Feast of Christ the King – Year A
Matthew 25:31-46
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. ‘Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”
‘Next he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.”
‘And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’
For today’s feast of Christ the King, the Church chose a gospel passage which is the final teaching of Jesus’ public life according to St Matthew; it therefore completes the lectionary’s “continuous reading” for the year. Meditating on this passage in the light of the feast requires two clarifications.
Modern Western culture does not have kings – or queens. The few left do not exercise any real power; they play ceremonial roles and we associate them with pomp and pageantry. In the biblical culture, however, kings are leaders of their communities. They are “judges” in the sense that they set moral standards for the community. Rightly then, today’s gospel reading celebrates Christ’s kingship as an act of “judgment”.
The second clarification is that Jesus is a special kind of king – his way of “judging” is very different from what prevails in the world. This is what the feast celebrates – the “good news for the poor” of Christ’s (God’s) standards of judgement. It is also a call to repentance addressed to us as individuals and as a Church, since our “judgments” (in word or action) are often far removed from those of Jesus.
As always in the bible, Christ’s kingship is taught not in abstract language but through a dramatic story – an event we are invited to identify with. The story is of a future, final judgment – like the parable of two weeks ago, “the kingdom of heaven will be like this”. Our present judgments are never “final”, the final one will occur only “when the Son of Man comes in his glory escorted by all his angels”. For now, all we can be certain of is that God’s judgement will surprise us, and so we are humble in his presence. To the extent that we are complacent and self-satisfied we are not ready for God’s judgement. St Paul sums up our attitude: “There must be no passing of premature judgement. Leave that until the Lord comes: he will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of the human heart” (1 Cor 4: 5).
This is not the whole picture, however. Today’s passage invites us to remember the temporary and fleeting “judgement moments” we have experienced: – we became seriously ill – our marriage broke up – we fell into a fault we thought we would never succumb to – our country experienced national disaster, floods, famine, civil war.
These experiences are authentic encounters with God in that they reinforce the teaching of the entire bible that when God comes into the world “the lowly are lifted up and set in the company of princes”, “the barren wife bears countless children”, “the last come first”.
– We thought that certain people were the “least”. Now we realise they were sacred, divine in fact, since what we did to them we did to Christ and what we refused them we refused to Christ.
– We thought that we met Christ by doing extraordinary things. Now we realise that it was in very mundane things, giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, visiting the sick and those in prison.
– We thought we met Christ in moments of prayer or in holy places. Now we realise that we meet him when we feed and clothe those in need, when we visit hospitals and prisons.
– We realise that leadership in religious organisations counts for nothing before God. In his judgement, the only thing that counts is humble service.
As always in the bible, the judgement causes two reactions and we have experienced them both at different times:
– wonderful relief at knowing we were right. Good actions which we (and others who had power over us – “chief priests and elders”) looked on as trivial were in fact truly great, recognised in the presence of God (and of all right thinking people) and never to be forgotten. It is a homecoming experience, we “take for our heritage the kingdom prepared for us since the foundation of the world”.
– terrible sadness when we realise that we have missed the boat – like the foolish bridesmaids of two weeks ago. We are consumed by remorse, “the eternal fire”. The contrast with the virtuous is striking; for them it was a homecoming, whereas these feel deep alienation – the fire was “prepared for the devil and his angels”, they “go away” to their fate.
As on the past two Sundays, we remember the context of this teaching. Jesus’ imminent crucifixion would be a “judgement moment” in that it broke down all barriers:
– the humblest person there was the Son of God, – the holy place was outside the city, – the person of faith was a Roman soldier.
In those degrading circumstances, the “son of man” was present “in his glory escorted by all the angels, with all the nations assembled before him”. We remember experiences which seemed to be disasters but in fact were judgement moments showing us how wrong our values were.
We note once more the down-to-earthness of Jesus’ judgement. The sign that we have met him is that we discern between good and evil, “goats and sheep are separated; one placed on the right, the other on the left”. His teaching is not airy fairy – “you must live with the consequences of your actions”. “Good news” is implied however – “other chances will arise so don’t miss out next time”.
Scriptural Prayer
Lord, forgive us that in times of great crisis – national or personal – we become vengeful, wanting to consign people to the eternal fire prepared for the devils and his angels. Help us to wait for the day when the Son of Man comes to his glory, escorted by all the angels, takes his seat on his throne of glory, with all the nations assembled before him, and separates good from evil, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Lord, we tend to think of you sitting passively on your throne, indifferent to what is going on in the world. But whenever we enter your presence, it is always an experience of discernment, of goodness being put on one side of you and evil on the other, like sheep being separated from goats.
Lord, we thank you for those beautiful moments when we relieved someone’s pain. – Someone was hungry and we gave them food, thirsty and we gave them drink; – we clothed someone naked, made a stranger welcome; – visited one who was sick, went to see a prisoner. Quite suddenly it dawned on us that we had experienced a blessed moment, had a personal meeting with you and had come to the best of ourselves; we had taken possession of a kingdom that had been prepared for us since the foundation of the world.
Lord, part of each one of us has no compassion, can see the hungry and never give them food, see the thirsty and never give them anything to drink, never wants to make strangers welcome, clothe the naked, or visit the sick and those in prison. Sometimes this part of ourselves seems very influential, but it is not the truth of ourselves; it is evil, destined for the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Lord, a moment of grace is like coming home, entering a kingdom prepared for us since the foundation of the world. Thank you, Lord.
Michel DeVerteuil
http://www.catholicireland.net
SUBJECTS OF CHRIST THE KING?
“The King of Glory comes, the nation rejoices…;” “All glory, laud and honour, To Thee, Redeemer, King” “Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne.” We Christians have a cornucopia of hymns in celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King. And rightly so! He has earned all the honour, praise, and thanks we can give Him.
Shortly before His Passion Jesus exclaimed with joy, “In the world you will have hardship, but be courageous: I have conquered the world!” (Jn 6. 33). This is the language well-suited to a King reassuring His followers that He’s so confident that already He has triumphed!
St. Paul, defining the nature of Christ’s conquest write, “Christ emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being, He was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. And for this God raised Him high, and gave Him the name which is above all other names; so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus,” (Philippians 2).
However, Jesus Himself would have us know that words of respect, honour and praise trip effortlessly from tongues and fall lightly upon ears. Did He not say, “It is not anyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven?” (Mtt 7.21).
At the Last Supper Jesus made it very clear that accepting Him as Lord, King, or Master was serious business – far, far more than following the conventions of courtesy and respect, “ You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you. ‘In all truth I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, no messenger is greater than the one who sent him. ‘Now that you know this, blessed are you if you behave accordingly,” (Jn 13.13).
Shall we be blessed, happy in accepting the leadership of Jesus as His disciples, His followers – in being at the service of others – even in washing their smelly feet? I wonder! Living under the Lordship of Jesus whom we acclaim as our King must surely mean placing ourselves utterly at the disposal of His/our Heavenly Father as in, “’My Father,’ He said, ‘if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as you, not I, would have it,” (Mtt 26.39).
Could it be that the source of so much discontent and disappointment with life is that we are inclined to worship at the altars of self-fulfilment and job satisfaction? The grass on our side of the fence is never green enough for our liking! The pastures to which Jesus our Shepherd-King would lead us are not to our taste!
And yet Jesus as King summons me, you, all of us, to play our part in His great enterprise, as described in the Preface to the Solemnity of Christ the King, that “He might accomplish the mysteries of human redemption and, making all created things subject to His rule, He might present to the immensity of the majesty of His Heavenly Father an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.”
Truth, life, holiness, grace, justice, love and peace are ‘Kingdom Values’ that we must surely admire and want to see imbedded in our society. We may be willing to do something to bringing this about. But, and it’s a big ‘BUT,’ our own personal living under the Kingship of Christ must mean that these very same values shape and transform our own lives.
I think of the times when I’ve been more than somewhat self-willed, self-centred. Neither for you nor for me is that what living under the Kingship of Christ is all about!
Peter Clarke O.P.
- Jesus is the Hungry – to be fed.
- Jesus is the Thirsty – to be satiated.
- Jesus is the Naked – to be clothed.
- Jesus is the Homeless – to be taken in.
- Jesus is the Sick – to be healed.
- Jesus is the Lonely – to be loved.
- Jesus is the Unwanted – to be wanted.
- Jesus is the Leper – to wash his wounds.
- Jesus is the Beggar – to give him a smile.
- Jesus is the Drunkard – to listen to him.
- Jesus is the Mental – to protect him.
- Jesus is the Little One – to embrace him.
- Jesus is the Blind – to lead him.
- Jesus is the Dumb – to speak for him.
- Jesus is the Crippled – to walk with him.
- Jesus is the Drug Addict – to befriend him.
- Jesus is the Prostitute – to remove from danger and befriend her.
- Jesus is the Prisoner – to be visited.
- Jesus is the Old – to be served.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
GOSPEL REFLECTION
“Go, cursed people, out of my sight into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41). These are the most terrible words that we find in the gospel and are not the only ones on the lips of Jesus. Luke and Matthew remember others: “I don’t know where you come from! Away from me, all you workers of evil” (Lk 13:27). “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom all that is scandalous and all who do evil. And these will be thrown into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt 13:41-42). “Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the dark” (Mt 22:13). “But his master will come on the day he does not know, and at the hour he least expects. He will dismiss that servant, and deal with him as with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt 24:51).
These phrases are clearly etched in our minds. They have inspired legions of artists who painted scenes of terror, despair, and torment. They have suggested lyrics such as the Dies irae, the most impressive of the descriptions of the Last Judgment. They have offered inspiration to musicians who have translated into sounds the anguish of the crucial moment when Christ will pronounce the final judgment.
The judgment of God has been presented and continues today to be seen by many as a dramatic rendering of account. Thus an encounter with the Lord, far from being desired and expected, is for everyone, even for the righteous, a big unknown. In the face of the One who “who can charge his angels with error” (Job 4:18) who can feel safe? Many Christians already consider a great luck being able to take a few years of purgatory.
Is this the justice of God?
A God who ruthlessly condemns is, for a Christian, quite embarrassing. One cannot understand how the terrible threats referred to in verses 41-46 can be regarded as “gospel”, that is, as “good news,” as “message of salvation.”
There is an even greater challenge: how can a severe God who appears in today’s passage agree with the Father the whole gospel speaks about? He who “makes his sun rise on both the wicked and the good and he gives rain to both the just and the unjust,” demanding of his children not to make distinctions between good and evil (Mt 5:43-48). How can one, to a certain point, order a separation which tells us not to do anything? If one throws eternal fire to his enemies, he cannot require us to love our enemies (Mt 19:10). Jesus, who came “to seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19:10) and boasts of being “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Lk 7:34), will he be able stand against us one day?
The “justice” of this God leaves much to be desired: could the sin of man (frail, limited, finite creature) be punished with an infinite, “everlasting” punishment? There is no proportion between punishment and failure. If, on the other hand, man remains free—as is certain—for all eternity, why should wrongdoers persist in their errors? What will make them so stubborn? Maybe the encounter with God? These are some of the many questions that are raised against this passage of the Gospel. These are serious questions, but they might have originated from an incorrect interpretation of the text.
The question arises when we consider the context in which this description of the “trial” is placed. It’s enough to read what follows. After the great scene in which the Son of Man deploys all his power, here is what happens: “In two days’ time it will be Passover and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified” (Mt 26:2). It is like being left speechless: from the celebration of triumph one passes to the most ignoble of defeats. They look like two opposing, irreconcilable situations, and yet, these are two glorious moments of a single victory, the victory of love. The Christ who “judges” also delivers himself into the hands of those he loves and justly “inasmuch as victim of love” he becomes a judge: He is the “ideal man” after God, the true man, with whom all have to be compared, even from now on, to see if they are building the life or are laying the groundwork for failure. We will return to the argument. Now let’s examine the text.
In Palestine, at sunset, shepherds tend to separate the sheep from the goats. The latter are more sensitive to cold and are placed under a roof. The sheep, covered with wool, like the cool of the night and have no problem spending the night in the open. Jesus uses this image, taken from everyday life, to convey his message. To understand it, we must pay attention, first, to the literary genre. A hasty, superficial reading, perhaps a bit naïve, of the Gospel risks to draw theological conclusions that, in the light of a more attentive and careful study, may appear unfounded and even deviant.
The language is typical of the preachers of that time. To stir their listeners, they tended to use stunning images, tremendous punishments, unquenchable fire and eternal penalties. It was said, for example: “As the human race trembles, the beasts are happy, because it goes well with them that humans need not wait for any judgment.” Listen carefully, though: when rabbis spoke of the “fire of Gehenna.” They did not refer to hell, but the fire that burned constantly in the valley surrounding Jerusalem that served as the city dump. The adjective “eternal” did not have the philosophical connotations it has today, but it was popularly used to mean, in general terms, a “long,” “undefined” period.
This Gospel passage is generally regarded as a parable, but this is not accurate. It belongs to the genre called judgment scene, found both in the Bible (cf. Dan 7) and in rabbinic literature. The structured schema is always the same: there is a presentation of the judge, accompanied by angels who serve as assistants and security guards, then the convocation of all people, the separation of groups, the sentencing and finally the righteous are rewarded and the wicked punished.
The aim of this literary genre is not to inform about what will happen at the end of the world, but to teach how to behave today.
As an example, here’s a judgment scene of the rabbinic literature showing an impressive analogy with our text: “In the future world who is judged will be asked: What are your works? If he answers: ‘I fed who was hungry,’ he will be told: ‘This is the Lord’s gate, enter through it’ (Ps 118:20). If he answers: ‘I have given drink to the thirsty,’ he will be told: ‘This is the gate of the Lord come through it;’ if he answers: ‘I have clothed the naked,’ he will be told, ‘This is the gate of the Lord, go through it.’ The same will apply to one who has taken care of the orphan, who has given alms, who has produced works of love (Midrash of the Psalm 118:17).
Referring to the dialogue, it is clear that the rabbis did not intend to reveal the words that God will deliver at the end of the world. They, instead, wanted to instill the values that will serve as a solid foundation for life in this world.
Let us now examine the structure of the passage in Matthew. It is easy to define. It begins with an introduction (vv. 31-33) followed by two dialogues (vv. 34-40; 41-46) that develop in a parallel and identical way: the king pronounces the sentence (approval in a case and conviction on the other) and explains why. Both cases raise an objection to which the judge responds respectively.
It is also easy to set the message Jesus wants to convey: the years of man’s life are precious, a treasure to be managed well. No one can go wrong because life is one: Jesus suggests how one must live.
The rabbis said: this world is like a dry land, the future world is like the ocean; if a man does not prepare food on dry land what will he eat on the sea? This world is like a cultivated land, the future world as a wilderness; if a man does not prepare food on cultivated land what will he eat in the desert? He will grind his teeth and bite his flesh; desperate, he will tear his clothes and riff off his hair.
For Jesus, human life is more important than for the rabbis, so he reveals to the disciples the values that will provide a secure basis for this human life. What values? It is not hard to spot them because they occupy half of the story and are so important that Jesus repeated them four times, at the risk of appearing monotonous: it is the six works of mercy.
The list of people to help—the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned (vv. 35-36,42-43) was known throughout the Middle East (cf. Is 58:6-7). The chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead is famous. In Egypt, the text, since the second millennium B.C., was placed with the deceased at the time of burial. This was what he had to testify before the court of Osiris: “I have practiced what gladdens the gods. I have given bread to the hungry, I gave water to the thirsty, I have clothed the naked, I offered a trip to those who had no boat.” The only novelty brought by Jesus is that He identifies with these people: what is done to one of these little ones, is done to him.
The values he suggests are not similar to those for which most men lose their heads, but they are what really counts in the eyes of God.
What is the ideal successful man in our society? He who holds power, who is rich, who can afford to satisfy his every whim, who is wanted by the TV cameras. “Successful men” are an athlete driving the stadiums crazy, the TV star or anyone who has managed to become a character by notoriety or by career.
What is the thought of God? At the conclusion of the story of every man on earth, when each is alone with himself and with God, only love will be precious. The life of each one will be considered a success or failure according to the commitment of the person in the elimination of six situations of suffering and poverty: hunger, thirst, exile, nakedness, sickness, imprisonment.
A detail is carefully highlighted in the story: none of those who have done these works of mercy has realized of having done them to Christ. Love is true only if it is disinterested, even if it is free of any suspicion of complacency; who acts in view of the reward, even that of heaven, does not yet genuinely love.
And the sentence? The rabbis used to repeat twice their teachings to better imprint it in the minds of their disciples. Often they first presented the message positively and then negatively. They resorted to the familiar “antithetical parallelism,” also used by Jesus (cf. Lk 6:20-26; Mt 7:24-27; Mk 16:16 …).
Our passage is an example of this: the second part (vv. 41-45) adds absolutely nothing to the first; it is a stylistic record to highlight the concept already expressed. What urges Jesus is not to terrorize his listeners stirring the fright of hell, but indicating with strong images the very serious danger of wasting life—that is what really counts. He does not claim to announce what will happen at the end of the world, but to think, to open the eyes, to show God’s judgment on the decisions we take today.
A simple example may help us better understand what was said. In a jewelry shop, two necklaces are on display, one of pure gold but a little worn out by time, the other of burnished brass but very polished. An inexperienced buyer enters and is attracted and fascinated by the brilliance of the brass necklace. Fortunately, an expert appears and warns him: Beware—he says—don’t waste your money on this bauble or trifle!
This judgment saves the inexperienced buyer. Even in the case that the knowledgeable will use harsh and threatening expressions, his judgment would always be a judgment of salvation.
Believing that the judgment scene described by Jesus refers to the condemnation of sinners to the torments of hell is, at best, risky. Hell exists, but is not a place created by God to punish, at the end of life, who has behaved badly. It is a condition of unhappiness and despair resulting from sin. Of hell of sin, however, one can get out: our liberation comes from Christ and his judgment of salvation.
But, in the end, will God not punish the wicked?
A judge seems just to us when, after evaluating their crime, he punishes with equity. But this is not the justice of God. He’s not just because he rewards or punishes according to our standards and expectations—in this case, there would be no hope for anyone and all will end convicted—but because he is able to make the wicked righteous (cf. Rom 3:21-26).
The question, therefore, is not who will be counted as sheep and goats at the end of the world, but in what occasions today we behave as sheep and behave as goats. We are sheep when we love our brother; we are goats when we neglect him.
What will happen at the end?
It is truly hard to believe that the good shepherd—from whom no one will be able to snatch even one of his sheep (cf. Jn 10:28)—after leaving us jump like kids to the right and to the left, not find a way to turn us all… into his lambs.
Fernando Armellini
