Solemnity of Christ the King of Universe, Year A
Theme: Who Are The Goats? 誰是山羊？
What do you expect to see in a courtroom scene nowadays? The scene consists of a judge, probably a jury panel, a plaintiff, a defendant and advocates from both sides. Charges, pledges, cross-examinations, defences, judgment and finally sentencing would play out in order. Today, in the parable of Sheep and Goats, Jesus Christ gives us a preview of what would happen in the courtroom scene on the Judgment Day. Actually, before the Judgment Day, the heavenly court is extremely busy. Satan acts as the plaintiff accusing each one of us (the defendant) daily before the Father. Jesus Christ acts as our defence advocate (Revelation 12:10; Romans 8:34). The Judgment Day scene will be different because it will be the last courtroom scene. It will be a case of The Son of God vs. the whole humanity. But for sub-cultures and modern societies which are unfamiliar with shepherding, they need to know more about the images of sheep and goats. We need to go back to the Old Testament to learn more about shepherding practices and their symbolism.
The first Israelite king that was able to unite the twelve tribes of Israel was King David who began his career as a shepherd. In time, shepherds became a symbol of kings and government officials. However, not all kings and mandarins were good. Some of them failed to overcome the corruption by authority and became self-seeking and self-fattening at the expenses of the commoners! This is what the first reading talks about today. The Lord God accuses the shepherd-mandarins of power-abuses. “For thus says the Lord God: Look! I myself will search for my sheep and examine them” (Ezekiel 34:11). Why did God revoke the authority delegated to the mandarins? It was because “You consumed milk, wore wool, and slaughtered fatlings, but the flock you did not pasture. You did not strengthen the weak or heal the sick nor bind up the injured. You did not bring back the stray or seek the lost but ruled them harshly and brutally” (34:3-4). The Lord God would take up again the role of the Shepherd of Israel, in the person of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd shall do what the power-abusive shepherds fail to do, “The lost I will search out, the strays I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, and the sick I will heal; but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them in judgment” (34:16).
We are able to understand the first half of verse 34:16 easily. If we pay attention to the sequence of afflictions in 34:4, namely “sick, injured, stray, lost” and in 34.16, namely “lost, strays, injured, sick”, we will see a chiastic structure! Therefore, we can locate the key message, a Judgment, in the middle: “Thus says the Lord God: Look! I am coming against these shepherds. I will take my sheep out of their hand and put a stop to their shepherding my flock, so that these shepherds will no longer pasture them. I will deliver my flock from their mouths so it will not become their food” (34:10). Another prophet echoes the same judgment by proclaiming, “My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders …” (Zechariah 10:3). The Lord God has spoken at least twice. Shepherd-mandarins! Have you not heard?
What do you expect to hear or see in this final courtroom scene where trillions upon trillions of souls coming from all ages and all lands gather? Would angels on Satan side lay bare our sins in front of the whole world while angels on Christ side would report our good works? Then would Christ weigh them on a balance so that everybody is able to see which way the balance tilt? We shall be disappointed. Not a single evil deed shall be mentioned on the Judgment Day. We will not hear of juicy accounts of murders, rapes, thefts, perjuries on individuals; nor evils on a structural level such as genocides, human trafficking, drug trafficking and oppressive governments etc. Instead, we only hear of doing charity or omission to do charity! In this respect, we shall be able to see the mercy as well as the righteousness of Christ the King. Had the Universal King demanded baptism, going to Church, receiving sacraments and studying the Bible etc. as criteria for the admission into heavens, it would have been unfair to those who have never heard of Jesus Christ in time, say years before Christ or in space, say places where missionaries have not yet reached. Had the Universal King demanded some heroic Herculean acts that required elitist intelligence or physical strengths or verbal dexterities etc. it would have been unfair to people with disabilities. No! Everybody is able to meet the demands of the Universal King, namely to feed the hungry, to drink the thirsty, to shelter the homeless, to cloth the naked, to take care of the sick and to visit the imprisoned (Matthew 25:35-36). There is no excuse not to do it. Commoners and government officials alike can do it on individual level while people in power can also do it on an even grander scale by passing beneficent policies for the needy and marginalized minorities in the society.
The last thing we need to clarify is the identity of the goats. We should consult the prophetic books and see whom they symbolize with “goats”. There are two, namely “Flee from the midst of Babylon, leave the land of the Chaldeans, be like rams/goats at the head of the flock” (Jeremiah 50:8) and “The he-goat is the king of the Greeks, and the great horn on its forehead is the first king” (Daniel 8:21). We can see that goats and leaders are synonymous in prophetic vocabulary. Therefore, on Judgment Day, corrupted leaders and merchants who colluded with them would be those goats on the King’s left. Until the King comes, they continue their self-fattening and refuse to repent. How pitiful!
Beloved brethren! Do not take chances. Do not think that you can be the good thief accompanying Jesus in His crucifixion. He has told you beforehand how to pass trials in life and given you countless opportunities to do charity. Heed His exhortation. God bless!
2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: farmsanctuary.org
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