First Presbyterian Church
Serving the King
Sermon for November 20, 2005
by Pastor Susan Barnes

The title Son of Man can also be translated Son of Humanity. That title is used of a heavenly being who brings salvation and judgment. Our gospel lesson follows the parable of the talents, where the third servant who did not invest the fortune his master gave him was thrown into the cold darkness.

In the first century Greek world, people got ahead financially, socially, and religiously by doing favors for people with a higher status. The more prominent they were, the more prominent you were. The fewer people who were obligated to you, the less status you had. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Matthew 25:31-46.

31 "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. 32 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, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

34 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; 35 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, 36 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.'

37 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? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?'

40 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.'

41 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; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 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.'

44 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?'

45 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.'

46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

This ends our reading from the word of God. So we see Jesus critiques the current practice of doing favors for powerful people. This critique wasn't new with Jesus. The torah requires the chosen people to protect the widow and orphan and welcome the stranger. In Jewish tradition, the two thousand year old oral law has the Holy One saying, “My children, whenever you feed the poor I count it up for you as if you fed me.” 1

Let us listen to the choir as they invite us to reflect on what it means to be holy as they sing the Latin words for “Lord have mercy,” kyrie eleision.

Anthem Kyrie Gregorians

Let us pray. O Lord our God, you are always more ready to bestow your good gifts upon us than we are to seek them. You are more willing to give than we desire or deserve. Help us to seek that we may truly find, so to ask that we may joyfully receive, so to knock that the door of your mercy may be opened for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Son of Man, or the son of humanity, acts like a shepherd, separating the sheep and goats. I talked to a rancher who has both sheep and goats for wool and mohair, and I asked her about the differences between the two animals. The goats browse, and prefer weeds, brush, and willow. The sheep graze; they just want grass. She said that even when sheep and goats are in the same pasture, they don't flock together, unless there is danger.

The goats determine a hierarchy, and butt heads to establish who is dominant. After they are sheared, they don't smell the same to one another since their hair's gone. So they have to reestablish the hierarchy again. When its time for shearing, the rancher is careful to shear the dominant goats first, which keeps the headbutting to a minimum. Their social order is less disturbed.

The sheep don't do that as much, she said.

But the babies of both groups take up to a week to bond to their mothers and can get confused by other mothers. So the rancher separates them out as much as possible, so the lambs and kids know who they belong to. 2

So the son of Man is separating the sheep from the goats.

And the big difference between those at his right hand and those at his left is that the first group fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, took care of the sick, and visited the imprisoned. The second group did not.

I've talked to some of you who fear that our consumer society does not help us do these things to care for one another. You fear that our culture fosters greed in some and creates real need in the rest.

A pastor friend of mine led an adult Sunday school class 3 and they considered the destructive effects consumerism has on their lives. Some of our responses to those problems are ineffective.

Here are three myths that some of us believe.

Myth #1. Recycling will save us. Recycling is a good thing, but it is not enough. The problem is we keep using more to begin with.

Myth # 2. Stuff (especially lots of stuff) is evil. The stuff we have served a good purpose once, although maintaining it may leave us frustrated and overwhelmed. The question we ask ourselves is do we own our stuff, or does our stuff own us? The problem isn't the stuff. The problem is figuring out what is still truly valuable.

Myth #3. The problem is that people just want to make more money. Actually the problem is that people want to make more money relative to everyone else. One economist fears that when offered the choice, people would rather make $100,000 as long as everyone else was earning $90,000, rather than $110,000 if everyone else was earning $200,000. To him, rank, not wealth, is more significant to human beings. 4 The problem is, like the goats, we want to establish dominance.

But we have to be careful how we label who is a sheep and who is a goat. I knew a man who was concentrating very hard on the fast track, who rarely saw his family. I was concerned for him because his priorities seemed skewed. Then I found out that his wife had an ongoing medical condition that required major surgery and rehabilitation every 5 years, and ongoing physical therapy. Even with good insurance, their medical bills were quite high. He wasn't buying expensive gadgets, just medical care.

Labeling is not up to us, its up to God.

Our behavior is up to us. The Bible encourages us to behave as stewards. “Stewards recognize that the earth is the Lord's and all that is in it (psalm 24). That means the steward is the Lord's as well. Stewards act as servants of the Lord, and build on the gifts they have received to bear witness to the love, mercy and grace of the One who creates, redeems and sustains the world.” 5

Establishing dominance and doing favors for the powerful works for goats, but it isn't the behavior the king prefers.

In our gospel lesson, the sheep--the righteous at his right hand—are surprised to learn that they have been helping the king; they thought they were helping the hungry and welcoming the stranger and visiting prisoners.

And the goats on the left are surprised to find that when they ignored the needy, it was as if they ignored the king.

The king is powerful, but identifies with the powerless. The sacraments remind us what is valuable. In the Lord's Supper, we share a meal together. As a sign of our unity, we all eat the same thing together. In baptism, we celebrate being a part of the same family. Both sacraments remind us of God's self-giving love and God's grace.

1 Mekilta on Deuteronomy 15.9, quoted in Hellenistic Commentary to the New Testament, p. 145. #187.

2Carmen Buber, of Baker City. Personal communication , 11-16-05. She has Katadin sheep, Shetland fiber sheep, and Angora goats (for mohair, not angora, which comes from rabbits.

3 Skip Jackson, “Stewardship vs. Consumerism,” Life and Times of Indianola Presbyterian Church, Nov. 2005, p. 1-2.

4 Frank, Robert, Luxury Fever, quoted in “Don't Buy These Myths; eleven misconceptions that make us slaves to desire” by Kathy Madison, Utne Reader, June 18, 1999.

5 Skip Jackson, “Stewardship vs. Consumerism,” Life and Times of Indianola Presbyterian Church, Nov. 2005, p. 2.