20 November. Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

1st Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-3

David of Bethlehem becomes king of a united country

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.”

So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord and they anointed David king over Israel.

2nd Reading: Colossians 1:12-20

A hymn to Jesus as the living head of the Church

We give thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers-all things have been created through him and for him.

He himself is before all things and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Gospel: Luke 23:35-43

The crucified Jesus is the King who leads into paradise

The people stood by the cross of Jesus, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

---

The King on the Cross

The story of the crucifixion, proclaimed on the Feast of Christ the King, reminds us that the kingship of Jesus isn’t a reign of glory and power, but of service, love, and self-giving in order to rescue human beings from evil, sin and death. Used to proclaiming the «triumph of the Cross», we run the risk of forgetting that the Crucified One is far from a triumphalism that would empty of meaning the most sublime gesture of God’s love toward us all. The Cross isn’t a kind of trophy that we can proudly show to others, but the symbol of crucified Love that invites us to follow God’s example.

We sing, adore and kiss the Cross of Christ because deep in our being we feel the need to give thanks for God’s mysterious love, without forgetting that the first thing Jesus insistently asks of us isn’t to kiss the Cross, but to carry it. And this means following his footsteps with commitment, knowing that the path takes us sooner or later to share his painful destiny.

We aren’t meant to view the mystery of the Cross passively, without intending in any way to carry it. That’s why we need to beware of celebrations that could create a false atmosphere around the Cross, or distract us from faithfully following the Crucified One, or give the illusion of a Christianity without the Cross. It’s precisely when kissing the Cross when we need to hear Jesus’ call: «If you want to be a follower of me… take up your cross and follow me».

For Jesus’ followers, to claim the Cross is to come close to those who are crucified in service; to introduce justice where the defenseless are being abused; to reclaim compassion where there is only indifference in the face of those who suffer. This will bring us conflict, rejection and suffering. It will be our humble way of carrying Christ’s Cross.

Theologian John-Baptist Metz highlights the danger that the image of the Crucified One can hide from us the faces of those who are being crucified today. According to him, in the Christianity of well-off countries we find this serious phenomenon, «The Cross doesn’t upset anyone, it has no sting; it has lost the tension of the following of Jesus, it calls us to no responsibility, except that of getting rid of it». Don’t we all need to reexamine what is our true attitude before the Crucified One? Don’t we need to come close to him with more responsibility and more commitment? [José Antonio Pagola]

---

The Good Thief

The Gospel story of the Good Thief, unique to Luke, may seem an odd choice … and yet, it is absolutely right. God has disclosed his “reign” in the vulnerability of Jesus. I’m reminded of a powerful image in the Apocalypse: “Worthy is the Lamb still bearing the marks of one slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!”  (Revelation 5:12 NRSV adjusted ). It is all very different and that very difference is captured, I think, in the poem offered below. The poem is familiar but bears repetition for today. (Kieran O’Mahony)

For his audio commentary on the Gospel, click here.  Kieran adds this relevant poem:

The Kingdom by RS Thomas

It’s a long way off but inside it
There are quite different things going on:
Festivals at which the poor man
Is king and the consumptive is
Healed; mirrors in which the blind look
At themselves and love looks at them
Back; and industry is for mending
The bent bones and the minds fractured
By life.  It’s a long way off, but to get
There takes no time and admission
Is free, if you will purge yourself
Of desire, and present yourself with
Your need only and the simple offering
Of your faith, green as a leaf.

 

---

The Prince of Peace

While Jesus hung on the cross, he was mocked as “King of the Jews.” The inscription on the cross over him calling him by that title was meant to be ironic. And yet Jesus had told Pontius Pilate, “I am a king. I was born for this. I came into the world for this” but he also declared that his kingship was not of this world. Today it is only with difficulty that we can empathise with kingship. To the mind of most people in the modern world the concept of kingly rule has echoes of authoritarianism, class distinction and a world of unjust, unearned privilege, but this is far from the biblical notion. The kingship of Christ is non-political, universalist and non-national. Its core is a special kind of justice, not based on fallible human laws, but with help and protection for the weak, the poor and the helpless. If the justice of God really operated in our world it would bring peace between nations, and between individuals.

It is interesting how people vested with royal and imperial power were at a loss when confronted with the moral power of Christ. Their reaction was to strike out blindly, to use violence against his threat to their power. For power is often recognised only by winning in a contest. In Jesus’ time, justice in many ways trampled underfoot by the rule of the powerful in the days of the Roman empire. To remedy this a completely fresh start was necessary, something that he alone could initiate, ultimately through the complete sacrifice of himself. Although Christ died in apparent powerlessness, nevertheless he holds real, spiritual power, which will be revealed at the end of time. The repentant thief caught a glimpse of this when he called out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God in parables, in every one of which a mystery lies hidden. For example, to Jews the mustard seed was the smallest of all seeds, the most insignificant of all things. Yet out of it comes a huge tree. God’s kingdom comes in a hidden way, even in spite of seeming failure. But, as with the mustard seed, this small beginning holds the promise of a magnificent ending. “I think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us,” St Paul wrote (Rom 8:18). At first sight there seems to be a contradiction between the present and the future in Jesus’ references to the kingdom. The kingdom is here and now, we are told and yet we are asked to look forward and in the Our Father pray, “Thy kingdom come.” Jesus gives the answer to this. “The kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen. No one will say, “Look here it is,” or, “There it is,” because the kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17:20f).

---

A Kingdom of Justice, Love and Peace

Even anti-monarchist, and people who happily live under the rule of law in a democratic republic, can value the idea of a spiritual Kingdom, ruled by one who is totally reliable, wise, just and merciful.

The Apostle Paul speaks of Jesus Christ at the end of time handing over the kingdom to God the Father. Today’s Preface repeats this, describing Christ’s kingdom as one of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice. love and peace. This ideal is not to be merely a future hope but is to be worked for in the present. The kingdom is our hope, but somehow it is also in our midst, in the process of becoming. The gospel tells us how we are to promote the fuller coming of God’s kingdom among us. It comes whenever justice is done for the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and the oppressed. To behave in this way is to imitate the Shepherd-King himself who is presented in our Gospels as one who rescues from situations of alienation, who feeds, gives rest, heals and makes strong. Among his final words was a promise to the thief being crucified at his side, that he would be enfolded by the eternal love of God, in paradise.

The way to serve Christ our King is to work for the coming of his kingdom. In working for the relief of the deprived, the oppressed and the outcast we are serving Christ in person, because Jesus identifies himself with all those in need, personally. Therefor a disciple of Christ the King cannot afford the comfortable luxury of  merely shrugging at life’s injustices. “I just keep myself to myself” or “Anyway, I do nobody any harm” are not neutral stances; they are refusals to get involved. To be deaf to the cries of the neighbour in need is to be deaf to Christ. To be blind to the anguish of the dying is to close our eyes  to Christ. Taking Jesus Christ as our Shepherd-king involves becoming shepherds in some way ourselves; for his work of justice and salvation goes on.