Christ the King

            Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

 

The Lamb in the Midst of the Throne
Rose Window, Assumption Church
Fairfield, CT*

The feast of Christ the King marks the end of the church year. Although Christians have always believed in the Kingship of Christ, the feast is a relatively recent one dating only from 1925. At a time when the very idea of Kingship was on the way out, the Pope chose to emphasize the Kingship of Christ.The Second Vatican Council re-emphasized the importance of the feast when it moved it from the last Sunday in October to the very last Sunday of the church year.

Naturally, the theme of today's readings is Kingship. The first reading from the prophet Ezekiel compares the role of a leader to that of a shepherd. The reading makes clear that a true king exists to serve his people, and not to be served by them.

            Thus says the Lord God,

            I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

           

In America we have never been partial to kings or the idea of Kingship. We pride ourselves on being a government "of the people, for the people, and by the people." It wasn't only that our founding fathers revolted against King George III of England but their aversion to kingship went even deeper.

Kings were supposed to be God's divinely appointed representatives on earth. Their coronations were religious ceremonies where the new king would be anointed with holy oils by a religious leader. Political philosophers spoke of the "divine right of kings" to justify their power. Old traditions held that the king even possessed miraculous healing powers. It was believed that merely touching his cloak could cure many physical maladies.

By the time of our Revolution it was clear that most kings were not what they were supposed to be. Many had come to their thrones not by divine right or election but through violence and usurpation. Many did not behave like representatives of God especially when it came to being good shepherds. A king was supposed to be the best and noblest man in the nation but often he seemed to be the worst. Even if they started out with good intentions, power corrupted them.

But what if there was a person whose teaching was both simpler and wiser than any of the world's great philosophers? What if this same teacher was able to calm storms at sea and even walk on the angry waters? What if there was a person who did indeed possess miraculous healing powers? -- if merely touching his cloak could cure both physical and spiritual ailments? What if there was a person who could feed the multitudes not only with bread for a day but with the bread of everlasting life? What if there was a person whose power was so great that he could even bring the dead back to life? Finally, what if there was a person who rather than being corrupted by power, surrendered his own life for his people? Shouldn't we call that person our King?

Today's gospel reading from the 25^th chapter of St. Matthew is one of the most famous in all of scripture. Here we have the image of our Lord in His glory, surrounded by angels, and sitting on His throne at the final or last judgement. He says:

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,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink,

A stranger and you welcomed me,

Naked and you clothed me,

Ill and you cared for me,

In prison and you visited me.

We know the response. When the blessed ask when they did all these things, the King replies, “whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” What a King! He does not ask us to sacrifice ourselves for Him but only to follow His example and give our lives for others. Continually in the gospels Jesus diverts our attention from Himself and tells us that we must care for others. We can only come into His kingdom if we see Him in our neighbor.

Today’s second reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians seems to be all about death but it is really about life. St. Paul believed that originally we were not meant to die, that we had been created, every single one of us, to live forever in Paradise. But then sin entered the world and death followed sin. This is why St. Paul thought the Resurrection of our Lord was the central event in History. Our King has defeated death and because of that we can follow Him to everlasting life. We merely have to feed and cloth and visit all those who have been entrusted to our care.

The scene of the Last Judgement where the sheep are separated from the goats has been immortalized by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Even before that time innumerable churches had put this image high up in their beautiful west windows.  Usually in the back of the church, the west faced the setting sun which was identified with the end of the world or the final judgement. As they left the church the congregation could look up and see the Lamb of God in the center surrounded by Apostles and Prophets representing all the blessed. 

On this last Sunday of the Church year we can also look up at the Risen Lamb and think of the words from the Book of Revelation.

            The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them,

            And will guide them to the fountains of the waters of life,

            And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

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* Image by Melissa DeStefano. Click on image to enlarge.

Reading 1: Ezekiel 34: 11-12, 15-17

Reading II: 1 Corinthians15: 20-26, 28

Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-46 (Inherit the Kingdom).

Parable of the Talents

                                    33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                    

           

Today’s first reading is from the last section of the Book of Proverbs and is taken from a poem which some have called the “Poem of a Perfect Wife.” Our reading calls her a “worthy wife” from the famous opening:

            When one finds a worthy wife,

            Her value is far beyond pearls.

Most historians would agree that sexism was part and parcel of the ancient world. Whether we’re talking about Greeks, Romans, Arabs, or Jews it was all the same, a world dominated by men. The male had absolute authority in his own household and this power extended into all of their communities whether clans, tribes, or cities.

In today’s reading, however, we get a chance to peek behind the scenes and see what actually went on in an ancient household. The picture that emerges, especially if we read the whole poem and not just the excerpts in our missal, is of a wife as business manager or chief executive. What are her duties? She gets up while it is still dark and gets the whole household moving. She feeds her employees and gives them their work for the day. She herself labors well into the night. With the household running smoothly she turns her attention to other matters of concern. For example,

            She sets her mind on a field, then she buys it;

            With what her hands have earned she plants a vineyard.

She doesn’t seem to need her husband’s advice or permission even when she deals in such business matters:

            She weaves linen sheets and sells them,

            She supplies the merchant with sashes.

Finally, at the end of the day with her household and business prosperous and in good order, she can enjoy the fruit of her hard work:

            She is clothed in strength and dignity,

            She can laugh at the days to come.

It is very interesting that the Church uses this account of a hard-working woman to introduce today’s gospel account of our Lord’s parable of the three servants and the talents. Anyone who reads of the works and teaching of Jesus has to realize that there is no hint of sexism there. St.Paul realized as much when he said that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free. We are all one in Christ.

How many times in the Gospels does our Lord refer to Himself as a servant and insist that we must be good and faithful servants? In other words, the role of the woman in the Book of Proverbs is now the work of all of us. After all, who benefitted from the hard work of the woman in the Book of Proverbs? It wasn’t just her husband, her children, and her entire household. She also benefitted for she found peace, prosperity, dignity and honor.

Isn’t it strange that Jesus called us to be servants even though God has no need of our service? Jesus asked us to use our talents in the service of others. The servants in the Gospel parable were all given talents and asked to grow them. Don’t we admire the athletes who work the hardest to develop their God-given skills? Isn’t it a shame when we see people who bury their gifts in the ground and waste their lives in trivial pursuits?

People in business attend seminars where they learn how to treat or serve their clients. They learn how to provide good “service” not only by doing their job well but by giving recognition and rewards, especially to their best clients. If only we could apply these techniques in our own families. What if husbands and wives were to regard each other as their best clients or customers?

It is so sad when people, especially young people, take the easy way out. So many of our children refuse to take advantage of the education offered to them today. They often brag about skipping class or not doing assignments Some even get through college without ever reading a book.

Even if we have not been given the same gifts, it is still important for us to work with what we have been given. Wouldn’t our lives be happier and better if we worked hard to develop our God-given talents? Also, let’s not waste our time by wishing we had someone else’s gifts or underrating our own? It says in today’s Gospel that each servant was given an amount “according to his ability.”

If we work hard and spend our lives in the service of others, we will be able, like the worthy woman in Proverbs, to rest easy at night and laugh at the days to come. In today’s second reading St. Paul commended the Christians of Thessalonica for avoiding the “darkness” and being “children of the light.” Still, he urged them and us to keep up the good work:

            Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do,

            But let us stay alert and sober.

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Reading 1. Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31

Reading II. 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-6

Gospel. Matthew 25: 14-30 (to each according to his ability).

Wise and Foolish Virgins

                                    32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                  

           

Did you ever notice that in scripture wisdom is usually regarded as feminine? Today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom seems to be talking about a beautiful and desirable woman.

Resplendent and unfading is wisdom,

And she is readily perceived by those who love her,

And found by those who seek her.

We know that originally the Hebrew scriptures were studied primarily by men and perhaps for that reason Wisdom was portrayed as something that should be greatly desired and sought after.

But what is Wisdom? It is obvious today that many extremely intelligent and learned people are not necessarily wise. Book learning and advanced degrees do not necessarily bring wisdom. The foolish or impractical professor is a standard joke in our culture. What about the politicians, lawyers, and financiers who we see regularly led off to jail for misconduct?

Today’s first reading gives us a clue when it calls wisdom “the perfection of prudence.” Now prudence is one of those old fashioned virtues that seem to have gone out of style. We get a lesson on prudence in today’s gospel account of the wise and foolish virgins.

Jesus tells a parable with a wedding background that all of his listeners would understand.

The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins

Who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them were foolish and five were wise.

The wise virgins were prudent because they were prepared and had taken precautions in the event that the bridegroom was delayed. Typically, the foolish virgins were not only unprepared but they also, when the moment came, had to beg the prudent ones for their oil.

Obviously, this parable is about something much more than virgins and oil. It is a call to be prepared for the day when we will meet the Lord. How can we prepare ourselves for the day of the Lord? Maybe the question should be, “how do we prepare ourselves for anything?”

Students of every age know the awful feeling that comes when we fail to prepare for an important exam or assignment. We leave off studying or writing until the last minute and then have to cram like crazy. Even if we pass, what have we really learned. Many years ago when I was a teacher, students who were not doing well would ask if they could do extra credit. There would have been no need for an extra-credit assignment if they had only done the ordinary work assigned to them.

I doubt if anyone prepares harder in our time than athletes in any sport. No football player, for example, would think of going out on the field without putting in the required hours in the weight room or on the practice field. The athletes who seem to have the greatest natural ability are also the ones who seem to spend the most time in practice. Legendary basketball stars like Michael Jordan and Larry Bird were always the first to show up for practice and the last to leave.

How do we prepare and practice for life itself? Prayer is important but prudence does not mean just turning up the volume or the quantity. Jesus warned us against the senseless multiplication of words. When his disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, he just gave them the simple prayer that we call the “Our Father.”

Jesus constantly reminded us to make use of the different gifts or talents that we have been given. In other words, we are to use those gifts constantly in our daily lives, and not bury them in the ground. He asked us to be good and faithful stewards so that when he returns, we would be able to give an accounting.

Even though what we do in church is very important, Jesus always insisted that what we do outside of church is more important. Our practice for the big game consists primarily in performing the duties and fulfilling the responsibilities of our daily lives to the best of our abilities. Practice will make us perfect, and make us ready to meet our Maker when he comes.

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Reading 1. Wisdom 6: 12-16

Reading II. Thessalonians 4: 13-18

Gospel. Matthew 25: 1-13 (the wise and foolish virgins)