Trinity 26

Matthew 25:31-46 - Trinity 26 - November 17, 2013

The Sheep and the Goats

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.”  The Son of Man is the Son of God.  Jesus frequently applies this title to Himself in order to emphasize his human nature as true man born of the Virgin Mary.  As Jesus said, for instance, when he healed the paralytic, “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins— Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”  During His earthly life, Jesus hid His glory as the Son of God behind a lowly appearance, so that, besides the occasional miracle, all people could see was His humanity – a man like anyone else.  Yet while Jesus hid from the world His divine nature, He nonetheless remained fully God.  By hiding His glory, and submitting Himself to the law, Jesus served sinners as only God is able to do, all the way to the cross where He suffered and died in our place.  It is this man who is going to return to judge all the living and the dead for all eyes to see. 

Jesus was glorified when He was raised from the dead, but He continues now to hide His glory.  He is glorified in heaven even now, but on earth he continues to hide his glory within the preaching of the gospel.  Today Jesus hides not only His divine nature, but also His human nature.  Think about it.  We can’t see Him.  We can’t touch Him.  Just as He once hid His eternal glory in humility as a man, so He now hides both His divine and His human natures under even humbler appearances.  He comes to serve you through the words of sinful men like me.  But these words have God’s promise and power to forgive you your sins.  We see simple water, but through the promise of Christ, it is a washing of regeneration and a renewing of the Holy Spirit – It is a Holy Baptism that washes our sin away and gives us eternal life.  We see mere bread and wine.  That’s all we taste too.  But in it and through it the Son of Man comes to serve us with His own body and blood that bore our sin on the cross.  There is no greater glory in either heaven or on earth than where the incarnate Son of God forgives sinners their sins. 

When He was born, Jesus hid from the world His divinity.  When He ascended, Jesus hid from the world His humanity as well.  But when Jesus comes again, He will unhide both.  He will reveal to the world that He is both God and Man.  But that is not all He will unhide and reveal.  Every heart, every righteous deed ever done, and every sin ever committed will be publicly shown for what it has been. 

“Before Him will be gathered all the nations.”  No one will be excluded.  Just as no one is excluded from the promise of the Gospel, which is for all nations, so also no one will be excluded when Jesus returns.  Consider that.  Right before Jesus ascended into heaven, He sent His chosen Apostles to make disciples of all nations by baptizing, and teaching, and, really by doing exactly what we do here at Trinity Lutheran Church.  St. Peter says that the promise of the gospel “is for you and your children and for as many as are far off.”  Humbly, in mercy, Jesus desires to gather all nations to himself to receive the forgiveness he won, “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”   He gathers you through the preaching of the gospel.  He sends his servants to preach.  They are messengers whose job it is to gather the saints from all corners of creation – how?  By preaching the gospel.  That’s how.  The gospel is what makes you a saint.  It is indiscriminate.  All that is required to be called by the message of the gospel is that you be a sinner who needs God’s forgiveness. 

On the last day, when the Son of Man appears, his holy angels in heaven will likewise be sent forth to gather the saints.  But they will be discriminate.  They will affirm the Lord’s judgment, which in that day will be final.  The time of grace will be ended, and all judgment shall stand forever.  There won’t be a trial.  No. Christ will sit on the throne of His glory and He will simply declare judgment on everyone who has ever lived.  

Jesus tells us that He will separate the righteous from the unrighteous as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  This means that it will be obvious to him.  It will be obvious to him.  But it is not obvious to us.  He will not judge by what is seen, but by what is unseen.  He judges the faith of the heart. 

When Jesus will call us to be separated from all unrighteousness forever, He will use the same words that He uses today to forgive us from all unrighteousness.  He will call us with the words of the Gospel.  Listen to what He will say:  “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” 

Come.  Consider this word next to that which Jesus speaks to you as often as you hear His voice: “Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  “Come unto me, all you who are burdened by sin and guilt, and I will take it upon Myself.”  All who heed these words on earth will most certainly hear them again once the earth and all that is in it is dissolved.  These words won’t pass away.  With these words Jesus will usher us into the eternal rest that He has purchased for us. 

And who are those who are blessed by the Father forever other than those who were once baptized into the death of His Son?  It is there where we were first blessed by God and clothed in the righteousness of Christ.  It is there that we became co-heirs of everything that He earned in our place.  “Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  Judgment Day won’t be the first time that Jesus will have spoken these words to us. 

When Christ will call us to Himself, we will respond by gathering to His right hand in the same way that we respond to His voice today by gathering where the word of God is preached and the sacraments are administered.  It’s true.  God’s saints and the unbelievers will be separated on Christ’s Day of Judgment in the same way that we are separated today: by the Gospel.  “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.  He who does not believe shall be condemned.” 

God’s right hand represents the power of the Gospel to save us.  But Jesus will gather the goats on His left hand.  This means that they will be gathered far away and separate from the Gospel that they rejected.  The time to hear it will be over.  To all unbelievers, to all worshipers of false gods, to all atheists, all drunkards and fornicators, to all hypocrites who hide themselves in the church – Christ will say, “Depart from Me.”   

We are saved from real sin and real death and real hell by grace alone, through faith alone without any merit or worthiness in us.  Those who trust in the merits of Christ alone in order to withstand God’s judgment will be welcomed into eternal life.  That is why we continually listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd who answers our prayer for mercy by leading us out of death and into life even today.  He requires nothing of us, but simply gives to us what He has earned by laying down His life for the sheep. 

In our Gospel lesson, Jesus teaches that we will be judged by our works.  But how does this fit?  We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and yet we will be judged by what we do?  Isn’t this a contradiction?  Let’s listen again to what Jesus will say: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom 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 came to me.”  

We know what good works look like.  We have learned the 10 Commandments that teach us what we are not to do and also what we are to do?  The 10 Commandments teach us to repent of our failures and sins and to seek mercy from God both for our sins of commission (that is, doing what God forbids), and our sins of omission (that is, not doing what God commands).  Yes, we know what good works look like.  We pray for them.  We seek to see God’s will shown in our lives – how we behave and think.  But we know that we are not justified by what we have done or left undone, but solely on account of what Christ has done.  Does it sound strange to you that the Son of Man would say what he says?  Well, it will always sound strange, I suppose.  Even on the last day, the saints will ask, when?  When did we?  We have trusted in nothing we have done.  We have built our confidence on your work, not ours.  But that is the point.  Jesus will not judge us based on anything other than how we have treated him.  He will not take into account anything bad that we are ashamed of or anything good that we are proud of.  He will only take into account how we have treated him. 

When God forgives us our sins, not only does he clothe us with the righteousness of Christ, he covers everything we are and everything we do.  As the Spirit of God says in Revelation 14, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”  Our works follow us to heaven because they are cleansed of all the selfishness attached, all the imperfections and shortcomings.  The love we show toward each other always falls short.  The love we show in our concern for Christ’s saints, our brothers and sisters, the support of the gospel, every good work is made perfect by Jesus.  His goodness is received by faith alone.  That is why every good work that the Christian does is graciously accepted by our Savior and Judge as a good work rendered to him. 

The goats on the left hand of the Son of Man will also be confused.  “When did we see you in need, and not minister to you?”  Christ will judge them as he does because whatever good they were aware of will be omitted.  It will all be burnt away. 

Even unbelievers can do what appear to be good works.   But nothing that is done apart from faith in the Gospel can please God.  Our works cannot save us.  As Isaiah says, “All our righteousness is as filthy rags.”  That is why we continue to look to Christ for the righteousness that we need.   And we receive it.  We don’t look to what we have done or not done to see whether we are blessed by God.  Instead, we continue to listen to His word.  We hear His words of Grace that give us eternal life today, so that we will also hear His voice when He will welcome us into eternal life tomorrow. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.