If
one thinks about the great emperors or kings who have governed throughout
history, perhaps Alexander the Great comes to mind, even though he lived 4
centuries before Christ lived. Alexander
had great ambitions – he wanted to rule the world – and he called himself the
“King of Kings”. In
fact, his empire eventually included a great deal of the ancient world – from
his native Greece to India, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Alexander had a great intellect. The
renowned philosopher Aristotle was one of his tutors. And his military strategy is still studied by
military leaders today. Alexander knew what he needed to do to rally his troops and to gain their
loyalty. There
is a story told of Alexander’s travels in the deserts of Persia. His
entire army ran out of water. An
intolerable thirst seized them as they traveled under the hot desert sun. A
couple of Alexander’s lieutenants captured some precious water from a caravan
passing through the desert. They
brought the water to Alexander in one of the soldier’s helmet. He
asked if there was enough water to give to the troops, but he was told that
there was only enough for him alone to have one drink. Alexander lifted up the helmet as his men watched him intently, but instead of
drinking the precious water, he poured the water on the ground. J. His men let out a great shout, knowing
that Alexander would not allow them to suffer anything he was unwilling to
accept himself. Alexander the Great proved many times why he
was viewed as such a great and powerful king.
In our
modern world, we think of a king as someone having great power and strength. And
all the kings and emperors who led the great empires and kingdoms here on earth
pale in comparison to Christ, the true King of Kings. Yet,
as we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King today at the end of our
Church’s liturgical year, we don’t have readings about Christ’s power and
might, but rather we hear about a leader who is a humble shepherd who tends his
flock and gathers his scattered sheep. A lot
of the values of our world call out to us to acquire wealth, to seek power, to
assert ourselves over others. Yet,
there is another way. We follow a leader
who wore a crown of thorns, who sought to love rather than to dominate, who
sought out solidarity with the poor rather than alliances with the rich and
powerful, who led a group of 12 apostles rather than a powerful army. And
it is by these values that Jesus lived on earth that we will be judged at the end of days: by how we gave Jesus something to eat when he was hungry, how we
clothed him in his time of need, how we visited him when he was ill or in
prison, how we welcomed him when he was a stranger.
There
is so much about our faith that perhaps we struggle to understand. Even
with some of the dogmas and doctrines and teachings of the Church that we seem
to understand on the surface, we sometimes have a hard time applying them to
the real life situations that confront us in life. The
great 11th century philosopher, St Anselm of Canterbury, called it
faith seeking understanding, meaning that out of the active love we have for
God, we seek a deeper understanding of God and we seek to live out our faith in
our lives. Out
of our faith, we seek a personal experience of God, a personal encounter in
which we can truly say that Christ is our king and our shepherd. In
that way, Jesus to be more than a noun in our lives – Jesus needs to be a
verb. Yes,
there is so much we search for in our faith, so much we don’t understand, but
Jesus as our shepherd and our king is a verb of action that calls us to a way
of life. Jesus
calls us to an active, life-giving relationship with him as our Lord and
Savior. In
living out the spirit of Christ’s presence, the spirit of the Eucharist that
feeds and nurtures our faith, we are to bring our faith into action, to reach
out and serve our brothers and sisters, especially the least in our
society. We
are called to be welcoming and hospitable, to be a good listener, to be a
witness who is willing to share his own story and who encourages others to tell
their stories as well. We
are called to share the concerns of our hearts with others, to follow the ways
that the Spirit calls us, to make the connection between Jesus’ life and
ministry with our own lives.
We may
see a child on the streets who is hungry and uncared for, but we may think,
“Well, that’s not my child.” We
may be confronted with the widow or the elder who is lonely and crying out in
her time of loss, but we may think, “Well, that’s not my mom.” B. We may see the homeless man who is all
dirty and unshaven, standing in line at the soup kitchen to get something to
eat, muttering something incomprehensible under his breath, but we may think,
“Well, that’s not my dad.” It is
easy in our busy daily lives to not see these things, to not care, to be
oblivious to the hurt and pain and misery around us. In
the Gospel, both the righteous and the unsaved ask the same question, “Lord,
when did we see you hungry or thirsty, sick, imprisoned, or naked?” Jesus asks us to see the world through the
lens of our faith. Jesus
asks us to respond out of our faith. We can
do so through the grace of God. We
can do so only with Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and the King of Kings.
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