Sermon; Christ the King; Deacon Sue

Today is the last Sunday before the New Year.  Yes, we seem to have many 'new' years in our lives.  I think I've mentioned our September new start. Next week is our Church calendar's new beginning, and in a few weeks, we will have a secular new year.  Each one of these "new years," I make some resolutions, I'm not always successful, but I do carry those that worked for me and even those that failed and see them both as learning points in life.  Today as we switch from King to waiting for the Infant, I too wish to turn and kneel before my God and King.

We end this season with Christ the King, Matthean style.  There will be those who are going to eternal punishment and those into eternal life.  Matthew offers us a warning on how not to worship or follow our Lord through those very wise but very foolish Chief Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees.  I might call these folks fatted sheep.  Like those in Ezekiel, plump with their understanding of the scriptures and the law.  Shapely, like wearing the most fashionable clothes.  Haughty, like their God, has given them all they ever have wanted or needed.  Perhaps the fatted sheep are the goats in Matthew's Gospel, which brings me back to eternal punishment and life.  God is their shepherd.  Yet they have grazed on the best grass, left behind their patties, and have not strengthened the lowly.  Jesus has given those fatted sheep or goats a lot of time and advice on how to get it right.

Watch, Prepare and Wait. These are the attributes to commit to Jesus.  Those maidens who bring more than is necessary to wait and watch.  Those slaves were given talents or gifts and used them.  The hour is now at hand; judgment is coming.

The commitment to Christ requires us to follow him, receiving the word, or learning to take the yoke and to have faith or belief, all will be well.

This week, I was reminded of a touching scene in an old movie called Kramer vs. Kramer.  The scene is about doing things the right way or perhaps the father and son's will.

Ted Kramer, played by Dustin Hoffman, is eating dinner with his son, Billy, at the kitchen table. He's in the process of a divorce and has become a single parent.  His son is about 7 or 8 years old. "Billy, eat your Salisbury steak," Billy says no, he doesn't like it.  Ted says, "You liked it last week." Billy responds, "I did not like it." This parent/child banter goes on about a minute until Billy asks if his Dad brought home the chocolate chip ice cream.  In a sarcastic voice, Ted says yes, he did.  Billy gets up from the table, and Ted starts the 'Don't yous': Don't you leave the table, don't you open the freezer, don't you get the ice cream out, don't you open the container.  As the container is open and Billy is ready for a taste, the 'you will be in big trouble mantras begin.' You will be in really big trouble if you eat, I mean really big trouble, then really big big trouble.  Billy barely gets the ice cream to his mouth when Ted picks him up by the waist and drags him down the hall to his room, and abruptly tosses him on his bed.

"I hate you. I hate you," are Billy's words to his father.  Out of deep love and desperation, with weeping and gnashing of teeth, Ted has judged.

Yet, Billy is distraught, wanting more than just ice cream. Billy's way is not Ted's way.  Our ways are not our God's way either.  We weep and gnash teeth.

Like all analogies, this breaks down very quickly. Ted is not God.

Both he and Billy are mourning broken relationships.  Both are learning a new way of being.  We, too, are learning a new way.

This is the time when Christ has come to judge, to throw down the Pharisees, and put them in time out.

This is the time when they have been given gifts and not used them to feed the hungry, clothed the naked, healed the sick, given drink to the thirsty, visited the imprisoned, or the strangers in their lives.

Christ coming down on a throne to judge those who haven't followed, received the word, or believed in Jesus, is saying the time is now.  What does this King require of us?  Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly before your God.  The prophet Ezekiel has warned of this.

But in these last verses, he's offering hope of God restoring the Kingdom. David is the shepherd.  The good news is of Christ's judgment as King, who puts us all in a kind of time out.

Yet, how prophetic as we reach a New Year today Sunday Eve to Advent.  We will watch like the maidens, and we know to have our lamps ready. 

We have gifts through our baptism and life in the community in Christ to reach out and double the love of God in our communities.

We have a new year of realizing the love and hope of a King who will be our redeemer in the unlikeliness of a baby.

At our fingertips, we have the words to guide us through troubling times, and indeed we are in troubled times.

Advent is coming, like Christ on a throne, let us be ready, wait, follow, and watch for the dawning of a new day. Amen.