By Rev. Canon David B. Tabo-oy
“So Pilate asked him, “Are you a king, then?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king.
I was born and came into the world for this one purpose,
to speak about the truth.
Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me.” John 18:37
The countdown for Christmas started a month ago in most of the leading tri-media outfits. This adds to the excitement that ushers in the most celebrated season in the Philippines and to most Christian countries. However, the true essence of Christmas through the years has been watered down due to irrelevant gimmicks that has commercialized the celebration of the birth of the Messiah. I mentioned in this corner last week that we can recover the true meaning and spirit of Christmas if we first go through the season that preludes it seriously. Advent season provides such opportunity and that begins next Sunday. However, there is another important celebration that marks the end of the current season of Pentecost and signals the beginning of the Season of Advent – the Christ the King Sunday which is today, the last Sunday of November.
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Christ the King Sunday puts us in the right perspective in the coming celebration of Advent and Christmas. It is so because the reason of our preparation and celebration is put before us: Jesus the King of kings, the Messiah whose birth anniversary we celebrate at Christmas. The Messiah whose birth we celebrate is the King of kings that we await for his second coming to establish once and for all the kingdom of God.
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We have learned to embrace God as all-loving, all-caring, and all-forgiving. On this Christ the King Sunday we might imagine God as a the ultimate benevolent ruler—one who takes care of his subjects and provides a peaceful, safe, and satisfying environment. Wouldn’t we be pleased with a ruler who welcomes everyone, outcasts and all, who tended to the needs of those who are most vulnerable, and who healed the sick? Wouldn’t we love to have a king who takes care of all this for us? I would like to depart from the assigned gospel lesson this Sunday and go to the gospel of Matthew which provides us a glimpse of how Jesus Christ will treat us when he comes to reclaim his rightful throne as King of kings.
“When the Son of Man comes as King and all the angels with him, he will sit on his royal throne, v32and the people of all the nations will be gathered before him. Then he will divide them into two groups, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. v33He will put the righteous people at his right and the others at his left. v34Then the King will say to the people on his right, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world. v35I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes, v36naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.’ v37The righteous will then answer him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? v38When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you? v39When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ v40The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!’ Matthew 25:31-40
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The Christ as King that we experience in this Gospel reading is one who doesn’t do everything for us but gives the work back to the people. Further, what we see is a king who is willing to judge his subjects by how well they do the work he gives them to do. Jesus does this through a parable about a godly requirement that we engage in ministry to the oppressed and under-served of our time. Through it, we are reminded that his is a Gospel of love, justice, and mercy offered to us as a discipline for our lives. Jesus is clear that if we are to accept him as Lord and King of our lives, we have to make his way the purpose of our lives—that we will do the work of tending to the needs of others. In the most precise terms, he outlines what is expected from those who hope to share in his heavenly reign.
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Representatives from the six dioceses of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines gathered this week for a Mission Summit. For two full days participants synthesized their assessments on how the Vision, Mission and Goal fared for the past ten years (VMG 2018) and came out for a fresh vision, mission, and goal for the coming decade. I am greatly honoured to be part of the mission summit as a delegate and one of the four-person draft committee that crafted the final vision-mission statement of the ECP for the next ten years. It is very enlivening to see the constant inclusion of the social aspect of the gospel in the report of all the workshop groups. Such aspect is the message of the above parable which characterized the rule of Jesus as the King of kings.
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The choice between the two ways that Christ offers his followers is what will separate us from permanently living within or without the king’s presence. Those who would walk in his way, do the work he has given us to do, will choose to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, cloth the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison. The un-faithful, who do not connect with the values of this godly kingdom, will choose to ignore the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and those in prison.
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The rewards are great for connection with the king—for those who do so will, by embracing this kingly purpose, receive power and meaning in their lives. They will walk their days with a savior king who transforms them again and again into a people who take joy in helping others. They will delight in working to change oppressive systems and human structures that fail to serve the needy and work against relieving troubled lives and broken sprits.
On the other hand, the all-too human and natural choice of ignoring this power and failing to use what we have been given for the sake of others will deny us the joy and meaning that one can find in the godly kingdom. God’s call is for us to take the resources he has given us and use them for the good of the weak and powerless. God’s judgment is reserved for those of us who do not use it for such good, who fail to find their purpose in profoundness of giving in love without condition.
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It is not easy to accept a parable of judgment such as the one we consider today. It is necessary, though, for us to understand the truth of its meaning. Today, Jesus teaches us that when we stand before God, we will not be asked how well we worshiped in church, but how our worship transformed us into people who actively cared for those in need. The focus of Christ the King Sunday makes us mindful to stand before God by making a positive, unqualified, declaration of faith that Jesus Christ is the king—the supreme ruler of our lives—the one to whom we stand and sit and walk and act in obedience. Let our prayer this day be that we may have the courage and the commitment to become more and more a part of the reign of God described in today’s parable.
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.**
