Choosing Our Realm

 HOMILY, ST. PAUL’S, FOLEY – LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR A

NOVEMBER 22, 2020 

 

TEXT:                        Matthew 25:31-46

 

 

A streaming series on Netflix now is all the rage.  It is “The Crown” and is now in its fourth season.  It is an intimate but speculative account of the reign of Queen Elizabeth – the 94-year-old British monarch who has ruled for almost 70 years.

 

The current season features episodes having to do with the failed marriage of Charles and Diana, and the tenure of Margaret Thatcher as Britain’s prime minister. One episode even focused on the frightful moment when an intruder to Buckingham Palace ended up seated on Queen Elizabeth’s bed as she awoke. Earlier seasons have dealt with Elizabeth’s marriage to Prince Philip, a mining disaster in Wales, and the Queen’s relationship with Winston Churchill and other prime ministers.

 

It is a fascinating but fictional “look behind the curtain” of the royal family.  The Queen and her family are seen as genuine human beings rather than the superficial figures which is the usual perception.  They are shown to be flesh and blood individuals in a family that faces the typical issues of ordinary life.  Even as they live in their gilded cage.

 

The Queen is shown to be human – compassionate, caring, but locked in a formal, stringent role that has multiple layers of protocol and tradition that bind her. Still, the royal family is seen by many as the apex of power and human existence. They live surrounded by riches, privilege, servants, and opulence.

 

It is a dramatically different picture of the king we have in today’s gospel lesson.  This is the portion of Matthew’s gospel known as the great judgement.

 

The king in this passage is not bound by protocol or tradition – just an internal passion for the welfare of the poor, the sick, the grieving, the hungry, the naked, and the homeless.  Indeed, the king’s concern is for the people described as those blessed 20 chapters earlier in the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount.

 

Those subjects who had fed him, given him drink, welcomed him as a stranger, gave him clothing when naked, and visited him when he was sick or in prison were invited to enter into the king’s realm.  Those so welcomed asked, “When did we do all these things?” The king’s response rings down through the ages: “As you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me.”

 

The punitive side of the great judgement comes next.  The king banishes those who did not feed, clothe, welcome, quench, or visit him to the eternal fires prepared for the devil and his angels – in other words, separated from God.  He tells them: “As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”

 

As I mentioned last week, Jesus is in his last few days of earthly ministry.  He is getting across his most urgent teachings. It can be argued that this passage is the ethical high point of the gospels.

 

For sure, it draws a stark contrast between an earthly realm and a heavenly realm. I guess the question I would leave you with: In which realm will you choose live – the one that values attainment, comfort, status, and worldly success – with personal flaws hidden from sight – or the realm in which caring for the “least of these” is the sign of belonging?