Christ the King: Not Your Average Monarch

Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King (Year A)

READINGS:

First Reading: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 23:1-2, 2-3, 5-6

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28

Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46

FOCUS: Christ the King comes to us through the lowliest members of society.

FUNCTION: How do we respond to the lowliest members of society around us?

            Today we celebrate a great occasion: the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ the King, aka, the last Sunday in Ordinary Time.  There’s something quite grand and magnificent about the last Sunday in Ordinary Time being the Solemnity of Christ the King.  After all, in America, we’re all a little intrigued by royalty, by the concept of kings and queens.  Just recently, many people here in America undoubtedly watched “the Royal Wedding” of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  And although I did not see it personally, I know it got a lot of attention, and probably rightfully so; after all, it’s not every day that a member of England’s royal family gets married, and much less to a woman “of common birth.”

          In late December of 2010 and early January of this year, I was privileged to go to London and see the different sights and learn more about English history.  One place we got to see was the Tower of London: the place where, among other things, the crown jewels of the royal family are kept.  It’s quite an impressive sight.  Those jewels are clearly of great value. 

          In order to see the crown jewels, you have to get on a moving walkway, and so you really can’t look at them for too long (probably for obvious reasons!).  And as you go through the building, you also get to see footage of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the current reigning monarch of England, the daughter of King George VI.  (As a side note, if you haven’t seen the film, “The King’s Speech,” about the father of Queen Elizabeth II, I do recommend it).  Anyway, it’s quite an impressive sight to see if you ever get the chance to visit London.

          OK, that’s all well and good, but what’s any of that got to do with the Solemnity of Christ the King?  In short: everything, but only by way of contrast.  You see, the readings we’re presented with today, and particularly the Gospel, give us an entirely different image of royalty than the image of royalty given to us by England’s royal family (no offense to the royal family, of course).  Rather, the image of royalty in the Gospel is that of a King, Jesus Christ, who identifies Himself not with the rich and the powerful, but rather with the poor and the lowly.

          Sure, the Gospel starts off with grand overtones: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with him, He will sit upon His glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before Him.”  Now that must be an impressive sight!  And like a shepherd, He will separate them from each other: some of them (those referred to as “sheep”) He placed on His right, signifying a place of honor, while others (those referred to as “goats”) He placed on His left, signifying a place of shame.

          And then He speaks to the sheep, and suddenly the image of Christ the King changes dramatically.  He enumerates what we call the “corporal works of mercy”: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the ill, and visiting those in prison.  The “sheep,” aka the righteous, are confused by this, because they willingly did all these things, but never realized who it was they were serving.  And then Christ the King gives them the real twist: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of Mine, you did for Me.”  Now there’s something they didn’t expect!  In serving “the least” of society, they were actually serving Christ. 

          But Christ the King’s judgment for the people on His left doesn’t look good:  He judges that they failed to serve Him in the lowliest members of society.  Maybe they thought they were serving Christ, but perhaps they were more comfortable with the image of Christ as King than with the image of Christ as personified in the lowliest and weakest members of society.  They thought they were serving Christ, but maybe they were really only serving themselves.  To this group, Christ the King has harsh words: “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for Me.”

          And then the final judgment of the two groups is made known: “And these (i.e., those on His left) will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  But maybe we’re all still a little confused.  After all, this is a rather confusing story: Jesus is a King, but He’s also identified Himself with the lowliest and “the least” members of society; some people are called sheep, some people are called goats; the sheep didn’t know they were serving Christ, but actually were; the goats thought they were serving Christ, but may have just been serving themselves. And then there are the heated political questions about how we treat the weakest and the lowliest in our midst; there’s some mention of the devil and his angels; some people face a sentence of eternal punishment, while others face a reward of eternal life.  It’s all very confusing.

          Or maybe not.  Maybe it all boils down to a simple question: Do we really love God, and if so, does that love compel us to love our neighbors also?  After all, that’s what real love is all about, right?  If we say we love God, but fail to love our neighbor, is our love for God real?  The Bible has a simple answer: “No!”  Love of God, if it is divorced from love of neighbor, is not really love of God at all. 

          This is where the “spiritual warfare” of the Christian life really happens.  Our enemy, whom we call Satan or the Devil, would like us to believe that it’s possible for us to love God without really loving or caring for our neighbor.  It’s such an insidious and dark and terrible idea, that love of God and love of neighbor could ever be separated.  But that’s the Evil One’s plan: if he can get people to think that they can love God without really loving their neighbor, then those same people might end up condemning themselves to the Devil’s same fate: the eternal fires of hell.  And certainly we see the Devil being pretty successful with this plan.  Every day, people who claim to love God are constantly ignoring or side-stepping the people around them who are in need. 

          My dear brothers and sisters, this must not be so among us.  Christ the King doesn’t come to us looking like members of England’s royal family.  In this life, we will not see Him dressed in fine, royal clothing, holding jewels that resemble England’s crown jewels.  We will not see Him or find Him among the well-to-do.  But we will see Him hungry and thirsty, a stranger and naked, ill and in prison.  And how will we respond then?

          Responding to Christ in our midst starts here and now, at this Holy Mass.  When we come up to receive Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and we say “Amen,” let’s allow that “Amen,” that “Yes,” to be an affirmation not only of our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, but an “Amen,” a “Yes,” to being people who also love for neighbor in word and deed.  Christ the King is among us here and now, in our neighbor, and we will meet Him when we step out of the doors of this Church.  Let’s not neglect Him.  Let’s not overlook Him.  Let’s care for Him in the people we meet, so that we, too, might be among the righteous….. at the right hand of Jesus Christ, our Lord and King.