<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last enemy to be destroyed is death!\u201d\u00a0 Did you hear that?\u00a0 I mean, did you really hear it.\u00a0 Christ our King has destroyed death- once and for all.\u00a0 We are going to live forever!\u00a0 And at the Second Coming of Christ, He will separate us into two groups- the sheep and the goats.\u00a0 The sheep, his flock, are those who belong to Christ.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know about you, but as the old song \u201cWhen The Saints go marching in\u201d says-\u00a0 \u201cI want to be in that number, when the Saints go marching in!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0 Do you really believe that Christ has conquered death forever and that you will live forever if you belong to Christ?<\/p>\n
I ask that because it just doesn\u2019t seem that people of this world believe it at all.\u00a0 The people of this world seem to be living as if there is no tomorrow. They are anxious to get all the loose \u201cliving\u201d in they can in a short span of time. They have no time for God or his law.\u00a0 If they really believed that there is a God and heaven, they would surely want to develop a relationship with God.\u00a0 But most of the people of this world- present company excepted- have much better things to do on Sunday morning than attend Church to worship God.\u00a0 Sadly, statistics show that less than half of the people in the US attend Church on Sundays.\u00a0 In Europe, the number is less than 1 in 10.<\/p>\n
Ask yourself a very simple question.\u00a0 If Jesus saw you today and he asked you the questions that He posed rhetorically to the two groups in the Gospel, how would he judge your actions?<\/p>\n
You know, it\u2019s interesting that both groups responded to Jesus the same way.\u00a0 They both said- when did we see you naked or hungry or imprisoned?\u00a0 Jesus simply says that He was in \u201cthe least of my brethren\u201d that we all encounter.\u00a0 Yes, all of us encounter \u201cthe least of my brethren\u201d each day, don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Here on this Island, you folks have an advantage over the people on the mainland.\u00a0 You all know each other, and those who you don\u2019t know, you know of.\u00a0 So perhaps my perspective is different.\u00a0 You see, every day I come in contact with total strangers who are \u201cthe least of my brethren\u201d- on a trip to Walmart; while attending a movie; on the roads while in my car.\u00a0 In all the little contacts you have in life, like these, you pass your brothers by as you go about your business.\u00a0 Jesus is telling us that we must always, always, be open and kind to the people around us, not just to our families and friends. \u00a0But the thing is, it is so easy to just pass everybody by as we go about our business.\u00a0 There are things we do not notice, don\u2019t care to notice, and don\u2019t want to notice.<\/p>\n
This reminds me of the Gospel story of the rich man and Lazarus in that respect. During a good part of his life, the rich man was simply clueless to the plight of Lazarus while he just kept on enjoying life to the fullest.<\/p>\n
Next weekend we begin the season of Advent.\u00a0 Most of us use Advent to get ready for Christmas, the coming of Christ.\u00a0 But I\u2019d like to ask you to think of it a little differently.\u00a0 This year, use Advent to get ready for both comings of Christ.\u00a0 The first coming, the coming of the Christ Child, is the ultimate gift of God.\u00a0 Jesus became man, showed us the way, and after his Resurrection, promised those who believe resurrection and eternal life.\u00a0 For that, we should all rejoice and celebrate.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we always celebrate Christmas.<\/p>\n
But there is the second coming, the one that Jesus speaks of in this Gospel.\u00a0 Let\u2019s all use Advent this year to get ready for that as well.<\/p>\n
There was a famous World-br II era Lutheran minister\u00a0 Imprisoned by the Nazis named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.\u00a0 This is what Bonhoeffer once wrote about Advent:\u00a0 \u201cLife in a prison cell reminds me a great deal of Advent.\u00a0 One waits and hopes and putters around; but in the end, what we do is of little consequence.\u00a0 The door is shut and it can only be opened from the outside\u201d.<\/p>\n
All of us here will experience the second coming.\u00a0 The door to Heaven will be shut until it is opened from the outside.\u00a0 Until then, we are all imprisoned.\u00a0 We putter around, dabbling in all of what this life has to offer.\u00a0 But it is only a restricted life, a prison.\u00a0 Our real goal is life with our heavenly Father.<\/p>\n
Every once and a while we need to stop what we are doing, reflect on life, and make some changes.\u00a0 Advent is a perfect time for that- four weeks each year for us to get ready for the Coming of Christ.\u00a0 So, take some time this Advent to reflect on those questions Jesus rhetorically asked in the Gospel.\u00a0 How will you answer if Jesus comes today and opens the door?\u00a0 Will you be ready?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christ the King Ez 34: 11-12, 15-17; 1 Cor 15: 20-26, 28; Mt 25: 31-46 Dc. Larry Brockman \u201cThe last enemy to be destroyed is death!\u201d\u00a0 Did you hear that?\u00a0 I mean, did you really hear it.\u00a0 Christ our King has destroyed death- once and for all.\u00a0 We are going to live forever!\u00a0 And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[315],"tags":[316],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":655,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions\/655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}