Did you know that we all are royalty? While we may not be
wearing the fine clothes nor do crowns of gold beset with jewels adorn our
brows, we are, nonetheless, royalty. “When did this happen you may ask?” For
most of us, it happened when we were infants, at the time we were baptized. The
moment we were anointed with the oil of chrism at our baptism, we were anointed
priest, prophet and king. You and I are of royal blood, and we trace our
lineage to Jesus Christ.
In the gospel today we hear how the Kingdom of God clearly contrasts
with the kingdoms of our world. The difference between the two is as clear as
day is to night. In the Kingdom of God, humanity becomes what God intended us
to be from the creation of the world, while in the other we see humanity as it
is, degenerated into a sub-human state. While we may derive our royal heritage
from Jesus, by the gift of free will we can still choose to which kingdom we
pledge our allegiance. Using the imagery that Jesus uses in the gospel, do we
belong to the Kingdom of the Sheep or the Kingdom of the Goats?
There is an old light bulb
joke that I think best describes those who pledge allegiance to the Kingdom of
the Goats. “How many narcissists does it take to change a light bulb? One. He
holds the bulb while the whole world revolves around him.” The people of this
kingdom seek in vain to construct a heaven out of the things of this earth only
to find a world of darkness that cannot satisfy the longing they have in their
hearts. Those who belong to the Kingdom of the Goats love to lord power over
people and dominate others with no regard to how it effects others. As we hear
in the gospel, neglect for the well being of others is one of their trademark
qualities. They can be ruthless in using, abusing, and even destroying people
to get what they want. We might think, “that just exists among the
rich and the powerful,” however, we would be wrong. There are those who are
rich and powerful that share what they have equally with those in need. There
is no discrimination in the Kingdom of the Goats, all people of all economic
levels are welcome. These qualities are not just isolated in the hearts of
greedy, powerful, wealthy people, but are equally found in the hearts of all
the “want to be” rich, the “want to be” powerful.
As a senior, In one
of my high school literature classes, we read the Divine Comedy by the Italian Renaissance poet, Dante Alighieri. The
Divine Comedy has three parts: The Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory)
and Paradiso (Heaven). Now you might think that this book was a real snooze
fest, however, because we started with Hell, I found it quite entertaining. Dante populated the 9 levels, or steepes, of
Hell with a wide variety of politicians, outlaws, scoundrels, clergy, royalty,
and even popes from his time in history, many of them from his beloved city of
Florence. The fact that some of these people were still alive at the time the
book was published may account for the fact that Dante lived in exile, a man
marked for death by the powerful of Florence. There is no discrimination in the
Kingdom of the Goat. All are welcomed on this road to perdition.
In stark contrast, we who pledge our allegiance to the
Kingdom of the Sheep, model our lives after Jesus who did not seek to dominate
and lord his divinity over others, but came to serve and share his power with
us. Love of God and love for others must be the motivating force in our lives.
In placing God and others first, we find own needs being served by others. We
find the fulfillment of that longing that is placed deep in the human heart. We
do not isolate themselves from others, or see ourselves as different from
others, nor do we see ourselves as the center of the universe. Rather we see
ourselves as a part of a greater whole, a whole that seeks to serve all people,
especially those who are most in need. We see in the faces of one another the
face of Jesus. We recognize that it is only in loving God and loving neighbor
that we truly find the love we need to become fully human. If we are to wear
the royal crown of Jesus, which we received in baptism, we must dedicate our
lives to love as Jesus did. As the Trappist Monk and theologian, Thomas
Merton once wrote, “Our job is love others without stopping to inquire whether
they are worthy or not.”
On this Solemnity of Christ the King, God reveals the true
nature of a king in Jesus who came not be served, but to serve. It is in our
loving service to one another that we claim our royal heritage. The composer,
Marty Haugen wrote so beautifully:
“We are many parts, we are all one body, and the gifts we
have, we are given to share. May the Spirit of Love, make us one indeed: one,
the love that we share, one, our hope in despair, one, the cross that we bear.”
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