November 20, 2005: Sharing the Hope of Christ the King

+SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING (Last Sunday of the Church Year)
Today’s Readings: Ezek. 34: 11–17; Ps. 23; 1 Cor. 15: 20–28; Mt. 25: 31–46


A priest I know from back in Ohio told me a beautiful story. A retired teacher in his parish decided to volunteer to tutor kids in the Children’s Hospital in Columbus. One of her first assignments was to work with a nine-year-old boy. The hospital gave her his name and room number, and they left instructions saying that the boy’s class in school was studying nouns and adverbs.

The tutor got together her fourth grade materials and headed over to the hospital. She was shocked to find that the boy was in the burn unit. She almost turned around and went home, but she worked up her courage and went inside.

The boy looked even worse than she feared. “Hi,” she said. “I’ll be your teacher while you’re here. It’s important that you learn about nouns and adverbs.” Then she went right into the lesson. When she was finished, she said that she’d be back the next week. And then she hurried away.

A few days later, the teacher received a call from the boy’s mother asking if she would be coming for a lesson that day. The teacher was afraid that maybe she had done such a poor job with the child that the boy’s mother would rather he be left alone. So she apologized for her nervousness and said that she would certainly understand if the boy’s Mom would rather that she not return.

“Oh, no,” said the Mom. “You have it all wrong. I don’t know what you said to my son, but since your visit he has really been fighting hard to respond to his treatment. It seems that he has finally decided to live.”

So the teacher returned the next day and found the child with a therapist and his mother. He was doing his best to cooperate with the therapist. When the boy saw the teacher, he said to his mother, “I know I’m going to live. They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a kid who’s dying, would they?”

In a very similar way, God gives all of us hope that we will live. After all, the Lord wouldn’t send his Son if we were a lost cause, would he? He wouldn’t make him a King if that King wouldn’t have any subjects. He wouldn’t let him die on the cross if he didn’t realize that some of us would call out to him with our lives, “Jesus, remember us, when you come into your kingdom.”

Modern-day prophets of doom who see negative in everything in life have given up on society. They love to point to the moral decline, the permissiveness of parents, the high divorce rate, abortion, unjust war, unconventional families and marriages, the vulgarity and violence in the media, and on and on and on. Even religious leaders do this. Look at Pat Robertson’s comments a couple of weeks ago over teaching evolution versus intelligent design.

But Jesus Christ has not given up on us—not on any of us. He refuses to write us off. He is the King who loves his subjects. Despite some of the stupid comments that we sometimes hear, Jesus does not send earthquakes or hurricanes or tsunamis or floods or cases of AIDS or avian flu on people that you or I or Pat Robertson may not approve of.

I got a kick out of the Fox Trot comic strip one day this week. The nerdy son asks his Dad, “If God created man in his own image, how come we don’t also have godly powers?” The kid then said, “I want to hurl some planets around!”

Isn’t a good thing that God is a lot wiser, and more loving and patient than we are? I’d hate to think I’d have to dodge lightning bolts every time I did something wrong! I’m really glad, instead, to have confidence and hope in the Lord’s infinite mercy and goodness.

When the little boy in the hospital realized that he too had hope, his goals and dreams changed. “I am going to live!” he realized. And that changed everything.

And the good news is, we can confidently share that same dream. Really, the only goal that matters, the only dream that matters, is the dream of the kingdom of Jesus Christ and our getting a place in that kingdom.

Every other goal and dream is just a passing thing — not even a real thing. All other goals, no matter how important they may seem at the time, will pass away. Think about presidential elections. There’s a big hoopla… and in short order, everyone loses interest. Politicians and political seasons come and go. The old dreams are gone.

Some people’s dreams are caught up in business. They’ll do just about anything to get ahead. Look how the “dot.com” bubble burst… years ago, the company that made the country’s very best buggy whip got wiped out when folks started buying automobiles. Would you want to be in the slide rule business? Ask your kids; they probably don’t even know what that is! You see, in the blink of an eye, the dreams of a lifetime may be wiped out forever.

Some people’s dreams are wrapped up in the good days that lie ahead in retirement. They work hard to save for that glorious time. They might even move to Florida or Arizona. Maybe they sell the house that they raised their children in so they can buy a dream house on the water or the golf course. But before they can feel comfortable in their new homes, sickness and death robs them of their dreams.

This last Sunday of the Church year really challenges us to decide: What are the dreams that really matter? What are the values and principles that we are willing to fight for? What hopes are we willing to believe in enough to sacrifice ourselves for?

Our baptism into the life of Christ was and still is a bold statement to the world: Jesus is Lord and King of our lives. We dream his dreams. We share his hopes. We believe that nothing, not even death, can steal the dream of his kingdom from us.

He has not given up his hope for us. And we cannot give up our participation in his dream.

The Feast of Christ the King is not just the end of the Church year. It is a summary of our lives as Christians.

His dreams are our dreams. His hope is our hope. His present is our future.