Christ the King Sunday, as Pastor Ray preached this morning, is the church's transition from the "after Pentecost" Sundays to the start of the Advent.seasonToday I reflect on what Thomas Merton wrote about Advent, "The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ." The Gospel lesson for today, the Parable of the Sheep and Goats (what is also called the Parable of The Last Judgement) combines with my inner reflections on Merton and from what scriptures have revealed to me about God.
This combination is quite difference from my original encounter with the parable and the meaning told to me when I was a child. I was terrified by this Gospel in Matthew. To me, then, the separation of sheep from goats appeared completely arbitrary. The sheep did not know they were sheep and the goats did not know they were goats. I was in the same quandary when I tried to relate to the people in this story. I knew in my heart that I had not done anything to identify myself strongly with the sheep but, as far as I knew, I didn't remember refusing an opportunity to care for anyone either.
As I came to new understandings of how God was revealed in my life John 3:16 and what I saw as uncompromising passages like this appeared to place tangible limits around God's grace and mercy. Only a Christian who believed could be saved. On top of that, there was a laundry list of what must be done in a lifetime to inherit God's kingdom.
I have found what Pastor Ray also preached today, that our God is a God of surprises, is true in my experience as well. Both sheep and goats are surprised they did not recognize Jesus or Christ in their lives. Over the years that surprise has come to be an attribute of the God I know. Neither I, nor in broader terms the church, are keepers of the mystery of God or truly understand the hereafter. God is beyond our confining definitions or tangible limitations. Yet, in the midst of life, we come to know God's voice within us.
Passages like John 3:15 and the Parable of the Sheep and Goats might trouble someone, like me, who feels the gospel is all about the belief that all the world will be saved. I don't ignore these passages of feel they have been mistranslated. Rather I hear now the voice of God in a new, practical way where the catholic nature of salvation is the reading that reveals God's nature.
There are details like "Before him all the nations will be gathered" and the fact that, despite their differences, Jesus is the Good Shepherd for all. He lays down his life, not only for sheep but for goats as well. The sheep are his sheep, the goats are his goats. The judgement has less to do with good works and ethics than with living a life of mercy in which the Son of Man is revealed. This is an end I can anticipate with some of the joy I believe God wants us to know through the gospel.
For our believing community, this involves a considerable change in self-perception. Rather than considering themselves holders or keepers of the mystery of God (in liturgy, works, or piety), they discover that God is always already outside any circle they draw or created boundaries they make.
I look at the sheep and goats now and Merton's quote hits me full force "The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ". This helps us to understand that salvation is not about individuals being judged by what happened in their lives. This is the ultimate example of showing God is not a bookkeeper with a ledger book as I view it.
I am always amazed how easily we can judge in the abstract that there are good and bad people while recognizing that all of us commit good and bad actions. Yet once a bookkeeping ledger is imagined the questions come in about what is fair. If someone commits a bad act is that person forever labeled bad. If that person believes in Christ and another commits the same bad act but does not believe does God judge them differently?
We have not always done all we could, nor are there people who have never cared for someone else and their well being. As Luther observed we are all a mixture of sinner and saint. We cannot be separated from one another in that way. This would not be the Good News that I would want to proclaim to the world if God judged every human individually. Instead comes Merton's words that ring with a Christian hope that gives me new hope without full understanding God's mysterious way of fulfilling this.
On November 12th I worshiped at King of Kings and joined into their fellowship hour immediately afterwards where most of the worshipers stayed for coffee, food and conversation. We don't have that every Sunday at Creator but this Sunday a group of fourteen gathered across the street at a restaurant for the same kind of fellowship.
There was camaraderie at the table. Most of us had spent many years with one another. There were personal stories and anecdotes, together with sharing experiences about being Christian that were close to our hearts. Someone talked about being uncomfortable about a husband who belittled his wife when their new church gathered like we were gathered around our table. What was the right thing to do in response? There were numerous opinions with no one, clear agreed upon answer.
I heard a story about a pastor in my past who refused to marry a couple because the bride-to-be was pregnant. Hearing this on Christ the King Sunday it felt like an illustrative example. I thought about the pastor's judgement springing from ethics which he believed were from God. Yet I knew,as he must have as well, the couple's joy and eventual marriage would not be hampered by this judgement. This, temporarily, may have caused both the couple and he pain and to what end? To shame the couple's past judgement? To make them more willing to be in a community that condemns others?
I would love to discuss this with him (although it is unlikely we ever will) but I would not try to lecture him on the morality of his decision. Ultimately this would not determine in my mind that he is a good man or a bad man for his decision.
How God has been revealed in my life, the Bible, the Merton quote "The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ." help me understand this situation and the gospel more clearly.
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