Reflection
Today is the Solemnity of Christ the King. We also end the Ordinary Time in our church liturgical calendar. Next Sunday, we begin the Advent season.
The readings the last two Sundays have invited us to be prepared for the end times. Death is a truth we need to prepare for and the best way is to make sure that the talents and gifts God has given us will be used not only for ourselves but for others as well. Today, we are reminded that Christ is the King. And as king, he will judge us justly. And we will be judged not on our worthiness or personal merit. The basis of God’s judgment will be on how we have proclaimed the kingdom of God and expanded his rule on earth. It will be based, as Jesus says, on how we have treated the least and the last of this world.
The idea that Christ the King will judge us at the end of life can suffuse us with both trepidation and anticipation. It will all depend on what kind of image we have of Jesus and the relationship we have established with him. If we see Christ as the despot king whose only desire is to punish with hellfire, fear and distress will be our idea of Jesus. But if we see Christ the King as the Son of God born in the manger, then, our vision of him is a shepherd king the prophet Ezekiel describes in the first reading. He is one who has lived among us, not in an ivory tower; he touched the eyes of the blind and nourished the hunger and thirsty multitudes. He knew what it meant not to have a place to rest his tired body. He experienced unjust treatment. Up close and personal, he witnessed human suffering. Just as Jesus was moved by the needs of people around him, his love urges us to respond the way he did. On judgement day, we will not be judge on whether we have rub elbows with royalty, met with the powerful, or shared the stage with the stars but on what Jesus said: whatever you did or did not do for one of the least brothers or sisters of mine, you did or did not do for me. Did we recognize Jesus in the common man, in the face of the powerless and the unknown stranger? What the Shepherd King did, we also must do.
Response
In one church bulletin, the following reminder was given: “I was hungry, and you formed a social group to discuss my hunger. I was condemned to death and you went quietly to pray for me. I was naked and in your mind debated the morality of my appearance. I was sick and you were thankful it wasn’t you. I told you how alone and lonely I was and you left me to go and pray for me. You seem so close to God. But I’m still hungry and lonely and alone.” It is hard to do these things. But if Christ really is our King, let us expand his kingdom here on earth so we can enter his kingdom in heaven.
