Shepherd and Judge

2014/11/23
Christ Church, Mountain Top, Christ the King

Prayer,
Psalm 100

Children,
Matthew 25.31-46

Message
(additional reading), Ezekiel 34.11-24

Compare/contrast Matthew – Ezekiel

Familiar
– unfamiliar

Future
event (stylized telling, Bruner) – Parable

Sheep/shepherd
– Sheep/shepherd

Judge
– Judge … based on how we treat the poor

Apocalyptic
– Apocalyptic

      For Matthew, the climax of the “end of the
world” sermon (5^th of 5)

      Advent – next week – always starts with
apocalyptic discourse

      Both conclude and begin the Christian year
with “the End”

      Ezekiel – apocalyptic language throughout

            Perfectly
placed prior to our weekend of consumption

            Giving
Tuesday

Focus today on Matthew, but before that …
on Ezekiel:

      Judgment (earlier in chapter) on shepherds
who “pasture themselves on the sheep” – leadership that is self-centered

      Judgment on sheep that take advantage of
other sheep – will destroy the fat and strong because they have gained their
strength by dominating the “runts”

Christmas couple with child

If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not
be heard (Prov 21.13)

Apocalypse as Good News

      Recognize that the world as we know it is
broken, needs to be set right

      To set something right, a judgment must be
made that it is broken

      “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven”

      Our Righteous Judge is also our Merciful
Shepherd

I
will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will
feed them with justice (Ezekiel 34:16)

6 acts of mercy

      Give food to the hungry

      Give drink to the thirsty

      Welcome the stranger

      Clothe the naked

      Care for the sick

      Visit the prisoners

NOTE: Nothing difficult or miraculous –
no healing, no deliverance, no new world order or social structure … as simple
(and difficult) as caring for the one person that God puts in front of you
(Bruner).

      And, not giving care in a way that
perpetuates privilege and inequality, but recognizes Jesus in the other,
recognizes a brother, a sister.

Danilo deported

Politicians and journalists can debate immigration policy, but for disciples of
Jesus there is no such luxury. We are called to “welcome the stranger” and to
find in the stranger the presence of Jesus – whether the stranger is a Latino
Pentecostal or an Arab Muslim. For Jesus, this is not about policy, it is all
about people.

Amen
I tell you: Just as you did it to one of the least [significant] of these
brothers [and sisters] of mine, you did it to me (Mt 25.40).

Novelty of the teaching – Jeremias (cited by Bruner)

            Surprised righteous

                        Not legalistic – do not
realize their righteousness or evil, p 573

            Hidden Jesus

Truly, you are a God who hides himself (Isa
45.15)

                        Not paternalistic –
equals in the presence of Jesus