Friends,
today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. And though the very
notion of kingship is rather alien to us, the metaphor should remain.
For the whole idea is that Christ must become the Lord of our lives, the
one to whom an absolute submission is required.
Things
do become a bit easier to take when we see precisely what kind of King
Jesus Christ is. Bottom line: we are not dealing with another Napoleon
or Caesar Augustus; just the contrary. We are dealing with the one who
rightly reigns over those earthly potentates but who bears very little
resemblance to them.
Our
first clue as to his identity comes from the Gospel for today, an
account of Jesus’ conversation with the Roman governor Pontius Pilate,
who asks, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And Jesus responds that his
kingdom "does not belong to this world."
So
what precisely is his kingship? Worldly kingship has to do primarily
with power and self-aggrandizement. But the kingship that Jesus
represents is a ruling ordered to the truth. Its purpose is to guide
people to the Truth, which is another way of saying, toward God.
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Lectionary: 161
As the visions during the night continued, I saw
one like a Son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
when he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed.
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father,
to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will lament him.
Yes. Amen.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, " says the Lord God,
"the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty."
Pilate said to Jesus,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?"
Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?"
Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here."
So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
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