Tuesday: Judgment

(Matthew 24:1-13; 25-27)

A. Introduction
Our purpose in this series is to prepare us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus as we reach Holy Week. We began two weeks ago with Palm Sunday, Jesus’ entrance in Jerusalem and by his drama, declared himself to be king. We asked ourselves the questions “What kind of king is this? What kind of kingdom is he ushering in? And what does he expect of his subjects, of us?” Last Sunday, Holy Monday, we were with him as the religious leaders challenged him with questions intended to entrap him. We ask ourselves the question “How might we be like the Pharisees? How is it that we may start out with good intentions and find that our choices are taking us away from loving God and neighbor?” Today, Tuesday of Holy Week, is “Judgment”; and next week, Wednesday, is “Love and betrayal,” and the following week is “A Supper Together.”

So Tuesday, where do we find Jesus today? Well, like each day, Luke tells us, Jesus is in the Temple teaching: “37 Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. 38 And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.” (Luke 21:37-38)

The temple. We simply have no idea. The Temple and temple mount of Jesus’ day was the largest, greatest structure in the world. Let’s look at a short clip from the history channel. (Video looks at the construction of the Temple Mount and Temple with views from the Mount of Olives.)

B. Body
So today is Tuesday. Tuesday is teaching day, a day of teaching about judgment. You recall that on Monday the religious leaders had been questioning Jesus, trying to either implicate him in an insurrection that could be reported to Pilate; or to answer a question in such a way that would cause him to loose credibility with the crowds. Of course neither happened, and they went away frustrated. They returned for one last try on Tuesday morning. Hear the story from Matthew: “34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:34-40)They agreed. The Gospel of Mark tells us that after that, no one dared to ask him a question.

But Jesus asked them as part of his teaching. After all, they believed he claimed to be the Messiah. It was a fitting question, and this may fall into the category of “What kind of king was he?”
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42 “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,until I put your enemies under your feet” ’?45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Now, unless you are your own grandpa, as the song goes, it was not possible for the Messiah to be David’s Lord and son at the same time. What kind of king is he? One greater than David! They may not have understood on that Tuesday. But there was awe and mystery there and no one dared challenge him again.

They might not have known, but we know don’t we. Christ is Messiah and David’s Lord. And he is Lord of our life. Early Christians would declare as their simplest statement of faith: “Jesus is Lord.” And so he is.

We know that after that, Jesus gathered his disciples and the crowds around him and made “not to kind” remarks about the Scribes and Pharisees: He said their legalism caused heavy burdens not intended by God. They were hypocrites, declaring one thing and doing another. They cleaned the outside of the cup but on the inside, it was “full of greed and self-indulgence.” They were like white-washed tombs, beautiful on the outside, “but on the inside full of bones and death and filth.” Then Jesus said, “This generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world.” (Luke 20:50) Wow!If you are going to level a charge, it just as well be a big one.

After the teaching and as they were leaving, the disciples remarked to Jesus (These were Galilean Jews for whom the Temple was not an every day occurrence), about how it was adorned with beautiful stones (Luke 21:5). Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

You’ve seen the temple. It was made of the same 10,000 lb stones as the Temple Mount. What Jesus just said was beyond comprehension. So that evening, Tuesday evening, as they were sitting on the Mount of Olives looking directly across at the Temple Mount and the magnificent temple, they “came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3)

Jesus tells them these things, many we’ve heard: There will be wars and rumors of wars, persecutions, false messiahs, desecrating of the temple such that the world as they know it would end.

And that was true. In just 40 years, 70 ad after months of siege, the walls of the city, then of the Temple were breached, the city sacked and destroyed, the Temple burned and then razed to the ground. Not one stone left upon the other. The world of the Jewish people, with their Temple-based faith came crashing down.

But we know that Jesus had become the cornerstone of the new Temple, literally ripping the curtain that had barred access to the Holy of Holies and giving direct access to all people through him to our heavenly father. Never again would a sacrifice have to be made to heal the breach between God and humanity. Christ was that sacrifice. Jesus the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus the new high priest going before the throne of God once and for all. Jesus the cornerstone of the new temple, the body of Christ, the new dwelling place of God on earth. (from Eph 2:20-21)

That was the end of one age, the age of a Temple-focused religion.

But Jesus also talked of the end of another age The question asked by the disciples really implied two questions: When would this occur? And what will be the sign of your coming? The latter would be the age of his second coming, an age that we all must face.

The hour and day are unknown: “But about that day and hour, no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:36)

Jesus told of the necessity for watchfulness” 33 Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35 Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” (Mark 13:33-37)

And this is the one that frightened me as a child. I was fearful that I was not ready. I didn’t know how long it would take for me to get ready. Jesus says, “so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. (Matthew 24:39b-44)

Then Jesus told two more parables, one of the ten bridesmaids and the other the parable of the talents. Ten bridesmaids were waiting through the night for the bridegroom could come so that the festivities could begin, but five were were foolish and had brought no oil for their lamps and tried to borrow some but were told to go and buy their own. While they were out buying the oil, the bridegroom came and took the wise bridesmaids, those who were prepared, to the wedding party and closed the door to the foolish maids. And the moral of the story is that no one else can prepare for us. We need to bring our own oil. We need to be prepared in advance. Jesus ended the story by saying “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the hour nor day.”

And we all know the parable of the talents. Three slaves were entrusted with talents, a life time of wages. Two employed the master’s talents to make more. The third buried it in the ground simply to preserve it, fearful of the master’s judgment if he lost it. The master ends by saying, “As for the worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Preparation is making use of our gifts in the service of the Master.
So how is that we prepare ourselves. How is it that we serve the Master, do his wishes with the talents, the treasure we’ve been given? Maybe the clue is in the final, the very last parable of Jesus’ teaching, the very last parable of all.

(Read Matthew 25:31-46, the parable of the judgment of the nations (Sheep and goats))

We began Tuesday morning with Jesus answering the question, “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?” To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind strength, and the second is like it to love your neighbor as yourself. On these hang all the law and the prophets.

Is it possible that all of the day’s teaching was in answer as to how we fulfill those commandments? And in so doing, preparing ourselves?

How is it that we love God? And love him now, rather that waiting til the end of the age? How do we prepare ourselves for his coming? By what will we be measured when we stand in judgment? And we all will.

Keith Jaspers, the founder of Rainbow Network believed that Matthew 25, the parable of the judgment of the nations, the “Sheep and the Goats,” gives us no choice. We love God, we serve our Master, we prepare ourselves for judgment by serving the least of these in our society and in the world. For Keith Jaspers, we have no choice; there is no option. It is the love of Jesus played out in the service of the least of these that drives a man like Mel West, and members of the Salvation Army corps, and those who work in food pantries, at Habitat for Humanity sites, clothing stores, or shelters. Or dig wells for thirsty villages.The good news is that all of these have created frameworks by which one or more of us can serve the least of these, and in so doing, serving Jesus.

C. Close
Will we be ready? I can still picture myself in that Sunday School room when I was in grade school, hearing “two will be in the field, one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together, one will be taken, one will be left.”

We will neither know the hour nor the day. You all know those who thought they had a lifetime in front of them to prepare, and suddenly they didn’t. How much time will we have to prepare? Jesus says, “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”

Be ready. Amen.