{"id":2257,"date":"2023-11-26T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-26T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/?p=2257"},"modified":"2023-11-27T14:30:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T19:30:53","slug":"fed-with-gods-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/2023\/11\/26\/fed-with-gods-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Fed With God’s Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Year B (Advent 3 – A 7-Week Advent)<\/em>
 Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
 Psalm 100
 Ephesians 1:15-23
 Matthew 25:31-46<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May the words of my mouth O God\u2026  speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can be easy for us to identify with those in need\u2026 so much so that our hearts break\u2026  and for us to want to reach out and help\u2026  especially when they’re seen as innocents\u2026  like starving children in third world countries\u2026  or the victims of natural disasters\u2026  or the casualties of war…  but what if they don’t seem to us to be so innocent\u2026  like those who have inherited a genetic predisposition to alcoholism\u2026 and spend all the family’s grocery money on drink\u2026  does that make them\u2026  or others in need\u2026  undeserving of our empathy or help\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today’s reading from Ezekiel tells us that God will seek out and search for God’s sheep\u2026  and God speaks directly to those who have scattered the weak far and wide\u2026  who have pushed them out with their shoulders and the weight of their bodies\u2026  and butted the weak with their horns\u2026  and God says that God will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And verse 16\u2026  in particular\u2026  needs to be unpacked\u2026   our NRSV translation says\u2026  I will bind up the injured\u2026  and I will strengthen the weak\u2026  but the fat and the strong I will destroy<\/em>\u2026  but why\u2026  is it because there’s something intrinsically wrong with being fat and healthy\u2026  no\u2026 the thing that’s wrong\u2026  is being fat and healthy when others around you are emaciated and ill\u2026  and it’s consistent with what Ezekiel said earlier\u2026  in 16:49\u2026 that the sin of Sodom was actually the city\u2019s lack of hospitality\u2026 their unwillingness\u2026 due to their pride and haughtiness\u2026 to share their excess food and prosperous ease with those who were poor and marginalized\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But will they really be destroyed\u2026  the original Hebrew can be translated as\u2026  I will destroy<\/em>\u2026  but in the Greek Bible\u2026  called the Septuagint\u2026  it can be read\u2026  I will complete them<\/em>\u2026  or\u2026   I will tend them rightly<\/em>…  and being tended rightly is better than being destroyed…  so what accounts for the difference\u2026  it’s the similarity between two Hebrew letters which\u2026  according to the commentators\u2026  are often confused and can cause different translations\u2026  and being tended rightly makes much more sense\u2026  since if you’re destroyed\u2026  how can you be fed with justice\u2026  and being fed with justice is a better way to understand why not meeting the needs of the hungry is so egregious to God\u2026  and in vv. 20 – 24… Ezekiel describes the leaders as stronger sheep\u2026  who trample the pasture\u2026  dirty the water that others must use\u2026  and who push the weaker ones aside\u2026 . so some of the flock must be fed with Christ the King’s justice\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reading from Ephesians doesn’t specifically mention kingship\u2026  but the phrase “a spirit of wisdom and revelation” recalls the prophecies of the charismatic Davidic ruler\u2026  and in the midst of these pastoral themes about sheep and shepherds\u2026  we’re reminded that in the ancient Near East\u2026  the word for shepherd\u2026  and the word for king\u2026  are the same word\u2026  and David… who was called the Shepherd King\u2026  has already been dead for about 500 years by the time Ezekiel prophesied\u2026  and so when God says\u2026  I will set one shepherd over them\u2026  my servant David<\/em>\u2026  the early Christians interpreted this passage to be about Jesus\u2026  and when Jesus speaks these words in Matthew\u2026  it’s two days before he’s crucified for holding Israel’s leadership accountable\u2026 for holding up God’s mirror of justice to their faces\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 11, 1925\u2026 in opposition to increasing secularism\u2026  in opposition to class distinctions\u2026  in opposition to unbridled nationalism\u2026  and in opposition to those worldly would-be kings like Hitler and Mussolini\u2026  the Roman Catholic Church instituted Christ the King Sunday\u2026 that’s where we get it from\u2026  it’s not an ancient feast day\u2026  and not one of the older festivals of the Protestant Reformation\u2026 or even the Church of England\u2026  it’s new\u2026  and in establishing this feast\u2026 Pope Pius XI said that it wasn’t necessary to explain even just a little\u2026  why the feast of Christ’s Kingship needed to be observed in addition to all the others\u2026  which already celebrated his Kingly Dignity\u2026  but that it would be enough to simply say…  that while the object of the other feasts is Christ\u2026  this one lifts up his royal title\u2026  and that its celebration is a day to affirm God\u2019s reign over those empires which fail to hunger and thirst for God\u2019s justice\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We reject the idea of works righteousness\u2026  we know that there’s no amount of work we could do\u2026  that would earn us reconciliation with God in Christ\u2026  but this Gospel passage seems to focus on works righteousness\u2026  it implies that being a sheep and getting to be at God’s right hand is what counts\u2026  and is whether one has acted with loving care towards needy people\u2026  and this way of acting isn’t considered to be extra credit\u2026  but is the basis of judgment\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes\u2026  today’s Gospel is a tough passage\u2026 it’s the only scene in the New Testament with any details about the Last Judgment\u2026 and nothing is said about grace\u2026  justification\u2026  or the forgiveness of sins\u2026  but Fr. Robert Capon says that in the Great Judgment\u2026 all of the scenes of Jesus’ earlier parables come full circle\u2026  ] now in Ezekiel\u2026  God says that God will separate sheep from sheep\u2026  but in this parable\u2026 Jesus says that the Son of Man\u2026 will separate us one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats\u2026 but do you see what that means<\/em>\u2026 he asks\u2026 Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep\u2026  but he lays down his life for the goats as well\u2026  because on the cross he draws ALL to himself\u2026  it’s not that the sheep are his\u2026  but the goats are not\u2026  the sheep and the goats are all his<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Jesus’ drawing ALL to himself\u2026 remains the ultimate gravitational force in the universe\u2026 not even evil can escape it\u2026 so it doesn’t have a choice but to be at the final party\u2026 ]  though it may be hidden\u2026 if you will\u2026 in the spear wound in Christ’s side to keep it from being a wet blanket on the proceedings\u2026  but it is not\u2026  for all that\u2026  any less a part of Jesus’ shepherding of his flock\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even though we reject the idea of works righteousness for our own salvation\u2026\u00a0 we\u00a0 sometimes impose a works righteousness expectation on those who come to us for help\u2026\u00a0 be self-reliant\u2026 \u00a0grow up\u2026 \u00a0stop making bad decisions\u2026 \u00a0pick yourself up by your bootstraps<\/em>\u2026\u00a0 and maybe every single one of us rejects that idea\u2026 but we function within systems which not only embrace that idea…\u00a0 but which make it difficult to get out from under the weight of them\u2026\u00a0 it’s like being a salmon swimming upstream against a tidal wave of self-interest and greed\u2026 and which yells over and over again that some of us are not deserving of having our basic human needs met\u2026\u00a0 like those specifically mentioned in this morning’s Gospel\u2026 In our mainline churches\u2026\u00a0 we tend to preach a comfortable Jesus\u2026\u00a0 but the message of today’s readings really ought to trouble us\u2026 \u00a0because there are far too many people in this world who are hungry and sick\u2026\u00a0 and because in the eyes of the world\u2026\u00a0 we in this country are the fat and healthy\u2026 \u00a0maybe not every single one of us\u2026 \u00a0but enough of us\u2026\u00a0 and we ought to be so troubled that this injustice exists\u2026 that we do all we can\u2026\u00a0 to take Ezekiel’s words to heart\u2026\u00a0 and feed those who would be our kings\u2026\u00a0 with God’s justice\u2026\u00a0 and so that we can name and welcome Christ as our only King\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Year B (Advent 3 – A 7-Week Advent) Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 Psalm 100 Ephesians 1:15-23 Matthew 25:31-46 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026  speak your truth\u2026 It can be easy for us to identify with those in need\u2026 so much so that our hearts break\u2026  and for us to want to reach out and help\u2026  especially when they’re seen as innocents\u2026  like starving children in third world countries\u2026  or the victims of natural disasters\u2026  or the casualties of war…  but what if they don’t seem to us to be so innocent\u2026  like those who have inherited a genetic predisposition to alcoholism\u2026 and spend all the family’s grocery money on drink\u2026  does that make them\u2026  or others in need\u2026  undeserving of our empathy or help\u2026  Today’s reading from Ezekiel tells us that God will seek out and search for God’s sheep\u2026  and God speaks directly to those who have scattered the weak far and wide\u2026  who have pushed them out with their shoulders and the weight of their bodies\u2026  and butted the weak with their horns\u2026  and God says that God will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep\u2026 And verse 16\u2026  in particular\u2026  needs to be unpacked\u2026   our NRSV translation says\u2026  I will bind up the injured\u2026  and I will strengthen the weak\u2026  but the fat and the strong I will destroy\u2026  but why\u2026  is it because there’s something intrinsically wrong with being fat and healthy\u2026  no\u2026 the thing that’s wrong\u2026  is being fat and healthy when others around you are emaciated and ill\u2026  and it’s consistent with what Ezekiel said earlier\u2026  in 16:49\u2026 that the sin of Sodom was actually the city\u2019s lack of hospitality\u2026 their unwillingness\u2026 due to their pride and haughtiness\u2026 to share their excess food and prosperous ease with those who were poor and marginalized\u2026 But will they really be destroyed\u2026  the original Hebrew can be translated as\u2026  I will destroy\u2026  but in the Greek Bible\u2026  called the Septuagint\u2026  it can be read\u2026  I will complete them\u2026  or\u2026   I will tend them rightly…  and being tended rightly is better than being destroyed…  so what accounts for the difference\u2026  it’s the similarity between two Hebrew letters which\u2026  according to the commentators\u2026  are often confused and can cause different translations\u2026  and being tended rightly makes much more sense\u2026  since if you’re destroyed\u2026  how can you be fed with justice\u2026  and being fed with justice is a better way to understand why not meeting the needs of the hungry is so egregious to God\u2026  and in vv. 20 – 24… Ezekiel describes the leaders as stronger sheep\u2026  who trample the pasture\u2026  dirty the water that others must use\u2026  and who push the weaker ones aside\u2026 . so some of the flock must be fed with Christ the King’s justice\u2026  The reading from Ephesians doesn’t specifically mention kingship\u2026  but the phrase “a spirit of wisdom and revelation” recalls the prophecies of the charismatic Davidic ruler\u2026  and in the midst of these pastoral themes about sheep and shepherds\u2026  we’re reminded that in the ancient Near East\u2026  the word for shepherd\u2026  and the word for king\u2026  are the same word\u2026  and David… who was called the Shepherd King\u2026  has already been dead for about 500 years by the time Ezekiel prophesied\u2026  and so when God says\u2026  I will set one shepherd over them\u2026  my servant David\u2026  the early Christians interpreted this passage to be about Jesus\u2026  and when Jesus speaks these words in Matthew\u2026  it’s two days before he’s crucified for holding Israel’s leadership accountable\u2026 for holding up God’s mirror of justice to their faces\u2026 On December 11, 1925\u2026 in opposition to increasing secularism\u2026  in opposition to class distinctions\u2026  in opposition to unbridled nationalism\u2026  and in opposition to those worldly would-be kings like Hitler and Mussolini\u2026  the Roman Catholic Church instituted Christ the King Sunday\u2026 that’s where we get it from\u2026  it’s not an ancient feast day\u2026  and not one of the older festivals of the Protestant Reformation\u2026 or even the Church of England\u2026  it’s new\u2026  and in establishing this feast\u2026 Pope Pius XI said that it wasn’t necessary to explain even just a little\u2026  why the feast of Christ’s Kingship needed to be observed in addition to all the others\u2026  which already celebrated his Kingly Dignity\u2026  but that it would be enough to simply say…  that while the object of the other feasts is Christ\u2026  this one lifts up his royal title\u2026  and that its celebration is a day to affirm God\u2019s reign over those empires which fail to hunger and thirst for God\u2019s justice\u2026 We reject the idea of works righteousness\u2026  we know that there’s no amount of work we could do\u2026  that would earn us reconciliation with God in Christ\u2026  but this Gospel passage seems to focus on works righteousness\u2026  it implies that being a sheep and getting to be at God’s right hand is what counts\u2026  and is whether one has acted with loving care towards needy people\u2026  and this way of acting isn’t considered to be extra credit\u2026  but is the basis of judgment\u2026 Yes\u2026  today’s Gospel is a tough passage\u2026 it’s the only scene in the New Testament with any details about the Last Judgment\u2026 and nothing is said about grace\u2026  justification\u2026  or the forgiveness of sins\u2026  but Fr. Robert Capon says that in the Great Judgment\u2026 all of the scenes of Jesus’ earlier parables come full circle\u2026  ] now in Ezekiel\u2026  God says that God will separate sheep from sheep\u2026  but in this parable\u2026 Jesus says that the Son of Man\u2026 will separate us one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats\u2026 but do you see what that means\u2026 he asks\u2026 Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep\u2026  but he lays down his life for the goats as well\u2026  because on the cross he draws ALL to himself\u2026  it’s not that the sheep are his\u2026  but the goats are not\u2026  the sheep and the goats are all his\u2026 And Jesus’ drawing ALL […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[291,199,189],"class_list":["post-2257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","tag-advent-3","tag-christ-the-king","tag-justice"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/ChristtheKing2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2259,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257\/revisions\/2259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}