Sermon for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Trinity
2 Thessalonians 1:3-10 + Matthew 25:31-46
So much time has been spent on election stuff. It has been all-consuming for a lot of people in our country, and the nastiness that preceded the election on the Right and on the Left, and the juvenile protests and the reprehensible riots that have continued after the election are just more evidence of the fact that our country, our human race, our world itself is ripe for judgment.
It’s time to stop dwelling on election day and start preparing for Judgment Day. Once again, the annual lectionary that the Christian Church has used for hundreds and hundreds of years helps us to do just that. The Holy Spirit sets this parable before us today of the sheep and the goats. Judgment is coming! And every soul must be prepared. Judgment is coming, and God will not permit any protests on that day when Christ the King descends in majesty, when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and He takes His place on His glorious throne, in the sight of all flesh.
We know, by faith, that Christ already sits on His throne and rules over all things for the benefit of His saints, His dear Christians. But now is not the time for us to see it. Jesus tells this parable about the sheep and the goats to give our faith something firm to cling to, to assure us that, despite everything we now see, He will most surely reveal His throne to us one day, on the Last Day. Then we will see the reality. Then we will see what has been true all along. And His saints will be blessed forever. And His enemies will be cursed forever.
But take note how Jesus describes His saints in this parable, and how He describes His enemies. First, there is a separation of the two. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. That separation is another thing that’s already a reality now in God’s sight, but we can’t necessarily see it. We can see who claims to be a Christian at the moment, and who doesn’t. But we can’t see which of those claiming to be believers in Christ are actually pretenders, or which ones will fall away, and we can’t see which of those who are currently not Christians will eventually be converted before the Last Day. All of that will be made visible when Christ comes in His glory. The separation will be clear, and it will be permanent.
Then notice the criterion Christ says He will use at the Last Judgment: the good that people did or failed to do for “these My brethren.” To the sheep He says, Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ And to the goats He says, Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’
You won’t understand this parable at all if you don’t understand who are the “brethren,” or the brothers of Jesus.
Some people would like to stretch the term “brethren” to apply to all people, making all people on earth the brothers and sisters of Christ and of Christians. They say, “See! You’re supposed to see Jesus in all people and take care of all people, especially the least: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned.” They insist that the purpose—even the primary purpose! —of the Christian Church is to do social work and to seek social justice. Just this week, after the election results came in, the Bishop of El Paso expressed his concern over Mr. Trump’s potential treatment of “our brother and sister refugees and migrants” and “our brothers and sisters who are Muslim.”
Don’t be led astray by these false teachers. Throughout the New Testament the phrase “the brethren of Christ” is used as a synonym for “Christians.” The baptized. The saints. The writer to the Hebrews says, Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. “Those who are being sanctified,” through faith in the blood of Christ—those are the ones Christ is not ashamed to call brethren.
So this whole parable is about the treatment of Christians in this world, from the greatest to the least. As Paul writes to the Galatians, You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. That’s why Jesus can say that whatever was done or not done to any of His Christians was done or not done to Him. Because every Christian is clothed with Christ in holy Baptism.
See how He elevates His people in this parable! In the judgment pronounced against the goats, there is no mention of their idolatry, of their misuse of God’s name, of their hatred of God’s Word—the first three commandments. Why? Because idolatry and unbelief don’t damn a person? Of course they do! There is no mention of murder or adultery here, either. Why? Because murder and adultery are not causes for condemnation in the judgment? Of course they are! But for the sake of emphasis, Jesus passes by all the idolatries and the wicked deeds of men that they commit with and against one another, and shows us what matters most to Him: His people. His beloved Christians. His dear saints. To help any of these, including the least, is the greatest work that a Christian can do. And to mistreat any of these, even the least, is cause for eternal punishment. As Jesus said earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
All this talk about work in the judgment…Was Jesus just kidding when He said that whoever believes in Him is not condemned? Was the apostle Paul lying when he wrote that “to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness”? Are we actually judged on the basis of good works done to other Christians? Or by works in addition to faith? Can unbelievers be saved if they do enough good deeds to Christians?
Once again, Jesus expects that we have been paying attention. If we ignore the rest of Matthew’s Gospel, and the other Gospels, and the book of Acts, and all the Epistles of the New Testament, and just read the verses from today’s Gospel, we might conclude that our works are everything in the judgment and that faith has almost no part. But then we would be foolish interpreters of Scripture.
Faith alone saves. Faith alone justifies. Faith is what unites us with Christ Jesus. It unites us to the death of Christ. It allows His good works to be accounted to us for righteousness. God forgives sins to all who believe in His Son. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. The Scriptures couldn’t be clearer on this point.
Those who do not know and believe in Christ cannot earn His favor by helping Christians. And those who do know and believe in Christ already have His favor. Good works are the product of faith. Good works always flow from faith, as light and heat flow from the sun. It’s what real Christians do; they love one another, without being guilted into it or forced into it. Remember what Paul wrote to the Thessalonian Christians in today’s Epistle: We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other. God Himself is responsible for that love and for the service Christians render to each other. It matters to Him, and He praises it, and He will recognize it on the Last Day.
In the same way, God will recognize the mistreatment of His people, as Paul also writes, since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. And He won’t just punish the mistreatment, but, as our Gospel declares, even the lack of good treatment of His people He will condemn when He comes.
Now, none of this means that Christians are allowed by God to mistreat unbelievers, or that Christians are to be apathetic toward the suffering of non-Christians. The commandment remains in place, “Love your neighbor”—not just your brother—“as yourself.” But today’s Gospel is not about helping your neighbor. It’s about the love that Christians show to fellow Christians, and more importantly, it’s about God’s righteous wrath and judgment against the unbelieving world for every offense they commit against His holy people.
Unbelievers had better take warning, before the Last Day and heed this call to repentance now. Because then the curse will be pronounced upon them and it will be irreversible: Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
But Christians should be greatly comforted by the coming judgment, because our curse has already been removed. In the words of St. Paul, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). Our judgment has already happened. In the words of Jesus, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
As we walk in that life, as we prepare for the day of judgment, we know we have nothing to fear, either in this life or on that day. Instead, we have everything to look forward, even the words of the King: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. What hardships and tribulations of this life can compare with that glory? Live with an eye toward that day. Live with your eyes fixed on Jesus. And remember that Jesus allows you to serve Him by serving His brethren here below, His dear Christians, here in our midst, and everywhere in world. Let His love for His brethren be reflected in your love for the brethren. And let that be the thing that people see in you and know about you—more than your thoughts about the election. Amen.
