Ephesians 1:20-23; Matthew 13:37-43
He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
(Preached on January 23rd, 2022)
We have now hit the last part about Jesus in the Apostles Creed.
He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
Let’s start with the first part of this phrase. Jesus as written in the Gospels and in Paul’s letters was not only risen but after a time he ascended. His physical body was no longer with the people and the way in which followers, then and now, connect to Jesus was different than when he was physically with the people. The resurrection was a transition point and a turning point not only for Jesus but for us as believers and followers because we declare an incarnate God, a God with us always but it is not as it was before.
The people of that time, and I’m sure even today we wonder why Jesus ascended saying he would come again. The early Christians, Paul, believed it was going to happen in their lifetime. Then ages upon ages of Christians believed, hoped for, and prayed for Christ’s return to have in their lifetime.
When will it happen, that is not up for us to decide or worry about, but are called to always be ready.
What the ascension did was give space for the followers for us to know where we stand with God.
The disciples were no longer scared and huddled behind locked doors, in fact they boldly went out and spread the Word of God North, South, East, and West. Boldly in the face of imminent death, boldly people accepted a life that was counter-cultural, that was despised.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the theme was about the power and authority of Jesus. That Jesus is above all worldly powers as one seated on the right hand of God the Creator. The people of Ephesus knew power and understood the authority those in power have so this was about making sure they knew that the power doesn’t belong to any earthly ruler, king, or magistrate. That the ultimate power is in Christ.
The early Christians were gathering knowing that the power of the land was against their way of life and belief system. The power of the day wanted the people to worship not gods, not God but Caesar, the face of god in that time. The earthly authority. And Christians are saying that power on earth, power under and above the earth is not from all these other things but the God of Israel, the God that is Jesus, who is at the seat of authority as part of God.
This seat of power as written in Ephesians is that Christ is the head of the church. The church being the community with which people engage in the work of the Lord.
A great reminder for those of us in leadership that all we do for the sake of the gospel, all we do in the name of Christ should not be about us but about the one that calls, and sends us.
As a day of Installation for our elders, it is a great time to be reminded of who we put our ultimate authority in, Jesus.
Justo Gonzalez in the Book about The Apostles Creed for today states, “What the ascension tells us is that in Christ’s incarnation and ascension the infinite has embraced the finite.” (Justo, 63)
We understand our time on this side of life to be finite, it will end someday. And Jesus’ human life was finite in a public way, but then in the ascension there was Jesus as an infinite, an everlasting being. Again the one fully human, fully divine. Both finite parts of Jesus were embraced by the infinite part of Jesus.
What then is Jesus doing as the one that sits at the right hand of God. Jesus is called then the one to judge the quick (the living) and the dead. This is the Jesus that suffered and died, the Jesus that descended to the dead and was risen.
We come now to the Gospel lesson of today. This is Jesus telling the disciples the meaning of the Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat.
Hear Now the Word of the Lord from Matthew 13:37-43 in Common English Bible Translation.
37 Jesus replied, “The one who plants the good seed is the Human One.
38 The field is the world. And the good seeds are the
followers of the kingdom. But the weeds are the followers of the evil one.
39 The enemy who planted them is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the present age. The harvesters are the angels.
40 Just as people gather weeds and burn them in the fire,
so it will be at the end of the present age.
41 The Human One[b] will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that cause people to fall away and all people who sin.
42 He will throw them into a burning furnace.
People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom.
Those who have ears should hear.”
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The weeds that were sown by evil and then the wise landowner had the workers not gather the weeds but wait until both weeds and wheat are grown to fullness to be separated out. Jesus was telling the people there will be evil that happens along with the good in the world. We will see both in fact we are better able to understand the good when the evil is around.
And then comes the part where Jesus talks about the fiery furnace. This is the fire and brimstone part that is focused on in many traditions. The separating out of the righteous and unrighteous. The faithful and the unfaithful.
The writer of Matthew and the words of Jesus talk of a fiery furnace. This was very reminiscent of the place where three very faithful men were thrown into a familiar Old Testament story, Daniel 3 of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then there was a fourth walking around. The judge is in the fiery furnace and is refining those thrown out.
There will be a Judgment upon the earth but it is not one that is separated out by us humans. In fact Jesus even says the angels will do the harvesting. Not us, not any religious figure head,
Nancy Hasting Sehested, a chaplain of a prison in North Carolina wrote this about the Matthew text,
Jesus sounded like a doomsday prophet, but Jesus was not sentencing people to hell. He was inviting his disciples to attend the holy work of tending the garden. He invited a long-range view of the mission at hand. What are the “weeds,” the obstacles and the destructive forces that threaten God’s harvest? If we see with God’s vision, perhaps we can see what needs to thrive and what needs to be tossed, but discernement is required.
Again, What are the weeds that threaten God’s good harvest?
There is evil in the world but that doesn’t mean all those who do evil are evil. There is hope for redemption. I’m sure Rev. Nancy understands that as she shepherds the men in the maximum security prison. She must understand the depths of the need for justice in this life and the hope that comes for those men in Christ to give themselves over to the one who has created them, loves them, and wants them to surrender themselves over.
The one who has come to judge is the one that has been judged. Jesus understood love as we all do but his love ran deeper than we could ever imagine. Jesus healed on holy days, talked to those considered enemies, ate with those who were sinning against God and neighbor, Jesus taught in parables about the kingdom that was about the last, the lost, and the least. There was a new sense of love and justice from God and for us as followers of God in Jesus.
Justice is an interesting term. We desire justice to happen on this side of the earth and for us justice is usually about come-uppance. That those who have done wrong will get what they deserve and the opposite, those who have done right will get the good they deserve.
Justo Gonzalez put it this way,
Justice is when everything is in its proper place. (Note the relationship between “justice” and “adjust.” Adjusting things to their proper place, size, and function is a sort of justice.) Justice is when no one oppresses another, when all show mutual respect, when life and freedom and peace are affirmed. ..Love, on the other hand, is not simply allowing others to do as they please. ..Love is truly concerned over the actions and the being of the beloved. ...Ours is a God of such love that it is perfect justice, and of such justice that it is perfect love.
What a vision. A God that desires and gives perfect justice, adjusting the things that are out of order. Of redeeming the unredeemable. Of loving the unlovable.
So what are we to do with this scripture and this part of the creed?
First, is a reminder that we are not the judge. That is the place where Jesus standss. Jesus is judge, jury, and then Jesus takes on your defense as well.
We are called to show love and show others the way to live into the promises of following a God who understands our suffering, who understands our wrongdoings, the pain we inflict and the pain inflicted upon us. We are to tell the truth in love. Like a parent that helps a young child know not to touch a hot stove, God is calling us to help each other discern the path but ultimately it is between God and the other person.
We are to help tend, help show the way, but we are not to pass judgment or condemn others with our words.
I am forever grateful that God is God and I am not as it frees me to love myself, love others, love those to whom I am related, those I like, and love even my enemies as I am not the one to worry about the final judgment but I am one that is supposed to understand right and wrong, help others understand how to treat one another with love and respect and then to give myself over to go that will judge me but as a judge stands in my place as Jesus took on sin and death and conquered it all for the world.
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