November 22, 2020 - Christ the King / Christ the Center Sunday - Last Testimony or New Beginning?

In her sermon last year on Christ the King Sunday, Deacon Laura gave the background for the church celebrating Christ the King Sunday This feast day is a relatively recent addition to the Western liturgical calendar. In 1925, in the aftermath of World War I and to combat the nationalism that gave rise to that war, Pope Pius XI wanted the Feast to impact the laity. He issued the following statement in his papal encyclical:

"If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to his dominion; if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire. He must reign in our minds, which should assent with perfect submission and firm belief to revealed truths and to the doctrines of Christ. He must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. He must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to him alone. He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God."

The readings are different in each lectionary cycle . Last year the Gospel story was about Jesus being crucified between the two thieves. There were theological and ethical questions I responded to. This year the Gospel is Matthew 25:31-46, the Parable of the Sheep and Goats with the First Reading from Ezekiel 34.starting with verse 11 "For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them." after verse 2 which reads "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?"

In the past I have read the Parable of the Sheep and Goats as providing an individual, ethical guideline that the faithful, like myself, should follow to be among the good sheep in the afterlife. This pandemic year keeps turning scripture upside down for me and others for whom that interpretation seems problematic this year. 

I will start with an observation. that neither the "righteous" nor the "accursed" know what they did in life. This undercuts the ethical dimension of the parable. Ethics involves choosing an ethical guideline to follow. When no one is aware of this guideline except God no one is making an ethical choice.

Next the judgment does not appear to be as simple as at first blush, at least from some perspectives. The first being whether the people who have heard this parable are different from those who have not. Those who have heard this parable and are acting differently may be making an ethical choice. Another consideration is whether one final judgement at a particular point in time is made. In everyone's life there are times when all of us have both helped and hurt the least of the members of God's family, both intentionally and unintentionally, through circumstance or by chance. What burns in my heart is that God and God's kingdom would not follow this earthly way of establishing justice.

What strikes me today is the sheep and goat metaphor. Good shepherds are shepherds of both the sheep and the goats. The parable emphasizes for me today that God continues to love and care for everyone without judgement of who we are or what we have done.