I doubt if this feast catches the attention of many of us in a profound manner. Some of us claim a particular aversion to the concept of “Kingship.” Yet if a coronation happens, it rivets the attention of the TV public. There seems to be an intuitive response to the figure of a king! The feast was established in an effort of the Church to give a real focus to the governing powers. The Church was presenting Jesus and his way of sacrifice as the essence of authentic leadership and government. The success of the ministry seems rather meagre!
This Sunday’s Gospel draws our attention to the relationship between the end time and our life. Christ the King will preside over the judgement whose outcome will be determined by our care for one another. We should not imagine heaven as an escape from present responsibilities.
This leads us to a more authentic understanding of Christ as King. To proclaim Jesus King is not to demand a state religion. Jesus will claim his full title of king only at the hour of his coming in glory. But he lives now no less as king but in a hidden way, in the poor and little ones. He is their defender and their protector. In serving the poor we serve Jesus the King.
The Gospel parable is rather frightening with its clear principle of discernment, “I assure you as often as you neglected to serve one of these least ones, you neglected to serve me.” And who and what is neglected, it is simply the everyday people, their needs, their recognition, just the comforting word of encouragement. We neglect these simple Gospel tasks all the time. As Pope Francis reiterates, we are the culture of indifference. The Gospel is a little stronger, as often as you neglected these little ones you have neglected me – neglect of me – Jesus – that will get us eternal punishment.
The Kingdom of God that we long for, means the love of God, the fundamental principle of creation that all of this – the heavenly stars, the bountiful nature, the smallest insects to the most complex natural. Everyone can now know that love is the ultimate, that it is stronger than death, stronger than hatred and injustice, that all of life lives and moves because God is love; God creates us because he wills the good of each of us. This love is alive in our midst because of our response to God. Love reveals itself as the meaning of life. But in reality we have separated ourselves form the love of God by sin, by egotism, self-seeking, self-will, self-importance. Everything falls apart in the meaningless isolation of the “self”. In place of unity comes loneliness and isolation which inevitably leads to meaninglessness.
But the ultimate source of all reality, God’s love, when it is established and is the source of energy, the world is restored to order and salvation. Then each individual can feel being accepted and approved without reserve and the person becomes free to live with others. The coming of the Kingdom of God’s love means the salvation of the world as a whole and the salvation of every individual.
Everyone can now know that love is the ultimate, that it is stronger than death, stronger than hatred and injustice. The Kingdom of God is a promise that everything done in the world out of love will endure for ever. Such an attitude opens the possibilities which avoid the alternative of transforming the world by violence and escaping the world in pacificism. It means transforming and humanizing the world through love.
Where do we learn this love? We learn it from Jesus and his life. We learn it doing what Jesus did – giving his life so the others may have life. God is love; God creates us because of his will that we have all good. The greatest good that we can have; is to love as God did. And God loved by giving us the way of Jesus. And so, we give ourselves for all who need, beginning with ourselves and the then the person beside us, then the whole world. Then Christ will be King!