1st Reading Ezekiel 34: 11-12, 15-17
2nd Reading 1 Corinthians 15: 20-26, 28
Gospel Matthew 25: 31-46
Today is the Thirty Fourth Sunday and final Sunday of our liturgical year. Next Sunday we will start a new liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent, an exciting time especially with the revisions to the Roman Missal. On this last Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. Will we be told, at the end of time, to “DEPART” or will we be asked to “Come?”
Today is the culmination of all that we have been hearing in scripture and in the homilies for this liturgical year. The Jesus we have heard about and journeyed with going around the towns of Galilee, Samaria and Judea, the Jesus we have watched teaching, healing, consoling, liberating, is our Lord and KING. He is the visible presence of God in our midst.
In our second reading from the 1st letter to the Corinthians, Paul is portraying a powerful and awesome picture of Christ as Lord and King and rightly so. As all have died because of the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, so all are made alive in Christ through our Baptism. Christ is also presented as the all powerful ruler whom every other power and authority must eventually give way.
The other two readings from today, the first from Ezekiel and the Gospel from Matthew give a very different picture of God and Jesus. Ezekiel shows God as a shepherd tending His flock. How often have we heard Jesus called the Good Shepherd in scripture?
But what is striking and goes to the heart of it all is how we will be judged when Jesus returns on His Kingly throne. Yes, the same Jesus who offered himself to us during our lives, the one who gave His very human life for us, will judge us for what we did or did not do during our lives. Jesus gives us the way to live by looking at others to see Him. This reminds me of a story many of you know.
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain is the story of two boys who lived three hundred years ago in England. Not only were they good friends, they looked so much alike that they could have been taken for identical twins. One of the boys was Edward, the prince of Whales; the other was Tom Canty, a pauper, a poor boy.
One day for some fun, they decided to switch places. They changed their clothes. Edward put on the rags of poor boy and wandered through the slums of London, rubbing elbows with beggars and the under-privileged.
After a time they both got tired of the game. In his ragged shirt and trousers, Edward tried to tell the police that he was the prince. He was thrown in jail. Just as Tom was about to be crowned King, Edward showed up and convinced the officials that he was the true prince. As a result of his experience, Edward became a kind and just ruler. He gained a heart that was always looking after the poor. A lesson for all of us.
As God, Jesus knew the sufferings of human beings. By becoming man, he actually suffered what men, women and children have to endure. The prince in our story learned about the poor in the streets of London, Jesus knew the plight of the poor, the under-privileged. We heard time and time again in scripture how Jesus tended to the lowliest of mankind, beggars, prostitutes, outcasts.
No wonder Jesus lays down this test for entering His eternal home: Did we help the needy or did we not? Today’s gospel is one of the most important in the story of Christ-Good News for those who listen, Bad
News for those who pay little or no attention to the needs of our fellow human beings.
We do not have to wait to be tested. We can test ourselves today: Have we ever fed a hungry person? Perhaps we never met a really starving person, child or adult. Yet everyone knows that millions go hungry.
Did we help by means of the special collections throughout the year or maybe volunteer or donate food or money for our local food bank?
When was the last time we visited someone who was sick? When did we visit someone in prison? This does not mean only those behind iron bars. It also means people behind the bars of loneliness, ignorance, maybe even grief.
Have we taken time to get involved in matters of Catholic Social Teaching? Have we protected the rights of the unborn, the rights of
every human being to be shown respect and dignity?
What have we done for those who are spiritually starving, spiritually sick, spiritually strangers, or spiritually imprisoned? If we have done little or nothing at all, don’t be surprised at the end when a voice is heard that gives the command, DEPART! I pray that none of us do.
The gospel goes even further: What you do for these needy you are doing for Christ himself. Notice what Jesus Says: “I was hungry, thirsty, sick, a stranger. What you did or didn’t do, you did or didn’t do to me.”
Christ makes himself one with those in need. Our King is in the Hungry, our King is in the Thirsty, Our King is in a stranger, Our King is in the sick, our King is in those in prison. Can you see Jesus in them?
Yes, we serve, worship and offer ourselves with Christ our King to God the father on this altar. With the food of His body and blood in the Eucharist which we receive in us, we serve and worship our King in those under-privileged, those needy we serve. When we follow Jesus then we will be very happy and joyful when we hear that voice at the end asking us to “Come”.
But until that time comes, let us experience the Kings kingdom here on earth. Let us see Jesus in others. Let Jesus our shepherd and King lead us to the Father as we pray this simple but profound prayer:
“Teach me, my God and King,
In all things thee to see,
And what I do in any thing
To do it as for thee.” Amen