Christ the King

Collect

Eternal Father, whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven that he might rule over all things as Lord and King: keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace, and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

God the Father, help us to hear the call of Christ the King and to follow in his service, whose kingdom has no end; for he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, one glory.

Post Communion

Stir up, O Lord, the wills of your faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by you be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Readings

Epistle

Ephesians 1.15–23

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Gospel – Matthew 25.31–46

‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that 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 something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

Sermon on Sunday, Christ the King

It is said that there is a moral maxim to which doctors swear when they take up their calling to heal. It is part of what is called the Hippocratic Oath. – They promise to “Do no harm.” Doctors, we feel, do their best to fulfill this promise in the faithful service they offer to any who come to them for attention. I think it should give us heart when we approach our physicians for help with our lives. However, is that as far as anyone should go in the moral universe? – Just to “do no harm”?

A doctor’s calling is to the whole person. Our hope, I think, is that the whole person is the object of a doctor’s care and I believe they want to do so much more for us when we present ourselves in illness to them.

The moral maxim to “do no harm” has to be the start of the doctor’s road, but it is not the final destination. What can be added so that we can move along further down the road of righteousness?

Our gospel reading this morning seems to be demanding a lot more than Hippocrates required from those who would subscribe to his moral code. What does Jesus ask of us? What is our duty toward others? It seems we are to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty. We are even enjoined to visit the sick and the prisoner.

This is what Jesus Christ did in his life, isn’t it? Jesus visited the outcast when he sat down with tax collectors for instance. He healed the pariahs of society, the blind and the lepers. He fed so many in the desert, those thousands of people who listened to him and shared their hunger and received his sustenance in the wilderness. All of the people for whom Jesus cared, felt as if they were alone, thrown into a world where no one noticed them at all. It seems they were isolated and rebuffed by ordinary society – that no one wanted anything to do with them. They must have felt abandoned – but don’t we sometimes?

How can we move along in the steps Jesus wants us to take, to care for the ailing and dispossessed, the runaways and the rejected – all those of whom he speaks in our gospel lesson? What must our fundamental attitude be in these ethical situations?

It is clear that ethics and morals are not foremost in our minds today. We need not discuss that rather bold pronouncement, but let’s all agree that doing the righteous thing is certainly not the first thing contemporary society considers.

So what is this next step in the moral maze? What will guide us beyond doing no harm? In each situation we need to see how we affect all around us. We need to show our care for the other all the time – this is not one simple thing. It is a myriad task which never ends.

The promise to “do no harm” can only be the start of our moral journey. It means that we will not actively make life difficult for anyone else. We won’t, for example, be bullies. Don’t we all know how a bully can blight life for another? And this is one of the less dangerous forms of harm which one can inflict on another. We all know that there are worse things. Doing no harm would at least keep everyone healthy and free from intentional injury.

I have been reading detective fiction lately, and the homeless and the vulnerable in Los Angeles play a large part in my reading. However, no angels figure in these stories, but consciences should be piqued. Certainly mine is as I read along. The characters in the novels go on about their way, but still around them are the hungry, the thirsty, the dirty, the naked, and, eventually, the imprisoned. However, their minds – like the reader’s – are ill at ease. We all know there is more we should do, and the words of Jesus echo in my mind as I read the passages about the vulnerable in Los Angeles.

Nowadays there is a very real movement to improve health and safety in the world. In the church we extend this attitude through pastoral care. And we all know that the pastoral care of a shepherd is more than “doing no harm” – it is an active engagement with the sheep under his watchful eye. It is not merely ensuring that the wolves are kept away. The shepherd moves her flock to good pasture, the shepherd keeps count of all entrusted to him. The shepherd will search out the one he is missing, even to the extent that she will put herself in danger to find the lost sheep. We all know that, don’t we? We feel that those charged with our care, our pastors, will do precisely that. When marauding wolves appear, the shepherd heads toward them to keep the sheep safe.

The Church enjoins all of us to be aware of danger to the vulnerable among us. We are asked to be part of “safeguarding” in the parish. I think this activity means that everyone in the church is aware of a basic pastoral care. This is supposed to be a conscious awareness, a very active being toward one another for their safety. I would like to say that, ultimately, safeguarding is for the sake of everyone’s salvation.

Today, it seems, we don’t speak of matters spiritual amongst ourselves, do we? Or if we do, it is only when we talk to ourselves, under our breath, like those crazy people who walk down the street mumbling to no one at all. I think this monologue culture needs to be reformed. We need to start talking with each other, speaking of the things that matter to us – what the philosopher calls “our ownmost possibility”.

At this point we return to the message of our gospel, that we have to act righteously, morally – we must work for the good of the other. I am in the midst of billions of people whose lives I can affect, so I must act with integrity for their sake, not just my own. I have to start by doing no harm, but I must go further – I must do good deeds. I must visit the sick and those in prison, whatever that prison might be, behind the bars of iron, the bondage of illness, or the barriers of paranoia. Perhaps it is just the skin of social respectability. I am an agent of love when I clothe the naked or feed the starving. Perhaps it is just an unconscious, small act of kindness.

What does our King do to those who don’t care for the unfortunate? He casts them into the outer darkness where there is ever a gnashing of teeth. However, for those who love neighbours as their own selves, he offers the pearl beyond all price, the glory of salvation, to rest by the crystal fountain where there will be no ignorance or want of any sort because he, the King, has been honoured in every person – because he, the King, is ever before us as our ownmost possibility.