CHRIST THE KING. Matthew 25:31-46

Today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year and we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. Jesus is king and he himself said: I am a king.  During the trial, Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus replied, "You have said it." (Luke 23:3). "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Shortly before His Passion Jesus exclaimed with joy,“In the world you will have hardship, but be courageous: I have conquered the world!” (Jn. 6. 33). This is the language well-suited to a King reassuring His followers that He’s so confident that already He has triumphed! Jesus spoke several parables about the kingdom of God.

St. Paul, defining the nature of Christ’s conquest wrote, “Christ emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, and being in every way like a human being, He was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. And for this God raised Him high, and gave Him the name which is above all other names; so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus,”  (Phil. 2).  So we are called to accept Jesus as king, professing and kneeling before him.

However, Jesus Himself would have us know that words of respect, honor and praise trip effortlessly from tongues and fall lightly upon ears. So, he said, “It is not anyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord," who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mtt.7.21).

The Gospel reading pictures Christ the King as Judge of all mankind, separating the sheep from the goats, the good from the bad: and his judgment will be based on the commandment of love he gave to his disciples the night before he died. After he washed the feet of his disciples, he said: "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must also wash one another's feet. I have just given you an example that as I have done, you also may do."

Now Jesus tells in today’s gospel how that behavior should be. Anonymously feeding the hungry, Clothing the naked, visiting the sick are some of the ways to serve the Lord. It is not serving the “humanity”, but in serving each little individual, that we are able to see God. That is why Mother Theresa once said, "I never look at the masses as my responsibility, I look at the individual. I can love only one person at a time. I can feed only one person at a time. So you begin with one. If I didn't pick up that one person, I wouldn't have picked up 42,000. My whole work is only a drop in the ocean. But if I didn't put the drop in, the ocean would be one drop less." So, caring for each individual is the basis of our attitude of serving Christ.

Once there was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it would be a long trip to where God lived, so he packed a suitcase full of Twinkies and cans of root beer (his two favorite foods) and set off on his journey. He had only gone a few blocks when he passed an older woman, sitting on a park bench and just staring at some pigeons. She looked sad and lonely, so the boy went over and sat down next to her. He opened his suitcase, took out a package of the Twinkies and offered it to her.

She gratefully took it and smiled at him. Her smile was so warm and wonderful that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a can of his root beer. Once again, she took it and smiled at him. The boy was delighted. They sat there all afternoon, eating the Twinkies, drinking the root beers and watching the pigeons, without saying a word to each other.

As it grew dark, the boy realized that he had better get started home and got up to leave. But before he had just a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the older woman and gave her a big hug. She gave him the biggest smile of all.

When the boy got home, his mother noticed how happy he seemed. So she asked him what he had done all day. He told her: "I had lunch with God. And you know what? She has the most beautiful smile that I've ever seen."

Meanwhile, the older woman had returned to her home. Her son also noticed how happy and contented she seemed so he asked her what she had done that had made her so happy. She said to him: "I sat in the park and ate Twinkies with God. You know, he's much younger than I expected." Both of them recognized God’s presence in each other’s presence. We are called to recognize Jesus’ face in each other’s faces, particularly those in need. Because Jesus lived on the generosity of others during his ministry.  As we honor Jesus the king, let’s ask for the grace to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, so that we may be able to sing all our life: the Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.