that matters so much to Jesus, to care for His brothers, for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
After addressing the sheep, the King turns to the goats. Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. What horrible words to hear from the mouth of the King on the Last Day! Depart from Me, you who are cursed! Notice, by the way, that these cursed people are sent into the everlasting fire, originally prepared not for men but for the devil and his angels. Still, men will experience that eternal torment along with the devil and his angels if they are found on the left side of the King when He comes.
And why are they sent away into the everlasting fire? For I was hungry, and you did not give me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you did not take me in; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.’
Those words are confusing to the goats in the parable. What do You mean, Lord? When did we see You hurting or in need? And the King will explain: Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Again, Jesus could have mentioned any one of the sins of those unbelievers. But the only piece of evidence He needs to vindicate His own verdict as the Judge is their neglect of His brothers, their failure to do these simple deeds of kindness to His Christians.
The Judge is watching how His Christians are treated. How angry He is when the world mistreats His brothers and sisters, or in this case, even when the world fails to show them a little kindness. His people should be treated with the greatest care and respect and kindness by everyone, at all times. That’s what God commands. He knows that the world will disobey His commands, but He sends out this parable to warn the world ahead of time. “Don’t pretend you didn’t know! I will bring down all your mistreatment of My people upon your heads! Even the good you don’t do for My precious Christians, you don’t do for Me. And you will not get away with it.”
It seems right now that the world will get away with it and that Christians must be forever marginalized and isolated and mocked. But it will not always be this way. Soon the King will come and reveal His righteousness judgment. The distinction will be made between the righteous and the wicked. Until then, the Judge is watching how His Christians are treated. And even now He is sending Christians, even you, to treat His brothers and sisters with kindness and love, so that we all have all the support we need to make it safely through this life until that great and glorious Last Day, when the wicked will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Amen.
