Gospel Mt. 25:31-46
Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘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.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Homily
For various Sundays past we have been reading Gospel passages which begin with this or a similar saying; “The Kingdom of God is like this.” These gospel passages reminded us of the behaviours expected of those who seek to be part of the Kingdom of God. Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ, the King and true to form the Gospel passage reminds us of the behaviour of our King when he comes to claim his kingdom.
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Our King is first of all described as a shepherd. Throughout scripture shepherds are divided into good and bad. Good shepherds look after their sheep, leading them to green pastures. Bad worthless shepherds look after themselves with no concern for their sheep, letting them be prey to wolves and other dangers. What is important for us to understand is that as we grow older God’s shepherding of his people is done through us, the disciples of his son who is the earthly shepherd par excellence. As we saw last week people of the Kingdom are persons who make the difficult choices in life so as to be true to the values of the Kingdom. Kingdom values are those which are not tainted by selfishness. They are values in which love of God and neighbour play a primary role. Imitation of our King, the earthly shepherd par excellence is thus of paramount importance.
When Christ comes as King to present the Kingdom to his Father it stands to reason that those to be included in the Kingdom are those who have lived by the values of the Kingdom, those who have imitated Christ by shepherding God’s people as they themselves have been shepherded by the divine shepherd, Jesus Christ. The King gives the reasons for which people are either included or excluded from the Kingdom “ […] 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.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ and ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’” Inclusion or exclusion from the Kingdom depends on the fulfillment or not of the shepherding role through which others experience the care and concern of God for his people both as individuals and as communities.
The question then becomes; is it possible for persons in the world and culture of this age to fulfil the shepherding role through which others experience God’s care and concern for them? The answer is in the affirmative. It can be done. We have experienced it in the care and concern of friends, parents, godparents, uncles and aunts. People dying on the streets have experienced it in the actions of the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity. How many in the Chaguanas area experienced it in the kindness of the late Canon Max Murphy and how many have experienced it in the ministry of the St. Vincent de Paul Society? Today let us thank God for the many shepherds in our midst who make God’s care and concern tangible for us and for others. They are truly citizens of the Kingdom.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, You are Spirit in a world of bodily beings. We do not experience you as You are. We experience You, your love, your care and concern through others like ourselves. Help us to so live and act that our lives will help those who interact with us to begin to understand your love, your care and concern for them. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother and Jesus your son. Amen
