The Last Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
Christ the King Sunday
Scriptures:
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 God will shepherd Israel
Psalm 95:1-7a The Lord is our God
Ephesians 1:15-23 The reign of Christ
Matthew 25:31-46 The coming separation of sheep and goats
Key verse:
“God has put all things under his feet and has made Jesus Christ the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of Christ Jesus who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:22-23
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Hello, This is Jade.
Welcome to Yi.kigai
A space for all to explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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We have reached the end of the Church Calendar Year, the last Sunday after Pentecost. It is called Christ the King Sunday. Over the next four weeks, we will celebrate Advent then Christmas. That’s the beginning of the Christian Church Calendar. But before celebrating a new church year, we want to end this Sunday well, Christ the King Sunday.
What is Christ the King Sunday about? From all the scriptures assigned for today, we notice that none of the scriptures mention whether we should confess our faith in Jesus as our king or how Jesus becomes our king. Instead, it is all about our final judgement. And the criteria for the final judgement that Jesus presents here is how we treat Jesus through how we treat those in need, the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick and the estranged.
By knowing this, how should we prepare ourselves to face the final judgement? Or should I ask, “From this day on, how can we live differently as the people of God?” How about doing a deep cleaning in our attitudes and behaviors toward those in need, the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick and the estranged? It is like doing a deep cleaning for the house before the new year.
In our lives, we accumulate a lot. Doing a deep cleaning helps us free space to fill with new, good and useful things. If asked, “What are the most essential things that we need in order to live well with dignity?” I believe these are all listed in the Lord’s prayer, such as our daily bread, needed forgiveness, freedom from temptation. In the same way, if asked, “What is the most essential thing that we should have in order to be the people of God?” Let’s see what Jesus says about this.
Jesus teaches in John 13:35 that if we love one another, everyone will know that we are his disciples, that we are the people of God. St. Paul also reminds the people of God in Corinth that if we have no love, we have nothing. So, based on Jesus’ teaching and St. Paul’s remarks, love is the most essential thing that we need to have after doing a deep cleaning in our attitudes and our behaviors as the people of God.
So, "What is the kind of love that Jesus asks of us to have? If we are not clear on this, then our participation in God’s mission is going to be very challenging. As we look at our society, community, nation, or world in a very honest way, we have to admit that we either haven’t done a good job or God’s mission is just too much for us to handle. There is so much brokenness among us and within us.
We are living in a world that is filled with all kinds of love that benefit ourselves but are not necessarily good for others. Let us see the Pyramid of Hate, created by Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
This pyramid shows biased behaviors, growing in complexity from the bottom to the top. Although the behaviors at each level negatively impact individuals and groups, as one moves up the pyramid, the behaviors have more life-threatening consequences. Like a pyramid, the upper levels are supported by the lower levels. If people or institutions treat behaviors on the lower levels as acceptable or “normal,” the behaviors at the next level become accepted as well. In response to the questions of the world community about where the hate of genocide comes from, the Pyramid of Hate demonstrates that the hate of genocide is built upon the acceptance of behaviors described in the lower levels of the pyramid.
We are both participants and victims of the Pyramid of Hate. Have you ever been treated wrongly just because you have less in terms of money or health? Or have you ever been treated badly simply because you are less in terms of your identity, your gender, your age, your race, your culture, or your language? If not, try to put yourselves in the shoes of those in need, the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick and the estranged.
We need to take God’s love more seriously. God has expressed and accomplished His love through the cross of Jesus who dies for all. Therefore, God’s love has no partiality and can’t be bribed. That is stated in Deuteronomy 10:17. And in Romans 2:11, St. Paul also emphasizes that there is no favoritism with God. Everyone deserves to have God’s love.
God’s love for all can become empty talk if we don’t live out God’s love. We might ask if there are any instructions. Yes, there are. Didn’t the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament provide us with ten instructions? If the Ten Commandments are too hard for us to follow, didn’t Jesus summarize them into 2 Great commandments in Matthew 22? Love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. And love our neighbor as ourselves.
A lawyer asks Jesus who our neighbor is in Luke 10. Remember the story of a good Samaritan? Similar to today’s gospel reading from Matthews 25, Jesus wants us to love and care for not just someone being robbed or beaten, but also those in need, the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick and the estranged. If we hold any biases, prejudices, or even hate against anyone who is poor, hungry, naked, sick of estranged, no one would know that we are Jesus’ disciples since God’s love isn’t lived out by us.
By following the Great Commandments, our vertical mutual love with God and our horizontal mutual love among all peoples make the shape of the cross. The world needs to see that love lived out, which is the cross of Jesus.
Only when we live out such mutual love toward God and one another will we see less brokenness among ourselves and within us. This is the kind of love Jesus wants us to proclaim. We do so because God loves us first as it says in 1 John 4:19. Only being loved makes us capable of love. Let us, together, do a deep cleaning in our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors toward those in need and keep only God’s love in everything we think, we say, and we do. Amen.
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May your coming week be blessed by God’s grace
As together we explore the intersection between faith and daily life
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