The Crucifix Relates to the Feast that we Celebrate Today, the Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (TA)

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The Crucifix Relates to the Feast that we Celebrate Today, . . .

The Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.

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 from one at 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.

. . . the Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

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.

And 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.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Homily

One of our most important symbols is the crucifix. Something that I hope we are all very familiar with. And yet, what many do not realize is that the crucifix itself has an interesting and important history. Because crucifixion as a form of capital punishment was not something anybody was proud of. And it took the Christian faithful quite some time before there was a comfort zone with wearing the cross or depicting the cross, let alone with Christ on it. And the experience that led the church to develop its symbolism of the crucifix relates to the feast that we celebrate today, the Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

Because the faithful, laboring under persecution, and then living in areas where there was no persecution, were conscious of also of living under the authority of emperors and kings.

The Cross in the Early Days

An authority that was often arbitrary, and that claimed to be total, and in some cases claimed even to be divine. And the faithful living under this, where the ruler claimed allegiance and worship from the part of his people, knew that they could not submit to that. Furthermore, they understood, however, that however powerful Caesar may be, however mighty, however wealthy, however glorious the court of whatever other monarch there is, there is one who is greater, and he is that one who on his cross is proclaimed king.

And so, the Christians took the cross, and they placed a figure of Jesus on the cross, but it didn’t show Jesus suffering. The familiar form of the crucifix is that most of us have in our home. That’s not the original form. The original form did not show Jesus as a victim. It did not show Jesus in pain. Rather, it showed Jesus awake, alert, and commanding.

It showed him with a gold crown and the robes of the emperor on him. And it was set up in Christian churches as a reminder, we have a king who is greater than Caesar. There is one whose rule and whose authority is greater than that of any earthly monarch. And it is not the might of Rome. It is not the wealth of Persia that rules the world.

The True King, Reigning from His Cross

It is the mercy of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus. And the true king sits not on a golden throne, but stretches out his arms on the cross to save the world. The true king does not enrich himself off his people, but rather makes himself poor, so that his subjects might become rich. And he is that one who says, when I am lifted up on my cross, I will draw all things to myself.

What a powerful image that is. The true king, reigning from his cross. Ordering the world according to his mercy. What a remarkably powerful image that is. And it is this image that underlies the feast that we celebrate today. A feast which is on the one hand, something of a novelty in the history of the church.

The Feast Is Relatively New

It only goes back about 120 years. And in Catholic terms, that’s not long at all. And the Holy Father promulgated this feast because, like the early Christians and their struggle against the power of the Roman Emperor, their struggle against the claims of earthly rulers in their day, saw that the same attitude was creeping in around the world in a very dramatic way with the rise of militant forms of nationalism.

Which again wanted to reduce man and families to only having value in terms of what they could do for the state. Of insisting that the state and the nation is the most important thing in your life. And therefore, all other states and nations are likewise enemies. And faced with this, with these totalizing claims, the Holy Father understood it is important for us to pause and announce to the world that there is a king, there is a ruler with authority over all nations, not merely one.

The Christian Heart

And the Christian heart must be loyal to that king. Our readings then today speak of kingship and note they speak of total authority on the part of Jesus, who is the judge of all nations. Who is the Lord of all creation, but that his authority is the authority of a shepherd. A curious shepherd we hear in the first reading.

The Lord says, I will shepherd my people like a shepherd does when he finds his flock scattered. And it’s an odd image. The shepherd who arrives to a dispersed flock. And his shepherding has to be an act of gathering, not merely an act of organizing. And the Lord insists that this is the essence of his kingship, because I have come to seek and to find the lost.

His Flock is Scattered

I have come to gather them to myself. And those unable to move on their own because of illness, because of infirmity, because of some deep woundedness, I will heal and I will carry. This is not the image merely of a shepherd who organizes and leads his flock, but a shepherd who is first preoccupied with finding and gathering all of the members of his flock into one.

That’s the scene we have in our gospel reading then. The Lord coming at the end of all time, enthroned in glory, surrounded by his angels. And all the nations, all the peoples of the earth are gathered before him.

He looks at them and pronounces judgment. And it’s a curious judgment. To those on his right he says, come and enter the portals of eternal life and happiness. To those on his left he says, away with you, for you are lost. And note what defines the two groups. He looks at the first and the second, and he says, I was hungry.

The Lord Sits on His Throne and Pronounces Judgement

I was thirsty. I was naked. And I was a stranger. I was sick. I was in prison. And you either did something for me, or you ignored me. What an interesting criterion of judgment this is. And as he says this, both groups are equally puzzled. And that’s the curious thing about this parable. Both groups are equally confused.

The group that is received into heaven turns to the Lord and says, But we never saw you hungry. We never saw you thirsty. We never saw you naked or sick or imprisoned. Or a stranger. We didn’t do that. We never gave you food. And we never saw you. And the other group turns to him and says the same thing. When did we ever see you?

Naked? Or hungry? Or imprisoned? Why are you telling us we never did this for you when we never saw you? Note how both groups all say, we never saw you. This is not a parable about recognizing Jesus in our brothers and sisters. Note, nobody recognizes the Lord. Note what he says.

Seeing Others Like the Lord Sees Them

It’s not an issue of seeing me. It is an issue, of seeing others like I see them.

The one that I welcome looks out at the least, the small, the lowly, the needy, and like me, his or her heart is stirred to compassion. Note what the Lord says. You saw somebody who was hungry, and you fed them. You saw someone who is thirsty. And you gave that one to drink. You saw someone who was in need and you responded.

And in doing so you responded to me. Because you’re responding with the life that I’ve given you. And the goodness that I’ve given you. The Merciful King expects mercy on the part of his subjects toward one another. And he turns to the others and says, So what you’re telling me is if you knew it was me, you would have done something.

And he says, There is absolutely no credit to you for that attitude. If I knew it was you, I’d have moved. And the Lord says, You knew it was somebody, and you didn’t move. You knew it was someone and you didn’t move. And here as the Lord speaks, note, he’s not saying you were violent. He’s not saying you were cruel.

Do Not Be Indifferent

He’s saying you were indifferent. The Lord is saying you were lazy. He’s saying you absolved yourself of the need to extend compassion and mercy to another. And when you do that, You close yourself off to me. What a powerful statement that is. Because he says, it’s easy for us to make excuses. It’s easy for us to have our list of I will help these people, but not those people.

It’s easy for us to fall into that trap of saying so and so deserves my kindness, but not this other one. Note what the Lord is saying. You all equally need my kindness. You all are equally in need of my mercy. Then understand, to really receive my mercy requires being willing to share it. It’s a powerful statement.

And as the Lord tells this parable, He speaks to us both as individuals and as societies. Because he says in the parable, I am not simply judging men and women, I am judging nations.

The Lord Judges People and Nations

What a powerful statement that is. And so, he says, those nations, those groups, those organizations that are closed to compassion, that do nothing to alleviate the suffering of those who live there, likewise, will be cast aside. And those societies, those peoples, who know how to move with some basic element of compassion, how wonderful it is for them.

What a powerful teaching. And in speaking this way, the king who is the judge is saying, the rule is mercy, the expectation is mercy. In the end, the one who stretches out his arms on the cross will order all things according to his mercy. And the criterion for receiving that mercy is to be willing to share it.

The King is Truly the Very Best of all Shepherds

How wonderful we can reflect on that here. Because in just a few minutes, that same Lord of all nations will be here. Our eyes won’t see him surrounded by his angels. Our eyes won’t see him sitting on his glorious throne, but the glorious Lord, in fact, will be here. And even as we sing, holy, holy, holy, our voices will be united with the angels that praise him.

Furthermore, from this altar, this seat of mercy, he’s going to come forward. And why? ’cause each and every one of us is hungry. And he’s going to give us to eat today. Each and every one of us is thirsty. He’s going to give us to drink today. Each and every one of us in some way is naked, and he is going to clothe us with his goodness.

Each and every one of us is in some way ill, or imprisoned, or infirm. And he comes with compassion, and he comes with healing. Note how beautiful this is. The Lord doesn’t ask anything of his people that he doesn’t first do for them. I was hungry and you gave me to eat. And note, before he says that about us, he says you are hungry and I give you to eat today.

Because indeed, the King is truly the very best of all shepherds. Amen.