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Judgment Day

The Very Reverend Sam Candler
The Cathedral of St. Philip
Atlanta, Georgia
23 November 2008
The Last Sunday After Pentecost: The Feast of Christ the King
Matthew 25:31-45

Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.
Matthew 25:40

As many times as we have heard these striking and beautiful words, they still move us.

How do we see Jesus in the world? “When I was hungry,” Jesus says, “you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was in prison, you visited me. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me.”

When exactly was that? Jesus says, “In as much as you have done it to the least of these my children, you have done it unto me.”

If we dare seek Jesus in our world today, if we want to know the Christ, this beautiful parable from Matthew 25 says clearly that Jesus is with the lost, the least, and the lonely. In fact, this parable says that Jesus IS the poor, the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned.

These are not only inspiring words; they are also surprising words. They surprise us because they directly identity Jesus with the poor. The same Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” the same Jesus who said, “I am the bread of life,” the same Jesus who said, “ I am the Good Shepherd,” that same Jesus also says, “I am the poor.”

But this week, I have heard these words in a different context, in a different setting.  This week, I notice that Jesus’ words are spoken on a judgment day. “When the Son of Man comes with all his angels, then he will sit on his glorious throne… And he will say to some, come inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you. The others will go away into eternal punishment.”

The reason we read this particular gospel today is because today the Church remembers judgment day. Today is not Outreach Sunday, when we are naturally supposed to remind ourselves to remember the poor. No, today is the last official Sunday of the church liturgical year. We began the year one full year ago, on The First Sunday of Advent. That was four Sundays before Christmas. We used those four Sundays to prepare for a new beginning, the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Then the Church observed the baptism of Jesus a few days later. We read about his miracles and how he became known throughout the world.

Then the Church observed Lent and Easter, following the way of Jesus through fasting and wilderness to the Great Day of Resurrection. For seven Sundays after Easter Day, we reminded ourselves of resurrection and the resurrection life; and we celebrated Pentecost Sunday, when God’s Spirit poured forth upon the disciples. Then, for much of the church year, we read as our gospel the teachings and sayings and parables of Jesus—from June through November.

Now, we are at the end of the cycle. The full year has come round. And on this last Sunday of the church year, the Sunday which we call the Feast of Christ the King—on this last Sunday, the church reminds us of—judgment. The church does not speak about judgment a great deal, but the Church does speak about it.

This year, however, the notion of judgment might come more easily to some of us. The world of high finance and investing is being judged during these last several months. Many of us are feeling judged by our economic realities. Did we borrow too much? Were we spending irresponsibly? Were we over-valuing our possessions? Have we been trusting in the wrong assets?

The economic bust of our boon cycle can appear as a kind of judgment. It brings us back down to earth. It re-sets our reality equilibrium. Economic judgment is a re-calibration of what value really is; and we are certainly in a period of re-calibration.

But for many others of us, this economic judgment seems unwarranted and unfair. Why should some of us be losing our jobs? Some of us were performing quite well, and it was our larger business that got into financial trouble. Some of us cannot find another job. That does not seem like fair economic judgment at all. And it’s not. Some of us suffer because of the faulty decisions of someone else. These are days when decisions and judgments are being re-evaluated, re-calibrated.

We are taught to fear judgment. I do not know who taught us that. But I sure regret it; because, theoretically, judgment is a good thing. Good judgment, ideally, is simply the right decision. Good judgment is righteous judgment. Consider a good judge. We would want to appear in the courtroom of a good and righteous judge.  Ideally that judge will hear evidence and decide rightly. Good judgment is something to be welcomed.

For Christians, then, the day of judgment, should be a remarkably joyful day—not a horrible and terrible day. The right and the good will ultimately prevail.

What we are probably afraid of is this; Good judgment also reveals the truth. And it may be that we do not want all the truth revealed about us. Every one of us has something that we are probably ashamed of. In that day, we rely not only upon a truth-revealing judge, but also upon a merciful judge. That is exactly the kind of judge we know in the God of Christianity.

This parable that we read today, in Matthew 25, does not speak directly about mercy. It concludes with the sad words that those who did not feed the hungry or welcome the stranger or visit the imprisoned will go away into eternal punishment.

Nevertheless, I believe this parable does speak of a merciful element of judgment day, even of “the final judgment.” It is this: the mercy of final judgment will probably not be much different from our daily judgment. Our great judgment before Christ will probably reveal the same things we are doing on all the days before we meet Jesus on the throne. In other words, what we discover at death will probably be much like what we knew during the regular days of our life.

This parable of Jesus being with the poor only reveals what is already true in the world. People who feed the hungry and welcome the stranger already enjoy mercy. People who help other others already enjoy mercy. People who do not help others are already living in their own eternal punishment.

Remember, neither one of these two groups of people—the helpers and the non-helpers—neither group actually realized they were serving Jesus himself. Each group had to ask, “when did we see you hungry or naked or thirsty?” The helping group was not feeding and serving because they wanted the reward of heaven or because they wanted to know Jesus. They were simply serving for the sake of service. They were serving because they were already close, already close to mercy and grace. This parable reveals a last judgment that is actually just like a daily and ordinary judgment.

In short, our judgment day will be similar to the way we live.

If we feel this month under an economic judgment, perhaps that judgment is advising us how we ought to be living day by day. Perhaps that judgment is showing us what our re-calibration and re-evaluation should be like. How is that we should be living our economic and business lives?

That answer is striking and beautiful. We are in this world to seek God and to know Jesus Christ. We find Jesus when we serve the lost, the least, and the lonely. There may be more lost, least, and lonely people around us this month than last month. Yes, some of us are the lost, the least, and the lonely. We are in this world to serve them, and to serve each other.

When we do reach our next judgment, our next reckoning, our next re-evaluation and re-calibration, whether that day is tomorrow or years from now, then we will discover that those who serve others are actually serving God.

AMEN.

The Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler
Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip

Comments? Contact Dean Candler at: SCandler@stphilipscathedral.org

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