✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum
Matthew 25,31-46 5415
Vorletzter Sonntag des Kirchenjahres 071 (26. Trinitatis)
Desiderius, Bishop of Cahors, France ✠ 654
Albertus Magnus, Bishop of Regensburg (1260-63), ✠ 1280
Johannes Kepler, Mathematician and Astronomer, ✠ 1630
15. November 2015
1. O Merciful and Gracious God, Thou our Judge and Savior, we pray: put forward Your justice and justification in this fallen world so that the wicked are punished for their crimes and sinners are absolved of their sin. (VELKD Prayer for Vorletzter Sn. d. Kirchenjahres § 1). Amen.
2. „When the Son of Man arrives in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will be seated on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right: ‘Enter, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the reign 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 drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you went to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ And the King will answer them: ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.’ Then He will say to those on His left: ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, 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 no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer, saying: ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying: ‘Truly, I say to you, 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.“
3. One single word separates the two groups before Jesus in Matthew 25, and that word is: inherit. The words spoken to both groups follow the same pattern: enter/depart, blessed/cursed, heavenly reign/eternal fire. The only difference is that Jesus tells those who are blessed: inherit the heavenly reign, but to those who are damned: depart to the fiery hell. It is precisely this verb, inherit, that assures us that entrance into heaven is by God’s loving grace and not by the good works commanded by the law.
4. People will wind up in hell because they will have earned it. Those who refuse to believe in Jesus and reject the forgiveness He freely gives to all the world by grace will have earned their place in hell. Those who want to separate themselves from God and every vestige of His existence will get what they desire, for hell is the one place in all of creation where God has removed His presence. To such people the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 11 apply: »Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you« (Matthew 11,21-24).
5. But it need not be this way. Jesus entered this fallen world in order to redeem every man and woman. Jesus died on the cross in our place to be the vicarious sacrifice who as the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. Jesus promises us: »Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light« (Matthew 11,28-30).
6. Saint Paul speaks of this light burden and easy yoke: »We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because no one will be justified by works of the law« (Galatians 2,16). The inheritance Jesus promises us is justification and eternal life, and this inheritance is received by faith alone.
7. Faith receives Jesus, and in receiving Jesus we also receive our fellow Christian brothers and sisters. We live in a time that is becoming similar to the time of Jesus: the world is bolstered in persecuting Christians with renewed vigor. Not that the world ever stopped persecuting Christ’s Church, but now the authorities that once kept such persecution at bay have been removed or weakened. Western democratic societies that once revered Christianity are more and more the very agents of ever-increasing persecution of Christians, their values and the Church. How one treats Christians and the Church is how one treats Christ, for Christ and His people are inseparably linked together by His blood and testament.
8. As we slough ever forward to the last day when Christ will return, we find that the world will mistreat, persecute and martyr Christians. It is happening in greater frequency in the Middle East and even frequently in Western nations. Persecuted Christians will be hungry and thirsty, outcast and destitute, sick and imprisoned. Many times such state of affairs will be the direct result of persecution for their faith as Christians and the Church will bear the brunt of the world’s hatred of Jesus Christ. We have seen this unfold as Christians in the Middle East are imprisoned, threatened, martyred or forced to immigrate elsewhere solely because of their faith in Jesus.
9. We are in this together as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Ben Franklin said at the Continental Congress: „We must hang together, gentlemen, or else we shall most assuredly hang separately“ (Continental Congress, 1776). Christians must stick together for the same reason. Jesus spoke of the last day on Maundy Thursday when He comforted the apostles by saying: »If the world hates you, then know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, then the world would love you as its own; you are not of the world, for I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. If they persecuted Me, then they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, then they will also keep your word« (John 15,18-20). »They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is arriving when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor Me. A little while, and you will see Me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see Me« (John 16,2-3.16). »I have said these things to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have triumphed over the world« (John 16,33). »This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another« (John 15,12-17).
10. The Apostle John commented on these words of Jesus in his epistle: »Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in Jesus and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the True Light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever« (1. John 2,7-11.15-17).
11. Eternal life is determined by what is done: the law says by what we have done, but the gospel says by what Jesus has done. The Calvary cross became the great crossing of the law and the gospel. As man, Jesus represented all men and women when He bore their sinfulness. As God, His sacrifice effected all people. Jesus received what every man and woman deserves for what they have done in their body. Jesus bore this sin, paid the redemptive price for it and covered the demands of the law. Jesus was judged and condemned so we would not be.
12. We receive this gospel by faith. When we finally stand before Jesus and His judgment seat we will stand there as inheritors of God’s heavenly reign. We are saved by Him and His good merits recognized by the law. Jesus declares us righteous because He has made us righteous.
13. We do not, however, ignore our neighbor. We help and attend neighbors when they are in need. This happens as a result of faith doing works of love. Jesus reminds us that many times we will be oblivious to doing these works on behalf of our neighbor as they are just what the faithful who believe in Christ do.
14. As this world’s days get shorter and darker, we will have more opportunities to faithfully love our fellow Christians. May the Holy Spirit grant us the strength and courage to stand with our brothers and sisters in the faith. We know and believe that Christ Jesus stands with them, and with us, this day and in the tribulation yet to arrive. »By this we know love, that Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters in the Christian faith. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? For this is His commandment: that we believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us. Whoever keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that God abides in us, by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us« (1. John 3,16-17.23-24). For the Holy Spirit comforts us with this promise: »Enter, you who are blessed by God the Father, and inherit the reign He prepared for you from the foundation of the world.« Amen.
15. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge of all mankind, You declare us righteousness so that we inherit it as a merciful gift from Your hands that bear the marks of the cross and then do good works of love for our neighbors. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
Soli Deo Gloria
✠
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.
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