Word to the Wise
Sunday, November 23, 2008 - Our Lord Jesus Christ the King
[Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26; Matthew 25:31-46]When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And e will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats!
Although this feast has a kind of "triumphalistic" flavor to it because it stimulates the imagination with popular images of kings and royal courts, its breadth and depth is considerable because we are challenged "cosmically" in St. Paul's vision of Christ's Lordship over all of creation in the second scripture; we are challenged pastorally by Ezekiel's image of the "shepherd king"; and we are challenged personally in the scene of the "Last Judgment" - so graphically rendered by Michaelangelo on the back wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome! Each of these images of "kingship" has its origins in the culture of the scriptural authors! We, in our own culture here in the West, especially the "positive secularism" (so called by Pope Benedict XVI) of the United States, must of necessity make adjustments to our understanding. Although we have certain prominent "political families" we have no "royal" family. Although we give our president considerable powers, he is not invested with those as a matter of divine right but only for four years at a time! And so it goes....... Is our focus to be on the ruler? On the kingdom? On those who are ruled? We may find it easier to meditate on the compassion and mercy of Christ instead of on his status and power as a "king!" The shepherd image is ancient and comforting! Yet we are also surrounded by a creation that each day reveals itself to be so great and fascinating that only the mind of God could have created it and we puny (but dangerous) humans have been given a partial stewardship of it - this is the kingdom! That stewardship comes back to haunt us in all those little acts we did or did not do for the " least of my brothers and sisters." We, the ruled, can become little rulers in so many ways, and show ourselves much less pastoral and compassionate than Christ our model! All these possibilities are laid before us at the end of this liturgical year! After this coming week of Thanksgiving feasting, we will begin a new liturgical year (Cycle B!) and once more tell the story of Jesus Christ, who will begin his human life in the same way we do, by being born - a king whose throne is a manger! Now that's a different sort of royalty!!!! AMEN
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