A Homily – The Thirty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B), The Solemnity of Christ the King

First Reading – Daniel 7:13-14

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 92(93):1-2,5

Second Reading – Apocalypse 1:5-8

Gospel Acclamation – Mark 11:10

The Gospel According to John 18:33-37

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

 The writers of the book of Daniel are more interested in pomp and circumstance, in titles and royal courts than they are in the true work of the living and loving God, the creator of the universe.

 Remember.

 God is not a king, and Jesus was not a prince. God is a servant, as was the Christ. Therefor, do not seek glory, but rather seek to do good by your neighbor, your family, the stranger…even your adversary.

 Do not look for the God at the head of an army; the divine is not a general. Jesus does not come in a war-chariot, or with any of our other engines of war. Rather look for God in the marginalized, the hungry and the poor.

 If you wish to speak of the rule of God, understand that the divine reigns over the world as a gardener over a garden, or as the shepherdess governs her flock.

 If you desire to see the glory of God look into the sky; you will see the divine splendor in the glory of the stars, in the light of a trillon trillon galaxies that reaches us where we are.

 Be mindful.

 God dwells in everyone; look for the divine in humility, in the outcast, in the widow and the orphan. God is in the heart of the alien in our midst.

 When you honor them, you honor your creator, sustainer and savior.

 It is true that no human being has witnessed a power like that which was present at the beginning of time, God’s infinite power established the firmament; a creation of light form light, the immanent from the transcendent, the creature from the creator, the God in our heart from the God on high.

 Listen to the voice of God, it is within you and all around you. See the face of God in your neighbor…whoever they are.

 Know this.

 Jesus is not priest but a prophet; in his life he was a teacher, a healer and a friend to those in need; he took it upon himself to lay down his life so that we might see the way.

 Remember.

 God is not a king, and the Church, following in the way cannot be imagined as the extension of a royal dynasty.

 Now consider the Gospel reading today:

 It was an unfortunate moment in the development of our faith that the gospel writers felt compelled to use the narrative of Jesus’ arrest to present him as a king.

 Jesus did not seek kingship; kingdoms are human constructions. Kings invariably place their people in bondage, treat human beings as assets and spend their lives as if they were worthless things. It is not a different type of kingdom that Jesus wanted to inaugurate, but a world without kings.

 The analogy we ought to look to, if we are to create a new Church that is in keeping with the way, has nothing to do with royalty and power, with dominion and thrones, but with the nurture of life, growing, caring and loving.

 That language we use that presents God, and by extension Jesus as king, has dogged us all-the-way-down through the last twenty centuries and thwarted the mission of Jesus. This language gave rise to empires and principalities, kingdoms and caliphates, that even today use our sacred texts and traditions to prop up feed their greed, to prop of their vanity, and justify their callous disregard for the human beings whom God would rather we serve.

 

First Reading – Daniel 7:13-14

I Saw, Coming on the Clouds of Heaven, One Like a Son of Man

I gazed into the visions of the night.

And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man.

He came to the one of great age and was led into his presence.

On him was conferred sovereignty, glory and kingship, and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.

His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty which shall never pass away, nor will his empire ever be destroyed.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 92(93):1-2,5

The Magnificence of the Creator

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

The Lord reigns! He is robed in splendour,

  clothed in glory and wrapped round in might.

He set the earth on its foundations:

  it will not be shaken.

Your throne is secure from the beginning;

  from the beginning of time, Lord, you are.

The rivers have raised, O Lord,

  the rivers have raised their voices.

  The rivers have raised their clamour.

Over the voices of many waters,

  over the powerful swell of the sea,

  you are the Lord, powerful on high.

All your promises are to be trusted:

  and holy is your habitation,

  O Lord, to the end of time.

The Lord is Wonderful on High

Amen.

Alleluia. Alleluia.

 

Second Reading – Apocalypse 1:5-8

Jesus Christ Has Made Us a Line of Kings and Priests

Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-Born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. It is he who is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

 

Gospel Acclamation – Mark 11:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessings on the coming kingdom of our father David!

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to John 18:33-37

Yes, I Am a King

‘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 I 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, I am a king. I was born for this, I 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.’

 

A Homily – The Thirty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

The Solemnity of Christ the King