Feast of Christ the King
(Sunday 26th November 2017)
Stay faithful to the very end – (Matthew 25:31 – 46)
Who among us can tell the future? Well, the people who tell the weather forecast seem to be able to… well, in fact even they can’t, it seems they are just predicting what will happen based on data analysis. So who among us can really tell what is going to happen next, what is going to happen in the future? The answer is none of us really. None of us know for certain what is going to happen tomorrow, or next week or next year. We all live in this moment in time called now.
Since the earliest times the Church has believed that Christ will come again at some unknown moment in the future. We say it in the Creed on Sundays… he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We believe, someday, Christ is going to return in glory to earth. In the gospel it describes the scene like this “when the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another”.
This Sunday is the last Sunday of the Church’s year. And as we come to this ending of the Church’s year, the gospel reading in a particular way recalls this scene of Christ’s coming. This scene of the ending of the world. It is the final judgement. When each one of us will come before Christ and we will receive what our actions deserve.
For the 3rd week running in the Gospel we see the difference between getting in and being thrown out. Like the wise and foolish bridesmaids two weeks ago or the man who buried the coin in the ground last week, this gospel reminds us that following the Lord requires effort. It’s not just a passive activity. To the bridesmaids with no oil he said “I do not know you”. To the man who buried the coin in the ground he said throw him out into the darkness and in this gospel those who neglected him are sent away to eternal punishment.
On the other hand, the bridesmaids with oil enter the wedding feast, the man who makes five extra talents is given even more, and today the virtuous take for their heritage the kingdom prepared for them since the foundation of the world.
The contrast is stark and seems very simple. Getting it or being thrown out…. It depends on the choices we make in our lives. What happens in the future depends on it. We can’t tell the future but we can influence it.
Christ has not left us wandering hopelessly without any indication of where we should go or how we should prepare. He states clearly the type of life, the kind of choices that are important. Giving food to the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming strangers or you might say including outsiders, clothing the naked and visiting those who are sick or in prison. Like a good shepherd he shows us the path to follow. And in so following it we can rest easy that whenever we finally come before him on the Throne of Glory as he is escorted by all the angels, we will have nothing to fear because he will welcome us to our heritage promised since the foundation of the world.
Fr. Declan Lohan