Sheep

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
November 26, 2023

Christ the King

          During the pandemic, one of the things I was most proud of was the way we tried to tailor our outreach to those most affected by Covid-19.  We heard from mental health professionals in the parish that mental health needs were skyrocketing due to the isolation of quarantine.  Incidents of domestic violence were also increasing as there was no place to escape from abusers.  So we had an online action and raised over $10,000 for Hope and Healing, the battered women’s shelter in Akron.  For Christmas in July the same year, we supplied Hope and Healing with hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards for their residents.  At Christmas, we heard about the ministry of the Peter Maurin Center, serving people who live under the bridges in Akron and instead of giving money for Christmas flowers, we used that money to support ministry to the unhoused.  We tried to listen to the needs of the community and respond in the ways that we could during a time when doing things in-person was not safe.  Our goal was and is to seek and serve Christ in all people, as we promise in baptism.

          Today is Christ the King Sunday, the day we celebrate the reign of Christ at the end of time.  Christ the King Sunday is also the last Sunday before Advent begins next Sunday.  And while, technically, Christ the King Sunday is not the patronal feast day of churches named Christ Church, as Christ Church Episcopal we would do well to listen to what Jesus says on this day.  Bonus points to anyone who knows what our patronal feast day is…without consulting Google!

Today, we hear Jesus speak the words from which our baptismal promise to seek and serve Christ in all people comes.  At the end of time, the Son of Man will say to the sheep on his right hand “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….I was in prison and you visited me.”  The sheep did not say “Excellent!  That is exactly what we were trying to do.”  The sheep had no idea what Jesus was talking about.  When the goats to Jesus’s left were told that when they did not feed the hungry, or visit those in prison, they did not feed Jesus, they did not say “I’m so sorry….I ran out of time, or I barely had enough for myself, or it just wasn’t convenient that day, or it felt really awkward.”  The goats to Jesus’ left were just as shocked to find that they had neglected to serve Jesus as the sheep to Jesus’ right were to find that they had served Jesus.  Despite the surprise on both sides, the sheep get eternal life and the goats get eternal punishment. 

          Since the sheep had no idea that they were seeking and serving Christ in all people, why did they serve?   Clearly they did not serve in order to win favor with Jesus.  They had no baptismal covenant they were trying to live up to.  What was their motivation?

The idea that people of faith should serve others is hardly something new with Jesus.  Matthew's gospel was written to a largely Jewish audience.  The Hebrew scriptures are full of admonitions to live with mercy and kindness, not just to people of like faith, but to all people.  Over and over again in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we hear the command to show hospitality to foreigners, for the Hebrew people were once strangers in the land of Egypt.  The Hebrew people and the stranger were connected by the common experience of being in a foreign land.  The prophet Micah sums up the Hebrew teaching with the words "What does the Lord require? That you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."  In the reading from Ezekiel, we hear God model the very behavior God expects of God's faithful people.  "I will seek the lost and I will bring back the strayed.  I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak."  Acts of mercy and kindness are part of the identity of the Hebrew people because they are the people of the God of mercy and kindness.

The sheep we hear about this morning are doing good works simply because they are living as the people of God they were created to be.  Acts of mercy and kindness were part of the identity of the sheep because they belong to the God of mercy and kindness.  Jesus says in Matthew's gospel "I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it" so for Christians, belonging to God through Christ means living out the same acts of mercy and kindness.  Then, to our surprise, we realize that we have served Jesus.

          This morning we have the privilege of baptizing Simon Andrew Monroe Phillips.  We will promise to seek and serve Christ in all people, to work for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being.  Simon will be sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever with the sign of the cross.  I explain to children that the cross is like having Jesus’ name written on their foreheads.  It means that they belong to God.  Belonging to Christ the King does not mean being people of power, privilege and protection.  Belonging to Christ the King means being people of the shepherd who came to serve, to identify with those on the margins, and to work for justice and peace.  We make 300 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and deliver them to St. Bernard’s in Akron as part of their ministry to unhoused people in Akron.  We make lunches for Open M.  We knit and we collect laundry detergent and yams, and buy gifts for the Giving Tree.  We participate in First Serve.  We are thrilled to be able to do those things together and in-person having known the isolation of quarantine.  Our next challenge is to find ways to actually engage the community, to work at the Food Pantry or distribute the sandwiches at St. Bernards, or serve a meal at Open M, or visit those in a nursing home with no one to visit them.  The reason we do what we do is not to earn anything from God.  All we could ever want from God is given to us in baptism.  Like the sheep, we are called to seek and serve Christ in all people simply because we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever. 

                                                                             Amen.