Feast of Christ the King

Feast of Christ the King – 26 November 2023

Monarch – King’s Rule has been done with in many countries! Our own India was once a compilation of many royal princely states! The Kings and Queens have become a thing of a bygone era and where they do exist even today, they are just honorary titles without any real power and authority! So, when in a world, the concept of ‘king’ and ‘kingdom’ bear no more relevance, how do we understand the Feast of Christ the King today?

It was because the then royals of the nations and states were abusing their power that Pope Pius XI introduced this feast in 1925. So, this is only a recent feast in the Church, and abuse of power in the hands of heads of nations is what led to its introduction. Christ as our King stands in direct contradiction to the worldly exercise of power and authority! Christ’s Kingdome is of Love and service.

We adorn our walls in our homes with a beautiful picture of Christ as King with the crown of gold, golden sceptre, and enrobed in royal vestments. This adornment of Christ as King is from the human experiences of kings and kingdoms of the world.

While the images of Christ as King could be an artistic representation modelling on how a king in the world looks like, Christ is not the King like a King in this world and His Kingdom is not territorial but Universal! This understanding is very important to meaningfully celebrate this Feast today!

That Christ will come in all His Glory with all the angels and sit on his glorious throne, as described in the opening lines of the Gospel is our faith. We have no hesitation in believing Christ our Lord as King and He is.  I deeply believe that Christ as my Lord and Saviour possesses supreme authority over my life. Christ is the final authority in the world. I have no hesitation to believe in this!  But to present Jesus as my Saviour merely in earthly terms of Kingship will always be inadequate – Not a full picture!

Glory, Honour, Splendour, and Majesty belong to a King! No doubt!

But Christ did not have them when he was born in a manger, walked here on this earth with nowhere to lay his head, was condemned to die an innocent death, and was crucified on the Cross! Though what we celebrate today refers to the Second Coming of Christ as the King with all His glory and majesty, Jesus was King too in his first coming – King with a difference – Not a King of Power wileding authority but a King of Love reaching out to those in need.

This very same King became a mortal subject and a slave as we read in the letter of St. Paul to the Philippines, “Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God something to be grasped at but he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness”.  It is in the humanness of Jesus we see how he was a King with a difference and Love mattered the most and not power and authority. It is how Jesus exercised his Divine power on the earth, among the people, that sets him as a King with a difference!

It is my faith that more than from Jesus the King who is to come in all His Glory, Majesty and Splendour, it is from Jesus the King who came in all his poverty, I learn what His Kingdom is like! Therefore, the meaningful celebration of the Feast of Christ the King lies not just in my imagination of how glorious Christ the King is but also in knowing who he was here on this earth walking among us – as a poor crucified Christ.

The first reading in fact uses the imagery of a shepherd for this Kingly Feast.  The shepherd does not certainly have a crown of gold but surely an ordinary towel to cover his head protecting it from the heat. Certainly not a golden sceptre but surely an ordinary wooden stick! Certainly not a golden vestment but an ordinary cheap garment! This is the King without any pomp! It is this King that Christ was on this earth even though he was never addressed as one! He himself looked after and tended the sheep, did not delegate to his servants for he had no servants, in fact, he was one himself.  He went after the scattered sheep risking those with him for, he wanted no one to be lost! He cared for the strayed, the injured and the sick. This is Jesus our Lord – the King of Love!

The Gospel once again does not glorify Christ as the pompous King! In the words of Jesus himself, Christ as King seated on the glorious throne, as described in the Gospel, identifies himself with the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned! See the contradiction – the King sitting on the throne does not display His Power and Authority, on the other hand, he identifies himself with the Least. This is the King with a difference!

The Feast of Christ as King calls us to be members of His Kingdom which is with a difference! In this Christ’s kingdom, power, authority, glory, and splendor do not matter at all but to be persons of love selflessly loving the other is what matters! This feast of Christ the King becomes relevant and meaningful only when Jesus’ Kingdom values become mine.

If I seek power, if I lord my authority over the other, if I pride in myself, If I am selfish, If I am self-sufficient, If I ignore the need of the other, If I am after name and fame, then, celebrating this feast is a meaningless exercise! I am denying the authority of Jesus over me – Christ is not my King!

If Jesus is our Spiritual King, wherever we are is His Kingdom and Wherever we are and whatever we do, we are to reflect the values of His Kingdom – Our family is therefore supposed to be Jesus’ Kingdom and each one of us is supposed to ensure that His Kingdom is safe and protected! The enemies we need to battle against to protect this Kingdom – our own un-gospel tendencies! It is Jesus our Lord who has brought us together to live in one family and so He alone can be the King of our families! We have not chosen one another but Christ did!

Jesus as the King of our families should actually say to us now– For I needed understanding, you were not rude to me! For I needed mercy, you were not irritated with me! For I needed acceptance, you did not ignore me! For I needed love, you were not indifferent! For I needed help, you did not refuse! For I needed support, you did not let me down! In reply let us not ask – Lord when did you need understanding, mercy, acceptance, love, help and support? For we know well – whatever we do for one of the family members, your spouse, child, relative, friend, near and dear one that God has given us, we do it for Christ!

Jesus as King and His Kingdom are not just heavenly realities disconnected from our earthly life. Right here, Right now, we are to experience Christ as our King and build His Kingdom – living out the values of the Gospel that Jesus our Lord preached! It is not merely an image/painting that depicts Christ as King but how we live our life as Christians and love our own family members and with one another that depicts that Christ is really the King of our lives!

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Make the Most of Life – Life is the Talent

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Book of Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31. I Thessalonians 5:1-6.  Matthew 25:14-30

Life is the greatest gift that God has given to all of us.  Nothing can surpass the value of this precious gift called life.  The life belongs to God. So, this life is part of God’s. God has entrusted part of what is His to us and that is what we call as Life.  

We read in Psalm 139: 13: “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;”

John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

John 10:10 – I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

So, the questions at hand are these: What are we doing with this life, and how are we truly embracing and experiencing the essence of life? How are we actively “living” this invaluable gift of life?

The Gospel speaks of the Master entrusting his possessions to the servants. Master stands for God. The ‘talent’ in the Gospel in the numbers five, two, and one refers to ‘this very life’ that God has given us, that is how I wish to see the Gospel passage and reflect with you today.

The master’s appreciation for the servants with the Five talents who made five more, and with the two talents who made two more, “well done, my good and faithful servant,” implies that life has to be lived well. Master also says, “Come share your master’s joy.” Finding this Joy and Sharing the Master’s Joy is the very purpose of this life. Living well is Finding that Joy!

How do we live our lives well? How do we live our lives in such a manner that we share the Master’s joy? Does this -living well- mean a good life with a room full of friends, partying, traveling the world around without any worry, and days packed with so many activities?

Living life well or living life with joy is a process we go through every day and a direction that helps us make the right choices. Living a good life means living it with accountability, responsibility, and answerability. It is not living it in any way we like! It is making our lives useful for God, useful for someone, and useful for ourselves. The servants except for one proved themselves useful to their Master!

We need to consider our individual situations to live our lives well. Let us not see the numbers of five, two, and one as representations of better or worse life situations. The difference in number signifies our own unique personal situations, distinctive family contexts, and individual lives. Let’s acknowledge and embrace the idea that each person’s life is simply different from one another. None of our life situations are identical. Each one of us holds unique perspectives on life, approaches to life’s challenges, and distinct ways of steering this life forward. Each of our lives is different!

Regardless of how different one’s life situation is, we are all accountable to the one who has bestowed life upon us. Irrespective of what our life situation is, we are all responsible to the Life Giver-God and answerable to the one who has entrusted part of His with us.

The servants did not argue with the Master, why five to him, why two to me, why one to me? Neither did they argue with one another looking down on one another. They accepted the situation without any comparison and judgment of who was better or worse, but they set out focussing on what is essential to make the most of what they received. The radical self-acceptance of who we are with all our strengths and weaknesses is important beginning to start to live life well.

The servants with five and two talents show us what accountability, answerability, and responsibility to the Master are. On the contrary, the servant with one talent shows the opposite – a clear lack of accountability and responsibility towards the Master’s trust. Once again, to highlight the number of talents, what matters here is not how much one has but what one does with what one has – in other words, what we do with this life is what is very important.

The servants worked on what they had and doubled their talents – this involves knowing well what the master of the talents wants from them, setting a goal to achieve, working hard to achieve that goal, and finding joy in doing the right thing.  These servants made most of what they had. The master, in turn, entrusted with them, more!

Do we know what God wants from us – from this very life -the meaning and purpose of this very life? Do we have a goal to achieve that we know well that would please God? How hard do we work to achieve that Goal despite the difficulties and discouragements that come our way? Do we make the most of our life?

With almost 8 billion people on this planet, there are probably just as many opinions about what the good life entails.

Following the faithful servants of the Gospel, let us make the most of our lives; let us make our lives useful. I, for one, believe making the most of life is not possible by living life for oneself alone but making the most of life involves living life for others. The servants did it for God! Can we live our lives for God?

Living life for God means that we carry out God’s will in our lives, we follow the Christian Values in our lives, and we reach out to others. Doing God’s will becomes a possibility when we consciously shape our relationship with God through a sincere life of prayer, not as an obligation but as an activity of the heart.

To put it simply, anything that we do in life that brings a sense of joy to ourselves and others, I believe that to be doing God’s will. It is saying a good word of appreciation and encouragement to your spouse, children, and a colleague. It is a practice of patience, generosity, kindness, forgiveness, availability for the other, and so on. It is fostering an atmosphere of love, joy, and positivity in the family and workplace. It is living life with no regrets. This, in a few words, is what I think God’s will for our life is. This for me is living life well. In this way we double our life like the servants doubled their talents, meaning, we gain so much good from our life and we give so much good to the others who are part of our life.  

Instead, what do we do with this life sometimes? We go about living this life without any room for God, for the Christian practice of love and ignoring others as if I alone exist. Even when we know well that we hurt ourselves and others, we are bent upon doing that very thing.

We somehow get used to living alone, while being very well a part of the family, not doing anything to bring joy to the family but the contrary – anger, indifference, hurt, sadness, and negativity. This is what the servant with one talent did. He buried the talent. He brought disappointment to the Master failing to do what he was meant to do. So, we live our life in a way as if it has already been buried in the ground, with no life to live, to share, and to flourish. This is not what God wants from us. Why should we make our lives and of others painful/miserable/difficult, where there is so much joy to be found in life?

Live life Well, Live it with Meaning, Live it with Joy, Live it Well. God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give God and ourselves the gift of living well.