Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
There can easily be a disconnect between our modern culture and the first reading and Gospel passage today. They both focus on sheep and shepherding, which would have been a very common thing in Palestine around AD 33. As we look forward toward Christmas, we know that the shepherds were one of the first to see the infant Jesus with Mary and Joseph. But today, I can probably think of only person that I know that owns sheep. Sheep aren’t quite as common today as people who have chickens or cattle or horses, though goats are starting to make a comeback in some areas (there are more and more videos on Facebook with goats doing funny things).
So the idea of a sheep and shepherd might be a bit out there for us. But we probably understand the metaphor well enough to get what Ezekiel and Jesus are saying to the people: God is going to shepherd His people, gather them together, and judge between the sheep (which are good) and the goats (which are bad). In fact, one of the oldest depictions of Jesus is as the Good Shepherd in the catacombs of Pope St. Callixtus I in Rome.
As we celebrate this weekend Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we celebrate a Shepherd-King. Yes, Jesus is our King, not an elected official. We can’t vote Jesus out of office if we don’t like Him. By virtue of the fact that we were conceived, we became subjects of a king. However, at the end our of life, we will be judged and will be in the Kingdom of Jesus, “a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace,” or in the kingdom of Satan, a kingdom of lies and death, of sin and vice, a kingdom of injustice, hatred, and war. And as it turns out, it is not so much that we are sent to one of those kingdoms, but our actions on this earth determine of which kingdom we want to be a part.
Over the past few weeks we have heard how we will be judged: two weeks ago we heard that we need to be ready for the Bridegroom to return, and to focus our lives on that one goal above all others, and be like the wise virgins; last week we heard that we need to use the talents God gave us to help us enter the kingdom of heaven; and this week we hear that it is how we treat Jesus in this life, especially in the least of His brothers, that will determine in which kingdom we will live eternally.
The kingdom of heaven has been described over the past few weeks as a wedding party, and, on the flip side, hell has been described as outer darkness, a place of “wailing and grinding of teeth.” And today Jesus describes hell as an eternal punishment of fire, but heaven as the place of the blessings of God and eternal life.
It is easy to think of hell as the place for the most degenerate of persons: Hitler, Stalin, bin Laden, and Charles Manson. It is easy to think of heaven as the default where everybody goes as long as they don’t commit genocide or murder. But Jesus doesn’t talk today about murderers going to hell. The people who go to hell are those who didn’t feed others, give others a drink of water, welcome the stranger, give clothing to the naked, and visit the ill and in prison. Those are the people who will go to eternal punishment. That might sound harsh if it were me saying it, but Jesus, Mercy Incarnate, is the one who sets the bar, and it’s certainly a gut-check for me, as it likely is for you. God wants everyone to go to heaven; we are also told that in Scripture in St. Paul’s first letter to St. Timothy. But if we put together all of chapter 25 of the Gospel according to Matthew, the Gospel passages for the last two weeks and this week, heaven is for those who have kept themselves focused on waiting for the Bridegroom, using their talents that God has given them, and serving Christ in others. To the extent that we do that, we are being prepared for heaven. To the extent that we ignore chapter 25, we are being prepared for hell. In our life each day, we are either going one way or another; there’s no standing still in our spiritual lives. We are either moving closer to God, or farther away from Him.
The good news is that we have today to move towards God, impelled by His grace. We don’t have yesterday; all we can do is ask forgiveness for our past sins in confession, a sacrament that moves us closer to God. We don’t have tomorrow; all we can do is hope that we will accept God’s grace to continue moving toward Him. But we do have today, and we do have opportunities to move closer to God through prayer, worship, and service. If we follow God and where He tells us to go in our daily lives, we know He only leads us to heaven because He is the Good Shepherd. And if we follow the Good Shepherd, we will end up in the verdant pastures, near restful waters, where “only goodness and kindness follow me” as we “dwell in the house of the Lord.”
