The Least of These
Rev. Mark Schaefer
A sermon in The Other Six Days series
Kay Spiritual Life Center
November 20, 2011—Christ the King/Thanksgiving Sunday
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; Matthew 25:31-46
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 • For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.
Matthew 25:31-46 • “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘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 food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And 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?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
I. BEGINNING
I may put myself at odds with a major demographic here in this sanctuary, but I didn’t get any of the hoopla over that royal wedding earlier this year. I didn’t watch it. I didn’t read any of the news reports. I understand that there was something about hats involved. I guess I feel that the whole thing is just kind of dumb. I don’t mean the wedding—I’m sure the wedding was beautiful and magical, yada, yada, yada—I mean monarchies in general.
See, I’m a democrat in that I support democracies, and a republican in that I am a supporter of republics. The Romans had the right idea when they deposed their king and founded a res publica, a thing of the people (and then they blew it a few centuries later by allowing themselves an emperor). The Dutch had the right idea when they founded themselves a republic in the 16th century but that all ended when Napoleon set up a monarchy there to give his third brother Louis something to do and to better control the province. The French themselves had the right idea in setting up their republic and getting rid of their tyrant monarchs until they blew it and allowed Napoleon to crown himself emperor. Our founders had the right idea in setting up a republic on these shores and resisting the lure of making Washington a king. It remains to be seen how long it will be till we blow it and crown someone emperor.
So, no, I am not a fan of monarchies. I don’t think I’m alone in that. There are many people who don’t like the idea. It seems anti-American to grant the right to rule to people just by virtue of their birth. We’re suspicious of things people get just by inheriting them. And then of course, we are not enamored of all the things that usually come with monarchies: top-down systems, hierarchies, patronage, and patriarchies.
II. THE PROBLEM WITH KINGS
And so, there are many people who blanch at the heavily monarchical language in the Bible, and especially on this Sunday, the last Sunday of the Christian year, Christ the King Sunday. There’s all kinds of ‘king’ language in our liturgies and in our scriptures. Lots of talk of ‘kingdoms’. In the passage tonight, we read of Jesus’ speaking of the coming of the Son of Man, who takes his place on the “throne of glory”. This king then judges among his people. It is an image that many find problematic because of how often it is rooted in a system that we find unjust.
Our aversion to monarchy actually has had a change on our theology. The Puritans who settled and established New England were all Calvinists, maintaining a strict belief in predestination. Following the American Revolution, the idea of an autocratic God, who decides arbitrarily who will be saved and who will not, was distasteful to most Americans, so much so that most of those same Puritans (who we would now call ‘Congregationalists’) abandoned predestination in favor of free will. It just seemed more democratic.
There are many Christians today who are equally put off by that idea of an authoritarian God. A God who rules with the same arbitrary power that a king does. A God who associates himself—and in this case it would be himself—with structures of power, oppression, and patriarchy. And so you see all kinds of reactions to the traditional language of the church. Instead of “Kingdom of God” you see “Reign of God”, “Dominion of God”, or as one local church has styled it “Kin-dom of God.” There is just something unpleasant about kingdoms. Many Christians are reluctant to throw their lot in with something that sounds like another excuse to oppress people. Many want some other image to identify God with, an image less associated with tyranny, oppression, and the accumulation of power for the few.
III. GOOD KINGS
I suppose those suspicions are warranted. Our experience with good kings is slight. A Google search for “good king” yielded only “Good King Rene of Anjou” from a fairy tale (that says everything right there, doesn’t it) and of course “Good King Wenceslas”. In fact, the overwhelming number of hits on that search were related to Good King Wenceslas. So, it seems that the only real good kings are from a fairy tale and an old Christmas carol.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why Good King Wenceslas is a Christmas carol in the first place, by the way? It doesn’t mention Jesus at all. Okay, it takes place on St. Stephen’s Day (December 26) and has snow in it, but beyond that, there isn’t a single mention of Jesus. No mention of the holiday. Even the secular Deck the Hall at least mentions Yule. No, all we have in this carol is the story of Wenceslas I, Duke of Bohemia, who, with his page goes and brings a poor man some food and drink. Now, it appears that Wenceslas had a pretty good reputation. The chronicler Cosmas of Prague wrote:
Rising every night from his noble bed, with bare feet and only one chamberlain, he went around to God’s churches and gave alms generously to widows, orphans, those in prison and afflicted by every difficulty, so much so that he was considered, not a prince, but the father of all the wretched. [1]
All right—he sounds like a pretty nice guy. And maybe all by himself he gives me some reason not to be so suspicious of all monarchs. But why does he get to have his song be a Christmas carol? Especially since Christ is not even mentioned in the carol?
Illustration by Kathleen Kimball
Well, it turns out that Christ is in the carol. The carol reflects a long held belief that to serve the poor is to serve Christ himself. Wenceslas is not dragging his poor page through the winter snow to bring a poor man some food and drink simply because he’s a nice guy. He’s doing it because he understands that by doing so he serves Christ. For Wenceslas, the poor man represents Christ himself.
IV. THE GOOD KING
This is the very point made in tonight’s Gospel lesson. Here we have a scene of apocalyptic judgment. The Son of Man has come and is seated upon the throne. Everything suggests the very power systems we deplore. And yet, suddenly, there is a twist. An inversion. The king rewards the righteous saying:
‘…for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’
When the righteous ask when it was that they did these things for their king, the King answers, “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Likewise the wicked, who did not do these things are told that their failure to have done them to the “least of these” was a failure to have done them to the king himself.
We are uncomfortable with ‘king’ language and imagery because other than a few fairy tale kings and Wenceslas the positive examples are few. But in Christ we see what true kingship looks like. We see what God’s kingship looks like. We do not see a kingdom of oppression, patriarchy, tyranny, and the accumulation of wealth and power to the few. We see a king who casts his lot in with the marginalized and the downtrodden. Not with the aristocracy and the nobles, not with the high and the mighty, but the lowly and the weak.
The same image is lifted up in the passage from Ezekiel when God, in the role of shepherd, declares:
Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will just between sheep and sheep.
The messianic king will feed the flock and be their shepherd.
If we are to serve such a king, then we are to do as Wenceslas did and look out for those who are the most vulnerable, who have the least power in our society. For those are the ones with whom Christ has thrown in his lot. By serving them we serve Christ.
V. THANKSGIVING
In addition to being Christ the King Sunday, today is Thanksgiving Sunday, if you couldn’t tell that by the scent of turkey and stuffing wafting up from the lounge downstairs. The Sunday before a day on which we give thanks for all that we have been given: food, shelter, work. We have much to be thankful for. We have much that we have been blessed with.
But it is important to ask this question: to what end have we been blessed? Are we blessed simply because we deserve the blessing? No, our blessings are for some purpose. When God calls Abraham and blesses him, God does so in order that through Abraham “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Our blessings are not rewards and they are not for us alone. We are blessed in order that we might be vehicles of God’s blessing for the whole world.
And so we begin by serving those who are the most vulnerable. The hungry and the homeless. Those who are without adequate food and shelter. The veteran who has found himself on the street after having served his country. The young mother who could not pay the rent and lives with her children on the street or in one shelter after another. The white-collar employee suddenly found without means, carting his belongings along in a shopping cart and sleeping on heating grates. These are the ones we are called to serve. These are the ones who represent Christ for us, just as the unnamed poor man represented Christ for St. Wenceslas.
It is worth pointing out that Christ does not simply provide an alternative model for kingship, Christ provides an alternative model for all human systems. For, as much of a fan as I am of republics over monarchies, they are just as much a part of the same systems of oppression and power as any kingdom. There are still political and economic systems that keep people in poverty, that are tyrannical to the poor.
To serve Christ we not only serve the poor and homeless as individuals, but as those stuck in systems of inequity. And this requires us to think outside of the box that we are accustomed to thinking in. We can continue to donate money and clothing for those without food and shelter—and we should continue to do those things—but we also need to look at ending homelessness systematically. One of our partner congregations, Foundry United Methodist Church, has committed itself to ending homelessness in the District of Columbia. It is doing this by lobbying the city council to provide more affordable housing for the working poor. It is converting an old church into affordable housing units. It is seeking to attack homelessness on a foundational level. It is in ways like this that we declare loyalty not to the structures and systems of the world, but to Christ’s Kingdom and to the king who is at its center.
We need not shy away from proclaiming Christ our king, for when we do we are not proclaiming a king like the kings we human beings set up. No, we proclaim a king who turns the systems of our world on their heads. A king who challenges all the principalities and powers with a vision of grace and love for all. A king who declares solidarity with the those who hunger and thirst, the imprisoned and oppressed, the sick and the downtrodden. A king who has blessed us in order that we might be a blessing to others. A king whom we serve, when we serve the ‘least of these.’
