Homily for Solemnity of Christ the King

Homily for the Solemnity
of Christ the King
Nov. 20, 2011
Ezek 34: 11-12, 15-17
1 Cor 15: 20-28
Ursulines, Willow Drive, N.R.

“I will look after and tend my sheep” (Ezek 34: 11).

In the middle of the 10th century B.C., the Lord very deliberately chose a shepherd boy to become king of Israel. Jesus, the Son of David, that shepherd boy, called himself a good shepherd, and he showed his goodness by seeking the strays—like Zacchaeus, whose story we read last Tuesday; by feeding them, with divine teaching when “they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34), with bread and fish, and finally with his own body and blood; by healing them, binding up their wounds—with physical cures and with reconciliation between them and God. And so in multiple ways and on several levels Jesus “looked after and tended” God’s sheep, and still does.

Christ risen and triumphant: fresco in the apse of St. Catharine Church, Spring Lake, N.J.

Without adverting to the image of a shepherd, St. Paul stresses the ultimate pastoral work of Christ, “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20). In his resurrection Jesus brings home to the Father’s sheepfold all who stray into the realm of death, binds up those injured by sin, gives long-sought rest to the weary and the hurting, “rescues them from every place where they were scattered” (Ezek 34:14) by the illusory power of the Evil One. In the resurrection of the Son, our “almighty and merciful God breaks the power of evil and makes all things new” (Collect)—first of all, human beings, by restoring them to their original grandeur as images of God.

Christ feeding his flock with the Word of God: Sermon on the Mount by Gustave Dore'

In his audience last Wednesday, Pope Benedict touched on this theme. “In the world,” he said, “there is much evil, there is a permanent battle between good and evil, and it seems that evil is stronger. But, no, the Lord is stronger. . . . Christ wins and goodness wins. Love, and not hatred, wins.” Our belief in Christ’s resurrection affirms our belief in the power of love and of goodness to break the power of evil, the power of sin, even the power of death.* Christ is indeed the master, the king, of the universe.

And this good king, this good shepherd, guides his flock securely and safely toward his Father’s verdant pastures (Ps 23:2). Christ, the victor over death, can be the firstfruits of the resurrection only if he represents a much greater harvest by inaugurating the resurrection of all who belong to him. He is king of the universe because he has a numberless constituency, an immense following of disciples whom he has not only taught but has also saved, whom he has “shepherded rightly” (Ezek 34:17) into the kingdom of God.

We acclaim our king today, and we praise the Father who begot him and sent him to be our savior-shepherd, the judge who condemns death and wins for us the verdict over Satan and his allies.
* http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1104504.htm