Practicing for the Kingdom

Today is the Sunday that is known as either Christ the King Sunday or the Reign of Christ Sunday. Regardless of its name, it is the day when we look forward to the time that Jesus' reign of love and peace will be fully realized. But as we look forward to it, we need to ask ourselves, "What do to get ready for it?" This sermon answers that question.

Today is the Sunday that we look forward to the coming Reign of Christ, when the Kingdom of God will be established in its fullness for all time. We all wonder what that Kingdom will look like; and the prophet Isaiah gives us some tantalizing glimpses of it. He tells us that there will be universal peace. People won’t have any more use for swords and spears, so they’ll melt them down and remake them into hoes and hedge clippers. (Isaiah 2:4) He describes a time when everyone will live together, even those who are natural enemies. When little lambs lie down to sleep, friendly wolves will be their furry pillows. (Isaiah 11:6) He shows us a picture of a table groaning with all kinds of good things – apple dumplings, roast new potatoes, fresh-picked pears, and chocolate mousse – and everyone can eat as much as they want and never gain an ounce! (Isaiah 25:6) And the best part is that death and the sorrow that accompanies it will be a thing of the past! (Isaiah 25:7) The peace, the feast, and the fellowship with God and with one another will go on forever! 

If Isaiah, though, is the one who offers us glimpses of the coming Kingdom, Matthew is the one who tells us what will happen before that Kingdom begins. In his description of what is known as the Last Judgement (Matthew 25:31-46), Matthew envisions all people being divided into two groups: one group that will be welcomed into the Kingdom, while the others will be shown the door. His description reminds me of tourists on a cruise ship who are being divided into groups for shore excursions. As they gather in one of the larger rooms of the ship, they mill around asking one another, “Where are we supposed to be? Are we in the right place?” while cruise personnel direct them. “Group 9? Over in this corner. Group 12? The front row, please. Group 19? You’re on my right. Now, don’t wander away. We’ll be leaving any minute.” After everyone is organized, a tour guide in each group raises a brightly colored paddle that looks like a big lollipop and says, “This way, please. Stay with me!” and they’re off to explore exciting sights on the shore. In Matthew’s vision, however, there are only two groups – he calls them the sheep and the goats – and instead of a cruise director running the show, Jesus is up front holding the microphone.

After everyone is assigned to a group, Jesus turns to the group on the right. “Welcome, friends!” he says. “I’m happy to have you traveling with me! You have done some fantastic things! Why, you’ve helped me again and again. You’ve invited me to dinner, you’ve made sure that I was warm in the winter, you’ve brought me chicken soup when I was under the weather. Why, you were the first one to call me to offer help when I had a spell of bad luck! Good job! The entrance to the Kingdom is the first door on the right. You don’t have to hurry; you have all the time in the world.” But those folks will answer, “What? I never helped you, Jesus! You lived almost 2,000 years ago! How could I have possibly helped you! You must be mistaken!” And then Jesus will answer, “Oh, no; no mistake. Any time you help someone who can’t return the favor, you help me. Now, welcome home!”

Then, Jesus will turn to the group on his left. “I’m sorry,” he’ll say, shaking his head. “I’d love to invite you in, but my Kingdom isn’t for you. You never did anything for me – no food when I was out of a job, no gently used clothing for my kids, no twenty-dollar bill to help me with gas money. In fact, when I asked, you gave me every excuse in the book, but you never gave me any help. I’m sorry. The exit door is right over there.” Then those folks will object, too: “Wait, wait, wait! What are you talking about? I would have given my life for you if I had seen you – which I never did, by the way. And I’ve led a good life! I haven’t broken even one of the Ten Commandments. I’ve read my Bible every single day; I’ve gone to church every single Sunday; and I even tithe! I haven’t done anything wrong!” But Jesus will answer, “No, you haven’t done anything wrong; but you haven’t done anything right, either. You haven’t done anything; and that’s the whole point. You wouldn’t fit into my Kingdom, because people here love one another. Who exactly is it that you love? I’m so very sorry. You can let yourselves out.”

Now, I’m not convinced that Jesus will be as hard on us as Matthew says he will be. Matthew, after all, comes from a time when the Christian church was being persecuted; and I’m sure that he was more than a little resentful of those people who called themselves Christians but didn’t act like Christians should. I’m also pretty sure that life isn’t nearly as black and white as Matthew would have us believe. But he makes a good point, and one that we would do well to take to heart. What we do speaks louder than any words we might say. We can profess loudly that we are Christians, but if our actions don’t reflect what we profess to believe, then our Christianity looks a little thin. The Kingdom isn’t for those people who just talk about Jesus; the Kingdom is for those folks who treat other people like Jesus. The Kingdom, in other words, is for those who practice what they preach.

And practicing being a Christian is what makes us fit for the Kingdom. Imagine, if you will, a football team getting together for their first practice of the season. All the young men bounce up to the coach, each one hoping to make it into the starting lineup. “OK,” the coach says, “it’s good to see all of you again! Now, before we get started, I want to know what all of you did to stay in condition during the off-season.” “I did weight training,” one says. “I lifted weights every single day.” “I worked on running,” another says. “I ran at least a little bit every day.” “I worked on my catches,” says a third. “I can catch that football now if I’m upside down!” I imagine that the coach is happy with all those answers. But what if those young men would have said, “Oh, we didn’t do anything. We stayed home and didn’t risk an injury. We read all about football, though, and organized a discussion group about the game. We’re all ready to play!” Coach wouldn’t be so happy about that, would he? He might say, “What do you mean? You can’t get ready for a football game by talking about it! You have to practice for it!!” In the same way, God wants us to practice for the Kingdom by showing love, compassion, and acceptance through our actions. We can talk about it all we want, but we need to do something to practice our Christian skills. Otherwise… well, we just won’t be ready!

There is an old story that illustrates the difference between being in the Kingdom and being on the outside of it. The story goes that God offered to show one of the saints the difference between heaven and hell. God took the saint to hell first. There was no fire and brimstone, and no little black imps tormenting the residents with pitchforks. In fact, the residents of hell were seated at a huge banquet table with all kinds of delicacies in front of them. They were lamenting bitterly, though, because none of them had elbows and they couldn’t get the food to their hungry mouths. God then took the saint to heaven. The scene was the same. The residents were seated at a banquet table there, too, with the same delicious food in front of them. None of the heavenly residents had elbows, either. But the scene was entirely different. The people in heaven were rejoicing, because they fed one another.

Have we practiced for the coming of the Kingdom? Have we considered the hunger of others when we go shopping at Kroger? Have we been as concerned about the clothing on the back of a poverty-stricken child as much as the clothing in our own walk-in closets? Have we worried about the availability of health care for others, or only about the cost of our own? Have we tried to connect with people who are different than we are, or do we just ignore them? Maybe we need to look around and realize that Jesus is in every one of them. OK, saints, so practice starts right now! After all, we want to be ready for the big game! And God wants us to be ready, too.