Remember the Dr. Suess tale, "Yertle the Turtle"? In 1942, Theodor Geisel wrote this story as a protest against Adolph Hitler. Yertle is the king of his pond … but sitting on this stone throne is not enough for him. So he gets his turtle subjects to stack themselves one on top of another so he can see further and further. Whatever he can see becomes his kingdom. At the bottom of the turtle pile is poor Mack who wants a break. Yertle is not sympathetic and continues adding more and more turtles until he is on top of the world, nothing is higher. Nothing, that is, until the moon rises and he is furious that something dares to rise higher than his turtle stack … the command is issued for more turtles. However, before that happens, poor Mack has to burp (as an aside this essay caused a minor stir by using the word burp in a children's story … burp having never appeared in such a place and being considered vulgar.), and when Mack burps, the whole stack tumbles down and Yertle is tossed into the mud and all the turtles are freed.
It is that same kind of protest … a protest against evil and power grabbing at the expense of others that lead to the celebration of Christ the King Sunday that we mark this morning. The world of 1925 saw Ho Chi Minh, Hitler, and Mussolini rising to power … other nations were flexing their muscles, looking to be on top of the turtle pile … the world seemed to be spiraling out of control. The church played the role of Mack the Turtle in declaring the reign of Christ as the model for power … a reign that declared all had a place in the love of God, not just the rich and famous … and power was based on the example of Jesus Christ who expanded the boundaries to include those in society who were shunned and outcast.
It is in that context we read the gospel text … a very familiar one; sheep and goats used to designate a separation in the final judgment – "very truly, I tell you as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me; and as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." Again, a text that reminds us that in the end it will be about how "right" behavior, rather than "right" belief. Jesus turns it all up-side-down and reminds us that it won't be about how we have acted towards the so called "beautiful people," but about how we act towards those that have no name or place in the world.
Note the surprise on the part of both the sheep and the goats. It is an acknowledgment, I think that we can never be too comfortable with the parables of Jesus. When we find ourselves always as the Good Samaritan, or the wise bridesmaid, or the trustworthy servants of last Sunday … when we pat ourselves on the back for being the ones that Jesus singles out for praise … then there is something out of place. The sting of the parable is to remind us we're not completely there. We celebrate Christ the King Sunday and hear this parable of judgment as a reminder that while we strive to establish the kingdom of God, we haven't quite realized it:
… We pray for a day of peace in the midst of raging wars … and admit how powerless we often feel in confronting them.
… We feel the pain of an economy spiraling downward … and admit to walking in fear.
… We see the faces of the desperately poor … and admit to not knowing where to begin.
… We find ourselves in fractured community life … and are unable to make the first move.
In short we try to make it happen, forgetting that it is only through the love and grace of God that we put one foot in front of the other … grab the hand of the next person and walk together in working towards God's kingdom.
God has placed great hope and faith in us human beings in the long run … in our ability to learn to live in God's love and grace. As we close out the church year, we look to celebrating the season of preparation … the season of Advent that calls us to prepare for the birth of Christ. Think of the risk God took in coming to us in this form. Incredibly, God comes in the Christ child as vulnerable. In a world that didn't think much of childhood, in a world that didn't adore tiny infants in the way we do now … God was born as a child. What a proclamation to make … to declare now is time to follow a different pathway … to usher in a time when power would be based on how we cared for one another, and not just how we treated the rich and famous.
Radical, Passionate, Intentional, Risk-Taking, Extravagant … we have been applying those words to our spiritual journeys for these past five weeks in worship and in our reading. It is in such living that we participate in the reign of Christ as Lord … a reign that will re-define the world in the love of God. It is in such living that we will find ourselves more often than not with the sheep rather than the goats … knowing that in the times when we do act like a goat, God calls us back. The journey does not end here as we finish our reading and reflection. May what we have begun in these last five weeks continue to grow and develop in us as individuals and in the life of this congregation as we continue to work with and follow the example of Jesus Christ in ushering in the kingdom of God. With the closing prayer of our book we pray:
"Lord, strengthen and bless our congregation so that we may discover your presence anew and change the lives of people you call us to serve. Use me, even me, to build up the congregation through the giving of my time, effort, and gifts. Use me, Lord, for you. Amen." (Cultivating Fruitfulness, page 94)