Whenever I took a class in school, the end of the course usually meant a final exam. Some finals left me uneasy, especially if the subject had been difficult, like physics or philosophy, so while studying, I would wonder, “What sort of questions will the professor ask? Do I understand everything that matters? Can I bluff my way if need be?” Alas, studying didn’t always insure a passing grade, for sometimes I really didn’t grasp what the professor considered relevant.
This weekend, the Church celebrates the end of another year, the liturgical year, with the feast of Christ the King. This somber gospel passage suggests that every person who has ever lived will be given this final exam to determine their eternal fate.
Think back over the past twelve months. We have been on a pilgrimage with Jesus, listening to his many lessons on just what the kingdom of heaven is all about. What did you learn? Have you learned what really matters?
Ideally, we have learned what Christ expects of us as his followers. With this parable, he is giving us a sneak preview of what will be on the final exam of life. The Church calls them the corporal works of mercy; clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, visiting the imprisoned, giving drink to the thirsty, feeding the hungry, and caring for the sick, The golden thread woven through all of this is love.
One might think that good works then is all that we need to pass this final exam for our salvation, but that suggests we can “earn” our way into heaven and we can’t. After all, heaven is God’s gift to us; a gift that we can freely accept or reject. Faith, grace and the sacraments are also essential to our salvation, but our response to that invitation is made evident by our deeds or lack of deeds.
The Christian writer, Frederick Buechner, put it this way. “Many an atheist is a believer without knowing it. Just as many a believer is an atheist without knowing it. You can sincerely believe there is no God and live as though there is one. You can sincerely believe there is a God and live as though there is not.” So, are we living the faith we profess?
In today’s gospel, Jesus calls us to see Christ in others, to serve others because in doing so, we serve Christ, to respect and honor others because they possess the very life and dignity of Christ. In doing for others what we would do for Christ, we can transform our homes, and communities, our churches and workplaces into the kingdom of God where the peace and justice of Christ will truly reign.
Even the saints were sometimes slow in learning this lesson. By her own admission, it was only after she had been a nun for twenty years that St. Teresa of Avila experienced a true conversion to Jesus. Thereafter, she spent her energy in the service of others, fully aware that, as this parable implies, God is counting on us. In one of her prayers, she wrote, “Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he is to look out; Christ’s compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours the hands with which he is to bless now.”
St. Teresa understood that if the mission of Jesus Christ is to be accomplished between now and his Second Coming, then it must be done with your hands and mine, with your eyes and mine, with your feet and mine. At the heart of this gospel challenge is the fact that each of us is personally responsible and will be held accountable when, at life’s final audit, we meet our saving Lord and brother, face to face.
In the cathedral in Lubeck, Germany, there is an engraving that reads, “Thus speaks Christ our Lord to us, you call me master and obey me not; you call me light and see me not; you call me the way and walk me not; you call me the life and live me not; you call me wise and follow me not;Â you call me fair and love me not; you call me rich and ask me not; you call me eternal and see me not. If I condemn thee, blame me not.” That is the wakeup call I hear in this gospel. The outcome of our judgment is ultimately in our hands.
Those who did not feed him, give him water, did not welcome him, did not clothe him, and did not care for him will be sent off to eternal punishment. The grade we get at our judgment does not depend on how religious we are, or how well we know our faith, but on how well we live our faith. That was the constant lesson Jesus pointed out to his listeners then and that is his lesson for us still. With the image of sheep and goats, he cautions that those who are strong on doctrine but short on ethics will be in for a surprise when they discover belatedly that they didn’t learn everything that was really relevant in life.
Speaking of surprises, CS Lewis had this to say. “When you get to heaven, there will be three surprises. First, we will be surprised by the people that we find there, many of whom we surely had not expected to see. The second surprise is that we will be surprised by the people who are absent—the ones we expected to see but who are not there. The third surprise, of course, will be that we’re there.”
Should we be surprised if we are there? Not if we do our homework, for together, love, faith, and good works provide us with the lessons we need for a passing grade on the most important final exam we will ever take.