Christ the King 2005

Ezekiel 34:11-16,20-24

Psalm 95:1-7a

Ephesians 1:15-23

Matthew 25:31-46

Christ the King Sunday is a recent addition to the church year. In 1925 Pope Pius the XI added this Sunday to the church calendar. With the devastation of World War I still fresh and the leadership of Europe in flux, the Pope wanted people to remember and recognize the rule of Christ over all creation. It was hoped that people would take a Sunday to remember that all people should submit to the Christ’s rule.

Even in America, politics are in the air with the Teapot Dome Scandal, President Harding’s own Watergate.

We all know that all leaders are not benevolent. What is that saying: “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” ? (Lord Acton)

The Israelites knew this. The book of Ezekiel is set in the time of Exile. The Israelites have been forced out of their land by the Babylonians. Now they are scattered and looking hanging on to the hope that one day they will return home.

The Exile is a result of corrupt leadership. Leaders said they worship God yet they ignored the poor, the hungry, and the struggling. Leaders who were out to fulfill their own desires while only paying lip service to God.

It is like, hmm, saying we are a “Christian Nation” while the poor get poorer, the rate of children living in poverty is sky-rocketing, and we are about to make the medical system more complicated and expensive for our elderly.

The late great Minnesotan Hubert Humphry once said:

“The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped." 1976

The Israelite leaders failed on this account. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on how our country is doing.

Ezekiel holds up the image of a good leader: a shepherd that seeks out the lost, brings back the strayed, binds up the injured, and strengthens the weak. This is the Good Shepherd. The benevolent leader king. One who is not afraid to be in the midst of the terror and the pain.

This image is re-enforced in the Gospel reading. Jesus is in the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger and the sick. Jesus is in the imprisoned. Jesus is sitting under the bridge and sleeping in the park.

This is our king. And our image of leadership. But it doesn’t stop there. God doesn’t let people of the hook. Yes, there are good leaders and bad. But as people of God we are all called to care for one another. We don’t throw up our hands and give up if the leaders are corrupt. We don’t sit back and rest if the leaders seem to be compassionate.

For we are all called to be in this together. Not just paying lip service to God, or trusting someone else will do it. But we are in this together to actively work for justice while caring for the hungry.

We do this until it is second nature.

If the bishop was here he would tell this story. Our synod has a companion diocese in Tanzania. Bishop Hougen has had the opportunity to travel there a few times. The last time he went to worship with a local congregation. After church it was time to raise money for the ministry of that congregation. So one by one people brought forth items for the auction. Chickens, a goat, bread. Finally a lady brought up an egg. One egg. It was all she had. But it was treated with great respect and auctioned off.

If you have traveled over seas you know the generosity of people who seem to live on nothing. When I was in Indonesia we would be treated to feasts wherever we went. And we were expected to eat a lot! This was hard as we learned that the food before us was probably the villages food for a week or longer. But our hosts would be insulted if we did not eat.

Closer to home, my sister was helping distribute meals after her Texas town was inundated by hurricane victims. She was constantly overwhelmed by the generosity of folks. One gentleman came by, in a well worn outfit and handed over some bags of groceries. He said, “My wife sent me to the store, so I just bought two of everything. Here you go.”

It wouldn’t matter to these people if their leaders were corrupt. Okay, it would hopefully affect their local politics and their voting. But they would still be generous. Not until it hurts, but until it feels good (I stole that line from the Bishop too!). These people give until it is second nature. Until they are genuinely surprised that they are sheep!

So, now, it is Stewardship Sunday here at Lord of Life Lutheran. After Sunday School we will gather downstairs for refreshments. And we will hear people talk about the budget, the grants, the future. And we will ask you to be generous. To give until it feels good!

Because there is still a lot to do.

There are sheep left to find. There are hungry to feed. There are strangers to welcome and naked to clothe. There are prisoners to visit. There is still injustice and greed and inequity. We are called as people of God to acts of mercy and kindness and justice.

Christ the King would expect no less from us. And we are eager to give until it feels good, until it is as natural as breathing.

That is why, at this time of year we also like to hold up what has happened among us and in our community. It is good to see what we have done, it is good to hear how we have changed lives and how we have touched people.

Who us, sheep? Yup. Gathered by God to do God’s work. Called by the King to live out the kingdom.

It’s really not about power. We aren’t out to rule the world or even Gilbert. We would, however, like our leaders to be sheep. And I like the fact that we are being talked about as “that generous church.” Feels good, doesn’t it!

But we are called to do even more. I’m excited about that! Wait to you hear what we are going to be about in Advent! And then next year…

These are “the riches of Christ’s glorious inheritance among the saints…”

Riches that grow only when they are given away.

Let us pray: O Christ the King, continue to rule in our hearts and lives and in this place. Continue to push us to work for justice even while we care for the immediate needs of the homeless and hungry. Continue to give us glad and generous hearts that your will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. And Lord, when it comes to being sheep, we remember that there is always, always room for one more. Amen.