(This sermon was delivered on Christ the King Sunday at a small parish in McCool Junction, Nebraska, November of 2008)
Scripture Lesson: Matthew 25:31-46
Admittedly, my initial thought when I read this Sunday's text was "Egads! How do I preach this?" Sheep and goats, eternal hell, all that fun stuff.
This text is always difficult for Lutheran pastor’s to preach. A former professor of mine, Karoline Lewis, illustrated it like this:
As a kid, you go up to your mother or father and say, “My neck hurts when I go like this” – and then demonstrate the pain-inducing move. Our parent’s response: “Well, then don’t do that.” A similar conversation occurs in the minds of preachers for this Sunday. "When I try to preach Christ the King Sunday, my neck hurts." The answer may be something like the following, "Well, then don't preach Christ the King Sunday."
