Sermon for "Christ the King" Sunday based on Matthew 25: 31-46
Do any of you like fairy tales? I don't know what you think but I wonder if many people really do not understand childhood fairy tales until they are adults.
For example, in the story Snow White and the Seven Dwarves compiled by the Brothers Grimm, possibly more well known as the Disney movie version as Snow White, the evil stepmother gushes: "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest one of all?" As children we may realize that she is vain, and therefore being vain is bad. But as adults we may begin to recognize that there is more to that fairy tale event in the life of the story than vanity.
The same holds true that as adults we may begin to understand that looking in mirrors is a little more complicated. The mirror that belonged to the evil stepmother was honest and reliable. But mirrors like that do not exist … at least not in my bathroom. Instead of honesty we may wonder if mirrors that make us look dreadful really are candid. Is it the lighting? Is this mirror warped or what? Do I actually look like that? What's going on with my hair? How come my pores are so big? Who is that …..?
Thus, as adults we begin to realize that the question "mirror mirror on the wall…" of the evil stepmother in Snow White is not just about vanity, it is much deeper. Because after asking the question for many years with the same result the stepmother on that fateful day found out that the world had changed and she was told that she was not the fairest …. in relation to Snow White. When she talked to the mirror that day, she still was plenty gorgeous and had been for a long time, but then life changed, someone younger came along and now she was the number two beauty in the land.
So it was not necessarily the question to the mirror --- she had asked it many times before --- rather it was the answer from the mirror that day and how she chose to live after she heard the answer. The same is for us, it is not necessarily the answer from the mirrors we look at from day to day, but how we respond to what we see. The stepmother made choices and decisions that came from being told the truth that led her on the path of evil. We realize she was not simply lost in her own illusions overwhelmed with feelings of vanity … instead she chose a path of jealousy.
Therefore, it is not so hard for us to realize that as adults when we ask questions and hear the answers, we can easily become as delusional as Snow White's stepmother. Mirrors only show us who we are, not who we would rather be. If you don't believe me just look at our modern age; we think that a new car would be a good mirror, but it is not. We think that a new, attractive partner would be a good mirror, but it is not. Neither is a high paying job or a lovely home. We think that wrinkle cream or makeup will be a good mirror but it is not.
To be fair, it is difficult to look straight into our honest reflections. Not only must we contend with our previous illusions of trying to be the fairest for example, we must now contend with very real failings of character and personality.
I realize that this is a lengthy introduction into our gospel lesson today nevertheless a helpful one. Our gospel lesson for today comes late in Matthew's gospel --- just before the Passion of Christ. Some scholars call it the Judgment of the Pagans and others refer to it as the Last Judgment.
Regardless, whatever we call it in our reading, Jesus is seen separating sheep and goats, described as a king on his throne, rewarding his subjects according to their adherence to his great ethical commandment of compassion. The passage comes at the tail end, beginning from Chapter 24, of a long section about the end of the world and the time of completion. Today's passage follows numerous lessons and parables about being ready for whatever is coming, whenever it gets here; A thief in the night; A slave and a master; Foolish bridesmaids who are unprepared; Slaves given trust over small things while the master is away; Apocalyptic stories about judgment and being prepared.
I would love to be able to pretend that this gospel reading is not in some way about judgment, but that would be neither true to the text, nor true to our need to wrestle with it, like Jacob wrestled with that angel, hoping for a blessing. It would not be true to the mirror that is held before us. So as we wrestle with this parable we may be startled to find that same question spoken by the Stepmother in Snow White: "Mirror, Mirror on the wall who is fairest one of all." Of course we do not hear those exact words but the question is in many ways the same. "'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'"
Not only do we have the same words but perhaps we also have a mirror. Lord, I am marvelous and wonderful, how can this mirror be me otherwise? Who or what is the mirror? Judgment is the mirror because it reflects honestly and accurately who we are. The question then becomes what do we do with the answer? We could say it all depends on who is asking … the goat or sheep? Those "righteous" mentioned in the lesson can represent many like those who had come to believe over the centuries that they were the fairest in the land because they had "inherited" their position.
Jesus as the king is indicating that the mirror that they had always looked into, the one that they believed had over the years told them that they were fairest … the most righteous…in the land, was actually telling them something quite different. When faced with judgment, the righteous had only seen as they wished to be seen. Now in this parable Jesus says something quite different.
If we are asking the question "Am I going to Heaven? Will I be saved? Am I a sheep or a goat?" Then we have missed the point. Instead, the reflection of the mirror of judgment is this: if we love God, if our values are God-values instead of the world's values, if Christ actually is King, then we will love as God loves, give as God gives, forgive as God forgives. If our values are God-values, we can't help but live as Christ taught. We can't help but see in the mirror the true reflection of Christ.
Preaching in front of the Ebenezer Baptist congregation he loved, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. told the congregation ---just two months before his untimely funeral---how he would like to be remembered, and in doing so, he zeroed in on that ultimate question: If Christ is King, what does that mean? If Christ is ruler over our lives, Dr. King told them, then my Nobel Peace Prize is less important than my trying to feed the hungry. If Christ is King, then my invitations to the White House are less important than that I visited those in prison. If Christ is Lord, then my being TIME magazine's "Man of the Year" is less important than that I tried to love extravagantly, dangerously, with all my being.
When Dr. Martin Luther King looked in the mirror of judgment and asked himself what he saw, he did not want a reflection of a black man who received the Nobel Peace Prize, trips to the White House or being on a cover of a magazine. Dr. King wanted to see a black man who reflected Christ as King.
Today we are celebrating the feast day of Christ the King, the last Sunday before Advent and a new liturgical year, and this significant symbolic placement was chosen not because we Christians need another reason to celebrate Christ. Rather, in the 1920's, the Roman Catholic Pope, Paul the Sixth became increasingly concerned about the rise of Mussolini in Italy and Franco in Spain and fascism in general. In response Paul the Sixth emphasized the game-changing dimension of what it means to call Jesus Christ --- King.
Our allegiance is to be to Christ. Our reflection is to be Christ-like. To the question, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all" all we may hear and see is that we are all old goats, but because we pledge to the King and that Christ is the fairest of them all, then all that judgment can reflect is grace: "I see Christ in you." Amen.
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