Christ the King 2023
Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28; Matthew 25: 31-46
No matter how hard I try, I cannot see today’s feast as anything other than a sore thumb. Its origins were political, as it was introduced by Pope Pius XI in the inter-war years, as a counterblast to the rival ideologies of communism and fascism: the Pope was anxious to emphasise that Christ alone, and not any political system, can command our complete loyalty.
Some of you will remember when it was very much a triumphalist feast. It was celebrated on the last Sunday in October and often entailed a Blessed Sacrament procession, replete with smells and bells. The reforms of Pope St. Paul VI transferred it to the last Sunday of the Church’s year, and removed the triumphalist element by placing at the centre either the suffering Christ of the Passion (Years B and C) or, as today, the Christ to be encountered in suffering humankind.
It can also be suggested that Christ the King was a feast of its time. Today, kings are few and far between, and those who remain tend to be figureheads, rather than wielders of power. Even in our own country, monarchy appears to have lost some of its lustre since the death of Elizabeth II, who had been, for more than seventy years, an integral part of national life.
So whilst today’s readings are pertinent to the time of year, their focus might be still clearer if the title Christ the King were to be omitted, and we were to see this simply as the 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
What are these readings? The passage from the prophet Ezekiel and the Psalm depict God as the shepherd of His flock, caring for them, including the weak and the strays, feeding them with good things. Nevertheless, Ezekiel gives warning of a judgement to come.
This concept of judgement lurks behind the extract from St. Paul, who points us towards the end of time. The resurrection of Jesus the Christ foreshadows and brings about the resurrection of all the dead, but, as Paul points out elsewhere, it will be a resurrection to judgement. Paul speaks of the enemies of Christ being put beneath His feet, and indeed being destroyed.
What will be the basis of that judgement? In the passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel, we are re-introduced to the concept of God as shepherd; yet, at the end of time, this same shepherd will appear as God the King and Supreme Judge. Furthermore, it will be in the person of Christ that God will perform these roles. The basis of judgement will be our love and service, or lack of it, of Christ Himself present in those who suffer.
Some commentators claim that, in speaking of “these brothers and sisters of mine” (adelphoi) Jesus is limiting His self-identification to Christians, as though He is not to be found in those who are not His followers. Personally, I do not find this convincing nor, I believe, does the Church. When He is speaking of those who failed to serve Him, Our Lord refers to “one of the least of these”, omitting the word “adelphoi”.
Furthermore, despite His insistence that He was “sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel” Jesus was far from limiting His compassion only to His own followers. Likewise, when He answered the question “Who is my neighbour?” His parable of the Good Samaritan emphasised that the neighbour whom we are commanded to love “as ourselves” is not necessarily the person of our own faith or race.
All people are created in the image and likeness of God: does not this imply that God, in the person of Christ, identifies Himself with every person? My suspicion is that those who wish to see Christ as being served or ignored only in Christians are motivated by an excessive concern to emphasise justification by faith alone and to exclude good works.
Where then will we encounter Christ? Not, in this life, in the role of a king: that will occur only at our judgement. Where then? Do not His own words point to everywhere: everywhere indeed that we come across human beings who in one way or another reproduce the sufferings of Christ? Every face is the face of Christ, and we must treat every person as Christ if we are to be counted among the sheep who are called to eternal life.
