Feast of Christ The King
November 22, 2015
- The usual gospel has Christ the King as Judge, as in Matthew 25.
- And this is how many people think.
- After the terrorism of Paris, even commentators referred to the perpetrators burning in hell. That is a big question for another time.
- There is judgment in Christian thinking but not the way many people think.
- In the gospel of Matthew, the first surprise are the matters on which we shall be judged; the second, that we are already under judgment.
- Many people fear judgement. They think that its like an appraisal at work; being called into the boss’s office or having all their tardy secrets exposed – the greed, the bitter feelings, the sex and the lies that we keep hidden.
- But there are only six works of mercy that seem to count.
- Over and over they are repeated. Feeding the hungry; giving water to the thirsty; hospitality to the homeless; clothing the naked; caring for the sick and visiting the imprisoned. The six corporeal acts of mercy.
- This reinforced what Jesus has been saying and doing all along: what I want is mercy not sacrifice; also, his failure to get excited about moral issues that we are often preoccupied with, like personal morals.
- The judgment in Christian faith turns out to be a measure of our mercy and love not our personal purity.
- In today’s gospel, Jesus the King, contests Pilate the Governor. The humble Jesus speaks the truth; the powerful governor wants that truth.
- But the truth of Jesus will rub Pilate the wrong way.
- First, the message of Jesus is about love not domination (it is not a Kingdom of this world)
- Second, his way is that of service, as with Christ the King in Matthew.
- He seeks a kingdom of service. Thus, the truth is not about worldly prosperity or exercising power. It is about knowing the God of love and driving forward an agenda of service to others.
- This message is for the disciples who will become the Church.
- They must take up the posture of humility and live a life of service to others.
- This promotes a Church that is not caught up in its own self-importance; obsessed, as it is at times, with a private morality.
- Jesus calls forth a Church of the poor and needy, in the spirit of mercy, and its judgment is not to be feared but to be a correction for the twin fetish of power and prestige. These are temptations, already confronted by Jesus in the desert. Which Dostoevsky rightly claims are the three temptations of humankind – power, money and sex. Obsessions that strangle the freedom of God’s