Christ the King Sunday 2012

Christ the King Sunday 2011
(Matthew 25:31-46) “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.”

How we treat other people reveals the state of our soul.

Jesus goes so far as to say how we treat the least, those who are different, those who are disadvantaged, reveals how we treat him.

Jesus is not speaking of a point system of credits and debits by which we earn a place in the kingdom of heaven. He is speaking of relationships.

What the Bible teaches is that life is about relationships. Moses, the prophets and Jesus reveal that there are three orders of relationships for human beings. The first and most important relationship is with God. The second is how we treat others and the third how we treat ourselves.

What reveals the inner most nature of our souls is the attitude and action we bring forth in our relationships.

As we relate to other people we can choose to bring forth indifference, intolerance, aggression, or compassion.

The people at the final judgment are surprised by the standard.
They expect a checklist based in credits and debits. They expect a standard grounded in performance and results that has nothing to do with attitude. Much to their, and perhaps our, surprise the standard is love and compassion. The question Jesus wants us to ask ourselves here and now before we appear at the judgment seat is: how do I love?

Jesus himself is the answer to that question. How did Jesus love? How does Jesus love?

As we study the life of Jesus Christ we see that first and foremost Jesus loved unconditionally. He loved everyone- even his enemies, even those who abandoned him and even those who tortured and killed him.

Jesus was able to love unconditionally by a real choice to immerse his mind, his heart and his will in the will of God the Father by staying centered in the Divine Presence of God the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the union of divinity and humanity in a single individual who manifests the infinite love of God in a particular time, at a particular place in a particular person.

Jesus reveals the universal love of God one person at a time.
Jesus is the universal love of God for each unique person in a unique way.
It is as we make a real choice to reunify with the Father, through the Son by the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit that we have access to the infinite unconditional love of God. And, it is as we make a real choice to immerse ourselves in the Real Presence of divine love that we are set free from sin to express compassion.

Sin always kills. Divine love always transforms death into life.
Religion without love is abomination. Religion without compassion becomes either rigid and judgmental, or sentimental and amorphous. Apart from the constant input of divine grace to transform our souls, we stagnate. As we stagnate we hide from the truth of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Some people hide from Jesus in religion. Some hide in science. Still others hide in self-indulgence. That is why at the last judgment Jesus says: I never knew you. Jesus does not hide from us. We hide from him.

Jesus says I never knew you for I was present to you in the child you abandoned and abused. I was there to you in the people you judged unworthy of food. I was there to you in the people you defamed and bullied. I was there for you but you turned your back on me. You hid in the illusion of self will and now you are lost in that illusion.

I was hungry and you did not feed me.

Hunger is the scandal of a species unwilling to practice compassion. Hunger is the product of souls in a state of self will, fear pride. The starvation of over a billion people on this planet is the outward and visible manifestation of the spiritual state of our species. People starve for their daily bread because our species hides from God and is starving spiritually in the illusion of the will to power, the demand of the soul to dominate other people, nature and even God.

We at St. Luke’s cannot feed a billion people. We can help to feed some of the needy here in the Newtown area. We can do this as we make a real choice to enter into the Way of life Jesus demonstrated.

The steps are very clear and practical.

First: surrender judgment. Give up the illusion that we have a right to judge other people as less worthy than we are.

Second: ask the Holy Spirit to convert the demand of self will into the true freedom of divine will. Make it part of your daily prayer life to say: Heavenly Father, not my will but Thy will be done.

Third: During the four weeks of Advent give up the insistence to have everything done your way. As you come to the altar of sacrifice to receive the gift of divine life ask Jesus to release you from the distortions of sin.

Jesus does not ask us to submit to Law. Jesus asks us to surrender to Love. As we surrender to divine love we are transformed by that love to live and move and have our being in that love. We meet Jesus in the lives of the people God created in His image. And, Jesus meets us through those people in such a very simple and direct way that Jesus says:
“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.”