It's Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of Liturgical Year! After all, it is time to harvest the first fruits of our hard work of love, as commanded by the King. So, we look forward to meeting the King and offering the first fruits to him at his arrival.
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As the end of this Liturgical Year (A) draws nearer,
we are reminded of our blind spot – sins of omission. What matters is not only sins of commission
but also sins of omission or negligence. It is not enough not to commit sin but
make sure we have no negligence and omission in observing the
commandments. For this reason, vigilance
is an important theme, as reflected in the Parable of the Ten Virgins
We tend to think of sin as acting upon vices rather
than virtues. And, it is referred as sin of commission. But, these three Gospel
narratives remind us that sin is not just sin of commission but there is also
sin of omission. Sin of omission is not to do a right thing when it is
necessary or when it is possible. In fact, laziness (sloth) is one of the seven
deadly sins (septem peccata mortalia).
In the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13),
the 5 foolish virgins lacked diligence compared to the other 5 wise virgins due
to their lack of vigilance. Because of this sin of omission (lack of diligence
due to a lack of vigilance), they forfeited their privilege to dine with the
bridegroom. And this parable teaches us that we could end up abnegating our
privilege to the Kingdom of God due to our sin of omission – lack of diligence
and vigilance.
The kind of sin of omission addressed in the Parable
of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) is found in the servant, who buried a talent
entrusted by his master. If your understanding of sin is only sins of
commission, this servant may seem “innocent” because it is not that he lost the
talent. And you might wonder why the master was so harsh to him even though he
kept the talent securely. The problem with this servant, however, is his sloth
in his stewardship to the talent. While other two servants, who received more
talents in trust from the master, immediately started working on increasing the
talents by diligently trading, this servant did nothing – except for digging
and burying. While other two servants were fruitful because of their diligence,
this servant was not at all. And this parable warns us that we will be judged
according to how our diligent work results in the fruitfulness. No work, no fruit. And no Kingdom.
Now, the Gospel Reading for the last Sunday of this Liturgical
Year, which is A, is so-called the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew
25:31-46). This is the conclusion of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25).
In this parable, Jesus makes it clear that those who would be rejected the
entry into the Kingdom and sent to the eternal condemnation are those whose sin
of omission is their negligence or failure to observe Leviticus 19:18 in the
way that the Good Samaritan observed (Luke 10:25-37). And this type of sin of
omission is attributed to a lack of attention, as well as, a lack of vigilance.
Those who are judged to inherit and enter the Kingdom with him, symbolized as
the sheep, are the ones vigilant enough to recognize the cries of their
neighbors in greater need and responded with their works of mercy, observing
Leviticus 19:18. So, Jesus says:
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, in prison and you visited me. Matthew 25:34-36
In reaction to this, those who are self-righteous,
namely, those whose pride has made them blind to the presence and deaf to the
cries of their neighbor in need, 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? Matthew 25:37-39
To this, Christ the Judge replies, upon sentencing
them to the eternal condemnation (by denying their entry into the
Kingdom)(Matthew 25:41):
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. Matthew 25:42-43
The self-righteous, who are sentenced to the
condemnation, now protest Christ the Judge, saying:
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? Matthew 25:44
This shows how blind and deaf the self-righteous
have been, whose sin of omission to care for their neighbors in need now
results not only in losing their privilege to the Kingdom but also in eternal
condemnation. And, these are symbolically addressed as the goats, in contrast
to the sheep that symbolically represent those who are vigilant enough to
notice their neighbors in need and responded with diligent works of care out of
love.
Now, here are a few more important lessons in this
Parable of the Sheep and the Goat.
It is important to note Christ among those who are
in need – in our neighbors in greater need – in our neighbors often neglected
and ignored and marginalized. In Matthew 25:40 and 45, Jesus makes it clear
that dong the works of mercy to our neighbors in need as the Good Samaritan did
to a stranger is doing so to him. This is backed by Matthew 25:35-36 and 42-43
in contrast, echoing Matthew 25:40 and 45 in contrast.
Remember an important lesson from the Gospel Reading
for the 30th Sunday (Matthew 22:34-40)? Remember how Jesus showed his interpretation
of the most important commandment in response to a Pharisaic legal scholar’s
challenge?
Jesus said:
You
shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your mind (Deuteronomy 6:5). This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like
it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18b). The whole law and the prophets depend on
these two commandments. Matthew
22:37-40
Note that Jesus connects the most important
commandment of all to steadfastly love God above all (Deuteronomy 6:5) to love
our neighbors as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18) in juxtaposition, as on the other
side of the same coin to each other. And remember his Mandatum Novum, which is to love one another as he has loved us
(John 13:34)? And observing his new commandment to love one another is what
makes us true Christian, follower of Christ (John 13:35).
So now, put Matthew 25:40, 45 and 35-36, 42-4, into
the context of Matthew 22:37-40.
Then, you can see how important what Jesus said
about putting Deuteronomy 6:5 (loving God) and Leviticus 19:18 (loving
neighbors) together in Matthew 22:37-40 for us to inherit and enter into the
Kingdom by observing his new commandment of love (John 13:34), as the Good
Samaritan did (Luke 10:25-37) because we are not blind and deaf to our
neighbors in need, in marginalization as we are vigilant. And we work out of love diligently.
One more thing: Note how Christ in the Parousia is described in this parable.
In Matthew 25:31, he is described as the Son of Man
in his glory. Of course, the Son of Man is how Jesus called himself (i.e.
Matthew 8:20; 9:6; 12:40; 17:12, 22; 19:28; 20:28). Then, in Matthew 25:34, he
is described as the King, who judges to sort the sheep and the goats, granting the
sheep the entry to his Kingdom but not allowing the goats to enter but to send
them to the eternal condemnation.
The coming of Christ the King, the Son of Man in
glory, is envisioned in Revelations 19, and Christ the Judge is in Revelation
20, and how we will be judged by him is in vv.11-15.
From Matthew 25:34, this Sunday is also known as
Christ the King Sunday to mark the last Sunday of Liturgical Year. It was Pope
Pius XI in 1925 to mark the 34th Sunday of Liturgical Year to
dedicate as Christ the King Sunday. He
explains his reason for this in his Quas
Primas that it is to stop our drift from God, since modernism and
relativism were distracting our attention from Christ among us, especially
Christ in the least among us – those who are in need but often neglected,
because of our pride and because we are too busy for them in our pursuit of post-industrial revolution happiness or
communism utopian pursuit. Pope Pius XI hoped that the Solemnity of Christ the
King of the Universe will awake our slumbering attention to Christ so that we
can return to vigilance and diligence in preparing to meet Christ the King, who
is coming back after his Ascension.
Finally, the Second Reading also reminds us that the
Christ the King, who is coming to judge, is the first fruits from the dead (1
Corinthians 15:20, 23) to raise us from the dead and judge.
The concept of the first fruits is very important.
In Revelation 14:4, those who are bound to the
Kingdom are also described as the first fruits. And, they are the first fruits
among us in death. And they are the great multitudes, the saints, whose robes
were made white for purity, standing
before the throne of Christ the King (Revelation 7:9) and praising the
King in his return (Revelation 19:6-8).
Also remember, the Israelites are commanded to bring
forth the first fruits of their works – harvest – as offerings to God,
especially in celebrating the Jewish
Pentecost - Shavuot (Exodus 34:22,
26) . For us, Christians, the King will present to his Father us as the first
fruits, the redeemed, when he returns and judge, as long as we can bring the first
fruits of our diligent work of love, as commanded in Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus
19:18; John 13:34, exemplified by the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), as
indicated in 1 Corinthians 15:20, 23.
In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), we
are reminded how important it is to work diligently, while the Parable of the
Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) emphasized the importance of vigilance. And the
Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46) makes it clear that the
most important work that we are called to do diligently with vigilance – so that
we will not inadvertently commit sin of omission is motivated by love (cf. 1
Corinthians 13:1-3). And our motive of love leads to our diligent work of mercy
to our neighbors in need. But, it is not just to show our love of neighbors in
need but ultimately our love of God in Christ among us. Remember, when he first
came to us through incarnating the Logos-Theos
to dwell among us (John 1:1, 14), he started his presence in poverty, being
born in an animal stable as his mother being rejected to have a warm and
comfortable place to give birth. Because
the King was born in such poverty, the world did not notice his first coming in
the hour of his nativity – except for the shepherds, who were poor and rather
marginalized in the society, as they remained vigilant in watching over their
sheep (Luke 2:1-20).
So, are we vigilant enough to notice the cries of
our neighbors in need – the least among us – Christ among us in the poor, sick,
neglected, rejected, and so forth? If so, are we diligently doing the works of
mercy, motivated by love, mobilized by compassion? If we are doing so, then, is
our works of love bearing abundant first fruits? If so, let us look forward to
meeting the King on his return and bring forth the first fruits of our love, as
he has commanded, to our King-Shepherd-Judge, as the two servants, who
multiplied their master’s talents, entrusted to them, joyfully did to the
master!
We have received the greatest gift: Christ. And, he
has entrusted us with his τάλαντον (talanton)
of love as he commanded to love. And he returned to the Father upon Ascension.
But, he assured of everything we need to let his τάλαντον (talanton) of love to grow through our diligent works with
vigilance. And he is coming back,
looking forward to see how great we make his τάλαντον (talanton) of love through our action of love and mercy as
reflected in Matthew 25:35-36, 40.
Because
talent: τάλαντον (talanton) has its
root in φέρω (phero ), which
indicates “bringing forth”, “bearing fruits”, we let the talent of love,
to which we are entrusted, grow. Through our diligent work of faith with vigilance, motivated by love, upon receiving, by God the Father through Christ the
Son, empowered by the Holy Spirit. So, we can bring its abundant first
fruits to the King at his arrival.
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