Prerequisites For Eternal Life

The questions we all need to answer on our judgment day,

[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”0829441700″ locale=”us” height=”320″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41sZgiGkdSL._SL160_.jpg” width=”214″]This weekend the Holy Roman Catholic Church celebrated the feast of Christ the King.  The gospel reading is one that we are all too familiar with. It is a gospel reading that speaks about that final judgment day that we all have to face, and the prerequisites to eternal life.

The questions posed in that passage as well as the whole layout of the gospel passage remind me very much of my secondary school days. We had a lab test to sit and our teacher was in the lab with us. He’s so wanted us all to pass the lab that whenever he saw anyone of us in a bit of difficulty, he would come up behind us and very discreetly whisper to us what we should do. It is the same scenario here. Jesus who loves us with a love that we will never be able to comprehend; He wants so much for us to pass that final test on our judgment day that he is telling us through this weekend’s gospel what the question will be so that we can better prepare.

Now at the end of time when our judgment day comes, there won’t be multiple choice questions to pass as was in my school days. We will however, have very specific questions to answer to. These are the questions Jesus laid out in this weekend’s gospel; and they are very important questions that we should use to measure our spiritual health and well being. The questions are as follows:-

• Have I given drink to the thirsty?

• Have I given food to the hungry?

• Have I clothed the naked?

• Have I made a stranger feel welcomed?

• Have I been a source of healing for the sick?

• Have I visited someone who was in prison?

One day, when Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, His response was to love God with all our minds, our whole heart, all our souls and all our strength. Jesus continued by saying that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as we do ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).  When we compare the second commandment given by Jesus with the actions identified in this weekend’s gospel as prerequisites for our salvation, you will see that they are one in the same.

Now it is quite easy for us to coin responses similar to those that were given in the passage. Responses such as but Lord when did I see you hungry, or when did I see you thirsty, or when did I see you naked, or when were you a stranger etc. Then Jesus’ response to us will be, ‘in so much as you did it to the least of my brothers and sisters you’ve done it to me’.

The reverse is also true. In as much as you failed to do it to the least of my brothers or the least of my sisters you have failed to do it to me. In other words if you have neglected to show kindness to someone; if you have neglected to share food with someone in need; if you have neglected to share a drink with someone who was thirsty; if you have neglected to make someone who desperately needed company to feel loved and welcomed; if you have neglected to shelter the homeless poor; if you have neglected to be a source of healing to others, you have neglected Jesus Christ himself. That is a very harsh reality but it is the truth.

We very often think that the least our brothers and sisters is somewhere out there. That they exists somewhere far from us and that we have to go out of our way to find them; to get to them. But the truth is that more often than not, the least of my brothers, the least of my sisters are not that far from me at all. They may be right with in my own home. Right within my own family.  So I need not look very far to fulfill the prerequisites that Jesus has laid out in this weekend’s gospel. It is right within my home. Right under my nose.

One of the mistakes that we can make when reading and meditating on this gospel passage is to take it too literal. For example when it speaks of someone being hungry it may not necessarily be hungry for food. It may be hungry for a little bit of your time. It may be hungry for a little bit of respect. It may be hungry for a sense of self worth. It may be hungry for some encouragement. It may be hungry for some love. Your spouse may be hungry for some attention; for your love. That elderly parent who you have placed in a home for old people maybe hungry for some of your time and for some of your love. The same applies for someone who is thirsty, imprisoned, a stranger.

The power of the tongue can build up or it can break down. All of us have at some time been on both ends of this experience. We have experienced kind words being said to or about us, and we know how that feels. We may have also experienced unkind words hurled at us and we know how awful that feels. It strip you of your dignity. It makes you feel naked. This is what Jesus is talking about when He said ‘I was naked and did you clothe me?’ Speak a kind word instead of words of discouragement and condemnation.

In today’s world that is so filled with technology and high tech gadgets that are meant to make communication so much better, it is very possible for this technology to breed strangers in our own homes. I cannot help but notice how attached we have grown to these technological devices; to our smartphones and tablets and smart tv. Sometimes it is as if we are taking the ‘smart’ features of these devices too far and we are using them as replacement for people in our own homes and our lives. When we are at home for example, do we spend more time on our smartphones looking for the latest scoop on facebook or twitter or instagram or whatever social media we may be ‘following’, or do we spend more time with our loved ones finding out how their day was and genuinely being interested in the human person?

This passage if read properly, teaches us that we should never underestimate the power of love. In the first instance the power of God’s love. For God loves us so much that his desire is that all of us be saved and inherit eternal life. And in order to help us inherit this eternal life, he has given us these very important prerequisites to guide us through. He is true to his word and did not leave us alone to find our way. He left us this road map. Not only that but he has also given us all the grace to be able to answer in the affirmative to all of these questions on that final day.

May we, by the grace of God, learn how to love everyone as we do ourselves, and not just those who are lovable; so that we too, like the countless others who have gone before us may by counted as those whom Jesus will place on His Right Hand and welcome us into His Eternal Kingdom saying, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’  AMEN!