“CHRIST FOR YOU FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD”
Saint Matthew 25: 31-46
2nd Last Sunday: 15 November Anno Domini 2020
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
There are great arrivals; marvelous and historic events. Some might be in awe at being present at a Presidential inauguration, the crowning of a new British Monarch, a Papal investiture, or the Return of the King—if one is man of Middle Earth.
But nothing will be as jaw-dropping, eye-popping, and hair on the back of the head standing, as the final Advent! “The Son of Man,” Christ Jesus The God/Man “shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.” His glory was made manifest in the flesh—always in the flesh, for only true, real, actual, bodily flesh can bleed. There is only forgiveness in His Blood. There is only life and salvation in His Blood. He was made manifest in His Holy Incarnation when St. Gabriel announced His tabernacling in the flesh of the Virgin. He was made manifest in His Holy Baptism by John. He was made manifest in His transfiguration on the holy mount—witnessed by The Law and The Prophets, and by a Trinity of Martyr Apostles. His great return to life in Glory and Exaltation on Holy Pascha (Easter) manifested an even greater glory (though the two are linked inseparably) when He came in awe-full Glory to be enthroned on The Holy Tree—The crucifix of Calvary. There at the Cross, there The Crucified God separated them one from another. To His left hung the disbelieving malefactor; stood the blasphemous pagan Sadducees, Pharisees, Scribes, and all other rejecting heathen. To His right hung the believing thief; stood Sts. Mary, John, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and all the other disciples—the “12” and the other believing men and women.
Then, now, and at the final judgment, Our Good Shepherd King divides His sheep from the goats.
This is the stuff of Revelation. But this is also the reality of the Church Militant, the Kingdom of Grace, right now, right here! This is the stuff of our liturgy, of our Holy Mass!
Every time you hear your Lord’s words you should hang your head and shudder; weep and beat your breast. And because your comfortable and sated “old Adam” languorously reclining in “cheap grace” does not so repent in contrition—you should all the more be crushed by Christ’s words. You do not attend to your neighbor as you should. You do not love the hungry, naked, stranger, or prisoner, as yourself. And when you hate, or ignore (which is passive hatred) the “other” you hate Jesus and you show a weakness in faith—in trusting in His Bloody suffering and death to forgive you.
But Hallelujah and Hosanna in the highest. Christ’s same words are also the purest, most refreshing, liberating, and peace-giving news there could be.
The King Himself has prepared The Kingdom for you by His own work of obedience and His own passion, suffering, and death for your failures—both malevolent and ambivalent. With His own right hand (and left) hath He gained you the victory. You are on His right hand now, because His right hand was nailed to the wood then. The Atonement wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment, last-ditched, “on-the-fly” improvised rescue mission. Jesus prepared you “in Him” from the foundation of the world [Eph. 1.4]. He is The Lamb of God slain from eternity [Rev. 13.8] to be your Liberating Lordly Lamb—seated on The Throne, the High Altar, still pierced, still scarred, still loving you with an unquenchable love.
When you, your loved ones, all your enemies, and all of the world were hungry: Jesus gave meat. He gives both food to eat but also the meat of the Word of God and His own Body which is flesh indeed—Life.
When you and all the rest were thirsty, He gives you water to drink, of course, but also the Sacramental + Water of rebirth, regeneration, forgiveness, and adoption.
When you and those you are supposed to be loving, were strangers and homeless, Jesus took you in. He made you His brothers and sisters. He died for the sins of all the world, and with His Church He reaches out to call all home by The Gospel.
When you were in the prison of your own fallen nature and warped will and ego, Jesus went to the Prison House of Hell to announce victory over the old evil foe.
When you don’t share; Jesus does. He has clothed you with cloth but also with His own Body and Blood.
“Verily He says unto you, inasmuch as He has done all things well, for you, and inasmuch as you believe in Him and trust in His mercy, ye have done it for all the least of His, and yours, brethren, and unto Him.”
We continue to pray for all those goats who are still living. If Saul of Tarsus, if you, if me, could go from Judas Goat to Royal Priests, Sons and Daughters of The King, then so too shall all the elect be gathered in to the Christ’s sheepfold. It’s right here in our Divine Liturgy, in The Holy Mass of The Sacrament! “The Son of Man, come(s) in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him…He sit(s) upon the throne of His glory.”
Come now to His “right Hand” and taste the righteousness of life eternal.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
Email the webmaster.Contact Augsburg Lutheran Church: (913) 403-6194