Fwd from Trần Kim Thục
Today, on the feast of Christ the King, we celebrate Jesus’ sovereignty over all creation. We celebrate the fact that all things were created through him, all things are redeemed through him, and all people will be judged by him.
It’s this last point—Jesus as judge—that today’s Gospel focuses on. It tells us that as our King, Jesus has the right to set the standard by which we will be judged. Other judges exercise their office based on the existing laws of the land. But Jesus is the law of the kingdom. His life, his way, is the standard by which we will be judged.
If you want to be a judge in this world, you have to know the law intimately. Just one word in one statute can affect the entire outcome of a case. Not so with Jesus. His law is simple. We will “inherit the kingdom” based on this guiding principle: “Whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:34, 40). That’s the standard: mercy, generosity, and self-giving love.
It’s often said that you can’t take it with you, and there is a lot of truth to that. All our money, all our honors, all our possessions are temporary. They won’t follow us to heaven, and they can’t help us get in. But there is something we can take with us: our acts of charity. In fact, they are the very things that will open the gates of heaven to us!
Jesus will not be impressed if we have many possessions, and he will not be disappointed if we have just a few. What matters is whether we have let him soften our hearts so that we feed the hungry, forgive those who have sinned against us, and reach out to the lonely. Because his kingdom is not a kingdom of wealth and power; it is a kingdom of humility, love, and service.
“Jesus, my King and my Judge, teach me to love as you love.”
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