Reflection for North Balwyn Uniting Church
The Reign of Christ, 26^th of November 2023

Matthew 25:31-46

To make a massive generalisation, I believe that Christians can be divided into ‘John 3:16’ or ‘Matthew 25’ believers. John 3:16, as you know, says, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.’ It suggests that eternal life is a result of faith, of believing in the Son of God. Matthew 25, however, ends with today’s prophecy of the coming of the Son of Man in glory, and it says that the righteous will go into eternal life because of how they treat ‘the least of these’. As you can imagine, ‘John 3:16 Christians’ emphasise orthodoxy, right belief, and think that the church should prioritise evangelism. ‘Matthew 25 Christians’ emphasise orthopraxis, right conduct, and think that the church should prioritise acts of charity.

The Uniting Church is, I would argue, a Matthew 25 church, and the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania is a particularly Matthew 25 Synod. If you were to check out the ‘About Us’ tab on the Synod’s webpage you would find ‘Our Calling’ described thus:

to preach Christ the crucified and risen one and confess him as Lord; to bear witness to the unity of faith and life in Christ, rising above cultural, economic, national and racial boundaries; to engage in fearless prophetic ministry in relation to social evils which deny God’s active will for justice and peace; to act with God alongside the oppressed, hurt and poor; to accept responsibility for the wise use and conservation of the finite resources of this earth for the benefit of all; and to live a creative, adventurous life of faith, characterised by openness, flexibility, hope and joy.

This is immediately followed by a section on ‘community service’ which proudly proclaims that

through Uniting, the UCA is the largest non-government provider of community services in Australia, employing more than 70,000 Australians. We have a strong sense of social justice and, through our advocacy arm JustAct, actively campaign on a range of issues, including the environment, asylum seekers, fair work and gambling.

We are a Synod that emphasises orthopraxis, social justice and community service. We are a Matthew 25 church.

How does Matthew 25 tell us to live? In today’s story we see the Son of Man come in glory to judge the nations. This is an apocalyptic image, drawing on deep Jewish roots. It assumes that at the end of time an enthroned God-King will come to judge the living and the dead. Whether the world would end in judgement was not a question for Jesus and his disciples, or for Matthew and his first readers. They knew it was going to happen. The bridegroom would come and reveal that five bridesmaids were wise and five were foolish; the master would return and reveal that two of his slaves were good and trustworthy and one was wicked and lazy. The foolish bridesmaids and the wicked slave would then be cast out, not because the enthroned God-King wanted to reject them, but because they had excluded themselves by their own actions. The light of the Son of Man’s glory reveals the truth, which is what ‘apocalypsis’ means – revelation – from apó: away and kalúptō: cover. The cover is taken away and human beings are seen for who we are.

The stories of the bridesmaids and the slaves with talents were parables. Today’s story is a prophecy, and it makes clear the basis on which the inevitable judgment will be made, why five bridesmaids were wise and five were foolish, why two slaves were good and trustworthy, and one was wicked and lazy. The only remaining parabolic language is that the Son of Man ‘will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats’. ‘Shepherd’ had been used for centuries by the Jews as a metaphor for leadership and rule, and ‘separation’ was what the Creator did at creation, separating the light from the darkness, the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome, and the sea from the land. Now, as creation ends, God separates some more: the people who are blessed from those who are accursed; those who will go into eternal punishment from those who will go into eternal life.

It is important to say here that the sheep are not going to Heaven and the goats to Hell. Such ideas of Heaven and Hell came into Christianity much later. But we are meant to feel scared here. Those revealed to be sheep will ‘inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,’ while those revealed to be goats will go somewhere that human beings were never meant to enter: ‘into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’. Jesus and Matthew are using a well-known rhetorical device of placing two paths before their hearers and readers, with the consequences for taking each path made plain. We are meant to hear this story and commit ourselves to taking the path that will mean we will be judged as sheep, not goats, and inherit the kingdom, rather than being punished with the devil and his angels.

Judgement, separation into sheep or goats, entry into the kingdom prepared for humanity, is based on how people from ‘all the nations’ have treated ‘the least of these who are members of my family’. Four times the criteria of judgement are given: twice by the Son of Man, positively and negatively, once by the sheep and once by the goats: 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. Four times – to make sure that Jesus’ hearers and Matthew’s readers really, really get it. Do we want to inherit eternal life, asks Jesus? Then we know what we are to do.

Jesus is speaking to his Jewish disciples; Matthew is writing to a primarily Jewish community. For them, mention of ‘all the nations’ would primarily mean those who were not Jews. It can include Israel, but Matthew usually uses it to mean only Gentiles. If we are to read today’s prophecy in that way, then we are seeing Jews explaining to other Jews how it is that those who are not like them, not part of the people of God, can enter the kingdom. People do not need to become Jews. They will be judged on their actions, not their religion. That means that we as Christians need not worry about whether other people are Christian, because it seems that non-Christians are going to be welcomed into the kingdom ruled by the Son of Man because of their care for the least, not rejected because they do not hold the correct faith.

Most scholars, however, read this prophecy of judgement as applying to everyone, Jews as well as Gentiles, Christians as well as non-Christians, all of us. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught: ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.’ (Matthew 7:21) Here in Jesus’ very last teaching before his death he is repeating that message. It is not sufficient to say, ‘Lord, Lord’. Attending church each Sunday, studying our Bibles, praying regularly: none of this will be enough if we do not also feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, take care of the sick, or visit those in prison. In the words of the Synod’s website, it would not be enough for us to ‘to preach Christ the crucified and risen one and confess him as Lord’ if we did not also ‘act with God alongside the oppressed, hurt and poor’.

Being part of a church may not be enough, but one of the benefits of being part of a church is that we do not need to show care for the least of these on our own. This week and next we will continue to collect items for the Boroondara Community Outreach hampers. We do not all need to individually provide mental health ministry; we can support Natalie and the volunteers at BCO as they do it. Throughout Advent we will collect money for the Christmas Bowl, which will be used by Act for Peace’s partners in places like Gaza, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe. We do not need to travel round the world to demonstrate our care for others; our donations can do that for us. Through the year we have participated in the UNHCR lunches that Lynn has organised. We do not need to go to Ukraine or Afghanistan or South Sudan or Syria to support the refugees there; we can do that by eating lunch.

On this last Sunday of the church’s year we celebrate that Christ is our King, that at the end of time the Son of Man will come in glory. As we celebrate, it is important to remember that our King is a Crucified one. Immediately after today’s reading we hear, ‘When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”’ (Matthew 26:1) The King who comes in glory is the one whose broken body hangs on the cross. This is why caring for the least of these is caring for Jesus; Jesus himself was one of ‘the least of these’. We do not feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, take care of the sick, or visit those in prison primarily because we want to ‘inherit the kingdom prepared for [us] from the foundation of the world’. We do it because we know that Jesus is present in everyone in the world who is hungry, thirsty, estranged, naked, sick, or imprisoned. Our charitable giving increases at Christmas because we know that the best way to welcome the new-born baby who is our Saviour is by caring for him in the poor. We may need to wait until the end of time to see the Son of Man come in his glory. But we see Jesus every single day in the faces of those in need.

So, let us prove ourselves to be the citizens of Christ’s kingdom in our care for those in whom Christ is revealed, today, throughout Advent and Christmas, and always. Amen.