Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 20, 2022: If you are King of the Jews...

If you are King of the Jews…

What does it mean to be king? 

    In the Second Book of Samuel, David is made king of Israel when the elders of Israel come to him with the request that he unite the people once again. David is one they recognize as having led them into battle; they recognize in him the qualities necessary to a successful king. They are his bone and his flesh, his strength and his vulnerability. It is thanks to David’s conquest of the Jebusites that, in Psalm 122, the people can go rejoicing to the house of the Lord. Jerusalem thus becomes his city and represents the united people of Israel; the temple there is their spiritual heart. David is a temporal king of a specific geographical region; his house will give rise to the King of all Kings, Jesus Christ. '

    And yet… when Jesus is on the cross, the soldiers jeer at him, calling out, If you are King of the Jews, save yourself. In Luke’s Gospel, the cross is Jesus’ moment of coronation, not because he is crowned with a crown of thorns, but by his death and resurrection. The kingdom is present wherever Christ rules, even in our world, but the kingdom in its fullness is beyond this world. The jeering that surrounds Jesus is part of the earthly kingdom, where the human desire is to control, to dominate. But the kingdom of God is not about military power but about loving humility; Jesus is crowned King because of the power of his love, and that kingdom is revealed every time we open our hearts in love to another person. Thanks to Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul tells the Colossians, we are delivered from the power of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. Our focal point should be Christ, who delivers us from darkness into a kingdom of light. Jesus, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, is and must be the King that rules our hearts, that we might join him in death; he is our hope. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class. 

Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 24, 2019: Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom...

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom…

Do we recognize and accept Jesus Christ as our King?

   To call Christ our King is to recognize in him a myriad of attributes, some of which may seem odd when juxtaposed.  In the Second Book of Samuel, David’s role both as commander and shepherd of the Lord’s people make him a logical choice to be anointed king of Israel.  Not only was David a good leader of Saul’s army, he also brought the Israelites back safely.  As shepherd, the king must lavish care on Israel, protecting the people; they in turn will recognize and follow him because there is intimacy and trust between them.  David will be a strong and dedicated leader, uniting the tribes with power and authority.  Psalm 122 adds to this portrait of David as king with its reference to the judgment seats set up for the house of David:  David, Jesus’ forbearer, is also a just king, basing his judgments on wisdom from God, and acknowledging his responsibility to serve the people with justice.

  All of the attributes given to King David will be Jesus’ attributes as well, but in their most perfect form, because, as Luke’s Gospel reminds us, Jesus, King of the Jews, is crucified, suffering humiliation and death for the sake of his sheep, conquering death by dying out of love.  The cross is God’s love made visible, making entrance for all possible with Jesus’ death.  As he embraces the criminal crucified next to him – today, you will be with me in Paradise, he tells him – Jesus embraces all of creation, forgiving all and opening access for all to that Paradise, to his beloved kingdom with God the Father.  Paul adds to this portrait of the king of forgiveness by reminding the Colossians that Jesus is the image of the invisible God who rules over all creation; Jesus is the origin and keeper of creation, head of the mystical body, yet for all that, remaining in intimate relationship with all those joined to him in faith and baptism, that we too might share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.  Jesus’ words to the good thief are the last words of our liturgical year and should resonate for us as well:  today you will be with me in Paradise.  May we hold to that truth as we celebrate Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe!

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 25, 2018: I am the Alpha and the Omega...

I am the Alpha and the Omega… 

What do we expect from our king? 

   When, in John’s Gospel, Pilate asks Jesus, Are you the king of the Jews?, Jesus’ eventual answer points to the true nature of kingship:  for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Jesus came in order to reveal that the love of God is the only truth, a truth that remains elusive unless we allow God to be king of our lives.  To accept the Lord’s kingship is to accept his love, even though we have not earned it; to accept his kingship is also to obey his word, not out of coercion but out of a confidence that God’s will is the truth, that God will lead us, that God’s power is the only power worth paying attention to. 

   Readings from the Old Testament give us a foretaste of the messiah-king to come.  The prophet Daniel suggests that, though this king will be like a Son of man, and therefore human, because he comes on the clouds of heaven, his origins will be divine.  Moreover, Daniel is confident that his kingship shall not be destroyed.  Psalm 93 similarly celebrates the Lord’s kingship – The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty! – with an accent on the trust that his decrees inspire.  And the final book of the New Testament celebrates the fullness of Jesus’ kingship, citing Daniel’s clouds of heaven while proclaiming that Jesus is the faithful witness to God’s truth, the Alpha and the Omega who brings us the whole of life, ruling our hearts with the power of his love.

   We are waiting for the kingdom to come in its fullness, a kingdom not ruled by man but by God alone, where the only power is the power of God’s love.  Let us live in the present, for that kingdom, as if we are preparing to enter it at every moment, with trust that Jesus is the truth, the king, the almighty!

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordle.net

Sunday Gospel Reflection, November 26, 2017: I myself will look after and tend my sheep...

 I myself will look after and tend my sheep… 

Who shepherds your life? 

   When sentiments of nationalism increase, so naturally does a focus on self, and both of these can blind us to what is needful elsewhere in our world.  It was sentiments of nationalism that gave rise to the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe in 1925, between two world wars. The Solemnity is meant to remind us that it is God, our shepherd and savior, who is to rule in our lives; it is Jesus who is King.  The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, God tells the people in the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy, shepherding them rightly.  These sleek and strong – the goats – have established their independence; they have separated themselves from God.  They are far from the psalmist in Psalm 23, who identifies with the sheep, and who allows God to shepherd him rightly, accepting all the gifts God offers:  repose, a banquet, and a cup that overflows. 

   Jesus is similarly concerned with shepherding his sheep rightly in Matthew’s Gospel, and this involves instructing them on what they must do to inherit the kingdom:  they must feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, and care for the ill.  What does this have to do with Jesus’ kingship?  As Paul tells the Corinthians, Jesus’ goal is to hand over the kingdom to his God and Father, once he has subjected everything to himself.  This doesn’t involve power in the traditional, nationalistic sense, but rather the power of God’s love, which Jesus employs to help us to be united in him.  And for that power to be operative in our world, we must embrace it as well, seeking union with others, with all, reaching outside of ourselves, feeding the hungry, caring for the ill, clothing the naked, with Jesus, King of the Universe, as our shepherd and guide.  Only when we live as one in Christ Jesus can God finally be all in all.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle