For the last few months, our Gospel readings have more-often-than-not begun in much the same way, with Jesus saying “the Kingdom of heaven is like” or “the Kingdom of heaven will be like.”
The Kingdom of Heaven is the theme of the whole Gospel of Matthew, in his account the first words Jesus speaks after coming out of the desert, the first words of His public ministry, are these:
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, it has come very near to you. Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, has come to proclaim His Kingdom. Yet, we must take account of the exact words he uses when he tells his parables about the Kingdom; sometimes He says the Kingdom of Heaven is like, and sometimes He says the Kingdom of Heaven will be like. This too is a theme, not just that Jesus comes to proclaim the Kingdom but that the Kingdom is both very near and yet very far from us, it is already here and not yet here.
Perhaps the best parable Jesus tells to explain this is the mustard seed; a small seed planted in the soil grows into a great tree. The Kingdom is here as the seed, perhaps (after the resurrection) even as the growing tree but it has not yet blossomed because we still live here below in this valley of tears, in the shadow of death, and not in the perfect joy of God’s Kingdom. Despite Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, there is still war, and famine, and disease, and all manner of other sufferings great and small.
This reality is the great tension we Christians carry around with us, in Baptism we are made citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven – our passports (so to speak) are stamped and ready to go, but we have not yet made the journey and there are many sufferings between here and paradise for us to undergo, seeking to trip us up on the way.
Pope Pius XI, who had seen all the horrors of the First World War tear Europe apart and who was desperately trying to prevent another world war (in fact his last words, in February 1939, were simply peace, peace) instituted this feast day, the Feast of Christ the King, in 1925, because the world and the Church both needed a reminder of Kingship of Christ and what it really meant to belong to the coming Kingdom. In the encyclical Quas Primas, which established this feast, Pius XI called to mind the ills of his age;
We saw men and nations cut off from God, stirring up strife and discord and hurrying along the road to ruin and death, while the Church of God carries on her work of providing food for the spiritual life of men, nurturing and fostering generation after generation of men and women dedicated to Christ, faithful and subject to him in his earthly kingdom, called by him to eternal bliss in the kingdom of heaven.
This is the contrast between Christians and the world, we are subject to Christ in his earthly Kingdom, and Called to bliss in His eternal Kingdom. For us, the Kingdom is already here because we live as if it is already here.
In the Gospel today, Jesus is speaking about the coming Kingdom, when He will take His seat on the throne of glory and judge all men, but His judgment will be about how we live in the here and now; did we live as if we were living in His Kingdom, or did we not? He judges them on their works of mercy; feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick, and visiting those who are in prison. He tells us that, whenever we do these things for anyone (even the least among us) we do it to Him.
But these works are not just about the body. Those who doubt the Faith are spiritually hungry for the truth, and we feed them by giving them good Christian instruction. Those who are ignorant of the faith, are spiritually homeless, and by sharing the good news with them we give them shelter. Those who persist in grave sin, without repentance, are dying of spiritual thirst, when we admonish them and lead them back to repentance, we give them living water to drink. Those who have harmed us, are spiritually naked, they lack the clothing of mercy. When we bear with them patiently, and forgive them willingly, we instruct them in mercy and by our example help to re-clothe them. Those who are trapped in addiction, or in systems and structures of sin seemingly with no way out, are spiritually sick, and in need of comfort. Those who live in sin, and those who have died still carrying around the weight of their sin, are spiritually in prison, and when we pray for them we visit them and help them little by little to get out.
Living as if the Kingdom of God is already upon us fundamentally means this; even though the world around us might be falling apart, we try to knit it back together again through little acts of Charity. We become agents of God’s mercy in the world, helping in whatever way we can with the bodily and spiritual needs of those around us.
As the earliest Christian apologetic, an anonymous letter from the year 130 AD, says about us Christians;
[We] live in the flesh, but [We]are not governed by the desires of the flesh. [We] pass their days upon earth, but [We] are citizens of heaven. Obedient to the laws, [We] yet live on a level that transcends the law. Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because [We] are not understood, [We] are put to death, but raised to life again. [We] live in poverty, but enrich many; [We] are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything.
Live, today, as if the Kingdom of heaven is already here, and when that Kingdom finally comes, you will find yourself being sent to the right, with the words of eternal life;
Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world
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