Pastor Dan Eddy
Matthew 25:31-46
The Least of My Brothers
(Sisters)
11-20-11
P: The Holy Gospel according to the Apostle, St. Matthew, the 25th
Chapter.
C: Glory to You, O
Lord.
[Jesus said:]
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and
all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before
him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he
will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34Then
the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For
I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a
stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I
was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37Then
the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and
feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a
stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we
see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40And the King will answer
them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my
brothers, you did it to me.'
41"Then
he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and
you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was
a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick
and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44Then they also will
answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45Then he
will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of
the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46And these will go
away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
P: This is the Gospel of
the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O
Christ.
Can you imagine Jesus
speaking this parable to a large group…maybe larger than the crowd assembled
here this morning?
I wonder if as He spoke
this parable He motioned with His Hand to those on His right, His Sheep, if they
felt relief that they had “made it” to Heaven. And I wondered if He motioned to
the people on His left if they left a little uncomfortable being “the Goats”…the
ones who would spend eternity in Hell.
All of us will be in the
real life version of this parable on Judgment Day. We will be either on Jesus’
right or His left. By the way, you are already judged before Judgment Day. All
people’s judgment from God comes at death as Hebrews 9:27 states. Here Jesus
merely gives one aspect for why you would be judged a certain way.
Three years ago when I
last preached on this text there were a number of you who sat on this side (point with my right) of the
congregation expressed joy that you had sat in a good spot for the day…while a
number of you (point to my left)
expressed a bit of stress being labeled as the Goats simply because you sat on
the wrong side.
Perspective has a way of
changing our life in Christ….either we take God’s Word by faith and it
strengthened us or we reject it as we are left vulnerable to Satan’s attacks.
And you see that was the
purpose of Jesus telling these parables three days before His crucifixion. As I
said last week He told three parables in a row to prepare them for the End, not
the end of His life…but the end of their life and the End of all time.
This parable…an earthly
story with a heavenly meaning is meant to give you a vivid picture of the Earth
on the Last Day, and what will transpire before this whole universe…the Earth
and the heavens are destroyed and a new perfect reality is created for the Sheep
to spend forever in perfect harmony ruling with their King, our Shepherd. The
victory celebration for all believers.
So as you can guess being
a goat in this parable is not what you want to be…you want to be the sheep.
Okay…so now you have the
set-up for Jesus’ teaching. However, it’s really easy to hear this parable and
think that if you just do enough good works you will get to live in this awesome
world to come. Don’t believe that…that’s
goat thinking. The Lord, our King, your Shepherd, wants you to think and
act as one of His sheep.
There is plenty of
Scripture that shows we are saved by faith alone in Christ like Ephesians 2:8-9
and John 3:16. That is how you are blessed by God the Father as Jesus said in
verse 34. The blessings of forgiveness of sins, power over death, and eternal
life won at the Cross and from the grave that you originally received by faith at
your baptism, renewed through the proclaimed word, and assured at the Lord’s
Supper.
And there are Bible passages
that show if we have faith in Christ we will love the Lord God with all we have
by loving our neighbors as ourselves. The fruit that comes from you, the branch,
because you are attached by faith to the Vine of Christ as John 15 says.
But this text is a little
bit more specific of how Jesus’ Sheep are to show their faith toward God. It’s
not just doing good deeds to anyone (i.e. neighbors) but helping as Jesus said,
“the least of these My brothers” as
verse 40 says. Well who’s that? Helping
the least of the sheep, who are already a part of Christ’s Church.
Well using Scripture to
interpret Scripture Jesus defines who His brothers are in passages like Matthew
12:50 ESV where Jesus said: “For whoever
does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
Or as He said in Luke 8:21Cross references:
ESV: “My mother and my brothers are
those who hear the word of God and do it.”
So who are “the least of these My brothers”? The
answer: Those who already have faith in Christ Jesus that have been arrested
and jailed, charged with embezzlement, murder, or child molestation. If Jerry
Sandusky, Bernie Madoff, or Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez (the White House Shooting
Suspect) were members of our congregation…would we go an visit them in prison? Or take Pastor Yusuf Naderkhani who is
set to be executed in
Or what about the sick and
the shut-in? I have people in my own family who won’t visit my grandma who’s a
believer in Christ because the Alzheimer’s unit she’s in is depressing or it
smells and they will say “Oh she won’t know if I am there.” We don’t visit for us; we visit to care for them.
These are the least of our
brothers and sisters: The Christian children on the streets of Kenya that we
help Capstone Ministries to support clothing and feeding and reuniting with their
families, or the girls living at the Ruth House who were baptized into the
faith but thrown out of their homes to live on the street because they got
pregnant as unwed teenagers…or members in our own congregation who face marital
problems, financial difficulties, or crisis of their faith?
These are the least of
Christ’s mothers, brothers and sisters. They could be caught in sinful
situation that they caused, and/or they could be the victims of sinners in this
broken, fallen creation. Jesus does not make the distinction here. Maybe sometimes you feel
like the least.
Think
of it…when is a member most likely to fall away the Church? When is a sheep
most likely to become a goat? When they face turmoil in their lives and there’s
no one there from the Church to help them….because they are considered the
least, but they are our brothers and sisters, and are still considered Christ’s.
As I have told the
Confirmands when you sin against anyone…gossip about them, disobey your
teachers, cheat on a test…your not just sinning against a person but against
God. So likewise when you help the least of your brothers and sisters in Christ
it only stands to reason as Jesus said in this text that you are helping Him…because He is inside of them.
(Point right to left) We don’t want His sheep to become goats.
Perspective has a way of
changing our life in Christ….either we take God’s Word by faith and its
strengthened us or we reject it as we are left vulnerable to Satan’s
attacks….and so do our brothers…especially the least, the most vulnerable,
among us.
And you’ll notice in the
parable Christ is not accusing…I want you to really hear this…Jesus is not
accusing the goats of doing something wrong…He’s accusing them of failing to do
right. In other words they’re not being
convicted for sins of commission…they’re damned for sins of omission…the missed opportunities to love.
Note that Jesus said “the least among these,” (point
to the right) meaning when they were the least they were helped by the brothers.
And as a result, they are among the sheep, and Christ’s tangible love shown
with words and actions prevented them from becoming goats. The least were saved for eternity.
You other brother sheep
are so clueless to the good works you did…you served without expecting a
reward. Meanwhile the goats would have helped if they knew they were really
helping Jesus. That’s why this is not affirming works righteousness, because true
righteousness is a condition of Christ’s faith inside of us…just as sin is a
condition of humankind.
Sin makes us all the least
in God’s eyes. That’s why Christ had to become the least among us when He
became incarnate as Jesus…Who hungered and thirst as He walked the Earth, even
40 days in the desert…Who was naked nailed to the Cross….sickened and suffered
for your sins…imprisoned in death…in His grave. And God the Father ultimately
made His Son the least, rejecting Him to be your atoning Sacrifice…so He could
raise Him from the dead to make Jesus, your brother. This was planned by the
Lord from the beginning of time, so the
Jesus is here to forgive
our apathy, our sins of omission, our lack of love in caring for the least
among us.
You
see the purpose of the parable was not to prejudge people because they failed
to help just anyone for any good reason, but Jesus wanted to make sure that the
sheep stay the sheep and didn’t get lost, and end up like the goats, and He
wanted the goats to become His sheep. Where
are you in this parable? Jesus wants you as His sheep. He wants you a part of
the victory celebration.
And from a congregational
perspective do you know what we lack in doing what we need to do to keep the
sheep from becoming goats? Not talent. Not even a lack of finances…God has
blessed us in those areas. No, the three things we lack are more people helping with more desire and more
time. More passion to care for those whom we don’t see here regularly and
more time to care enough to bring the least of our brothers and sisters out
there back to the flock.
That’s why so much of our
recent Consecrated Stewards time was spent on time. It’s the ingredient we lack
the most in this congregation…time to set-up a small group in homes to be in
fellowship with members; time to just sit and talk to see where people are in
their lives; desire to make sure members here and throughout the church in the
world don’t become goats.
And that was never made
very clear to me than when Lois Brandes stood up here just six weeks ago…and
share with us how much time and desire she had to make sure that least, her
beloved sister in Christ, L.K., a wife and mother of two young children, suffering
from cancer, at death’s doorsteps did not become a goat. She cared for at home,
went with her to her treatments, visited her in the hospital, until L.K.
practically breathed her last breath. She took the time and had the desire to
care for the least of His sisters. As a result, L.K. will be a part of the
victory celebration. Praise the Lord.
How does our mission
statement say it? “Inspired by the grace of God, Christ Lutheran
Church seeks to make Christ known and to exemplify God’s compassionate love
through worship, fellowship, and service”…and may I add….”to the least of Christ’s
brothers and sisters.”
Do you realize most of our
members that have joined here in the past few years were already members of the
Church…baptized into the faith…but many of them had drifted away for a time but
had come back into the Church through this congregation because of the loving
faith, more time and desire, many of you showed them, in a variety of way, and
not just on Sunday morning.
We have an opportunity in
the New Year to take this helping the least of our brethren to the next
level. On Saturday morning, January 14
members of our Christ Lutheran family have been invited to a free two-hour program
at
So that at the End of all
time at Christ’s victory celebration there are many more sheep and a lot fewer
goats…to enjoy the physical, tangible, perfect life ahead with our Shepherd, the
King, your beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.