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

The Solemnity of Christ the King

 

First Reading – 2 Samuel 5:1-3 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 121(122):1-5

Second Reading – Colossians 1:12-20 ©

Gospel Acclamation – Mark 11:10

The Gospel According to Luke 23.35 - 43 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Listen!

Beware the folly of kings, beware of their pride and their vanity. Human beings were not made to be ruled by tyrants.

Remember this!

You were conceived in the womb of salvation; it is pointless to seek that which has already found you.

Open your eyes.

Pay no attention to what the psalmist says: all this talk of secure cities and ramparts and thrones. God has nothing to do with these. God is not a king and does not dwell behind a walled city.

God, the creator of the universe, God is not a tribal deity; God does not belong to one people, one nation, one world or one galaxy.

God is infinite and eternal and beyond our comprehension, and yet God is with us, within us in the most intimate way; God is the being through whom we have our existence, in whom we came into being…the divine spirit is everywhere.

Know this.

It is right to give our thanks and praise to God; the thanks that we give for our own well-being should reflect the hope we should foster for all people, for the fullness of humanity to share in the same blessing.

Consider the wisdom of the apostle, he see in Jesus the image of the unseen God, the unknowable and un-nameable God. He tells us what the writers of John’s Gospel later affirm, that all things were created in Christ, the Word of God, who Jesus of Nazareth is a reflection of, and that all things and beings are created by God, in God and through God for Gods purposes and redound to the good that is God in the end; all principalities and all powers, all of the poor, all of the alienated and all of those who suffer belong to the divine...God holds us all together in the unity of the divine being.

Remember.

God is not a king, a prince or a lord. The Church, following in the way which Jesus showed us, can never be the extension of a royal dynasty, the Church is not an empire, it is not a feudal kingdom…we are a priesthood, a society of servants.

Understand this.

A person cannot expect a reward in this life, for having lived a good life; the good life is its own reward and nothing more shall be forthcoming.

One person may experience a long life, surrounded by family and friends, admired by their community, living out their days in peace and abundance, while another person may be reviled by their community, abandoned by their friends, framed for criminal offences and executed for crimes they did not commit.

 There is no divine plan concerning what happens to us as we endure the day-to-day vicissitudes of human existence.

 God made each of us free, all of creation is free from divine coercion. The divine plan does not touch us in this world it only promises to deliver us to another world when we are done with this one…that is the way of things.

 Our solace come from our hope in God’s promise, that both the things we enjoy and the things we suffer here are temporary…God will wash them all away like the tears from face…this is the promise of God.

 Know this.

 We have no choice but to endure the things that come our way, or enjoy them, such as the case might be. Our experience of this world is ephemeral; a person may live their entire life outside of the bounds of good society and wisdom may still come to them at the end.

 Listen to the voice of wisdom when you hear it; wisdom is wisdom regardless of the voice it speaks through.

 Truth is truth, and lies are lies; attenuate yourself to the differences between them.

 Reflect on this:

 Do not make the mistake of believing that God saved one of the criminals who died next to Jesus and condemned the other. Both men are children of God and beloved by the creator. A person is not saved because of their ability to recognize the divinity in Jesus, we are saved because God loves us and made us to be saved, there is no other causal factor than divine love…God’s plan encompasses everyone…this is the good news that Jesus preached.

First Reading – 2 Samuel 5:1-3 ©

They Anointed David King of Israel

All the tribes of Israel then came to David at Hebron. ‘Look’ they said ‘we are your own flesh and blood. In days past when Saul was our king, it was you who led Israel in all their exploits; and the Lord said to you, “You are the man who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you shall be the leader of Israel.”’ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a pact with them at Hebron in the presence of the Lord, and they anointed David king of Israel.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 121(122):1-5

They filled me with joy when they said,

  “We will go to the house of the Lord.”

Now our feet are standing

  within your gates, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, built as a city,

  whole and self-contained:

there the tribes have gone up,

  the tribes of the Lord –

the witness of Israel,

  to praise the Lord’s name.

For there are the thrones of justice,

  the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

  “Safety for those who care for you,

peace inside your walls,

  security within your ramparts!”

For my brethren and those near to me I will say

  “Peace be upon you.”

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

  I will call blessings upon you.

 

Second Reading – Colossians 1:12-20 ©

The Father has Created a Place for Us in the Kingdom of the Son that He Loves

We give thanks to the Father who has made it possible for you to join the saints and with them to inherit the light.

Because that is what he has done: he has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son that he loves, and in him, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.

He is the image of the unseen God and the first-born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers – all things were created through him and for him.

Before anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity.

Now the Church is his body, he is its head.

As he is the Beginning, he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should be first in every way; because God wanted all perfection to be found in him and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when he made peace by his death on the cross.

 

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 Luke 23.35 - 43 ©

'Today You Will Be with Me in Paradise'

The people stayed there before the cross watching Jesus. As for the leaders, they jeered at him. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.’ The soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer vinegar they said, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.’ Above him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews.’

One of the criminals hanging there abused him. ‘Are you not the Christ?’ he said. ‘Save yourself and us as well.’ But the other spoke up and rebuked him. ‘Have you no fear of God at all?’ he said. ‘You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus,’ he said ‘remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ ‘Indeed, I promise you,’ he replied ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’

 

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

The Solemnity of Christ the King