JUDGMENT
Christ the King, Year A. Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; Matthew 25:31-46.
AIM: To present Jesus’ parable of judgment as both a warning and
encouragement.
“Thus says the Lord God: I myself will
look after and tend my sheep, as a shepherd tends his flock ...” Ezekiel’s
words from our first reading give us the theme for this final Sunday in the
Church’s year. We find it continued in the responsorial psalm, with its
familiar opening words, “The Lord is my shepherd.” We hear the same theme in the gospel from
Jesus himself, telling us that on judgment day we shall find him sitting, as a
king, “upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before
him.” He will act like a shepherd, separating the sheep from the goats in his
flock.
But what does this image of a shepherd
have to do, you may be wondering, with today’s feast of Christ the King? It
tells us what kind of king Jesus is. He is no conventional ruler, a person of
might, power, and glory who lords it over people. Jesus is a king who serves those he rules. “He exercises his
kingship,” the Catechism says, “by drawing all men to himself through his death
and Resurrection.” (No. 786)
In baptism we receive a share in
Christ’s kingship. The first Letter of Peter says that baptism makes us “a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people he claims for his own
...” (2:9). We exercise this royal priesthood when, like Jesus our king, we
serve others; “particularly,” the Catechism says “the poor and the suffering,
in whom the Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder”
(786, cited from Vat. II: LG 8).
The parable of the sheep and the goats which
we heard in the gospel tells us that service of others will the standard by
which, one day, we shall be judged. We won’t be asked how many prayers we have
said, or how many Masses we have
attended.
We shall be asked one question only: How much have you done for others? Have
you done anything at all?
Can Jesus really be serious? What about our duty to God: Sunday Mass,
prayer, obedience to the precepts of the Church? Are these things
unimportant? Of course not. Duty to God
is his first commandment, every bit as important as duty to our neighbor. In
this parable, however, Jesus tells us that we fulfill our duty to God first of
all by serving others. That is why St. Vincent de Paul could write: “God is not
neglected if prayers are put aside ... Therefore, when you leave prayer to help
some poor man, remember this – that the work has been done for God.” (Letter
2546; Office of Readings
Common to both groups in this parable
of the sheep and the goats is surprise
at the verdict pronounced on them. Those who are condemned appeal to their good
conduct record. They have not lied, murdered, stolen, or committed adultery. As
far as they know, they have kept all the rules. And now they find themselves
condemned not for anything they have done, but for things left undone. Surely, they think, there must be some
mistake.
The just are no less astonished to
hear themselves praised. They were never conscious of doing anything special.
They had not looked for any reward; and they certainly had never even started
to calculate how high the reward might be. And precisely for this reason they
receive a reward – one far greater than any they had ever dreamed of.
What a lesson there is there for us
Catholics. The parable is, first of all, a warning.
It tells us that everything we do in life, as well as the things we leave
undone,
have eternal consequences. The choices we make each day and hour are
determining, even now, our final destiny. Judgment is not a matter of adding up
the pluses and minuses in some heavenly account book. Judgment is simply God’s
confirmation of the choices, or judgment, we have already made by the way we
chose to live our lives. That is the warning.
Jesus never issues a warning, however,
without giving us with it reason for encouragement. This consists here in the
assurance that we need not fear
judgment if we are trying to help people in need whom we encounter along life’s
way. It is not that our good deeds gain us a row of gold stars in some heavenly
account book which help balance out the black marks. Jesus is saying something
quite different. He is telling us that
the person who is genuinely trying to serve others’ needs will not fail to
attain moral goodness in other areas as well. And such failures as remain (and
we all have them) will be forgiven by
God.
So which is the story for you?
Warning? or encouragement? That depends.
When you come to Confession, do you find that you have little to
confess? You haven’t missed Sunday Mass. You have avoided mortal sin. Oh,
perhaps a few white lies now and then, some bad language, and a little
impatience – “but nothing really serious, Father.” If that is your situation,
the story is probably a warning for you. Then ask yourself: Do I ever fail to
help, when help is possible? Am I offended by sermons or statements by Church
leaders on topics like war, oppression of the poor, or racial justice? Do I
complain that in Church we should hear only about spiritual things? If the
answer to such questions is Yes, then the story is certainly a warning for you.
Perhaps, however, your situation is
different. Do you come here discouraged because your life is a tangle of loose
ends, failed resolutions, and broken promises? You pray poorly, you lose your
temper, you’re impatient, you are unable to overcome some bad habit or, as they
say, to “get it all together.” Take heart! If that, or any of that, is your
story, then the parable of the sheep and the goats is Jesus’ encouragement for
you. It is his way of telling you that your failures are not ultimately
important, if you are looking for opportunities of helping others, and using
those opportunities when you find them. Anything good you try to do for others,
no matter how insignificant, is of infinite worth. It is done for Jesus Christ. One day you will
discover, to your astonishment, that you have been serving Him all along, without ever realizing it. You will hear the voice
of your shepherd-king saying to you tenderly, and very personally: “Come, you
who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world.”
That, friends, is the gospel. That is the good news.
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