The “Roots” website has an interesting title relating to this week’s Gospel: “Do your actions reveal the real you?”  It goes on to say that Jesus speaks of judgement in this story about the separation of sheep from goats. The judgement will take place when the Son of Man comes in glory. Those who failed to see and respond to the needs of people around them have failed to see the Son.

I have read that not long before the onset of the cancer that finally killed him, King Hussein of Jordan undertook a small mission. He paid a personal visit to the families of some Israelis who had been killed in an Arab terrorist bombing. There was no talk of money or reparations; instead, the king quietly sat with the mourners and by his calm demeanour, unhurried manner and undivided attention was able to convey a sense of solidarity with them across the Arab-Israeli divide. The reaction of the relatives was out of proportion to the simplicity of the gesture.

By all accounts, they were deeply moved by Hussein’s expressions of personal involvement in their loss. Their grief had been acknowledged. More memorably still, it had been acknowledged and shared by a king.

This Sunday has the title “The Feast of Christ the King.”  It was Pope Pius XI who introduced the Feast of Christ the King in 1925. He did it in response to growing secularism and secular ultra-nationalism in Italy at the time.  Then in 1969, Pope Paul VI decreed that it should be on the last before Advent, and a new Lectionary year.  So today reminds us of the Kingship of Christ.

We often think of the humility of Christ, as one who came to serve.  He reached out to people who were neglected, even despised, and gave them hope. He rebuked the Pharisees because they condemned such people.

And so, we may not often think of him as a King.   But that is the focus of this passage.  People are divided as a shepherd separates sheep from goats (often led to pastures together), sheep on the right and goats on the left.  And then Christ the King praises those on the right because of their caring – for him – and rebukes those on the left for being uncaring – again to him.

This is one of the most vivid stories Jesus ever spoke, and the lesson is clear — that God will judge us in accordance with our reaction to human need. His judgement does not depend on deep knowledge of the Christian faith, nor our work in the Church or how much we have put in the offering over the years, but on the help that we have given to others.

In this story Jesus commends simple actions that will not gain headlines.  They do not involve giving away great sums of money. They are things that anyone can do.  But these actions were instinctive not calculated.
The important point is that both groups are surprised – “When was it that we saw you?”  This explains the question on the Roots website “Do your actions reveal the real you?”  Are we only caring people when it is convenient, or is it part of our nature?

Are we among the sheep or the goats? One writer gives illustrations of both: “Along with my girlfriend and our baby we were evicted and there was nowhere for us to go.  At first, we slept in the car.  But you took a personal interest and you put the three of us up in your spare room until we could find a suitable place to go”

Or: “I was dying of AIDS. I was a shattered and broken kid who’d never really had a chance. And the closest you ever came to taking any notice of me was when you wrote to the council saying that you didn’t feel safe to walk down the streets anymore and that they should do something about keeping drug addicts off the streets. And as for dying of AIDS I guess you figured that anyway it was surely the judgement of God for my sinful lifestyle and I deserved to die alone”

Caring is risky!  King Hussein took a risk in reaching out to Israeli families, and Christ the King took risks in reaching out to those in need.  We are called to follow his example.  He will judge us not by our Church attendance but by our actions, or lack of them, towards others.