THIRTY FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - A: CHRIST THE KING

THIRTY FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – A: CHRIST THE KING FEAST
(Ezek 34:11-12, 15-17; Ps 22:1-6; 1Cor 15:20-26, 28; Math 25:31-46)

Theme: Let us place ourselves under the kingship of Jesus Christ and thus become part of God’s kingdom

Reflection:

- Today, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King, in fact, it is a Solemnity. Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe, thus believes and proclaims the Church, and everything on the earth, under the earth and in the skies is placed under His rule and reign. Therefore, we are called today to this Eucharistic celebration, not merely to believe Jesus to be a king but to live the attitudes and requirements of His Reign.
- The Church offers this feast at the end of the Liturgical Year, that is, on its celebration of the Last Sunday of the Ordinary Time and it is for two reasons:
o First: The whole of the liturgical year is a ‘walk in the footsteps of Jesus’. We listen to him, we wonder at his great deeds, we rejoice in his presence with us – in the word and in the sacrament – and finally, we reflect the whole life of Jesus on earth from his nativity to his death and resurrection. Thus the Church offers us the complete and perfect picture of Jesus – his life and ministry – and finally acknowledging God’s design of love for the humanity in His Eternal Son Jesus.
o Second: At the completion of our one year reflection on the life of Jesus, the church proposes that, we have to make Him our Lord and King. By celebrating this feast, we are called to ‘discover’ our true faith in Him, above all, to ‘accept’ Him to be our Head and Master and thus Our King and thus ‘placing whole of our life’ under His reign.
- We are reflecting the last pages of the Gospel of Mathew and after the two important and significant parables – that of the ten virgins and of the talents – we move to enter into the final stages of Jesus before His journey towards the cross and glory – passion, death and resurrection. Therefore, after meditating that we should be always ‘awake’ to meet the Bridegroom and be always at work to ‘fructify’ the kingdom and finally we have to be ready to the final judgment which would be our last appearance before Jesus Christ, the King and the Judge, before we receive our just wages for our life on earth.
- Thus, today we have to reflect on the kingship of Christ and the actual development of the notion of His kingship so that we place under his rule totally and wholeheartedly.

First Reading:

- The Lord is a Shepherd and King:
o Ezekiel, the prophet of the promise of the new spirit and new life (Chap 36), demonstrates and pictures God as being the shepherd and thus a king - a classical image of the times - because in those days, the rulers were also called to be the shepherds of the nations;
o Today’s reading is very much comprehensible because of its two combinations:
 One is that of negative and frightening: the human, political and religious pastors who are very often self-interested and egoists, who are mercenaries and guardians of their own rights and properties than being the defenders of their flocks and we see this image in the first part of the 34th chapter of Ezekiel (vv.1-10) that speaks of the false shepherds of Israel.
 Second is that of positive and illuminating: the image of the good pastor that is also affirmed by Jesus Himself in the 10th chapter of John: Good Pastor who leads his flock to the green lands and if needed gives his life for them; and again the figure of ‘great pastor of the sheep and guardian of the souls’ (Heb 13:20; 1Pt 2:25); in a word, a pastor who is passionate and loving in his relations to the flock. This is seen in the second part of the 34th chapter of Ezekiel (vv.31) that speaks of the True Shepherd of Israel and we find the beauty of the promises of the Shepherd to this people.
- Shepherd of an action, not of a mere words:
o Event the Psalm sings the Lord as being a shepherd and we have everything we need in his presence and under his guidance – “the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want” (Ps 23:1).
o In the first reading too we can observe with great care the ‘deeds’ and ‘actions’ of the Shepherd:
 To seek out the sheep (v.11): the first task of the shepherd is to ‘search’ for the sheep and to find it; Jesus says that ‘I have come to seek and save the lost’ (Lk 19).
 To rescue the sheep (v.12): the shepherd safeguards his sheep from any undesirable situation; Jesus says that ‘I will gather my sheep’ (Jn 10).
 To gather the sheep under into one sheepfold (v.13): the shepherd calls together and unites all the dispersed sheep; Jesus tells “When I am lifted up I will gather all people to myself” (Jn 3).
 To feed them (v.14): providing the good pastures is the responsibility of the shepherd; Jesus says that “I am living bread from heaven…….. if anyone eats my body and drinks my blood will have eternal life” (Jn 6).
 To make them repose (v.15): the good shepherd gives them the necessary rest and makes them be at peace and tranquility keeping aside all the worries; and Jesus tells, “come to me all that are labored and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11).
 Saves what was lost, injured, weak (v.16): the good shepherd is always with the sheep and he finds, heals and strengthens them with his presence and power; and Jesus says “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10).
o The true shepherd do not spend the time in long discussions and discourses but shows mercy and does good by his immediate actions; Jesus too, after filling the hearts of the people with his good news of the kingdom, feeds them with the good and abundant pastures (the finest wine in the wedding of Cana and overabundant food at the miracle of feeding the five thousand). They are the great examples for the actions of the shepherd who cares not only the spiritual aspect of his sheep but also other aspects.


Second Reading:

- In Christ everyone receives their proper reward: the life or the condemnation
o St. Paul demonstrates the two challenges of the humanity in the history of the world:
 One is of the descendents of the First Adam, the sinner, through whom the ‘death and solitude’ have entered into the world and thus be lost in the darkness and be shattered into different places;
 Second is of the followers of the New Adam, Jesus Christ, the savior, through whom, ‘the life and the glory’ are available for those who believe him and live according to his ways and be united to him as one Body;
o Both of these are ‘brought back’ which travel towards their perfect unity with God:
 Starting point and the first one is always Christ who has died and risen to the new life and having entered into the eternal life he become the ‘first born’ of all and thus enters into the Glory of God;
 Then all those who have ‘with the true faith and genuine works’ accepted and witnessed him in their life – the true Christians (who are of Christ: v.23) - into their Eternal Bliss;
 Finally and at the last, all the rest, that is, ‘principalities, authorities, powers, enemies and the death, (v.24) – whole of creation and all the beings - who remain in their struggle and journey towards their great and definitive day of judgment, day of the final end;
 All have to receive their proper post – their deserved place – at the end of their existence in the world; it is Jesus Christ himself who will put them in their proper places: ‘each in his own order’ (v.23).
 Once everything is put in its proper place, all these will be brought under one rule, that is, the ‘subjection’ to him (v.27-28).
- Kingship of Christ is to make “God to be all in all”:
o Christ is a King because he is victorious over all the powers of the world and he has put everything under him;
o Christ is a king because He has put himself, as a Son sent to fulfill his mission, under the subjection of God;
o The kingship of Christ, thus, is not to rule everything by himself but to place everything in the one Kingdom of God for which God alone is the King and Lord.
o The kingship of Christ, thus, is not the exercise of power but of ‘reuniting’ everything in God so that whole creation will have its original being: “God being all in all” (v. 28).

Gospel:

- Context of Judgment on the basis of looking God in the face of the needy:
o The whole wonderful scenario of the Gospel narrative is distributed on the two levels which are both parallel and antithetical:
o One is the negative and dark side of the scene – the left side of the Judge – who are to be given the just wages of their dark or neglect life: the goats.
o Other is the positive and luminous side of the scene – the right side of the Judge – who are to be given the part of the promise for their vigilant and operative life: the sheep.
o In both of them God wanted to give a sense to the story of the creation and man and to their relationship between themselves and between them and their creator – the sense on which the judgment is based: the sense of love.
o To make this sense come true, God has planned and sent his Son into the world so that He could establish the Kingdom of joy, peace and justice, the three that are integrated into one word, love and accordingly Jesus has established it: the Reign of Love.
o The intention of God is that following His kingdom and His Son the whole humanity will participate in it with the same mission of sowing the seeds of love with their just attitude and right conduct and authentic action and thus they are to fulfill the salvific project of God: children of God, in other words – ‘God be all in all’ of Paul in the second reading.
o Finally, in this process it moves towards its perfect and definitive design of God of receiving the crown of glory and participating in the Eternal life (v.46).
- God does not demand from us a great life but simple gestures of help: the extension of the heart towards all without reserve:
o This gospel passage is, in spite of its usage of many images, not a parable but is a solemn description the judgment of the end of times; we can see this difference between the two passages of 25th chapter first one with the verse 1 and the second with the verse 14 and the beginning of today’s passage v.31;
o The teaching is not new; it is same old and traditional attitude of the chosen people of Israel. From the beginning of antic laws (Ex 22:20-23:9) till the book of Job (chapters 29-31) the teaching is same: the just man is at the service of the poor and weak who feeds the hungry and accommodates the stranger.
o Though all that Jesus says of the needy seems to be old teaching it is given new understanding and new conclusion – in fact He has come not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them (Mt 5:17) giving them their perfect meaning: the central part of the passage is v. 40: “if you have done to one of these little children of mine you have done it to me.” This is then new teaching; before this nobody imagined that ‘serving the needy is serving the Lord’.
o In Jesus both ‘God and man’ become one: He asks the just ones: “come, you blessed by my Father” and thus reminding them the alliance that God made with them and finally saying “you have done it to me”: in this way he combines both the love of God and love of Neighbor; He becomes the central point through whom one can reach God and neighbor since being God he made himself our neighbor.
o The Son of man v.31: under the image of pastor (25:32) he is also being presented as the king (25:34, 40) and he becomes the Son of man (therefore, God-man, God and man) who judges the nations; He is not a judge only for few people or few groups but he presents himself as the judge of all the people (v.32) and so, a universal judge; the king is presented also as a son (v.34) because his power is not of his own but of the Father who gives him everything (John 13:1-3);
o The judgment seems to be very severe: to the one he says: “Come, blessed by my Father” and to the other, “Go away far away from, you who are cursed”. To the one he says, “You receive in hereditary the kingdom that was prepared for you from the beginning of the world” and to the other, “go into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his followers.”
o The little ones, we can think very easily, are those who are poor, the misfortunate, the neglected ones and therefore, the list goes on; thus, the sense of the extending the hand to reach them and to help them is the charitable attitude that every Christian should practice with the truth always in mind that Jesus has made himself a poor – hungry – stranger – wounded.
- Where are we now in this great scenario: the meaning of the passage for us today:
o Jesus is who is God made himself man, thus, he who was rich made himself poor; in this way he remains in each one us and he abides in every one and in everything:
o In this way, helping the other is helping Jesus himself who is in the other: it is human charity that is, charity towards humans – love of neighbors;
o Can we stop here and say that we have done everything? Can we not go further towards the cosmos/nature or the creation in its totality? Thus, helping the nature by saving it from its human-caused calamities is also helping Jesus because he resides also in the nature/cosmos which is groaning to its perfection: it is nature charity that is, charity towards nature – love of the nature.
o Finally, each one is endowed with the dignity and freedom because of his status of being created in the same image and likeness of God and this affirm us that we are the ‘temple of God’ who carry the imprint and presence of God and thus, we are called today to help ourselves too with true image and authentic personality: it is the personal charity that is, charity towards oneself – love of the self;
o One more final analysis: we are on the both sides: the ones who have to help because we are rich in the grace of God as Christians and on the side of the poor because we are also always in the need of something and someone; do we realize this aspect? Once we realize that we are also needy and we need someone to lift us up, we can easily and vigorously help other needy.

Conclusion:

- Radical Question and Quest into research: Did Jesus ever proclaim himself a king?
o If we gaze into the gospels it is clear that Jesus has never proclaimed himself a king and he never wanted to claim to be a king.
o Almost all the gospels speak of the kingship of Jesus only in the presence of Pilot and before his judgment: the conversation is very simple and casual without any intensive approach: Pilot asks Jesus: ‘Are you a king?’ and Jesus does not confirm but only affirms: ‘you tell it’ (Math 27:11), the same appears in Mark 15:2, and Luke 23:3; the discourse is not continued on the kingship, not even the scribes and the Jewish authority; they just bypass it as though it is not the exact thing what they wanted to talk. In John’s gospel the discourse goes little further (Jn 18:28-38) and here the above question arises only at the end of the discourse after which Jesus immediately switch on to reveal the purpose of his coming into the world – to testify the truth and so, Jesus is not interested in being ‘raised to the glory of the king’.
o On one side, Jesus never wanted or not so much interested in proclaiming himself a king because he has come to be with the poor and therefore, to identify himself as – humble and obedient servant – sent by God to proclaim and fulfill the kingdom of God; on the other side, the revelation of his kingship has never been stopped. From the moment of his annunciation to Mary (Lk 1:30ff), with the promise that the one who is to be born will be a king, to the moment of his death on the cross with the inscription on the cross – Jesus king of Jews. It is revealed by first Angel Gabriel, by the Magi, even by simple people when they wanted to make him king after the miracle of multiplication of bread, and on the cross;
o From the humility that Jesus had in his confrontations with the Father and from God who has revealed His regality/kingship to the people through different ways and modes – God always speaks in the various means – we can know that it is finally the ‘simple and perfect event’ of ultimate obedience to the will of God that made him ‘the king over all’ (Phil 2:6-11) and even in the second reading we have seen that God has put everything under His subjection so that everything will be brought back it its original place: being in God – that is, God be all in all.
o But the church acknowledges and proclaims Jesus the King because of His ultimate sacrifice for the salvation of mankind as a Good Shepherd – the shepherd who gives his life for his flock; it proclaims him to be the ‘king of the universe’: thus, He becomes Shepherd-King (the fulfillment of the first reading – as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Concept of king-pastor, he becomes a shepherd who takes care of the abandoned).
o Universe – both creation and the humanity – is affected very badly and is in the clutches of sin and death and is, therefore, in need of a savior who will have an ultimate victory over these two powers - sin and death - and places the universe in its right post. Jesus is a king because he wins and he is a king of universe because he wins over the powers that hold in their power the whole creation and thus becomes the ‘King of the Universe’ (the fulfillment of the second reading Jesus - who wins the sin through his innocent sacrifice and the death through his resurrection to new life – gives back the kingdom of peace and justice to God).
o His victory is not with the army of the world as he professes in the court of the Pilot but belongs to the other world and therefore, to the world of the Father and His Angels; therefore, his fight and his war is not with the horse and sword, which is the normal understanding of a king, but with the Spirit and Love, the new and radical and a spiritual understanding of kingship. This is the criteria through which he will also, one day, call everything into judgment: with the manifestation of love in the proper life; this way, thus, he becomes the ‘King-Judge’ (the fulfillment of the Gospel passage of the scenario of the final appearance).
- The Path made Simple and Accessible:
o We need not struggle too much in order to enter the kingdom of God and to listen to the words of Jesus: ‘come, you blessed by my Father into the heavenly kingdom’: because we know very well the way and how to reach it: the way is to follow Jesus and to reach is to listen to his voice: “my sheep listen my voice”.
o The great deeds are not demanded from us; God asks from us our daily little things:
 A slice of bread to the hungry
 A glass of water to the thirst
 A piece of cloth to the naked
 A kind word to the disappointed/stranger
 A small visit to the sick
 And finally, in a word, a merciful glance to the needy.
o These ‘daily gestures’ are the fulfillment of the totality of the beatitudes that Jesus proposed already at the beginning of his mission of ‘realization of the kingdom of God.’
o We are called to do this and once we do these little things to the little ones around us, we are sure of standing at the right side of the judgment seat – through which we receive crown of glory and eternal happiness.
o Therefore, Let us place ourselves under the kingship of Jesus Christ and thus become part of God’s kingdom so that we are in the Lord and the Lord is in us.