The Least of These, a sermon based on Matthew 25: 31-46, preached on November 26, 2023

I once heard a story about a brand-new pastor who wanted to make a big impression during his first sermon at his new church, so that first Sunday, un-showered and unshaven, he dressed in his mangiest outfit and showed up in front of the church early, long before the service started. Pulling a knit cap over his ears, he curled up in a sleeping bag on the steps in front of the main doors of his new church. As the congregation arrived, you can imagine how this went. Not knowing who he was, and assuming he had spent the cold night out on the church steps, some greeted him compassionately. These gentle lambs invited him into the church parlor. They offered him coffee, a snack, and a clean change of clothes; while some others, having no idea that this was their new pastor who might one day visit them in the hospital or officiate their funerals, grumbled under their breath, just loud enough for him to hear those old goats express their concern about the decline of the neighborhood and criticize public transportation for bringing this kind of person to their part of town. During the prelude, imagining that their new pastor would be clean shaven and dressed in a black robe, everyone in the congregation was surprised to see the man who some had greeted with compassion and others with contempt walk down the aisle and up to the pulpit, where he quoted our second Scripture lesson from the Gospel of Matthew: Jesus said, 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… 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. Friends, when I read our Gospel lesson, it occurs to me that Jesus, like this pastor, turns the world on its head and expects us to behave differently than we often do. Today is the Sunday we call Christ the King Sunday. It’s the last Sunday of the church year before Advent begins again. Today, we remember that while there were pharaohs in Egypt who were honored with pyramids and gold, emperors who ruled the Roman Empire with impunity, and while the sun never set on the land governed by Louis XIV of France, we bow our heads before the King of Kings. The Lord of Lords. The Alpha and Omega. The Beginning and the End. Today, we say that He will reign over the nations forever, that His kingdom shall have no end, and so long as we desire to remain in His good graces, we must understand that He had no typical throne room but was born in a manger. If we want to hear Him say at the end of our days, “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” we must understand that in His lifetime, He associated with the outcasts of society, and as He died, He was executed as a common criminal with a thief by His side. Given His nature, must we push our neighbors aside to kiss His ring or bow before Him? Should we amass great riches of silver or gold to lay at His feet? Can we impress Jesus the way we impress our neighbors, with the best car in the driveway or greenest lawn on the street? As He considers those who will enter His kingdom, will He examine our resume? At the gates of Heaven, will there be one last check for our good credit score? No. A good credit score will get you a car and a mortgage, but it can’t get you into the Kingdom of Heaven. For entry into the Kingdom of Heaven, what is required, according to the Gospel of Matthew, is a letter of reference from the poor. While we can’t always impress the powers of the world this way, our second Scripture lesson makes clear what the Lord requires, for when we look into the eyes of the thirsty, the downtrodden, the lost, the afflicted, the marginalized, and rejected, we may well be looking into the eyes of Christ himself, for Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.” In other words, should you be one who lives by the dictum, “It’s not what you know but who you know,” then recognize this truth with me. Get to know the friendless and you’ll get to know the Lord. Rub shoulders with the imprisoned and make it through the pearly gates. While the hungry may not help us get that promotion, the naked can’t get our kid in the starting lineup, and the thirsty can’t help us skip the line to get a new iPhone, take Jesus at His word when He says, “When you welcome the stranger, you have welcomed me.” This morning, let us take Jesus at His word when He says that the time will come when the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and the only thing that will matter then, the factor that will set one apart from the other, is who has shown kindness to those society rejects. That’s a plain message. It’s a clear message, but it’s a countercultural message, for Jesus is always countercultural. Even here in Marietta, GA, remember that Jesus is countercultural, and the ways we’ve conformed to Marietta, GA may be habits that enable us to advance in this community, while keeping us out of the Kingdom of Heaven, for entry into the Kingdom of Heaven requires us to act differently. The followers of Jesus must learn new ways of being. Future residents of that New Heaven and New Earth can’t settle in, adopting the ways of this fallen world. Right? So, while we have these wonderful schools that will help our kids get ahead in the world, and while we pay so much attention to their grades and their extracurricular activities because we want our kids to get into Georgia, Georgia isn’t everything. Eternal life requires its own work of preparation. Now, don’t let that scare you. Heaven may be easier to get into than the University of Georgia. According to a columnist in the Marietta Daily Journal, years ago, his letter of acceptance to the University of Georgia came addressed to him “or current resident.” It doesn’t work like that these days. Kids need a tutor and a good ACT score, plus letters of recommendation. I say, help your kid get into college, but don’t forget to teach her what she needs to do to get into Heaven. Pay attention to how your kids and grandkids act around poor people. If your kids don’t know how to act around people who don’t look like them, whose parents make less money, or if your kids don’t know how to talk to their classmates who have unwashed hair, threadbare clothes on their backs, or the wrong shoes on their feet, remember what Jesus said, “Just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.” I’ve been watching too much TV lately, and so I have in my mind these plot lines I’ve seen. Have you been watching The Gilded Age? It’s just like Downton Abby, but it takes place in New York City. In the episode last week, the Duke was coming to town from England. Everyone wanted to be seated next to him, and to sit next to the Duke, you had better know which glass to drink from when and what to do with the tiny fork at the top of your place setting. In high society, knowing how to deal with silverware matters, so I want our kids to know about this kind of thing. Our daughter Lily has even been to The Social Class, which will get her far in life. Table manners will get you far. They’ll help you impress the Duke, but what about the King of Kings? Jesus won’t be checking for good table manners at the Gates of the Kingdom of Heaven. Will he? No. According to our Gospel lesson, He’ll be watching for which hungry people get fed by whom, for when we’ve fed the least of these, we’ve fed Him. Knowing that when we feed hungry people, that what we do for the least of these, we’ve done for Him, how might we better use our Saturdays? A few Saturdays ago, I took our daughter Cece to this place up near Cartersville so she could play in a basketball tournament, which lasted all day. I was glad to drive her up there. I love to watch that kid play, but at the tournament was a crowd of parents all cheering for their kids, wanting to see them do well. With that many parents and that many kids, it was a pressure cooker in there. We were yelling at the refs. Yelling at the other team. One kid’s dad got kicked out and then so did her grandma. Why? Because we want our kids to do well. We want them to make whatever team they try out for. All parents want their kids to do well because only those who can really play make the team. Yet Jesus won’t be asking anyone to make a free throw before he enters the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s not how it works. What, then, should we be teaching our kids? How should we ourselves be living? Rather than a line out the door to get them into the right preschools, there ought to be a line right around the Cobb County Jail so that we can visit the people whom Jesus calls us to visit. There ought to be a line right around the block to volunteer for the Pantry on Church, our food distribution ministry, because Jesus says, “If you’ve fed them, you’ve fed me.” We all ought to have empty closets because we clothe the naked. We all ought to be digging wells in arid regions of our world because those who give a drink to the thirsty are getting in. And those who haven’t? That’s there in verse 46: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” What a Gospel lesson this is. It’s easy to understand what Jesus means here, and it’s even easy to do what the King of Kings is expecting of us if we put our minds to it. Yet, our minds aren’t always in the right place. I told you before I’ve been watching a lot of TV. I’ve been watching too much TV, really, so I’ve moved from the good shows to the documentaries. I was watching a documentary last Wednesday morning about the holy relics of Europe. Did you know that when Notre Dame burned, the fire department had to go find the crown of thorns? For generations, believers have traveled far, gone on pilgrimages, to get close to holy relics, be it the crown of thorns or the Shroud of Turin. No doubt these are priceless items, worthy of respect and veneration, but people go miles to visit them so that they might feel close to Jesus, while Jesus says right here in the Gospel of Matthew, “When you have served the least of these, you’ve served me.” We don’t have to travel half-way around the world to be close to Jesus. We can just go next door. Around the corner. To the MUST shelter or our own Pantry on Church. We don’t have to get on a plane to get close to Jesus, for He is all around us all the time. All we must do is open our eyes and our hearts to the people our society has taught us to be indifferent to. Let’s let go of what our society has taught us about getting ahead in this world, for getting ahead in the Kingdom of Heaven comes down to how well we’ve served the least of these, for in serving them, in holding their hands, we’ve held the hands of the King of Kings. Halleluiah. Amen.