November 22^nd 2015.  Feast of Christ the King

GOSPEL: John 18:33-37

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: John 18:33-37

‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am 1 a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?’ Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.’ ‘So you are a king then? said Pilate. ‘It is you who say it,’ answered Jesus. ‘Yes, 1 am a king. 1 was born for this, 1 came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . . On the Feast of Christ the King we are presented with a Gospel story in which Christ is shown completely humbled before the secular powers! Yet he enters into a dialogue with Pilate, and in this dialogue he tells us the very reason for his incarnation. He has come to bear witness to the truth. This truth is that he is Lord of a very different kind of kingdom, a kingdom that is not of this world. Does this simply mean that Jesus is king in a different place, in a different world? No, his kingship is of a completely different kind from worldly kingship. It is not based on force of arms or any of the things that give dominion in this world. His dominion is based on the fact that he is love. His power consists in this love. Paradoxically, this power of love is shown to its fullest when he is nailed to a cross and exerts absolutely no power in the temporal and physical sense. What exerts dominion in my life? Which kingdom do I give my allegiance to? Where do my true loyalties lie? If Christ is really my king then I cannot remain attached to worldly goods, worldly enjoyment, worldly glory. I must follow Jesus who, when nailed to the Cross, showed that his kingship of love is expressed most fully when he becomes nothing for our sake.

Jesus is Lord of a kingdom that will never end. But what is it that never ends? All the things we possess will come to an end. The only thing that endures is ourselves, the identity that has been given to us by God

On this Sunday in which we proclaim Christ to be King of the universe, the first reading from the prophet Daniel announces the coming of one who will have true power, one who will be given the kingdom, the power and the glory. This will be given to him by the heavenly Father and all peoples will serve him in a kingdom that will never end. Every kingdom that has ever been established in this world has come to an end! Powers fade and disappear. If it is this world that confers authority, then that authority will endure to the same extent that the powers of this world endure. And the forces of this world are inevitably transitory; everything we possess here will pass away, they do not remain in our possession, everything will one day be taken away from us. Woe to us if we attach ourselves to the things of this world that pull us down! What is it that endures, transcends? Curiously enough, it is we who endure; it is our souls that endure, our inherent dignity. The importance we have does not derive from who we are in this world but who we are before God.

The liturgy for the feast of Christ the King presents us with Jesus at the moment of his greatest humiliation. He is being treated as a criminal and is hauled before Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea. Jesus is supposed to justify himself before the accusations made against him, but he has no interest in doing so. However he does enter into a dialogue with Pilate. In the previous section of John’s Gospel, Jesus was extremely reticent, refusing to respond to his interrogators. But now he enters into a profound and marvellous exchange with Pilate. Pilate begins by asking if Jesus is really King of the Jews. This is a curious question, because no one had previously formulated an accusation against Jesus in these terms. Jesus replies by asking, “Do you ask this of yourself or because others have spoken to you about me?” It is Pilate who is now the target of interrogation! What Jesus wants to do is demonstrate that his power does not come from this world. The world, in fact, is rejecting him and torturing him. There is another source for the power of Jesus, and this places him above Pilate. In fact, the governor is bothered that Jesus has placed himself above him and responds aggressively: “Am I a Jew? The chief priests and the scribes have handed you over to me. What have you done?”

Jesu says that his kingdom is not of this world. This does not mean that his kingdom is simply in a different PLACE. It means that it is a different kind of kingship altogether, not based on force of arms or any material thing

Finally, Jesus responds to a question. It is the first time he has done so since the various interrogations have begun. “My kingdom is not of this world”, he says. What a wonderful explanation of the kingdom that we invoke every time we pray the Our Father. “Thy kingdom come!” Which kingdom are we calling for? Where do we desire to live? Which dominion do we wish to be under? Jesus goes on to say that if his kingdom were of this world, his followers would have fought to prevent his capture. Sometimes we interpret this phrase incorrectly. We think that Jesus is saying that if his kingdom were based in this or that region, then his followers would have fought to protect him. But the fact is that the disciples did try to protect him! All the Evangelists recount that Peter took out his sword and tried to fight his assailants, but Jesus stopped him. The point he wishes to make to Pilate is that his kingdom is a different kind of kingdom altogether, a kingdom in which true disciples do not fight or defend in this manner at all.

The kingdom of Jesus is not defended by violence or force of any sort. It involves the freedom necessary to respond to God in love

Many servants of the kingdom will appear throughout history, servants who do not fight but love. This is something that has often been misunderstood, however. Many people have believed that once Christianity achieved a certain dominion in the world, then one would be justified in defending it. This is mistaken. The servants of the Kingdom of God do not have this competence or calling. They ought to keep their swords in their scabbards, for “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword”, as Jesus tells us. The type of kingship that Jesus is referring to, and the type of kingdom involved, is completely different in kind. The oldest text we have of this passage is in the Greek language. When Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world”, the word we translate in English as “of” has a particular meaning in Greek. It is like saying, “This table is not of wood, it is made from a different material”. Jesus kingdom is not of this world in that it cannot be established using the things of this world. It is not made of those things. It consists in something else entirely.

Pilate comes to realize that Jesus is a king, even if he (Pilate) has little understanding and barely disguised contempt for this unique kind of kingship

“Therefore you are a king”, Pilate responds. Jesus replies, “It is you who say it”. This reply of Jesus is not just an expression of speech. He is referring back to their original exchange when Pilate asked if Jesus were a king, and Jesus wanted to know if Pilate was saying that of his own accord or because others had described him as a king. Now Jesus is pointing out that Pilate has come to affirm of his own accord that Jesus is a king. The governor has listened to Jesus speak and has concluded, “So you are a king then”. Jesus reply is to say in effect, “Yes, Pilate, you have said it. You who represent the Roman empire, the climax of temporal power, you can see that the kind of kingship I am talking about is completely different to that you know of”.

Jesus makes a dramatic statement to Pilate regarding his kingship and the very reason for his incarnation: he came to this world to bear witness to the truth about God. He is that truth in person, for God is love. The Kingdom of Jesus is a kingdom in which God pours himself out in love for all of humanity

Then Jesus makes a statement that is nothing less than an explanation of the reason for his incarnation. “For this I was born, for this I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth”. The power of Jesus consists in this truth that he bears witness to. This is a different sort of power to that of Pilate, a different kind of sword, a different kind of weapon of combat. It does not simply ward off death but destroys death from the inside. “Bearing witness to the truth” does not involve giving a lesson in philosophy nor entail delivering a certain conceptual content. It involves being something. In fact, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life”. Jesus bears witness to a truth that humanity has lost at the beginning of history, the truth about God. Humanity has been deceived by the serpent, the “father of lies”. Humanity has become a slave of wrongdoing because it thinks wrongly of God. As Jesus is dying on the Cross, he says, “It is accomplished”. Here on the Cross he reveals that God is love and that the serpent is a liar, that God is good and that he doesn’t deceive us, that he is on our side. Christ puts this truth into the heart of people, removing the violence from their hearts, the fear, the shame, the solitude. This is a kingdom completely unlike those kingdoms that are established and defended by violence. In the kingdoms established by despots, laws are imposed from above. In the Kingdom of Jesus, disciples act from the heart in freedom, bearing witness to truth, and living according to the rule of love.