Today we come to the end of the calendar
year, with the Feast of Christ the King, and Year A ends with Matthew’s
stirring Parable of the Sheep and Goats.
This parable has always convicted me.
It is one of my favorite passages in the entire New Testament,
Jesus
said to his disciples:
"When
the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and
all the angels with him,
he
will sit upon his glorious throne,
and
all the nations will be assembled before him.
And
he will separate them one from another,
as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He
will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then
the king will say to those on his right,
'Come,
you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world.
For I
was hungry and you gave me food,
I was
thirsty and you gave me drink,
a
stranger and you welcomed me,
naked
and you clothed me,
ill
and you cared for me,
in
prison and you visited me.'
Then
the righteous will answer him and say,
'Lord,
when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or
thirsty and give you drink?
When
did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or
naked and clothe you?
When
did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'
And
the king will say to them in reply,
'Amen,
I say to you, whatever you did
for
one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Then
he will say to those on his left,
'Depart
from me, you accursed,
into
the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I
was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was
thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a
stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked
and you gave me no clothing,
ill
and in prison, and you did not care for me.'
Then
they will answer and say,
'Lord,
when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a
stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and
not minister to your needs?'
He
will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you,
what
you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did
not do for me.'
And
these will go off to eternal punishment,
but
the righteous to eternal life."
~Mt
25:31-46
Why is this parable so convicting? Do we identify with the sheep or with the goats? If we identify with the sheep, there is no need for conviction because we superciliously stand lacking perfection. If we identify with the goats, we have lost all sense of needing Christ. I think the parable is so convicting because we are in tension between the two, fearful of our lack of perfection but with a heart striving to want to be perfected in Christ.
This Sunday’s Gospel is fully explained by
Fr. Geoffrey Plant.
Several years ago I went through Pope Pius XI’s Encyclical, Quas primas explaining the institution of the Solemnity of Christ the King. It’s worth a relook.
Meditation: "'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.'”
As a bonus, I offer this Hymn to Christ the
King by Sarah Hart.
