Christ the King (A) 26 Nov 2023 Life prevails
In November we think particularly of the Holy Souls, the Faithful Departed, and express our strongest hope that each and all can find eternal happiness.
It is comforting, then, to have such passages as today’s second reading (1 Co 15,20-28) which remind us how the powers of Life and Goodness are in control. Adam brought death into the world through his sin; now Jesus, the Second Adam brings life.
In Jesus Christ we have the vulnerable victim, the sacrificial Lamb, who goes freely to His death, so He can achieve a complete victory over all death.
He not only breaks the hold of death on the human race, but also of what causes that death, which is Sin.
By living a sinless life in complete union with the will of His Father, Jesus draws down upon the human race a stronger than ever experience of life; this time a life that can never die again (cf He who eats this bread shall never die. Jn 6,51).
He absorbs death and radiates life. He has complete authority over death, part of His kingship which we celebrate today.
There is always so much sad news around: wars, murders, accidents, disease – and these things can dampen our hope. We come here to find some good news, and also to make some good news! We can find life in Jesus Christ. The physical life restored, but even better the spiritual life – we are living good lives, participating in the life of Christ.
He has become the source of eternal life. All who are united with Him will experience that life. It is all concentrated in Him, the Saviour and the only Saviour.
He helps us with all our troubles, but most of all with the handling of death, because that is a battle on a much grander scale than the others.
We worry about many things, but nothing can equal the issue of whether or not we live in union with God in Heaven.
He offers us a share in His life-giving power, to rise from death ourselves at the appointed time.
The coming of Christ in judgment is not meant to frighten us, but to give us hope.
We see His coming more as a victorious liberation than a harsh retribution.
This theme will continue into the Advent season when we are encouraged to hope for the final part of the salvation which has already begun.
If we are to be close to Him; if we want to discover the source of eternal life, we can find it in the practical expression of charity listed in today’s Gospel (Mt 25,31-46)
The Lord, the Judge, will confirm our hopes that we have learned to love Him in our service of neighbour.
And He will say to us, enter into the joy of the Lord, for I was hungry and you gave Me to eat, etc.
Charity is the ultimate expression of life. We are really alive when we are charitable, and dead if not charitable. St John spells this out in his epistle: If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 Jn 4,20)
Today we praise Jesus’ victory over sin and death, and in gratitude we re-commit to a life of charity – practical help and also a humble merciful attitude to one another in the Body of the Church.
Not least in our prayer we ask Jesus to help us focus on Him as our main hope and source of life, now already and in eternity.
King of kings and Lord of lords, have mercy on us.
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