Sermon Proper 29: The Last Sunday of the Church Year
Matthew 25:31-46
Rev. Jeff Springer
Jesus telling of the final judgment scene when the Son of Man returns in glory immediately follows last week’s parable of the talents. The parable and the event that marks the end of time are related. They are related in that after a period of time there is an accounting done.
If you have ever played the game monopoly some of you know that it could take hours before a winner emerges. So many times when the hour is late the players count their colored currency and receive from the bank the value of their homes and properties to determine the result. This is not unlike real life. When a loved one dies an accounting takes place. Cash and property are counted and then divided among the beneficiaries.
What is happening at the end of time is an accounting taking place. This accounting does not assess wealth but instead trust. Trust in our Lord. The servants in last week’s parable were granted large sums of wealth to manage. It was not earned it was given to them by a generous master. The smallest sum one talent valued as much as twenty years of wages.
In a way we can look at these monetary sums as being equal to life. We need our daily bread or wages to live in this life if it means putting food on the table or affording health care.
Our generous God through His Son Jesus has given to us eternal life. This is a gift you received at your baptism when you received the priceless name of the triune God and were connected to Christ’s atoning death and resurrection. This is the equivalent of receiving thousands of talents. In trusting in this promise of God you have security in this life. Not because faith in itself makes you healthy, wealthy and wise but because you have all things in Christ. This is the freedom now that we have to keep the Lord’s word and to love our neighbor.
On the last day, or the end of the time of these heavens and earth, the Son of Man, Jesus, will be on His throne and as a shepherd separates His sheep so will the Son of Man call His sheep out of world. In this life we cannot see who is truly in the church and who is not, but what has been invisible to us and known only through faith will be made visible for all to see.
The self justifying, the independent, and the strong will be separated from those who see themselves as undeserving sinners, who are dependent on God’s grace and who are weak.
Those who are forgiven much, love much, and their faith does result in care for others. Actually it is Christ working through them to serve the neighbor. As Dr. Luther says, “Our Lord does not need our good works but our neighbor does.” In serving our neighbor we serve the Lord, but in order for us to serve we need to be served by God.
This is the secret the unwashed masses do not know. Still they seek knowledge to save themselves without Christ but this is impossible. In the end they blame God for not informing them even though the scriptures were preached and the free gifts of God were distributed in their midst.
For Christ people the last day is not an end to be feared but a beginning to rejoice. In the resurrection of the dead that precedes this judgment scene, the faithful are raised to new life to be like Christ. No longer will you sin and no longer will you feel the effects of sin. In the book of Revelation, Death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the final and eternal hell for all the enemies of God it is the outer darkness the place of gnashing of teeth, the eternal punishment.
Sin and its consequences will be forever destroyed. The enemies of Christ’s church, Satan, the hypocrites, the oppressors and those powers and authorities that oppose God will also be thrown into the lake of fire. All those not found in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire. God’s people will be delivered from this oppression. You by your baptism have been recorded in the book of life.
The resurrection of the dead will result in a new heavens and a new earth. The heavens and the earth we have now have been cursed and ruined by Adam’s sin, by our sin. Our resurrected bodies free from sin require a new home, new heavens and a new earth. St. Paul writes to the Romans that all creation groans with birth pains for the revealing of the Sons of God. The creation itself waits for its redemption it re-creation free from sin.
In Revelation 21, John has a vision of the new beginning that is inaugurated by the judgment scene. He sees the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven. Not made with human hands but created by the Divine. This will be the place and the means by which God will dwell with His people.
In this vision the Lord speaks from His throne, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:5–8)
Clearly Christ is making all things new. From the cross Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished.” This means that his work of redeeming His creation is complete. However, we have not experienced the full consummation of this work. That will be accomplished when we hear raised from the dead. “It is done.” When one work, one time, one era is finished a new one begins.
Our Jesus the Son of God shares these titles with His Father. He is the Alpha and the Omega in other words He was with the Father before creation transcending time. Next He is the beginning and the end. He was with the Father at the beginning of creation. He was creating with God and here He is at the end subjecting all enemies under His feet. The other title that He is also given and this one alone is the First and the Last, this refers to Christ’s incarnation, his death and resurrection. Jesus made himself Last and the Father exulted Him to be first born of the dead.
Christ on the throne is our King. He is our champion against all the evil of this world. He is our redeemer from the dept and guilt our sin. The Last day will be the beginning of a new day for us to live with our Lord in the Heavenly Jerusalem where we will eat from the tree of life.
Today our tree of life is the cross. And our Lord bids you to come and eat of it, his first and last body, for the forgiveness of your sins and a pledge of your resurrection. The end is just the beginning!
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