Christ the King
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Today on the last Sunday of the liturgical year we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. CROWN identifies a King. Jesus is a King and he had a crown but one that is made of thorns. Moreover, he is not seated on a throne but is hanging on the cross. Christ as King is different from the kings we knew in this world in two ways he exercises his Kingship: FIRST, Jesus exercises his kingship by dying on the cross. By dying on the cross, Jesus is saying that his kingship is not about prestige and power but of SERVICE and SACRIFICE.
It seems to me that sometimes it is difficult for us to imagine Christ’ Kingdom or even just Jesus as a King. We usually think of a king as someone with a lot of authority and maybe with some personal privileges. We think a King should be able to protect himself from just about anything. Jesus Christ, the King, tells us that a true King does not fill himself up with possessions or surround himself with protection, but empties himself with love.
There is a beautiful passage from St. Augustine, "In Christ we are forever young." That is the way it will be for those incorporated into his being.
Prophet Ezekiel depicts the Lord God as a conscientious shepherd, concerned for the well-being of his flock. He not only sees to it they are well fed but protects them from danger and assists those who are weak or wounded. Still more remarkably, he searches out those who go astray and are in danger from wild beasts, being separated from the shepherd and the flock. In short, God watches with loving care over all his people, and none, weak or strong, wounded or healthy is devoid of his efficacious attentions. This concern for all is a characteristic of a true King. He has a personal and permanent relation to all those over whom he rules.
SECOND, Jesus will exercise his kingship not in this world but in the Kingdom he promised for all of us. In John 18:36, Jesus says that: “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom where from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” This means that Christ is not a king like the rulers of the earth. His kingship does not depend upon the powers of this world and is not inspired by them. The first enemy to the Kingdom of Jesus is sin because “The kingdom of God cannot exist alongside the reign of sin” (Origen, priest):
We cannot forget that sin is, first of all, as our catechism teaches us “an offense against God”. It is a rejection of God and his kingdom.
Then we can see the consequences of sin in our lives and our society. There is war and terrorism; lack of justice and violence. The culture of death is still present in many ways. The dignity of the human person is not the basis for the common good. There is also our own personal weaknesses and sins. We are here today to reject sin and to tell Jesus that we want Him to reign in our own lives:
Then Jesus talks about the most important characteristic of his kingdom. It is charity. Love of God and love of others. We are not even asked to do things perfectly or in a heroic way, but to try to do simple things in a charitable way: Things that we all can do in our ordinary life.
Who among us cannot do some of these things, “you welcomed me, you visited me, and you gave me some food and drink”
The specific actions mentioned in the gospel today are (i) feeding the hungry, (ii) giving drink to the thirsty, (iii) clothing the naked, (iv) sheltering the homeless, (v) visiting those in prison, and (vi) taking care of the sick. Add (vii) burying the dead, and you got it; you have the traditional Seven Corporal Works of Mercy. The Final Judgment on whether we are true Christians or not, whether we belong to the kingdom of Christ or not, will be based on whether or not we have done the corporal works of mercy. This is our number one Christian obligation both as individual men and women and as a family of believers.
Whatever we do to the least of these needy children of God, these brothers and sisters of Jesus, we do to Jesus Himself.
What is our greatest need? The greatest need of all of us is ‘Our need for love.’ Each one of us, whoever we may be, married, single, priest, lay person, religious, we all need above all LOVE, to feel that we are loved, to believe that we are loved for ourselves, and to have someone for us to love. This is what our Divine Lord was talking about when he said, "Feed the hungry" and so on together with the physical needs.
A beautiful Christian ideal to have before us is that Jesus is present in my neighbor. Jesus is in the person next to me, the person behind me, in front of me, in the person with whom I live and work. One person in recent history who lived this is Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Where will we get the power to love Jesus in others in this way as he asks in the Gospel today? (Matt 25:31-46) In a letter to the people of Albania on April 28th 1997 Mother Teresa gives the key to being able to see Jesus in others. The key to loving others is prayer. She wrote,
“To be able to love one another, we must pray much, for prayer gives a clean heart and a clean heart can see God in our neighbor. If now we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten how to see God in one another. If each person saw God in his neighbor, do you think we would need guns and bombs?”
Jesus’ idea of king and power is totally opposite to the world’s idea of a king and power. That is why the preface in today’s Mass describes Jesus’ kingdom as
a kingdom of truth and lifea kingdom of holiness and gracea kingdom of justice, love and peace.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.