Did you know that this Sunday is the last Sunday of the year?  No, I’m not talking about the calendar year.  We have to wait another 6 weeks or so for that.  I’m talking about the church year.  Each new church year starts not on New Year’s Day, but with Advent, a 4-week season of preparation for the celebration of the Christ Child that begins in late November or early December.  Each church year takes us from that tender birth in a manager in Bethlehem through Jesus’ earthly life to the cross and the resurrection and, finally, to Jesus' "second coming" as our judge.  Along the way we refresh ourselves with “the old, old story” of God’s love for us and challenges to us. 

This last Sunday in the church year is traditionally called Christ the King Sunday.  Here we have come to the end of time and see Jesus as the judge of us all.  The picture here is of Jesus as the Christ in heavenly glory; a figure of awesome power and majesty seated on the judgment throne.  It is appropriate for us to have those kinds of images of Jesus in our mental photo album along with the pictures of the child in the manger, the loving teacher and healer, and the suffering servant on the cross.  Jesus is our closest friend and companion, but Jesus is also our Lord and our God!

The character of Jesus on the judgment seat is exactly the same as the character of Jesus the teacher and healer who walked the earth 2,000 years ago.  Then he taught people hungry to hear about the love of God.  He demonstrated that love by healing the sick, feeding hungry crowds, reaching out to those nobody else cared about, and by rejecting abusive systems that kept people away from God’s love — such as the money changers in the temple and religious leaders who constructed rigid systems impossible to live by.

When you consider how Jesus lived out his life here on earth the questions he will ask each of us to separate the “sheep” who are in from the “goats” who are out should come as no surprise.  His list of ultimate questions doesn’t have much at all to do with our little laundry lists of “sins.”  Neither will he ask us how many times we went to church or how many boards and committees we sat on, although those are all good things.  Certainly he is not going to be interested in our money, our nice house, our beautiful car, our investment portfolio, or our gym-toned bodies — all of which will by then have rotted away.

These ultimate questions really boil down to just this:  “How did you treat my children?  Did you do what I did?  Did you feed my hungry ones?  Did you comfort and care for my children who were ill?  Did you care for my rejected ones, like those in prison?  Did you welcome my lonely ones who came to you as strangers?”

So now our annual cycle of telling the old, old story comes to an end.  It ends with that common thread that runs through all of the story from beginning to end:  “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”

revclay

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[Jesus said] “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.” 

  [NRSV]