You Can't Say You Weren't Warned: Homily for Christ the King

A few years back, I was having a particularly busy day.  I hit the ground running and had no time for breakfast.  The evening schedule made supper look like a no-go also.  I went to the rectory and reheated leftover spaghetti and sat down at my desk to eat while I looked over e-mails. No sooner had I finished the sign of the Cross after praying grace did the doorbell ring.  I was less than pleased.  It figures, huh?  I get up to answer the door and there stands a Hispanic lady with 2 children: a little boy who is maybe 5 years old and an infant.  She needs help but knows very little English.  My Spanish is little better.  Between us we were searching for words to get across what was needed.  After about 5 minutes or so, the mother's eyes start to dart about frantically.  Finally she looks behind me and horrified screams, "Jesus, Jesus, nooooo!" I turned around to see the little boy scarfing down the last of my lunch.  In other words, Jesus ate my lunch.  The irony wasn't lost on me.  Here I was griping to myself about my misfortune.  The Gospel for today came immediately to my mind.  I felt ashamed of my anger and reluctance.

God is like that teacher who tells you what is going to be on the test and what the answers are.  There is no surprise if we pay attention.

Before I get too much more into this passage, it is worth noting two things said by Christ to those being judged.  To those on the right, He says," Come you blessed by the Father, enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." It is a reminder that no person was created to be sent to hell.  When God created each of us, it was with the hope of heaven.  We are not made for hell.  We are not made to be damned.  We are not made to be condemned.  Nonetheless, it can and does happen.  Witness what He says to those on His left, "Depart from me, you accursed, into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels."  While God does not create us for hell, many will choose hell.

How is hell chosen?  That is at the crux of the Gospel.

Notice the criteria.  There are some obvious missing criteria.

First, they are not judged by how often they went to Mass or prayed.  Many will run with this and say this means God just wants you to do nice stuff and we're good.  It's like Pelagianism for the half-hearted.  Notice, though, who is the Last Judgement Sequence aimed at?  As with the parables of the last two weeks prior, this is aimed at those who follow Christ...or at least claim to.  There are rightful presuppositions that those who follow Him would worship Him.Worship is not enough.  Recall the many times God tells the people of Israel in the Old Testament how loathsome He finds their worship and their worship is empty and disconnected from their lives.  That doesn't mean God doesn't want worship; that He doesn't want that intimate contact given through worship.  If that worship doesn't lead to a transformation, then the worship is destroyed.

Second, we see nothing of the 10 Commandments.  Some will see this as an open invitation for buffet Catholicism...as long as you do nice things once in a while, we're cool, right? Uh. no.  Again, like worship, since we are talking to those who say they follow Christ, it is also presumed that the commandments are being kept. It should come as no surprise that following rules isn't enough.  Jesus had no qualms about the Scribes and Pharisees following rules, yet He still calls them white washed sepulchers. No surprise then, that this is not the criteria either.

So what is the criteria?  Notice in the Gospel passage that the criteria catches both sides off guard.  The criteria is centered on mercy.  Those on the right see the needs of others and address them.  What is so profound about that?  It says the worship of God transformed them into being able to love as God loves. It says the keeping of the commandments helped them to love as God loves.  We should not be surprised at this.  The higher standard of mercy and divine love is constantly preached by Christ and most powerfully shown by His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  His mercy is a reflection of the mercy of the Father.  If we follow Christ authentically, then that same mercy is at the heart of who we are.  Those on the left are without mercy.  So wrapped are they in their own desires that the needs of those around them escape them.  perhaps those in need, they felt, got what they deserved.  Maybe it was somebody else's problem. Maybe they just needed that time and energy for themselves.  Whatever the excuse, they show that the mercy of God has no home in their lives.  In rejecting mercy, they reject God.  In their lack of mercy they disown their familial bond to the Father. In that rejection, despite their worship and adherence to the law, they lose eternal life.

This sounds harsh?  It does. Then again, is not Our Lord warning us?  Why should this last teaching of His before we enter into the Passion be any different to everything before it?  The Last Judgement sequence is the recapitulation of what Christ has taught and is the setting for why He is about to do what He does in laying down His life.  He is approaching His throne...the Cross! The only path to heaven follows in the footsteps of Christ who prayed to His Father, who was obedient to the will of His Father, and who was the very reflection of the mercy of the Father in His willingness to give the entirety of who He is for our good.  The Cross is the ultimate act of mercy.

The early Church understood this.  For the first 3 centuries Christianity found itself persecuted.  It upset the Roman order.  Part of that Roman order was the view of the poor, the sick, the dying, and the needy.  Roman philanthropy was not directed to such people (although some bread might be thrown at the rabble to keep them sated).  Roman philanthropy was measured in building projects and games.  Here comes this Christian group, though, who start helping these groups of the suffering.  They don't merely help the poor and needy of their own kind, they help anyone.  This witness had the double effect of their being witnesses to the mercy of God, but also publicly marked them as followers of Christ.  It was by being these agents of God's mercy that helped the Church wildly expand despite persecution. It was the early witness of the Church, "See how those Christians love one another," that provoked conversion in the face of persecution.

I strongly believe that so many have abandoned the faith because this witness is gone.  Without the selflessness of mercy, our worship rings hollow.  Without the selflessness of mercy, our following rules seems self-serving. Many who left might not be ale to articulate this, but it is there.  This is sinful in that our worship and obedience must be ordered to God; hence the selflessness of  mercy is a necessity.  Our ability to love without condoning sin, to show mercy without condemning the poor to a life of poverty by enabling it, to show ourselves God's sons and daughters is what draws.  This is unsettling for the minimalist.  Then again, Jesus is never concerned about our comfort.

Worship?  Absolutely!  Where else will we get the grace we need to live such a high standard?  NO sacraments and one starves themselves of grace necessary to be selflessly merciful. Follow in obedience the totality of the revealed truth of Jesus Christ?  Absolutely!  Where else do find the standards for what God expects of us?  To these two, if we are to want heaven, must be added that third element: selfless mercy.   With selfless mercy in place, we can no longer wait for someone else to address needs.  This is true whether we talk of the selfless mercy needed by our young men to follow Christ into the priesthood, whether  this is the selfless mercy that provokes us to give of our time, energy and resources to build up the Kingdom and to help those in need, or whether this is those actions that makes up the corporal and spiritual works of mercy being enacted daily in our lives.  Without this selfless mercy, our faith dries up, our parishes dry up and eventually die.

Heaven is not as easy as rolling out of bed.  It isn't gotten by merely being nice.  It isn't gotten through making sure we got full sash of sacramental merit badges.  Heaven is a result of making that choice here and now that we wish to be God's sons and daughters, not merely in name only, but by incorporating the mercy of God into our lives.  We can't say Jesus didn't warn us.  If we have fallen short, whether in worship, or obedience, or mercy..then I suggest we avail ourselves of that sacrament by which God breathes His mercy into us to heal us: the sacrament of Reconciliation.  Now is the time to attend to these things.  Let us not be caught off guard.  Let us strive to be true sons and daughters of our Father in worship, in obedience, and in mercy.