Text: Matthew 25:31-46
Date: November 8, 2020
Event: Last Judgment Sunday (Second Sunday of End Time), Year A
Matthew 25:31–46 (EHV)
31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. 36I was lacking clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or lacking clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40“The King will answer them, ‘Amen I tell you: Just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the Devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you did not give me food to eat. I was thirsty and you did not give me anything to drink. 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, lacking clothes and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not take care of me.’
44“Then they will also answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or lacking clothes or sick or in prison and did not serve you?’
45“At that time he will answer them, ‘Amen I tell you: Just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ 46And they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Judgment Is Coming! Don’t Be Afraid!
There’s a lot to be said for certainty. There can be some fun and exciting things around spontaneity and unplanned events. But, I think for a lot of us we feel much more comfortable with the known rather than the unknown. Depending on the situation, I often find myself wanting to know what’s going to happen more than wanting a particular outcome to happen. Good or bad, I just want to know what we’ll be dealing with.
We’ve been living that this week to a certain extent, right? For the longest time in recent memory, we’ve had an election in our nation outstanding, with presidential results finalizes just a little over 24 hours ago after a long week of vote counting. Whether your preferred candidate or issue was going the way you wanted or not, there is something to just having certainty. At some point, perhaps we stop caring as much about who wins or what passes, but just want to know what we’ll be facing in the future.
But uncertainty is not just a byproduct of an election or a pandemic or other big-picture things in our lives. We have continual uncertainty about big and small things alike: our job, our vehicle, our home, our relationships, or just about anything. Uncertainty and the fear that can come with that is a byproduct of sin, and it’s a byproduct that will continue to be with us as long we live in this world.
Which makes what is before us today so comforting and uplifting. As we crave certainty, God gives us certainty in two important places: First, the final judgment is coming. It will not be a surprise and it’s not an open question as to whether or not it will come. Judgment Day is absolutely coming. But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, as you look ahead to the certainty of Judgment Day, you look ahead with the certainty that you do not need to be afraid.
In our Gospel for this morning, Jesus is wrapping up a conversation with his disciples specifically about the end times and the end of the world just prior to his arrest and execution. No longer is he reaching out to the leaders of the people and others who hate and despise him. This is comfort just for the inner circle, just for his followers. So this morning, let’s find ourselves in their midst.
The disciples were concerned and they were scared. They were scared about what was going to happen to Jesus because he had been clear with them that he would soon suffer and die. They were concerned about what they would mean for them as his followers. They were concerned just like anyone might be when thinking about their deaths or the end of the world at large. And so Jesus describes the final judgment as comfort to his worried disciples.
The first comfort and certainty is clear: judgment is coming and there is only One who will be the judge: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. In the end, all the blustering and stammering of earthly powers and false teachers will be silenced. Jesus will return, every knee will be bent to him in reverence, every tongue will be forced to acknowledge him as King overall. Jesus will come and end all of this. The time of judgment is not a fairy tale or a metaphor. This is an actual event that will actually happen.
And the judgment will mean the entire population will be separated into two groups: sheep and goats, those who trusted in Jesus as their Savior and those who did not. There is no gray area, there is no in-between. Just the two groups, sheep or goats. The sheep enter eternal life, and the goats go to eternal punishment in hell.
And Jesus makes it clear to the sheep how they got to this position: Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. This eternal life is something that God had prepared and provided for them. This was not something that they built or that they bought or that they prepared. This eternal reward is not about them being good enough—it was about their Savior being good enough in their place.
This is true for you and me as well. We are among the sheep, not because of choices that we have made or things we have done, but because this was prepared for us. We did not earn it or buy it; it has been given to us. Our sin had excluded us from any blessing from God, but Jesus forgave our sin by his death on the cross. The Judge died to save the guilty. We are saved because of his love for us.
But notice how the Judge speaks. He doesn’t specifically point to faith, which only he could see. Because this is the public proclamation of hidden things, he points to the actions taken by the sheep, which everyone could see, as evidence for the ruling. The Judge claims that he was hungry, thirsty, naked, etc. and the sheep tended to his needs. The sheep are taken aback. When had they ever seen the Judge in need and help him? But Jesus makes it clear that any time that they had done this for any other person, any of their “neighbors,” that is, anyone else at all in the human race, they were doing it for him.
That speaks to the life of good works Jesus has been encouraging us toward throughout our Gospels this fall. Good works for a Christian are not done to get something from God; they are done because God has given us everything. And good works are not restricted to things we specifically do for God. Good works are not only offerings given to the support the gospel message, prayers and praise uttered in church or in our day-to-day lives. Good works—acts of thanksgiving to God—are accomplished in simple, selfless things done for others. The sacrifice of a bit of food or drink (or the resources to get the same), a bit of time, or a kind word. Empathy for those who are suffering hardships and emotional turmoil that you seek to understand but don’t feel yourself and sympathy for those whose suffering with sorrow present in your heart. All of these things are the ways that we serve each other and thank God: “Just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.”
As we said last week in our celebration of the Reformation, we are saved through faith alone, but that faith is never alone. Good works of thanksgiving are always part of the Christian’s, the sheep’s, life because they recognize what debt has been paid for them. We know our sin. We no that no effort or work on our part could have ever done anything to get rid of any of that. But we also know that our Judge has freed us from sin by his life and death for us. There is no doubt or uncertainty about the outcome of his work. His empty tomb is proof positive of his victory. His ascension assures us that his work on earth was completed. And his eventual return at Judgment Day will be the visible proof of what we’ve only seen with the eyes of faith through the Scriptures.
A candidate in an election—even if they’re projected to win in a landslide—is still going to look at the results of the vote with some fear and trepidation. What if the polls and probabilities were wrong? You do not approach Judgment Day with the same fear or trepidation. There’s no question what the verdict will be because Jesus’ work on your behalf has justified you—declared you “Not Guilty!” Your Judge is the one who paid for your crimes. Your Judge will be the one to bring you to your eternal home.
In a world with seemingly no certainty about anything, take this comfort this morning. Your Savior has lived and died for you. Because of that, you are one of his precious sheep who will inherit the kingdom of God the Father for eternity. Let your absolute confidence shine in your actions and words in this life. Serve your fellow people with a self-sacrificing love knowing that these actions not only serve your neighbor, but also thank your God. What you do for the one the least of these, you do for him. Thanks be to God, our Savior, Judge, and King! Amen.
