Word to the Wise
Sunday, November 23, 2014 - 34th or Last Sunday in Ordinary Time - A: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King
[Ezek 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Cor 15:20-26, 28; Matt 25:31-46]"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." [Matt.]
Can we imagine a king who would be hungry, thirsty, an alien naked, ill and imprisoned? It is not easy to think that way. By popular definition "kings" have more than enough food and drink, friends (or toadies), beautiful clothing, the best health care and freedom. Yet, when the "sheep" in the Last Judgment scene in today's gospel ask how they could have seen the Lord in those pitiful conditions, he reminds them that he is everyone who suffers and their care for the suffering was care for him. It is for these kinds of actions that our lives are accountable.
If the standards of this gospel were the starting point of public policy, I suspect our nation would be governed quite differently. We have more than enough hungry, thirsty, undocumented, naked, sick and imprisoned in our land. However, our starting point seems all too often to protect those who have food, drink, friends, health care, clothing and freedom. We leave it to caring individuals to take responsibility, but collectively we have a tough time. What will we say to the King at the end of time?
Perhaps our liturgical focus on this feast is on the person of Jesus Christ and his meaning for all of creation which we translate into the idea of a King. But the gospel turns the focus back toward our neighbor who is very much the substance of the kingdom. We are all the Body of Christ. If we owe honor to the King, we must show it in the way we honor the hungry, thirsty, naked, lonely, sick and imprisoned. That is how we are "blessed by the Father." AMEN