Sunday, November 23, 2014

Christ hungers and thirsts for us – Matt 25:31-46, Ezek 34:11-17

Christ the King; Holy Cross Parish.

What is it to be glorious?  I ask, because I don’t think we use that word a lot.  Words we use to say that something’s very good tend to suffer deflation over their history and new words need to be coined.  Something can be awesome without actually causing anyone much awe anymore, or brilliant without really make much of anything shine, or amazing without anyone being all that amazed.  But, glorious, that word seems to have kept a mystique, a value all of its own.  Our gospel tells us that at the end of time, the Son of Man will come in his glory, that he will be glorious, but we kind of have to hunt through the text to find what glory really means.

The first thing that might strike is what he is arrayed with.  He has a throne, he reigns, the Prince of Peace will reign, but that’s where he sits, that’s under him.  Arrayed around him, we don’t find descriptions of precious metals or fine jewels or lavish garments, which so many other scripture texts are more than happy to use as symbols of glory.  No, we find the angels and the saints.  We find, we hope, us.  Christ’s glory is manifest in his being surrounded by humanity.  “All the nations are assembled around him,” gathered around him.  God gathers us around Christ.  As we heard from Ezekiel, God rescues us from our scatteredness and gathers us, tends us, shepherds us.  God gathers us around Christ and that reveals his glory.  It was St. Irenaeus who said that “the glory of God is humanity fully alive,” and gathered around Christ we discover what it means to live fully, to live gloriously, we discover how wonderfully and fearfully made we are, that we might be the jewels in Christ’s crown, the revelation of his glory.

We discover that about ourselves, and we discover that about our neighbor, including, especially, the neighbor who seems rather inglorious, who we’d rather look past.  Because our text shows us something else about Christ’s glory.  That our glorious Lord and King, judge of the universe, is truly present in the hungry, in the thirsty, the prisoner, the migrant, the refugee, the sick, physically, mentally and spiritually, and in the homeless.  How can that be glorious?  It’s glorious because Christ does not hunger in vain.  Christ hungers for us.  I don’t mean that in a way that spiritualizes away or romanticizes hunger.  Christ knew hunger in his earthly life, really, bodily, physical hunger, just like the 14% of American households that scrape by in food insecurity.  And he did that for our sake, for love of us.  And while he is risen and ascended, praying for us forever at the right hand of the father, he remains God-with us, Emmanuel.  He remains in the hungry.  Christ hungers for our sake, and at the same time, Christ hungers for us.  Christ thirsts for us, Christ is imprisoned for us, Christ is cast out for us, Christ loses his clothing and shelter for us, Christ is sick for us.  The greatest glory of Christ is his willingness to suffer for us.

Christ desires us and that desire is disclosed bodily in those who lack.  In the pang of a starving stomach, we encounter Christ’s tender plea for us to take our place in his body.  In the tears of an economic refugee labeled illegal, we encounter Christ’s own lament when we refuse to make room for him in our hearts.  Or I should say we can encounter.  Because our gospel admits that God has enough respect for us to let us turn away from those encounters if that’s what we choose.

I read a pen sketch of heaven and hell this week.  Both are identically furnished: a lavish banquet is spread, cups overflowing, plates piled high.  Both have people seated at table.  In both, the people’s arms are affixed to splints, meaning they can’t bend their elbows.  In Hell, the people weep, because they can’t feed themselves.  In Heaven, they rejoice, because they can feed each other.



God never fails to provide the banquet.  Christ hungers for us.  Let us join him, and feast.

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