The Solemnity of Christ the King November 21, 2010

Transcription

1 Above him there was an inscription that read, This is the King of the Jews (Luke 23:38). The Solemnity of Christ the King November 21, 2010 First Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-3 1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, "Look, we are your bone and flesh. 2 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." 3 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.

2 Second Reading: Colossians 1: For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 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. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 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. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 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 Reading: Luke 23: 34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, 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!" 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" 38 There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews." 39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." 42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43 He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

3 Homily What is the origin of the Solemnity of Christ the King? It was Pope Pius XI ( ) who designated the Feast of Christ the King. And it has some parallels with the celebration of the Ascension, but with more of a distinctive social action component. Those of you who have spent time in our chapel at St. Junia s House will recall that the cross behind the altar depicts Christ the King of Glory rather than Christ the Crucified. Our King is in priestly vestments and a crown and no thorns on his head, and yet he is depicted on the cross. 1 This is a real irony of overlapping images which is intentional in the iconographer who painted it. When I was in the process of furnishing the chapel in 2006, I chose this cross rather than one only depicting Christ crucified. To me, it was the King of Glory that I prayed would be celebrated here. This is the last Sunday of the Church year, before Advent marks the beginning of the new liturgical year. The question is, in what way is -- or was -- Christ considered a King, both in his own era as well as in ours? Is he the kind of King depicted below? Some groups of believers do expect a literal return of Christ to power on earth. 1 If you d like to see this icon cross, go to the website and on the first page, click on photo album, and it will take you to nine different photo albums. Then click on the one that says St. Junia s House and the 4 th photo shows this cross.

4 In scripture, it is apparent that at least some of his disciples and other followers hoped for a Messiah who would supplant Roman rule, who would become a worldly ruler of some sort. Some scholars have hypothesized that Jesus was a political dissident with political aspirations. Disciples jockeyed for position in the coming kingdom, not understanding what was coming down and were chastised by Jesus who told them that they were missing the boat by arguing about who would sit on his right or his left in the coming kingdom. One theory about Judas that has been discussed by some scholars is that he was one who was disappointed when ascertaining that Jesus concept of King was not the hoped-for here-and-now King. We see in iconography visions of two divergent versions of Jesus as King. I owe the two images copied in below to Father Greg Singleton+ of the ECC Franciscan Community in Chicago who included them in his weekly liturgical reflections. 2 We notice in the first image, seen above, the idea of an earthly king. As pointed out by Father Greg+, in our second image depicted below, we see Christ the Pantokrator which means ruler of all, is a more cosmic, mystical and eternal kind of King. We have an important concept developing between this Festival and the coming Advent. This Festival evokes a strong eschatological theme, where the powers of evil 2 If you would like to receive his weekly reflections by , which are very short, only two pages but very good, write to him at:

5 will progressively be subdued by the coming Christchild. In the German Lutheran tradition, it was known as Eternity Sunday. Johan Sebastian Bach composed a piece called Sleepers, Awake for this occasion. What is meant by eschatology? It is a fancy theological term but its meaning has been somewhat contaminated by the so-called end-timers. That wonderful on-line source, Wikipedia, succinctly tells us: The word "eschatology" (pronounced "eskatology") is derived from two Greek words meaning "last" and "study" (ἔσχατος, last; and λογία, lit. discourse). It is the study of the end of things, whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, or the end of the world. Broadly speaking, it is the study of the destiny of man as it is revealed in the Bible. So we see that theological concepts of the so-called end-times also encompasses other kinds of ends, including our own personal endings. What can we know about the end, either our own, or our culture, or our era, or even our world? Perhaps there is some value in this study, even if precision about our end is not attained. It is of value to attempt to reconstruct what Jesus himself said and believed. Jesus identified with the lowly and did not accept the definitions that others wanted to project on to him. Thus, He did not answer when Pilate asked him if He were a king. He did not seek to save Himself nor to prove to others who He was. A sign was put over him, mocking him as the King of the Jews. One of the thieves in the very process of being executed opened himself and understood what Jesus kingdom was, and asked that he be remembered when Jesus came into His kingdom. And how did Christ answer? Today you will be with me in Paradise. So how did the early Christians make sense of changing understandings of Jesus Kingdom after the crucifixion? The ancient hymn to Jesus found in Colossians, which we indented above so that it would stand out for you is similar in genre to other hymns found planted in New Testament books from earlier sources (such as Philippians 2:6-11, or John 1:1-14). It depicts how the very earliest Christians viewed Jesus and his kingship, perhaps within the first decade after the crucifixion. We can see that Jesus was seen to have been present in Creation, and again creating continually through wisdom. Thus, the earthly perspective was inverted and a divine perspective emerges. He was able to reconcile everything on earth and in heaven through his acceptance of death. He did what we are incapable of doing for ourselves in our struggles to attain kingship giving up our self-sufficiency, ambition, arrogance, envy, and dominance. We can resist them only insofar as we identify ourselves with him. Returning to our second reading, the phrase, in him all things hold together leaps out at me today. How can we live in the tension between here-and-now and larger divine perspectives? It is in Christ that all things are held together. in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things.

6 We can live with the tension between the temporal and the eternal as we follow Christ s model. In him was the fullness of God, and through him, God is pleased to reconcile all these disparate claims and conflicts in ourselves, in our era, in our culture, and in our world. Jesus was probably not called Christ during his entire lifetime. His name, Jesus, is also the same as Joshua in Hebrew, meaning God is salvation. And in what way was He to become our salvation? So Jesus saves us (then and now) by refusing to live out or participate in our twisted wishes to dominate and control. He was not powerless nor weak, but he refused to accept our premises (then and now). His was an earth-shaking revolution coming in the form of a mystery that we can scarcely allow into our consciousness. We balk, run, or resist when we ourselves are accused by others but he completely accepted the appearance of utter guilt. Rene Girard, a Stanford professor, wrote a book called Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World in which he demonstrated how Jesus dismantled motives of desire giving up envy or greed, or lust for power -- violence, and retribution. We also see this depicted at the beginning of his ministry after his baptism where Satan meets him in the desert where he has gone to pray and fast for forty days. If he would but bow down and worship Satan, he would be given the world. A Hebrew Testament concept seen here is that asserting human kingship (ownership, control) runs a risk of denying God s ultimate sovereignty. It is the misappropriation of Kingship by humankind that degenerates into tyranny of one kind or another. In other words, when we crown ourselves king or queen, we have asserted ourselves over God. This is not the same as asserting confidence in the gifts we ve been given and using them appropriately. We are at risk of misappropriating our gifts for our own self-aggrandizement, or to exert control over others, and thus to misuse our power. Jesus understood perfectly when to exercise power or not. King Christ, what is all this fullness that is pleased to dwell in you? Is it everything beautiful that resides in you? How about wisdom and endless capacity to forgive? Or is it simply your gentlest love that cradles all the world? Could just a thimble of this fullness be pleased to dwell in us? Amen.