The Hopes and Dreams of Christ the King

The Last Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Readings: [Click here]

A priest I know from back in Ohio told me a heart-warming story. A retired teacher in his parish decided to volunteer some time tutoring kids in the Children’s Hospital in Columbus. She was given the name and room number of a nine-year-old. There was also a note saying that the boy’s class in school was studying nouns and adverbs.

The tutor pulled out 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 had 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 thought that maybe she had done such a poor job with the woman’s 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 has also given us hope that we will live. 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 me, when you come into your kingdom.”

Modern-day prophets of doom who see the negative in everything in life have given up on society. But not Jesus. He refuses to give up on us. He is the King who loves his people. We can’t remember that often enough!

When the little boy in the hospital realized he had a glimmer of hope that he was going to make it, all of a sudden, his goals and dreams and attitude changed. “I’m going to live!” he realized. And that changed everything. He didn’t have to give up. Even though he had a lot of therapy and painful struggle ahead of him, that was OK. He knew the “big battle” was won.

That can be our dream, too. No matter what trials and problems we may be dealing with, Christ assures us that if we stick with him, we are absolutely guaranteed to come out on top. He will guide us to turn every defeat into a victory, and every ounce of sadness into joy. Ultimately, the goal that matters, the dream that matters, is the dream of the kingdom of Jesus Christ and our getting a place in this kingdom.

Every other goal or 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.

We’re starting to gear up for another presidential election next November. Do you remember all the fretting and controversy over voting and ballots in the last two elections? As we know all too well, politicians, political seasons and even scandals come and go. The concerns and issues that fired us up back then have pretty much faded away.

It’s the same in business, the economy, our culture… How many folks were waiting for catastrophe with Y2K when the new millennium began? How many of us dreamed of getting rich with double-digit interest rates before the “dot.com” bubble burst? How many were absolutely sure in early October—hardly seven weeks ago—that the Cubs might conceivably have a chance at the World Series? Very quickly, the old dreams are gone and we all but forget about them.

Some people’s dreams are wrapped up in the good days that they hope lie ahead in retirement. They work hard all their lives to save for that glorious time. They might even move away from Champaign County 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 or death may rob them of their dreams. It happens more often than you might think.

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.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.