Feast of Christ the King (Nov 22-23, 2014)

Many moons ago in the 1980’s, I was the rector of Becket Hall, our diocesan discernment house for candidates to the priesthood. There was a potential candidate named John who was both spiritual and troubled. Regrettably, all of his energy needed to focus on himself to keep him on track. He had significant mental health issues that did not make him a good candidate for the priesthood. In fact, to this day, he has considerable difficulty with any kind of job responsibilities. Although for all the world, physically he looks like he should be a capable person in the work force, he is trapped within himself by some fears and anxieties.

I have prayed many times over the way John and I have kept in touch with each other over these many years. Come judgment day for myself, the Lord is not going to be overly impressed by my homilies, the fact that I am the pastor of two parishes, or the credentials after my name, the first question the Lord is going to ask me: “How is my friend, John?”

I invite you to consider that the first question the Lord is going to ask you on judgment day. Who is the person or persons who are the Lord’s friends that he is going to ask you about?

On this the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Feast of Christ the King, Jesus lets us know very clearly what is going to be on the final exam for each one of us. We will be graded on how well we have responded with compassion to those in need.

The Gospel describes the Last Judgment scene. “The king will say 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. For I was hungry and you gave me food…The righteous will respond, ‘Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you…And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

There is nothing mysterious or difficult to figure out about today’s Gospel. Each of us will be judged upon our performance of the simple works of mercy, we hear in the Gospel. For me, I need to spend less time behind my desk as the pastor and more time being with people in need. To show me that God has a sense of humor, as I was preparing this homily at my desk this past Wednesday evening, I received a call to go to the emergency department at Strong Hospital to anoint and to provide pastoral care to a family that was grieving. The person died but the family and I with much faith entrusted him to the fullness of God’s eternal life and the family shared beautifully and with much faith prayed for her husband, their dad, their grandfather. God’s presence was experienced in this family gathering.

As we gather on Sunday to celebrate the beauty of our liturgy Sunday after Sunday, the Gospel reminds us of the liturgy of life without which all other liturgy in Church has no meaning. Plain and simple, if we are not focused in the liturgy of life in our service of one another, all other liturgy, no matter how beautiful it is, is pointless.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. This is ironic because Jesus never acted like a king. He embraced poverty, not wealth. He taught humility, not arrogance. He emphasized service, not domination. He chose a cross, not a palace.

Kinship, instead of kingship: This is what Jesus is truly passionate about. Kinship with “the least, the lost, and the last.”

Jesus doesn’t even use big words like justice or democracy to explain what is going to be on our final exam. He simply talks about food, clothes, water, shelter – the basics of life.

As we pray over today’s Gospel on the last judgment scene, there are obviously two groups of people – the righteous on the right hand side of the king and those on his left who will suffer eternal punishment. It is obvious which group we would like to be with – those on the right who were responsive to people in need. We see ourselves as helpers to the hungry, the thirsty, and the naked.

In our prayer, may we take a second look at this Gospel to see if are missing a most important message. There are not just two groups of people in the Gospel account. There are three. There were the people who helped, and there were the people who refused to help, and there were the people who needed help. That last group can be easily overlooked. And yet, thse are the people with whom Jesus chose to identify himself.

Jesus took his stand with the needy people of this world and said in effect: “This is where I live. These are my people. I belong to them, and they belong to me. Jesus not only cared about the needy and sought to help the needy. He completely identified himself with the needy. There was His hunger.

That’s where you and I belong. It isn’t as if the needy are people who need help, and we are the people who give help. We all belong to the fellowship of the needy.

None of us are self-sufficient. I need your help, and you need mine. This is not an exclusive club. Everybody is a member. We need each other, whether we ever get honest enough to admit or not.

Who are the needy? I am; you are; everyone is. Today I may help you, but tomorrow I may need you to help me. We are members of the same family, sharing our love, sharing our resources, sharing our needs.

Again going back to the Gospel, in His last words to us in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is telling us in advance that when we each stand before our God, we won’t be given a test that will be confusing or difficult. It will instead involve only the most practical questions: Did you feed the hungry? Did you shelter the homeless? Did you care for the sick?

And our answer will be….