Oops… I do realize it has been a while since I lasted posted a sermon. Uffda! Sorry about that.
–Lyle
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“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.”
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Grace to you and Peace, from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ our risen Lord and Savior, Amen.
Sheep and goats. Sheep and goats. After reading this listen, I’d imagine if everyone is asked, do you want to be a sheep or a goat, most everyone will answer “Sheep! Sheep!” Sheep go to Heaven. Goats go to hell.
As a pastor, I really do grow tired of talk of life after death. What is that you say? What? But you are probably all thinking, “the message of Christianity is if you believe in Jesus when you die, then you go to Heaven when you die.” The Christian Faith is a little bigger than that. Well, there is an entire set of books in the Bible, most of which have nothing to do with this message.
“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.” Now, I don’t want to avoid the text… this is a text about our fate. Sheep and goats. Somehow, we are judged. This is a text about eternal punishment and eternal life.
Eternal punishment. Presumably, this is Hell. The word typically translated as Hell in the New Testament is “Gehenna.” I like to talk about this word mainly because it destroys what we know or what we think about the concept of Hell. Most of us have in our mind the image of Hell being something after we die, if we are not judged worthy, to be a fiery place somewhere below the ground ruled over by Satan. We have in our head something like the painting that is on the cover of our bulletins. Notice the people to the left of Jesus are suffering and in torment. The people on the right of him, they seem to be doing just fine. Some of them are even praising Jesus. Well, I don’t eternal punishment doesn’t work that way. It’s not very scriptural.
The word Gehenna doesn’t mean the kind of Hell we think it does. “Gehenna” was a valley outside of Jerusalem. There are two things about it that are noteworthy. First… it is historically thought of as the place in Old Testament times where followers of Ball sacrificed their children by fire. Baal was the rival God to the God of Abraham… so these folks were enemies to the Israelites. Second, there is another theory. Gehenna was a place outside Jerusalem which became the trash heap for the city. It was their version of the burn pile. It was the trash heap. So, when Jesus said it is better for you to pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin than it is for your whole body to be thrown into Hell, this is what he was referring to.
I want to share with you a story which I think illuminates eternal punishment. Before my mother went back to teaching she managed a group home of special needs individuals. All of the persons in the home were of retirement age. They were all in their 60’s or above. There were many colorful residents with some wonderful personalities. One of them was Albert. Albert was about 85. He looked and played the part of a cute little old man with glasses. One of the things Albert did was, well, things ended up in his pocket. If something was small or shiny, it found its way into Albert’s things. When staff would clean his room they would end up finding many things that were not his. Staff would end up playing little games with him… and they would leave in plain sight of him, little toys or trinkets. They would see how long it would take for him to pocket them. Now, when Albert took something, sometimes the staff would ask him where he found it. Albert’s answer was always the same. He would answer in an exclamatory voice… “I found it in the gosh darned trash can!” The gosh darned trash can. It might not be a surprise to you… he didn’t say “gosh darned.” He said something else. I just will spare you all those words and refrain from using them in the pulpit.
The gosh darned trash can. That is eternal punishment. Being in the trash can. Not some fiery Hell below our feet being ruled over by Satan. No. Being in the gosh darned trash can. Separated from God, and separated from other people.
So why am I tired of our faith being so focused on life after death? It is primarily because it takes the focus off of here and now. It puts us into a future mode of there and then. Some day in the future when we die… instead of what Jesus was talking about… which was actually doing stuff while we are living. Being focused on Sheep and Goats takes the focus away from what Jesus says to do… Give the hungry food, give the thirsty something to drink, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, take care of the sick, visit the ones in prison. It’s right there. Plain as day.
See, when we take our eyes off of the prize, when we instantly go to that equation of Jesus = Heaven when we die, we end up becoming the goats. All that matters is Heaven. The devil has already tricked us.
This leads us to the Gospel message found in the text. Remember that as Lutherans, we believe we are both saint and sinner. As such, to put it in Matthew’s terms, we are both sheep and goat. The goats in us are indeed condemned. But therein is the Gospel. We know we do not measure up. Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead for the sheep. Jesus was raised from the dead for us when we are goats. It is Jesus who eliminates the effects of our sinfulness. It is Jesus who cares for us when we are hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison. It is we who have first been cared for.
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
