INTRODUCTION:
With the liturgical celebration of this day, the Holy Mother the Church comes to the end of her liturgical year cycle A, and looks forward to the liturgical year B which begins with the First Sunday of Advent next week.
Historically, it was Pope Pius XI (Achille Ratti) who brought the Feast of Christ the King into the liturgy in the year 1925 as a day set aside to celebrate Christ as Ruler of the universe and the life of men. If we look closely at the historical moment in which the feast was instituted, we will understand the motive why the Holy Father Pope piux XI instituted it. It was at the heat of political dominance of modern day Cesars and Neros, whose political legacy was that of dictatorship and murder of the innocent people and sending out terrors. It was during the totalitarian governments of Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin. The Holy Father reminded the Christians just like the Apostles reminded the Christians during the imperial persecutions that Jesus Christ is the only Sovereign King. Although we still have dictators and enemies of the faith in our societies today who come in different forms and indices, but this feast challenges us to embrace Christ and make him the centre of our lives and to see Him as the King in the lives of everyone even those who do not recognize him in their lives. More importantly, it challenges us to see Christ present in those whom our society considers the least important, and to treat each person with the same love, mercy, and compassion as He did.
FIRST READING: Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15:17
This first reading was a message of consolation and of hope from the prophet Ezekiel to the Jews in Babylonian exile. He made them to understand that their present suffering (which he explained in the terminology of wounded sheep, lost sheep, sick sheep) is as a result of their gross infidelity and disobedience to God because their Kings and religious leaders failed in their duties as true shepherds to them. But the prophet assures them that God would eliminate “their shepherds” who have proven untrustworthy, and would Himself become their Shepherd, leading, feeding, healing, and protecting His sheep.
Obviously in the Old Testament it is noted that the image of God as Shepherd is very much characteristic of the Prophet Ezekiel. The Fathers of the Church always spoke about “synkatabasis” of God. It is a concept that tends to express the condescension of God that is, His act of coming down to be with His people. This page of the prophesy of Ezekiel is a living translation of this. As Ezekiel projects the image of the God who offers Himself to be the Shepherd of His people, the Psalmist in turn offers the response of the flock to this extraordinary revelation of the tenderness of God; it is a song of stupor and of jubilee of a religious man who feels himself as a lamb in the hand of his God:
“The Lord is my Shepherd : there is nothing I shall want; fresh and green are the pastures where He gives me repose. Near the restful waters He leads me…”
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Corinth was an important and wealthy city on the isthmus (narrow strip of land) separating Northern and Southern Greece. The Apostle Paul spent eighteen months there on his Second Missionary Journey and established a church there. Acts 18 gives us considerable detail about Paul’s work in Corinth during that time.
At the conclusion of his visit to Corinth, Paul left to visit Ephesus, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Galatia (Acts 18:18-23). As a true pastor of his sheep, after leaving Corinth, Paul maintained a correspondence with his newly established community. In his pastoral letters, he dealt with specific issues such as: Questions about his apostolic authority (chapters 1, 4)
• Divisions in the church (chapters 3-4)
• Sexual immorality (chapter 5)
• Lawsuits among believers (chapter 6)
• Questions about marriage and sexuality (chapter 7)
• Questions about eating food sacrificed to idols (chapters 8-10)
• Abuses at the Lord’s Supper (chapter 11)
• Issues regarding spiritual gifts (chapters 12-14).
But in the chapter 15 where our second reading is taken from, the Apostles began to deal with pure doctrinal issues. Here he was faced with the issue of the resurrection of Christ—and corresponding consequence of such belief in the life of the believers.
To understand the doubt raised by the Christians of the Corinthian community, we must first understand that they were heavily influenced by two categories of people; the Sadducees and the Greeks:
1. The Sadducees, one of the influential groups in the jewish setting denied any possibility of resurrection or life after death. And contrary to their counterparts (the Pharisees), they neither believed in spirits nor angels (Matthew 22:23; Mark 12:18).
2. Corinth is a Greek city, and Greeks have been heavily influenced by Platonic dualism. Dualism divides things into two parts, such as good and evil or matter and non-matter. Many dualists considered matter (such as our bodies) as unimportant and/or evil and non-matter (such as our souls) as good. Plato taught that our physical bodies are imperfect copies of ideal Forms that exist in a spiritual realm. He taught that our bodies are mortal but our souls existed prior to our life on earth—and will continue to exist beyond this life. Greeks (including these Corinthian Christians), raised in a dualistic environment, found it difficult to believe in the resurrection of the body.
Contrary to all these convictions, Judaism emphasized the wholeness of the person—body and soul. Such emphasis continued in the Christian church. Paul wants the Corinthian Christians to know that belief in the resurrection—both Christ’s resurrection and the general resurrection of believers in the last days—is foundational to the Christian faith. (A Sermon writer).
In his letter today, Paul assures Christians in Corinth that as God the Father had raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus too would raise those who believed in him. He made them to understand that the first mission of the risen Christ is to give eternal life to all who believe in Him by raising them from the dead. And his final mission will be the subjection of all cosmic powers under his authority. Meanwhile in order to further clear off the web of doubt in the mind of the Christians in Corinth who had long been schooled in the platonic corruptibility and annihilation of the body, Paul will later define the nature of the risen body: “What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body” (15:42-44).
GOSPEL : Matthew 25: 31-46
The Gospel of Christ the King-Shepherd
This is one of the famous passages in the Gospels. Matthew is the only evangelist that recorded this story. It is often called “The Judgment of the Nations”, and verses 31-46 have also been referred to as “The Parable of the Sheep and Goats”.
Matthew presents this passage as a surprise to his audience. He simply suggests that the judgment of God will come as a huge surprise to all. For those who think that friendship with God depends on the amount of faith one has; how often one prays and fasts and attends masses and religious gatherings and pays tithes, Matthew simply says that the criterium of true friendship with God is the service of charity to the wounded sheep (as in the first reading). The evangelist presents Jesus in this eschatological scene as a Shepherd-King. We will not over labour the idea of goat and sheep here. Apart from the fact that both animals existed in the cultural context of Jesus, the preference of one to the other in this parable can be understood literally: sheep are naturally obedient, innocent and humble while goats are stubborn and uneasy to control. And again the idea of placing one on the right hand and the other on the left hand responds to the general perception of the time and also in many cultures today. The left hand was seen as odd and often suggested negativity, while the right hand is associated with fortune and blessing.
The King-Shepherd will label the sheep as the chosen ones and the goats as the rejected ones.
Matthew who was writing to the Jewish converts to Christianity presents this image of Jesus King-Shepherd to affirm not just his divinity as God but also to demonstrate the central role He will play at the end of time as Lord and Judge of all creation. As a well formed and informed Jew who interprets his new faith in the light of the Old Testament, Matthew understood that the kingship of Jesus is traceable to the Old Testament. For example, in most of the Messianic prophecies given in the Old Testament such as the books of Micah, Daniel etc, Christ is represented as a Messiah-King. Evidently, even seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the Prophet Micah announced His coming as King: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrata, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:1). Daniel presents “One coming like a son of man … to him was given dominion and Glory and Kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away and his Kingship is one that shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:3-14).
In the New Testament, all the evangelists especially the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) were very clear about the theme of the Kingship of Jesus. They wrote in thick lines to demonstrate that Jesus is the long-awaited King of the Jews. When Luke was narrating the scene of the Annunciation, (Lk1:32-33), he said: “The Lord God will make him a King, as his ancestor David was, and he will be the King of the descendants of Jacob forever and his Kingdom will never end.” Matthew even told that his kingship was made made known even among the pagans. The visit of the Magi from the far East shows that Christ’s kingship and his kingdom is universal: (Mt 2:2) “Where is the baby born to be the King of the Jews? We saw his star… and we have come to worship him.” John equally diffused the notion of his kingship to the hearing of Pilate who asked the question: (Jn 18:33) “Are you the King of the Jews?” And Jesus asserts, “You say that I am a King. For this was I born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the Truth. Everyone who belongs to the Truth listens to My Voice” (John 18:37).
Kingdom without borders, King without successor: Every king has a kingdom and is bound to be succeeded after death. Kings who were brave enough to conquer other kingdoms and merge them to their kingdom never enjoyed a guarantee of the perpetuity of their authority.
The kingdom of God includes the universe and all it contains; even the most powerful of kings are under his rule. The prophet Daniel affirms that no matter how fierce and destructive the kings of this world might be, the One who sits on the throne on high will strip them of their authority, He will destroy them and reduce them to nothing (Dn 7:1-28). This is the image that Matthew paints of the King-Jesus in the Gospel as the unique judge of kings and nations. Those who must be His citizens must have only one law: “Love others as I have loved you” (John 15:12) because He is the King whose love is selfless, sacrificial, kind, compassionate, forgiving, and unconditional. The Preface to be used in today’s Mass by the priests describes Jesus’ Kingdom as “a Kingdom of truth and life, a Kingdom of holiness and grace, a Kingdom of justice, love, and peace.” He is a King with a saving and liberating mission: to free mankind from all types of bondage, so that we may live peacefully and happily on earth and inherit Eternal Life in Heaven.
LIFE MESSAGES
1. WHICH KINGDOM DO YOU BELONG TO AND WHO IS YOUR KING?:
Matthew helps us today to understand that Jesus is the only King who lives forever and whose kingdom has no end. He equally tells us how King-Jesus at the end of time will subdue every power and authority under his rule. He will pass judgment against the wicked and ungodly and condemn them to death. We are not only warned about the end but we are equally warned to denounce anything or anyone ruling our lives against the will of God. No power, no authority should enslave us because we are no more debtors to anyone. Jesus paid every debt we were owing through his blood. He made us heirs to the His kingdom. We must stand our ground by the authority of Him who sits on the throne to rebuke any kingdom seeking our candidacy. Why many of us fall victims to threatening powers is because we don’t know the power we have. We must be bold enough to say no to any other authority that imposes itself against the will of God in our lives. We have only One Authority who commands our lives. He is Jesus the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
2. WE NEED TO FIGHT AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST ’S KINGDOM:
Terrorism has affected the entire world, including Christ’s Kingdom on earth.These terrorists are people who slaughter the unborn; engage in a frontal attack on the modern family through provocative television shows, movies, music and pornography; eradicate any recognition of God from public display and public schools; they include those priests and religious and Christians who abuse minors. Hence, Jesus, the King, needs convinced apostles prepared and ready to fight against these enemies, first by prayer, then by accepting willingly the sufferings that come our way and offering them to God with Jesus, our King, in reparation for our sins and the sins of the world, and finally by living lives of loving, humble service, using our gifts generously for all. Strictly speaking, the battlefield is the heart, the home, the school, the place of employment, the neighborhood, and the parish.These provide new and exciting challenges, new opportunities for us to do, ourselves, what is right and to live out the Truth of Jesus Christ our King, neither compromising with sin nor passing judgment on the motives or guilt of any of our brothers and sisters, but loving and praying for all of us. To ensure that Jesus is always the King of our hearts, we need to make a permanent, total commitment to Him and to live out that commitment with the necessary sacrifices, conviction, hard work and daily, serious prayer. (Fr anthony kadavil).
3. WE NEED TO MAKE CHRIST THE KING OF OUR PERSONAL, FAMILIAL, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL LIFE:
a. Personal: By allowing Him to be King and center of our heart through prayer, receiving the Sacraments and freely entering a personal relationship with Him;
b. Familial: By creating a proper rule and servant-leadership in the family – let us have a “king,” a “queen,” “prince” and “princesses” in our home;
c. Social: By not divorcing ourselves from the state, from legislation and from affecting the social order, and;
d. Cultural: By bringing Christ and His Beauty and Radiance into the living traditions of our community. (Fr. Lombardi).
O HAIL THE KING
1 All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown him Lord of all.
2 O seed of Israel’s chosen race
now ransomed from the fall,
hail him who saves you by his grace,
and crown him Lord of all.
3 Let every tongue and every tribe
responsive to his call,
to him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all.
4 Oh, that with all the sacred throng
we at his feet may fall!
We’ll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all.
PAX VOBIS!
