Today we celebrate The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. This great feast marks the end of our liturgical year and the completion of our journey with Jesus and His disciples through the Gospel of Matthew. All of our readings today from Ezekiel, the first Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians and St. Matthew present good news and bad news. The good news is God sent us a Good Shepherd who is faithful, diligent, and compassionate. This shepherd, Jesus, died for us, his sheep, so that through his resurrection we too “shall all be brought to life” (1 COR 15:22). And, Jesus our faithful, diligent, and compassionate shepherd reigns in Heaven. The bad news is, in his role as King, he is going to judge each one of us according to the standards and values of the kingdom of Heaven, “each one in proper order” (1 COR 15: 23).
“Proper order” in the kingdom of Heaven is diametrically opposed to our earthly and very human values. Heavenly proper order is “the last will be first and the first will be last” (MT 20:16). Those who are first are those who are: poor in spirit, who morn, the meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, who are clean of heart, peacemakers and who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness” (MT 5:3-10). Most importantly, the first are the people who recognized the presence of Jesus in people who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, ill, and in prison. Not only did they recognize the presence of Jesus in people who are suffering, they did something about it.
The eternal prospects for those who do not recognize Jesus in the poverty and suffering of others are not very pretty. In Ezekiel and St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, the Lord God threatens to destroy them because they are enemies of the Kingdom. St. Matthew is even more direct, “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (MT 25:45-46).
This is a very grim picture for those of us who are not perfect. There is, however, more good news. The really good news is that “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy” (Psalm 145:8). In Ephesians 2:5–7, St, Paul tells us that God “even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved), raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
Eternal God,
we are travelers in this world
searching for our true home in your kingdom.
It is not a kingdom of power and glory,
but one of love and freedom,
truth and justice,
peace and holiness.
Help us to make this kingdom real,
through service to our brothers and sisters,
especially those who are most in need.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
AMEN.
