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November 23, 2014

Christ the King A
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Ephesians 1:15-23

Psalm 95:1-7a
Matthew 25:31-46

Today we begin with a famous poem by Carl Sandburg titled Prayers of Steel.
Lay me on an anvil, O God. Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar. Let me pry loose
old walls. Let me lift and loosen old foundations.
Lay me on an anvil, O God. Beat me and hammer me into a steel spike. Drive me into
the girders that hold a skyscraper together. Take red-hot rivets and fasten me into the
central girders. Let me be the great nail holding a skyscraper through blue nights into
white stars.

Carl Sandburg

Seen from a playful angle this is a prayer that steel would pray- to become something
important. Like a child dreaming of being president, or a rock star, the steel wants to be a
skyscraper.
On a more serious plane it might be a prayer about doing, accomplishing, being useful. It is a
prayer about where we end up. How things turn out in the end.
Our gospel text is about how things turn out in the end. The dramatic picture of Jesus the
righteous judge separating sheep from goats is a compelling scene. Also intimidating.
The passage is stark and disturbing in its frank declarations. Notice that the only benchmark,
the only standard is the treatment of the hungry, the poor, sick and imprisoned.
There is nothing here about confession of faith. There is nothing here about accepting Jesus
as your personal Lord and Savior, there is nothing here from Luthers small catechism.
Just behavior. Did you or didnt you?
What is all the more disturbing is that neither the righteous nor the condemned ever knew
about the presence of the Lord. The good people were not doing good to get into heaven or to
seek for the face of Jesus, and the condemned people were not consciously turning their backs
on God. It is true of both groups, they just did not know.
Neither group knew they were contributing to their eternal fate. It hardly seems fair. Some
won the game and some lost the game and it appears neither side knew the rules, or even knew
they were playing, let alone playing for keeps. Yikes.
Well, at least we can say it is good to be warned. We at least have the advantage over the poor
sheep and goats in this passage because we have been given this warning. THEY did not know
the rules of the game but now you do. Be generous and kind and see to the needs of others
and all will be well. Be cold and indifferent and you wind up lumped with the condemned.

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But even a cursory examination gets the wheels turning and we soon start losing traction. It is
only human nature to read this text, and begin reverse-engineering it. How many deeds of
mercy are enough? A hundred? Ten? One? Is this one good deed forever, or once every year,
every week, every day? What if I miss a day because I had to renew my drivers license?
What if the standard for getting into heaven is that you must offer help at each and every
opportunity and never miss. Weve all missed opportunities to help the neighbor, because the
needs are endless. No one is ever kind and generous every day, to every need, in every case.
And on the reverse side, it is actually hard for me to imagine a person so hard-hearted and
callous, so stingy that they had never ever contributed anything at all for the good of anyone.
Even the most self-serving, materialistic Black Friday shopper has dropped some coins in the
Salvation Army red kettle if only to get rid of some annoying pocket change. Does that count?
And if not, where is the cutoff? How much is enough?
And does it have to be personal, face to face service, or does a check to the Dorothy Day Center
count? I can guarantee you that those agencies Ive mentioned along with lots of others do
plenty of very real good for people in very real need. I guarantee you that Lutheran Social
Service has provided shelter for people who would otherwise be homeless. Does our collective
support for that count, even if I personally had not been thinking about LSS when I gave my
offering? Do the dollars we give for Christmas grocery cards buy us enough insurance for
Judgment Day?
Lay me on an anvil, O God. Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
There is a story about the famous old-time comedian, W.C. Fields. He was widely known as a
hard drinking, iconoclastic curmudgeon. Someone spotted him reading the Bible and asked
him why on earth he, of all people, was reading the Bible. He replied that he was looking for
loopholes.
We read a text like this and immediately begin looking for loopholes. But the text says there
are no loopholes.
Still the Bible is notoriously contradictory. I offer some examples. In the Sermon on the Mount
Jesus prohibits anyone from calling another person a fool.
But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment;
and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,'
you will be liable to the hell of fire. (Mat 5:22)
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Much later on the very same Jesus in the very same gospel lambastes the hypocrisy of the
scribes and Pharisees and calls them, (and I quote) blind fools (Mat 23:17)
Todays passage separates sheep from goats, as if sheep are good and goats are bad. But in the
Old Testament, God gives instruction for one of Israels holiest days- Passover- and in the
instructions about the meal it says the sacrificial animal can be a sheep or a goat. One is as
good as the other, even for such a holy purpose.
Even the very notion of eternal judgment gets contradictory treatment from no less a theologian
than the Apostle Paul. In Romans 2, Paul writes
6 For he (God) will repay according to each one's deeds: 7 to those who by patiently doing good
seek for glory and honor and immortality, he (God) will give eternal life;8 while for those who
are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury.
(Rom 2:6-8)

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Payment according to deeds, says Paul, but only one chapter later, Paul wrote,
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For "no human being will be justified in his(Gods) sight" by deeds prescribed by the law

Then, just a bit further on, 24 they are now justified by his(Gods) grace as a gift, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:20, 24)
Do we keep looking for loopholes? Do we scrap the Bible because it does not hew to a single
simple point of view? I suggest that one way to give the Bible its due is to stop reading this
passage as if it were a contract, or a how-to manual.
That God calls us to serve the neighbor is inescapable. 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do
it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'
You and I are playing for keeps. If this text says nothing else it says our daily living matters,
our decisions matter, our allocation of resources matters, and our compassion, or lack of it
matters in an ultimate way.
So if there is a shred of truth here, it must serve to motivate us to get it right.
Lay me on an anvil, O God. Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
In his famous poem, Prayers of Steel Carl Sandburg makes a counter-intuitive move. Steel is
strong, but it cannot act on itself it cannot form itself, or re-form itself. Yet its strength is
enough to support skyscrapers.
We, like steel, need to be formed in order to be of use.
What I find compelling about Sandburgs prayer is its lack of stuffy piety. This is a prayer not
for quiet faith to bring peace of mind at moments of meditation. Its a plea to become a
CROWBAR!
A crowbar is not subtle. A crowbar is not made for quiet contemplation. A crowbar exerts
leverage and makes a difference, and forces movement.
Lay me on an anvil, O God. Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.
I think this text from Matthew is a prayer of steel. This is not a roadmap to get to heaven.
Anyway, the first thing we do with a roadmap like that is look for shortcuts and detours. We
look just as ridiculous as W.C. Fields looking for loopholes.
This text is not like a how to- and I dont think it is a point by point prophesy. Jesus in the
flesh had to use a lot of images and ideas for us to get even a glimpse. Dont hold the Bible to
technicalities it never intended to convey.
Instead, think of this text more like an anvil. Gods anvil.
The word of God is living and active. The word of God sets things in motion and this text sets
US in motion.
In the same chapter of Romans I quoted earlier Paul also wrote, Do you not realize that God's
kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?(Rom 2:4)

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Gods word speaks to us in this text. If this judgment scene gets under your skin, that is what
is supposed to happen. Jesus speaks to us in this text. Jesus calls us urgently to engage in
the needs of the world as if our lives depended on it.
This is the word that calls us to be crowbars, and main beams and we are called to act as
shelter as support, as the steel framework of compassion, each of us only a rivet in a structure
that reaches into the heights.
And to do nothing is to be judged. Not at some future apocalypse, but every moment.
All that stands, yet Jesus stands with us too.
The one pictured as the judge and king is the same one who submitted to judgment- and
condemnation, and the hell of execution- all for the sake of a world that can never save itself.
Jesus gave this teaching just before going to the cross. He poured himself out for mercy, not
condemnation.
Yes, you and I are called and compelled to serve. But the judge is on our side, and sends a
Word that lifts us into newness and freedom, and renewed trust.
God is reconciling the world to God through Christ. This word you hear today is doing its
work, forming and re-forming us. This text places us on Gods anvil to be shaped.
Like the prophecy Jonah brought to Nineveh, this text does not set the goal of destruction, but
to the contrary, calls for repentance. God wills salvation. This text is not serving to predict our
demise, but to place us on Gods anvil.
Now is the moment. Christ rules. This Word will do its work. Those with ears to hear will
make a difference in this world, because perfect love casts out fear.