November 22, 2020; Homily for the 34th Sunday Time, (Year A)

Readings: Ez. 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Cor. 15:20-26,28; Matthew 25:31-46

A Kingdom of Truth and Life, of Justice, Love and Peace!

1.     Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. I want to reflect with you this morning on the theme ‘A Kingdom of Truth and Life, of Justice, Love and Peace.’ This is the kingdom that our universal king came to establish on earth. Unfortunately, the virtues espoused by Christ in his kingdom are very much lacking in our world of alternate realities today. In this world people are afraid to stand up for the truth for fear of reprisal. In the face of bogus claims of voters fraud without facts, where thousands are dying of corona virus amidst denial among some people that the virus is indeed virulent and dangerous, where people are fired, here and there, for standing up for the truth and where others have become enablers in spite of the facts on ground, where justice is denied the vast majority of people due to race, religion and sexual orientation, where we have become more divisive and divided, and love and peace have become realities too difficult to attend,  we must look elsewhere for truth and life, justice and peace. This can only be found in Christ who came to save the last, the least and the lost. Christ made an option for the poor from his first sermon on the mount till his last sermon about the end of the world. He made it clear that we will be judged on how we treat the poor, the sick, the strangers, the imprisoned, the hungry and thirsty and the naked. When we help them, we help Christ!

2.     In the first reading, Ezekiel reports that God is displeased with the shepherds who mislead his people. God, therefore, promised to pasture his people himself. The people of God are entrusted to religious and temporal leaders to be ruled after the heart of God in righteousness, truth, justice, love and peace. Once leaders abdicate their responsibilities and become selfish and egotistical, God is displeased with such leaders and promised, “I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy, shepherding them rightly.” This prophesy is clearly fulfilled in Jesus whose major concern was to lead the people aright. The second reading states that Christ will rule until evil is destroyed, “Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

3.     Jesus is the judge over the nations in the Gospel. His judgement is based on love and how we treat the less privileged in our midst. It reminds us that we have a choice to make: to choose heaven or hell. It presents us with two kingdoms: the kingdom of God, where there will be happiness and joy beyond our wildest imagination and the kingdom of Satan, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Moreover, there will be sadness, regrets, endless remorse and long suffering. Our choice will not be based on what we say but on how we live. The choice is ours and we must choose wisely.

4.     Listen to how St. Martin of Tours chose Christ in the poor. Martin was a Roman soldier and a Christian. One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked for alms. Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering with cold, and Martin gave what he had. He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the beggar man. That night he had a dream. In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus in the midst of them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels said to him, “Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?” And Jesus answered softly, “My servant Martin gave it to me.”

5.     If the many who are poor are not assisted, the few who are rich could not be saved. If the few who are rich cannot help the many who are poor, the many who are poor won’t save the few who are rich. “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did to one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” Christ is more easily found among the poor than among the rich who are attached to their wealth, who closed their hearts to the plight of the poor. So, the reading of today calls on us to open our hearts to the poor Christ who is hungry, to the Christ who is thirsty and homeless, who freezes at street corners while begging for alms. This Christ is not attractive, neither does he dress elegantly. He certainly will not emit the best of scents. But it will be on account of assisting the many shades of Christ that we will be admitted into the kingdom of the Christ who sits on the throne.

6.     Let us take the words of Tobit to heart: “Give to the hungry some of your bread, and to the naked some of your clothing. Whatever you have left over, give away as alms; and do not begrudge the alms you give.” (Tobit 4:16). May we remember that “Whoever shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will call and not be answered.” (Prov. 21:13). May God answer us on the day we call him. Amen.

Rev. Augustine Etemma Inwang, MSP