November 25, 2018 Pulpit Exchange - this is what Trillium will hear Sunday morning.

Sermon: It’s Raining Men (It's Raining Christ)
Reign of Christ Sunday

Scripture: Ezekiel 34: 11-24, Matthew 25: 31-46

Delivered at Trillium United Church, Mono Mills on November 24, 2018 by Rev. G. Daly

I must admit when I thought of the sermon title, the music in me started scheming. I do like to sing. But perhaps lesser known, I also like to dance!

So, imagine 1982. First, I had hair. Second I had big hair, 80’s hair: short on the sides and likely thrown very high in one direction or it could have been a big and I mean big swoop down one side. I had just graduated from Bible College in Calgary and had begun to explore the freedom that living away from home and on my own might bring. That included going to my first gay bar in Calgary. It was called the “Cha Cha Palace.” No word of a lie. My favourite thing about the place was that it was a beautiful old downtown bank and you could actually get up on the old tellers booths and dance. I could go on, but suffice it to say, I have good memories of this place.

Part of the good memories are a song that was released that year! Someone please call out a guess. I know some of you are thinking it –

the name of the song?????

…………….

At 19 years of age and dancing around with men in the freedom that represented to me at the time, I have great memories of that song.

It's Raining Men! Hallelujah! It's Raining Men! Amen

I will spare you the rest.

Here’s the thing though, and I tell this because when I put my mind to the scripture this week, this idea that we are sheep and goats and when the Messiah finally arrives, blazing in beauty and with all the angels, I thought of the energy and the joy and the abandon of those early moments in my life.

I thought to myself, can I get just as worked up about the reign – r-e-i-g-n

– of Christ as I could about that song and that freedom from so long ago in my life.

Both our Old Testament and Gospel reading have a discussion of sheep and goats. This is one of those times where the pairing in the lectionary is spot

on in my opinion. More than that, I am so convinced of this link that there is little doubt in my mind that this parable was uttered by Jesus, a good Jewish boy who knew his readings from Ezekiel.

Let’s start with this Old Testament reading. Ezekiel has a very specific setting and, more than most of the books of the Old Testament has a great deal of corroborated factuality. If that’s a word. Ezekiel the person, was part of the group of Israelites who were exiled to Babylon in 597 BCE. Many thanks to my History of Christianity prof for being able to recall that date. That Ezekiel was exiled suggests that he was from a wealthy family. The exile was intended to breakdown Jewish society. So, no wonder that the book of Ezekiel spends  much time discussing the role of God, the relationship of God to the people, and trying to make sense of “bad things” happening and the consequences of that.

So, in our text we have a discussion of how God will act with the people. A shepherd who tends a flock, but also a Shepherd that will separate out those who cut muster and those who don’t. It is about hope. There will be one who will come – David – who will watch over the sheep and be a prince. This is prophetic speak for the coming Messiah. Something that people in exile, people defeated, people scattered, would naturally grab on to.

In our Gospel reading we are also talking prophecy.  The time of Jesus life on earth, the Jewish people were again (or some might say still) under siege. The Roman Empire ruled with a heavy hand and so conversations of hope, of prophecy, of a coming Messiah would be something that people, oppressed, would naturally grab on to.

Next week we begin the season of Advent, we are entering a time of hope. Our reading reminds us of what Jesus is about to introduce to the world through his human life, through his humanity, and what is ultimately going to happen as a result of that experience. This is where our Christian understanding of hope takes us.

So, the reading is about what to expect. Yes, the Messiah comes in glory and all of that, but there is a real kicker here isn’t there. The Messiah will separate the sheep from the goats.

Who is a sheep and who is a goat? We may think we have a clear view of who is who, and a solid basis on which to judge others, but this parable intends to disabuse us of that self-righteous notion that anyone of us is above, or better than another, and turn the spotlight on our own actions.

Importantly, the story is set in time where we are being called to reckon for our actions. In this way, it is similar to Ezekiel in Babylon.  They exile has happened. There is no future opportunity, we are being called to account. In the Matthew context, people have lived their lives, the way in which people have treated other people in the past is being called to account. The time to care for those around us, is past.

The parable emphasizes the connection between seeing a need and acting on it. It reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke. In that instance, all three observers of the person in the ditch "saw the person." The first two engaged with twofold action. First they “saw” and then in response, they "passed by on the other side." The third person however, had a threefold response. The last person “saw” then was “moved” and then “took action.”

So three things happened: They see

They have compassion They act.

In the parable this morning, Jesus is speaking about the same threefold action, but the interesting part of the parable is that, though they didn't realize it, but in their actions, the ones who did see the poor and help them, saw and helped Jesus. By contrast, what makes others cursed is that they never really did see Jesus suffering and in need because they never really saw the poor.

The Sovereign One – the r-e-i-g-n- ing One addresses the two groups individually and pronounces them as either blessed or cursed and announces the consequences—enter into the kindom or depart from it. Several examples are used. There was a need that they either met or did not meet:

"I was hungry, thirsty, homeless, shivering, or in prison and you fed, gave me drink, gave me a room, clothed me, visited me, came to see me."

Then we get to the big question – “When?”

“When did we see you hungry, When did we see you, etc., etc., and meet your needs?" Interesting that in both instances, those who acted and those who did not, they would ask this question – When?

The ones who did it without question, have no pretense. They do it because they understand that it is the right thing to do, they are not seeking gain from it.

Of course, the second group asks the same question – When?

But these people are asking for a different reason. It is their attempt to excuse themselves from the consequences of their actions.

“Me? When did I not help you Jesus?”

‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

The kindom of heaven, shows up where we least expect it. The presence of Jesus is hidden – ALWAYS - in the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the shivering, the sick, and the imprisoned. They are not just Jesus kin; Jesus identifies his own self with them.

As is often the case when Jesus speaks, there is a paradox. If you want to experience the kindom of heaven have active compassion toward and engage those that society and, in many cases, religion, judge as accursed. The parable points out that we as individuals, as churches, and as a society, are not very good at judging others. We judge by appearances, or we make assumptions about the depths of others' feelings and experiences that are not ours to make. We exclude and we make allowances on grounds than Jesus makes clear are irrelevant. When we set ourselves up as judge and jury over others, we promote ourselves and our own glory rather than seeing, being moved, and acting.

It is clear from this reading that we need a better, wiser judge than ourselves. Who is that judge, according to Matthew's gospel? This parable combines the paradoxical qualities of the Son of Man. Jesus is the majestic, exalted Sovereign whose identity is hidden in the outcast. Our lives will be judged by the extent to which we see, have compassion, and act in response to these people in this world now. The parable calls us to evaluate our own actions, rather than deflect our energies toward judging others, deciding whether they are sheep or goats.

Like the Jews living in Babylonian exile, the Jews living under Roman rule, we look today for hope, for a sign of better things to come. Jesus gives

us a roadmap for this. There is a way to live in hope. When we live with passion and compassion we open ourselves to a threefold action of response:

We “see”

We “have compassion” We “act”

This is Christ’s call in the message of loving neighbour as self. This is Christ’s call in the parable this morning: we are called to act, without expecting return.

Jesus modeled these actions throughout his ministry. This is why we call Jesus the Messiah, the Sovereign One who reigns.

When we act as Christ acted, then the kindom of heaven, the reign of Christ, is here and now. The Messiah has returned in our acts of passion and compassion. The Messiah has returned each time we see Christ in the face of the hungry, thirsty, homeless, unclothed, sick, and imprisoned. When we act this way, it is literally raining – r-a-i-n – raining Christ.

This is living with abandon and energy. This is living with joy. This is living in the fullness of the Spirit that Jesus offered. This is the kindom of heaven, here and now. This is how Christ reigns on earth.

So, even without the big hair, can I get as worked up about the return of Christ as I can about the Cha Cha Palace?

You bet.

It’s raining Christ, Hallelujah It’s raining Christ, Amen.