23rd November, 2008 Christ the King
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Due to the recent storm that has had a devastating impact on several communities in
We ask God to hear our prayers, and comfort those who have been affected by those storms.
Sincerely in Christ
Archbishop John Bathersby. Archbishop of
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Do you want to know what the face of God looks like????…..
(artists, painters, sculptors, movie makers, writers…. throughout the generations have tried to capture what Jesus face is like…… what his physical form might have looked like….. There have been some very inspiring movies which tried to portray Jesus…. and what he might have looked like… and acted like….. // some have been great….// most fall a bit flat.,.. // because they often make Jesus look like an actor with a bad hair day…. or a really awful wig… that just doesn’t look real…..// most fail to capture that Jesus would have had Palestinian looks and complexion…. and not light brown hair and blue eyes…… )…
but in any case…. this weekend’s gospel takes another angle on this question…… Do you want to know what Jesus’ face really looks like??…….
Well, this weekend’s gospel gives us the answer…. but it is a surprising and unexpected answer……. …… Jesus instructs us that……every time you look into the face of one who is hungry, the face of a person who thirsts…. The face of a stranger….. the face of someone in need, or someone who is ill….. or a prisoner…. any time you look at anyone, even those who might be regarded as ‘the least’ (by some)………There… you are looking and seeing the face of the Lord... //And how we respond to these people is how we are taken to be responding to the Lord himself.
Jesus tells us this parable because he wants us to take this message quite literally…. and act upon it……
In the parable…. everyone gets a surprise about this news….. the ‘sheep’ and the ‘goats’ alike….. neither realised that when they fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick, visited the prisoner…. welcomed the stranger… that they were helping Christ himself….. the wicked certainly didn’t know this….. but in this parable… even the righteous…. (they helped these people)…but even THEY didn’t realise that by acting in this way, they were serving Christ himself, in these needy people…..
As we come to the end of the church’s calendar year, and prepare to enter into the season of Advent, from next weekend, these readings this week speak of “judgement”….. but interestingly…. “Scriptural ‘judgment’ seems to be really about …two types of judgments – about WHO we are and how we have ACTED…how we have LIVED….
in this modern day and age, we can be tempted to separate our sense of self from our actions…. but Jesus reminds us…. our actions cannot be separated from who we are…. they are often the better sign of who we are and what our values really are….. because in the end, where our actions are… there our heart is too…
The Gospel from Saint Matthew reminds us that we will be judged on how well we loved. It is the way that we love one another that reveals whether we love God or not. It is this love for one another that will confirm whether we are truly close to God or far from God…
In that sense… God’s judgement is no more than confirming the truth of our who we are and who we have become….. rather than creating a new reality or changing our status or standing with God….
This Gospel passage is reportedly the passage of Scripture that really captured Blessed Mother Teresa of
we have the most wonderful role model in Jesus…. God made flesh…….. He is a King…..yes….. and the greatest leader ever…. true….. but (at the same time)…..such a wonderful, compassionate, loving, and totally involved person too…… / the first reading gives a superb image of the good shepherd…… This image of God as the shepherd is truly beautiful……. God, the good shepherd, is very much involved in the lives of his sheep…… God is “IN there” and “at work”,,,, right in the middle of his sheep…… God is keeping everyone in his sights…… rescuingthem, allowing them rest…. feeding them…… searching for strays…… bandaging the injured……. strengthening the weak…….. watching over the fat andf the healthy……. NOW THAT is a TRUE shepherd…….. // and finally….. one who is able to tell the difference between the sheep and the goats….
(Sources: Paul Kelly;/ also “2008 – a Book of Grace-filled Days,” by Lavonne Neff; “Monastery of Christ in the Desert,” Abbott’s Homily, http://christdesert.org ; “Vision – Praying Scripture in a Contemporary Way. Year A” )
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