CHRIST THE KING A
Our gospel reading this morning challenges us to reflect on the great commandment and the great commission. What does it mean to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind? What does it mean to love our neighbor as ourselves? What does it mean to go and make disciples of all the nations? How do we do this? Why do we do this?
We don’t obey these commands in order to earn favor with God. We don’t love God or our neighbor or share the gospel message so that we can stand before the throne of God on the Day of Judgment and say, See what I did!
We love God because God first loved us. We love our neighbor because it expresses our life as Christians and because people will know we are Christians by our love. In other words, we spread the good news – the gospel message – that God loves us by showing that love to others.
The love that we show is not some big miracle or something publicly impressive. It’s the little things, the little ministries that Jesus talks about in our gospel. Food and drink, clothing and hospitality, visiting hurting people; these are ministries that we offer and are recognized by others as our commitment to Christ.
Providing food and shelter and making visits are all basic and mundane and unflashy services. These ministries are within the reach every one of us; they’re all things that each of us can do.
And, all these ministries are given the highest honors by Jesus. Amen I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brethren of mine, you did for me.
Jesus also points out the type of person we should lavish this attention on – the least significant person. This could be the person we might think unworthy of getting help. It could be the person who always needs help. It might be the repeat offender, who gets caught again.
It might be the alcoholic who makes another promise. It might be the elderly person with Alzheimer’s, who tells the same story over and over. It might be the unborn child, who has not yet had a chance to breathe the air we breathe.
The kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of care: Care for everyone, but particularly for the least significant among us; the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the ill, and those trapped in the prisons of isolation. We are invited to care for the least among us because in doing so, we care for Jesus himself who identifies with these least ones.
The feast of Christ the King offers both consolation and challenge. We are consoled by the Lord’s care for us and at the same time we are challenged to care for one another – particularly the least significant among us.
When we do this, we make the presence of Jesus known through us and make disciples of the nations. When we do this, we encounter Jesus himself.