November 25^th 2018. Feast of Christ the King

GOSPEL: JN 18,33B-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: JN 18,33B-37

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."

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

Kieran’s summary . . . The feast of Christ the King marks the end of the liturgical year. In the Gospel, we see him before Pilate. What kind of king can he be? He is a condemned prisoner, about to be humiliated and killed. What kind of kingship is that? As history unfolded, however, no man came to have the kind of impact that Jesus of Nazareth did. Even people who don’t believe in him must confess that he has exerted an influence on the world that can be matched by no other individual. But if we look closely at the scene with Pilate, we already begin to see that Jesus has a kingship that is utterly different to the powers of this world. The rulers of this world rule by force and coercion. They themselves are contaminated by the very power they exert. But Jesus shows before Pilate that he has a freedom that is unheard of. His nobility consists in his capacity to be unreachable by mundane powers of this sort. Who has freedom of this sort? Pilate certainly hadn’t. Does true freedom consist of wandering around the streets doing what you like? Or is freedom something that can be possessed wherever you are, even if you are in chains? Who bears true royalty, the one who is possessed by things, or the one who is able to detach himself from things? Who is more powerful, the one who can coerce people into doing what he wants, or the one who loves everyone he meets, even those who do him wrong? Royalty of that sort is not of this world! Jesus of Nazareth reveals to us the kind of people we, deep down, long to be. When we marry, we long to be able to love in the same radical way that he loves. When we begin a friendship, we long to be able to be true in the way that he is true. Jesus has the power of love, and he has the power to plant love in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. This is real power! This is the power of Christ our King!

The end of any process is important. The feast of Christ the King marks the end of the liturgical year. It is an opportunity to reflect on who Christ is for me as time comes to an end

With the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, we conclude the liturgical year. The question we ask ourselves is: how do we understand the kingship of Christ? On this feast, which comes at the end of the year, the liturgy is inviting us to reflect on the entire year. The endpoint of any journey or process is always very significant. This feast is the celebration of the royal dominion of Jesus of Nazareth, true God and true man. The readings open with a passage from the prophet Daniel which reflects the great suffering endured by the people at the time this book was written. Israel was under the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. The prophet during the hours of the nights sees a figure like a “Son of Man” coming upon the clouds, a man who will be given all glory, power and dominion, and to which all peoples will render homage.

But what kind of king is Jesus? He is a condemned prisoner, about to be humiliated and killed. Yet Jesus is the person who has had the greatest influence on human history, even for those who do not believe in him

The dialogue between Pilate and Jesus evokes this kingdom referred to in the first reading. The scene from the Gospel of John is the dramatic and tragic encounter between the Lord and the Roman procurator. Pilate wishes to know in what sense Jesus can be considered a rival to the power and dominion of Rome. Jesus replies, “Yes, I am a king, but not of this world. I am a king of a different sort”. But in what sense can Jesus be described as a king? He has been accused and is about to be condemned. He has no apparent power, and will soon be humiliated and tortured in every manner imaginable. What kind of king is that! In human terms, he is the most miserable of all. What sort of kingdom does he rule over? What sort of kingship or dominion has a person who seems powerless before the status quo? Surely, he is the king of nothing, a king without any relevance? But, wait a minute. In all of history there is no man more famous than Jesus of Nazareth! Before him, all of the ages must bend. No-one has left a greater mark in human history, even if we do not believe in him or welcome him. There can be no shadow of a doubt about this. The obscure, thirty-something carpenter, who neither wrote nor built anything, and left no visible work behind him, is nevertheless the man with the greatest influence on the movement of human history. Many people who have no interest in him nevertheless have to reckon with him in order to understand where they stand in the progress of human affairs.

If we look closely, we see in Jesus a royalty and kingship that is utterly different to the mundane powers of this world. Jesus is completely free, totally capable of love, detached from the things of this world that cause enslavement

So there is something strange here in this prisoner who stands before Pilate. Perhaps he bears a royalty that goes beyond this world, has nothing to do with the vanities of this world? Yes, this is not only true but terribly important. What is human power after all if not a function of coercion and force that fails utterly to give true liberty? The powerful tend to exploit their power for their own ends. The power is not only used for the domination of others, but ultimately comes to dominate and contaminate even the ones who have the power. In reality, this dialogue between Pilate and Jesus is a conflict between a world system of enslavement and a man who is beyond worldly power of that sort, a man with an unheard-of freedom. If we look closely at this confrontation between the governor of the people of Judea and the man who had been rejected by those same people, we will see in fact that we have here a very normal man in the presence of the sort of nobility that had never been seen before. His nobility consists in his capacity to be unreachable by mundane powers of this sort. Who has freedom of this sort? Pilate certainly hadn’t. Does true freedom consist of wandering around the streets doing what you like? Or is freedom something that can be possessed wherever you are, even if you are in chains? Who bears true royalty, he who possesses everything, or he who is free from everything? The one who is possessed by things, or the one who is able to detach himself from things? Who is more powerful, the one who can coerce people into doing what he wants, or the one who loves everyone he meets, even those who do him wrong? Royalty of that sort is not of this world!

The kingship and power of Christ is in his utter freedom to love. He bestows on us the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we too can be transformed from being cold-hearted to being capable of authentic love. This is the power of Christ – a power not of this world!

All this liturgical year, we have journeyed in order to have his truth in our hearts. If a human heart opens itself to truth, then that truth will speak with the voice of Jesus of Nazareth. As he says, “Whoever is of the truth, listens to my voice”. How many people have stood before this man crucified and risen and found themselves probed to their depths by his love. What Jesus has manifested to us is what humanity seeks to encounter and desires to be. When a man marries, he wants to love in this radical way. When a woman marries, she wants to love in the same manner. When two people embark on a friendship, they wish to have an authentic relationship by behaving in the way that Christ behaves. We cannot do it without his help. It is great to see humans giving the best of themselves without ever arriving at the sublimity of this man. Not only is Jesus capable of loving, he is able to plant love in human hearts. He is able to transform cold hearts into places that are filled with love. This is where his power resides! This is the power that we celebrate on the feast of Christ the King! Let us not expect from him victory in this world. What we expect from him is the gift of his Holy Spirit which sets us free and makes us greater, completely independent of this world and free to love.

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