Homily for Feast of Christ the KIng

Reflection for the Feast Of Christ The King

Sunday November 20^th, 2016

By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFM

 Mission Sts. Sergius and Bacchus

Order Franciscans of Mercy

www.missionstsergius.org

www.orderfranciscansofmercy.org

 

 

Psalm 121 reads as follows;

“I look up to the mountains from where does my help come ? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.  ……… The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.  The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.   The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.  The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

The words of this Psalm acknowledge God as the beginning of all things, as the loving God who watches over us and cares for us and since Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was given dominion over all the earth by the Father we acknowledged Christ as the King.

Christ himself declared that He was the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and as such the human embodiment of the Father.   A king, more precisely a good king, is concerned about the safety and welfare of every one of his subjects and so it is with Jesus Christ who told us how a good shepherd, which is exactly what a king is supposed to be to his people, would go seeking a lost sheep.

 

The Second Reading for the feast of Christ the King is from Paul’s letter to the Colossians 1:11-20 also gives an affirmation of God’s love and caring for every person on the face of the earth and the earth itself.

“The Father who has made it possible for you to join the saints and with them to inherit the light.
Because that is what he has done: he has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and in him, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.
He is the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible,
Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers – all things were created through him and for him. Before anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity. Now the Church is his body, he is its head.  As he is the Beginning, he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should be first in every way; because God wanted all perfection to be found in him and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross.

The kingdom that Christ reigns over is not of this world, but is the everlasting kingdom to which we are called after living in this material world. The kingdom is a spiritual kingdom where peace and harmony and elation of being with the angels and saints and most especially the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, abounds.

As King, Christ has the ultimate say on who will and will not be welcomed into this kingdom.  The Gospel

from Luke 23:35-43, “Above him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews’.
One of the criminals hanging there abused him. ‘Are you not the Christ?’ he said. ‘Save yourself and us as well.’ But the other spoke up and rebuked him. ‘Have you no fear of God at all?’ he said. ‘You and I received  the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for the crimes we committed. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus,’ he said ‘remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ ‘Indeed, I promise you,’ he replied ‘today you will be with me in paradise.”,  strengthens the concept that Christ is the power through which we gain eternal life in the paradise that is the Kingdom of Heaven.  

In First Chronicles 29:11 we read this statement “Lord, you are great and powerful. Glory, majesty and beauty belong to you. Everything in heaven and on earth belongs to you. Lord, the kingdom belongs to you. You are honored as the One who rules over all.” and in Matthew 5:19 we read these words of advice as to how we can gain entrance to the Kingdom for which Christ is king; Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
The Commandments we have been called to live by are simple according the Christ; as found in Matthew 22: 38-39 “Love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, mind, soul and body and the second is like unto it, Love your neighbor as you love yourself”,  and in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount where he gave us the Beatitudes telling us the way to treat our fellow humans.

As we are about to enter into the time of preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ, the season ofAdvent, it is a excellent time for us to make an evaluation of how well we are doing in our daily lives preparing for our admittance into the Kingdom of Christ, heaven, when our time here on God’s earthly plain is over.

Are we mindful of the needs of others, are we caring and accepting of all of God’s children not just those we consider acceptable because they conform to our way of thinking? Do we discriminate against others because of Race, creed, marital condition, sexual orientation or political party?

Christ gave us the example, He did not reject anyone who came to Him and neither should we.  In this time where people are thinking of giving gifts to their family and friends let us acknowledge the gifts God, our father, has given us and use them to the benefit of all especially those who have not been so blessed.

By doing this we can not only show our love and respect for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords but build up our treasures in the Kingdom to come.     

It is most fitting that this Thursday we will celebrate Thanksgiving Day here in the USA, a time to reflect back on all the gifts that God has provided to us during the past year.

At this time of the year I always reflect back on the Gospel of Matthew 25 verses 24 through 45 which is the story of how, when the final judgment day happens, God (the King in the story) will separate everyone into two groups, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The group on the right was welcomed into the kingdom while the group on the left was condemned into the everlasting pain of hell. When the group on the right wondered why they had been welcomed in to heavenly kingdom the King (God) answered; “I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me”. The group on the right asked God; “Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink?  When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?”   God replied; “I tell you, whatever you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”  

As I meditate on this passage I wonder just how many who call themselves Christians, meaning they are followers of Christ’s teachings, ever read this passage, or the Sermon On The Mount which includes THE BEATITUDES, since so many so called Christians do not put into practice what both these bible passages teach when it comes to their day to day lives.

The food pantry that I often help out, at as well as most others in the country, has had a huge increase in the number of people needing assistance, especially at this time of year, while at the same time the donations have decreased. 

All the while we hear of people receiving enormous salaries, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands a month and are constantly seeking even more.

We have heard candidates during the past election for the position of President of the United States advocating the elimination of funds for programs that help the poor, unemployed, homeless and elderly on low fixed incomes have a minimal quality of life through the food stamps program, Medicare and even suggested cutting back on Social Security which is money that people paid into as a kind of Savings account for their retirement, it was never tax money, but money every working person pays into every pay day for the future.

When you read the paper or watch TV you are bombarded with advertisements for items that cost more than what many seniors and working poor people receive yearly to live on.

How any person who claims to be a believer and follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ can advocate anything that would diminish help to the poor, aged, sick, unemployed and homeless is beyond me. The only thing I can imagine is that they have NEVER read or heard the passages I have mentioned above and if they have they feel that what they teach us about how God wants us to live does not apply to them or possibly they are not servants of God but servants and minions of the Prince of Darkness himself.

I suggest that as we count down the 3 days to Thanksgiving, and the upcoming holidays of Christmas, Kwanza, and Chanukah, we try to seek out ways that we can put the teachings found in Matthew 25; verses 34-45 into practice.  Look for a food bank in your neighborhood or town where you can contribute food for those who are in need or even volunteer time there to sort donations that come in and help in the distribution of food during the pre-holiday days.?

AMEN