May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
Amen.
Well, happy Christ the King Sunday.
This is sort of like the New Year's Eve of the church year.
This is the last Sunday we have in year A. This is the last Sunday we'll be reading exclusively
from Matthew's Gospel, and we always get this last parable on judgment.
Christ the King Sunday came about in the 1920s during the rise of nationalism, right after
the Great War, World War I, the war that was supposed to end all wars.
The Pope at the time, Pope Pius, thought that Christ the King Sunday would combat nationalism.
It was a great idea, but nationalism, for better and for worse, is still very much a
part of our global politics today.
Nationalism is sort of this idea that our nation is better than your nation, and we're
going to prove it.
In 1970, the church moved Christ the King Sunday to the last Sunday in the church year.
And again, like I said, we get this image of Christ judging the nations by separating
the sheep from the goats.
Now, in the United States, we don't really have a, how do I say this, a history of the
monarchy.
We actually are a country because we didn't like the idea of a king or a king ruling us.
We thought that the monarchy, as it was, gave too much power to one person, and so we created
this republic.
And so other than watching the crown on Netflix, we don't really have a good grip on what's
going on here.
Our Jewish ancestors learned that a monarchy isn't necessarily the best way to go about
things.
They learned the hard way.
They learned that too much power in human hands can be dangerous.
Even the best king of the Israeli monarchy ends up falling, King David.
He kills someone to get what he wants.
King Solomon, another great king, is a little lax in how he governs and lets people worship
other gods, which leads to a civil war.
So in short, these kings, even the best of them, even the best rulers of this earth,
let power go to their heads, which leads to a downfall.
So Jesus, Christ the king, is set in contrast to the kings of this world.
He is a different kind of king.
For him, power is something that is not gathered or gained.
It's something that you give away.
Power is something that is given away.
Christ the king says, if you want to serve me, go and serve food to the hungry.
If you want to give me a gift, lay it at the feet of an orphan.
If you want to shower me with words of praise, encourage someone this world has forgotten
or beat down.
If you want to spend time with me, hang out at the homeless shelter or prison.
If you want to shake my hand, then sit at the bedside and pray with someone who is sick
or lonely.
That's how you can serve me.
Now we should be careful not to turn this lesson or this idea into a prescription to
get right with God.
Jesus has made us right with God.
That is the good news of the gospel.
We can easily turn this into a to-do list.
We can go through the motions and not be changed.
This parable is really descriptive of what it means to know that God has made us right
through Christ.
This parable is descriptive of what it looks like to live toward Christ.
These works of mercy, these works of charity that these sheep perform are the result of
knowing God's blessing, not the cause.
They are the fruit of knowing that they are blessed by God.
We don't do things so that we will get blessed.
We do these things because we know that we are a blessing.
These are the fruit of the knowledge of God's love for us.
Jesus, Lewis, who the church celebrated this week on the liturgical calendar, said it like
this, the Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but God will
make us good because he loves us.
That's why we gather in church from week to week to remember that God loves us, to remember
our blessing, to remember that we belong, that we are invited to this great banquet
that Jesus is talking about in today's parable.
We also gather to remember that not all the sheep are here, but some are wandering off,
to remember that Jesus goes to find those lost sheep who were among the poor whom the
world has forgotten.
Jesus is among those who have forgotten about him.
Jesus is going to be with those who do not know him or do not know his love.
Here at Ascension, we do this in several different ways.
Out of your own way in your work or your school or your leisure life, we have programs that
help you do this, help you find Jesus among those whom the world has forgotten.
Right now, our Giving Hope ministry for the month is through our Angel Tree program.
We're partnering with Greater Birmingham Ministries to make sure families in our community can
give presents to their children.
Obviously, Santa Claus brings presents to everyone, but moms and dads like to bring
presents to their children too.
We help parents in the community give presents to their children.
Through the Abbey, we meet Christ in the face of the hungry men and women who come for food
every week.
The same through First Light Shelter, the women and children there.
Our pastoral care team regularly checks in on those in our parish community who are homebound.
And our youth group wrote cards to our homebound this past week.
I don't know if Christ the King Sunday can totally combat nationalism, but it's a really
good message, especially to hear right now, that our allegiance ultimately belongs to
Christ.
Our gathering here on Christ the King Sunday can help us remember our common humanity,
regardless of what flag hangs in the courthouse square.
Reminds us to seek the face of Christ and all people, regardless of what race someone
might identify with.
To remind her to live into our baptismal call to respect the dignity of every human being,
regardless of their gender or identity.
Yes, we can still be proud to be from the United States, still be proud to enjoy the freedom
that many have fought and died for.
But we can no longer remain blind to how even the best countries in this world fall short
of the Kingdom's call.
We can no longer remain blind to how our earthly allegiances, and I'm not just talking about
America, but our allegiances to football or our allegiances to entertainment can get in
the way to our allegiance to Christ the King.
Because above all, that is where we are called to serve Christ the King.
And the hope is that we grow the more and more we return to Christ the King, that we
grow more and more proud of our citizenship as members of Christ's heavenly kingdom,
until that day when all nations and all races gather once and for all around the one true
King, Christ the Lord of all.
Amen.
And now we proclaim our faith with the words of the Nicene Creed.