Matthew 25:31-46
How do we give to Christ the King?

I would like to think of myself as a fairly generous person, concerned about the poor and the needy in our world, and also concerned about justice and peace. Every month I sit down to do our family accounts and so I know we tithe regularly to our churches, we give to other charitable causes, and more often than not we are entertaining guests in our home. This is true for many of you too. So, what is there for me not to feel that I am a generous and concerned person? I could very well choose to be satisfied and even be proud of who I am and what I do! That is, until the other day I was sorting through my closet and as always found cloths I had not worn in years, shoes I had forgotten I owned and realized at the same time that our walk-in closet is as big as some huts I have been to in villages of India. What was even more disturbing was that the closet had plenty of shelves, and all of them were piled high with cloths, and there was barely any room for me to stand with all that there was in the closet. Yesterday I went to the grocery store and bought about $90 worth of grocery. When I got home I found that I had bought cans of diced tomatoes even though we had some in our pantry just because they were on sale. It was then that I remembered I had thrown away some soup and vegetable cans just the other day because the expiration date on them had come and gone a year ago. Every day I get up to a cup of hot tea that my husband brings to our bed, and I never have to think about how I am going to shower or what I am going to eat. There is hot water flowing as soon as I open our faucet, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, clean towels, and I even have a radio in the bathroom to tell me exactly what is happening in the world. And of course, there is enough food in the pantry to last at least 3 months.

My dear brothers and sisters, if I were as generous as I thought I was, my closet should not be full, our pantry should not have food that’s simply waiting for their expiration date, our savings account should not be getting bigger while 1.4 billion people in the developing world are living on less than $1.25 a day, and I definitely should be on first name bases with many in the prisons. Jesus’ requirements to be considered worthy of inheriting the Kingdom of God sound simple enough. “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” We are all church going people, we know about feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the prisoners. My challenge is not so much about generosity and concern for those in the margins, my challenge is being able to recognize and embrace God in the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the sick and the prisoner. Jesus clearly says “I” when talking about the poor, the stranger, the sick and the prisoner, He does not say “they” or “these” people. So, how should we respond to Jesus who clearly says he is in fact the poor, the stranger, the sick and the prisoner?
When we come into this sanctuary, we all come with a certain reverence for the place, we find ourselves a little more humbled, a little more conscious of our dependence on God, a little more attentive to someone else’s voice, and a little more intentional about our worship of God. So if the mere entry into this space of worship brings out in me an attitude that is refreshingly different from how I conduct myself outside, how much more of a change it should be to stand face to face with God! Believe me, it is very hard for me not to feel that the poor and hungry people I give to are somehow dependent on my generosity. It is hard not to feel that I am doing a favor to the sick, the lonely or the prisoner when I do visit them. But when Jesus the Son of God tells me that he is the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the one in prison, how can I dare think of myself as the benefactor?

Every Sunday we affirm our dependence on God, and every time we pray we humble ourselves before God as we lay open our needs before Him, and we believe that we have our being in God alone. So Jesus is not talking about mere generosity and hospitality toward “these” people, He is talking about giving to the poor and the needy as if our lives depended on them, exactly like we depend on God for all our needs. Jesus is talking about showing compassion and hospitality to the sick, the stranger and the prisoner as if they have the power to define our lives, exactly like the transforming power of God that defines our lives.

On this feast day of Christ the King, it is not an irony that we read about Jesus as the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner. The offering fit for a King in nothing less than our best, our utmost, our everything. The King has declared that he is hungry, thirsty, a stranger, sick and in prison, let us not drag our feet in reaching where He is. Very soon we will enter into the season of Advent, a time to prepare ourselves to receive the King and await his second coming. May our preparation be marked by a desire and the intention to empty ourselves before our King. May our preparation lead us to where there is hunger and thirst, where there is loneliness and rejection, where freedom is constrained and life holds no hope. Amen.