The Last Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 29A), Nov. 20, 2005
BCP: Ezek. 34:11-17; Psalm 95:1-7; 1 Cor. 15:20-28; Matt. 25:31-46
RCL: Ezek. 34:11-16, 20-24; Psalm 100 or 95:1-7a; Eph. 1:15-23; Matt. 25:31-46
The liturgical year closes with attention on Christ the King. Though today’s readings offer a feel-good perspective, we dare not take that angle. At his reign we will see the depths of his mercy, but if we see clearly, we will also realize the depths of the sin that has provoked this mercy.
The shepherd passage from Ezekiel is lovely and reassuring. In its full context, however, it is damning and shaming. The chapter begins with church leaders, “Woe to the shepherds of Israel … You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost.” And this comes just before today’s passage begins, “The sheep were scattered over the whole earth and no one searched for them.”
We, the Church, have taken care of things at home and within our walls. (Well, let’s pretend we have, at least.) Still, we fall far short of God’s will on a matter that is closer to his heart than any and all moral or ecclesiastical issues on our agendas: There are more than a billion lost sheep today, and we, the church, have not searched for them.
These are not sheep who no longer attend church or who have left Christianity. These are sheep who have never heard the gospel for the first time.
Hearing the parable of the last judgment somehow does not chill us about on which hand of God we will find ourselves. Dare we domesticate this vivid picture of God’s radical love and his radical expectation of us?
This is the place for extreme applications, ones that produce the guilt we want to believe is inappropriate. When was the last time we heard a prison door clang shut? The last person we stayed by in terminal illness? The last time we forfeited a “need” so we could give generously to a poor family? The last time we hung tight with a disoriented foreign student? The sheep on his right hand have done those things. Have we?
The readings should take us back to the hope for mercy, the crying and desperate hope for the mercy we know we don’t deserve. Then we see a better view of Christ the King.
Look It Up
Read Ezekiel 34 in its entirety. Describe the shepherd’s disappointment, wrath, love, hope, motives, plans and pleasure.
Think About It
Take the “When did I see you …” and think of new occasions when you can do what Christ expects.
Next Sunday
The First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27, 2005
BCP: Isaiah 64:1-9a; Psalm 80 or 80:1-7; 1 Cor. 1:1-9; Mark 13:(24-32)33-37
RCL: Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Cor. 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37
