Solemnity of Christ the King

 

Today we celebrate Christ the King, and it is the end of the Church year so we will be moving on from Matthew to Mark, so I want to tie a bow on this, really just tying everything together that we have been talking about. 

 

First, a dominant theme in the Gospel of Matthew is “invitation” - I have not focused specifically on this, but just consider it, starting with the author, Matthew was invited by Jesus to follow Him (Mt 9:9). But then there are many scriptures around that theme:

• In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invites everyone into a relationship of discipleship when He says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Humble discipleship is easy, restful, dare I even say joyful!)
• In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then He will repay everyone according to his conduct.” This makes it clear that something is required of us in answering the invitation, and the ending really foreshadows today’s Gospel which gets specific about the required conduct. (Mt 16:24-27)
• In the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, the owner invites the workers at different times throughout the day and pays them all the same, highlighting God’s generosity despite when disciples answer His invitation to follow Him. (Mt 20:1-16)
• In the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, the King invites many guests, and when the first refuse, He invites others to take their place until the wedding hall is filled, finishing with “the invited are many, but the elect are few.” (Mt 22:1-14)  
• In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, they are all invited, but the five foolish ones who neglected to bring extra oil were not allowed into the reception, showing that they were missing something required to enter, and I suggested two weeks ago they were missing the Corporal Works of Mercy. (Mt 25:1-13)
• Last week we heard the Parable of the Talents, given to each according to their ability, and they were invited to use them for trade (see Luke 19:13 for that version’s detail) while the Master was away, but the lazy, slothful one who chose to do nothing and to lie had even the talent he had taken away from him. (Mt 25:15)
• Then today we heard the last invitation, the King says “to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” (Mt 25:34)

 

Do you see how it all connects?  We get these clues here and there, but all of it ties together here today as we celebrate Christ the King:  God is inviting us all into a deep relationship of discipleship and how we live our lives in response to that invitation matters! How we live absolutely matters, and the King will sort us out as either sheep or goats based on how we lived our lives, our very short lives in relation to eternity.

 

Second, today’s Psalm, 2nd Reading, and Gospel are Funeral Readings. I think this Gospel is particularly helpful to think about in relation to the end of our lives.  If you were to die today, and this Gospel was read at your funeral on Thursday, what would the priest say to show that we actually lived the Corporal Works of Mercy?  What could I say at your funeral?

 

When the family picks this Gospel (or another which lists specifics like this), I say “okay, please tell me how they demonstrated at least two or three of these.”

• Feed the hungry
• Give drink to the thirsty
• Clothe the naked
• Shelter the homeless
• Visit the sick
• Visit the imprisoned
• Bury the dead

 

We must do at least some of these according to our ability and talents. (Mt 25:15) We have to go out and choose to do them.  It is necessary for us to take initiative - we can’t just sit back and wait, and if we fail to do them, we will be punished for eternity by our regret.  Here are some other references from Matthew:

• Jesus’ first reference to this regret comes in Chapter 8 verse 12 where He compares the kingdom of heaven to a feast where “many” come from all parts of the world, but others “will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
• Chapter 13 is particularly focused on this: after the Parable of the Weeds (13:24-30) the disciples ask for an explanation and Jesus says “Just as weeds are collected and burned [up] with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” (13:40-43)
• After that was the Parable of the Net, Jesus says “Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.” (13:49-50)
• And we have already heard three examples from Chapter 25, but our parable from last weekend with the Talents finished with “And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

So what we have to remember is all of these punishments are self-inflicted - eternal punishment is purely suffering regret knowing they could have been with God forever, but they rejected His invitation, and wailing and grinding of teeth ensues because they chose poorly, they regret choosing the wrong thing throughout our lives on earth and they really have nobody to blame but themselves for their separation from God.

 

God doesn’t punish us, in His mercy He just gives us what we wanted on earth, Him or not Him. Ultimately there are only two choices, two lines, humble sheep who listen or proud goats who do whatever they want. When we die we see for ourselves what Heaven is like.  Those that don’t choose Him here are simply punished by themselves and their regret of knowing what they missed out on in the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Interestingly, earlier in Chapter 13, Jesus talks about working with Him and bearing fruit in abundance, and in a segway He talks about the Privilege of Discipleship, saying, “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (13:16-17)

 

You see, discipleship is a privilege.  We are privileged to be invited, to be here at this particular time and place where we can take the time to know Him, that is step one. (Like a Shepherd knows his flock (John 10:14, 27-28), a King knows his people, and King Jesus wants us to know Him as much as He knows us.)  Knowing Him here and now is the beginning of being with Him for eternity, then we do these Works He asks us to do as step two.

 

Some (denominations of) Christians will accuse us (Catholic Christians) of trying to “work our way into Heaven,” but when Jesus is truly in our heart, we aren't going to do these Works out of obligation (or trying to save ourselves), we will work out of the love in our heart for the desire to serve our King in the world, distributing the King’s wealth and mercy to all of His subjects in the Kingdom.

 

We do believe that there is salvation outside of Works, it is through Mercy (consider the “good” criminal on the cross - Luke 23:39-43), many people are incapable of doing these Corporal Works of Mercy and God knows that - remember He has given us talents according to our ability.  (Mt 25:15)

 

And for some people there are still the Spiritual Works of Mercy, and that’s a different homily.  But the question is, according to today’s Gospel, for us who know and love God, are we doing all that we can with our God given talents?  It can be as simple as showing up to visit people, don’t over-think or over-complicate this and then do nothing out of fearful paralysis, analysis paralysis as I’ve heard it called, just listen to the Holy Spirit and do what God is inviting you to do!

 

Third, I just want to point out one final little piece of our Gospel from today, the King says, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Who are these least brothers?

 

Well, it ties back to earlier in the Gospel of Matthew. Remember when Jesus was “speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. [Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.”] But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”

 

And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50) So “The least brothers of mine” means our fellow Christians, doing the will of God, here at Mass, brothers and sisters trying to live their faith the best they can.  

 

Now don’t hear what I am not saying, I am not saying if you are serving at the soup kitchen that you should qualify people as Christians before you feed them, (“Not a Christian? No soup for you!”) no, absolutely not, but when possible, I do believe some attention and emphasis should be placed on our brothers and sisters here at Nativity (and other Catholic Christians in our community, and devoted Christians in general).  

 

Helping them, supporting them, visiting them, praying for them, even before our blood relatives. Seriously. What we do for our least brothers in Christ shows them God’s love tangibly and builds their faith. God works through people, He works through us, and we may never know how someone was just praying to God for help, and He answered their prayer through us. Jesus makes it really clear today, there are only two sides, we see that more and more clearly in society every day.  And it seems like we should really focus on supporting our side, our fellow humble sheep who hope to be with us in Heaven.

 

Finally, my temptation is to give more specifics on exactly what to do, but I believe you can come up with that on your own with the help of the Holy Spirit, and if you can’t, please ask, but I will say this, when I ask people to help with things, to step out of their comfort zone and do something to help someone around here, it fills them with joy.  Abundant joy.

 

The purpose of a King is to protect and care for his people. Our participation in the King’s work of helping His least brothers is a privilege, and it is joyful, a source of enjoyment for us here and in eternity in seeing the fruit. It is easier to sit back and do nothing, but it is so rewarding to give of ourselves to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

 

God loves us so much. He has given us great opportunities to follow Him as disciples and to work with Him in serving His people with the gifts and talents He has given us, we just have to say yes to His invitation.