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| Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio |
This Sunday is the 34th Sunday of Ordinary Time,
and as everyone knows, that means it is the Solemnity of Christ the King! This is the last Sunday of the liturgical
year. The last day of the liturgical
year will be Saturday, November 28, and Liturgical Year 2016 will begin with
the First Sunday of Advent, November 29.
I give thanks to God for many things at this time of year,
including the joy of living the liturgical calendar, which is such a
consolation and guide for one’s spirituality through the seasons of life and
the seasons of the year. Each liturgical
year is like a whole catechesis of the Christian faith, as well as a kind of
microcosm of the entire life of the believer, from birth and baptism to final
anointing and death.
The Feast of Christ the King emphasizes themes that were
very dear to the Mexican Christeros, the Catholics who rebelled against the
Mexican government in 1926-29 in order to preserve their freedom of
religion. Thousands died, some after
being mocked and tortured. A personal
favorite of mine is the young teen martyr Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio, who died
shouting “Long live Christ the King!” (Viva Christo Rey!)
The example of these martyrs remind us that, finally, every
human being will face Christ the King, the one who will pass final judgment on
all that has been done in this life.
Such is also the them for this Sunday’s readings.
1. The First Reading
is Daniel 7:13-14:
As
the visions during the night continued, I saw
one
like a Son of man coming,
on
the clouds of heaven;
when
he reached the Ancient One
and
was presented before him,
the
one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all
peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His
dominion is an everlasting dominion
that
shall not be taken away,
his
kingship shall not be destroyed.
This passage of Daniel 7 is a famous and controversial one
in biblical studies, because in it appear two figures or persons, both of whom
have divine characteristics. The
“Ancient One” or “Ancient of Days” mentioned in 7:13 is clearly an image of the
LORD God. Yet the “one like a Son of
man” who comes “on the clouds of heaven” is also a divine figure, because
“riding on the clouds” is a divine prerogative (see Psalm 18:7-15). Many scholars have noted this, and some, like
Jewish bible scholar Daniel Boyarin, have freely admitted that in late Judaism
there was already a notion of more than one person in the Godhead.
As Christians, we read this prophetic text and recognize progressive revelation. That is, as biblical revelation proceeds
toward the coming of Christ, the truths of faith begin to become clearer. So here already in Daniel 7, an Old Testament
text, we have an early vision of at least two persons of the Holy Trinity, God
the Father and God the Son.
It is not accidental, by the way, that Jesus’ favorite form
of self-reference in the Gospels is “Son of Man.” When Jesus calls himself that title, I am
convinced he has in mind two OT texts in particular: our text here, Daniel 7,
where the “Son of Man” receives all authority at the final judgment, and Psalm
8, where the Son of Man is made “a little less than God” or “for a little
while, less than God”, but then has “all things put under his feet.” People think that Jesus’ title “Son of Man”
refers to his mortality or his human nature, but in fact it is a reference to his
eschatological role as king and judge.
This becomes most clear at Jesus’ final trial, when he is asked
point-blank if he is the Christ:
Mark
14:61 But he was silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him,
“Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
62 And Jesus said, “I am; and you will see the Son of man seated
at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
So at this dramatic point in his earthly ministry, Jesus
refers to our First Reading to define his identity, and point to his role as
eschatological judge.
2. The Responsorial
Psalm is Psalm 93:1, 1-2, 5
R. (1a) The LORD is king; he is
robed in majesty.
The
LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed
is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The LORD is king; he is robed
in majesty.
And
he has made the world firm,
not
to be moved.
Your
throne stands firm from of old;
from
everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The LORD is king; he is robed
in majesty.
Your
decrees are worthy of trust indeed;
holiness
befits your house,
O
LORD, for length of days.
R. The LORD is king; he is robed
in majesty.
We should note that Psalm 93 is just four psalms into Book
IV of the Psalter. The Psalter consists
of five Books of psalms, and each Book has a distinct mood and character. Book IV is a collection of meditations from
the perspective of Judah’s exile. At the
end of Book III, the Kingdom of David is destroyed in Psalm 89:38-51. In the wake of that disaster, Book IV is a
spiritual reflection on how to respond to a situation in which everything seems
to have fallen apart, and all visible protection and security for God’s people
seems gone. So, Book IV never mentions
the reign of the Son of David, but frequently speaks of God’s reign. Book IV tells the people of Judah in exile:
even when things are falling apart, our God is still in ultimate control!
Everyone knows that the Catholic Church is facing various
forms of persecution, some blatant, some subtle, in almost every country of the
world. Whether the national government
is militantly secular in the developed West; or Islamic in north Africa, the
Middle East, and Southeast Asia; or Communist (still!) in China and Cuba; there
are few places on the globe where the political powers are sympathetic to the
Church. This can lead us to feeling that history is out of control, and God has
vacated his role as king.
It’s helpful to remember, however, that this phenomenon is
nothing new. St. Augustine, for example,
was on his deathbed in AD 430 when the Vandals were besieging his beloved city
of Hippo, and it looked like Latin Christian civilization was going to be
completely, violently destroyed. More
recently, many believers met their ends in the Cristeros rebellion in Mexico (1926-29) or the Spanish Civil War
(1936-39) under conditions where it was not at all clear the Church would
survive at all. Yet these saints and
martyrs did not give up their confidence that “The LORD is king! He is robed in majesty!” This is always
a cry of faith, not sight, while
we sojourn in this “valley of tears.”
3. Our Second
Reading is Revelation 1:5-8:
Jesus
Christ is the faithful witness,
the
firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.
To
him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
who
has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father,
to
him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Behold,
he is coming amid the clouds,
and
every eye will see him,
even
those who pierced him.
All
the peoples of the earth will lament him.
Yes.
Amen.
"I
am the Alpha and the Omega, " says the Lord God,
"the
one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty."
This is the introduction to the Book of Revelation, much of
which is about the end of history and the return of Christ the King. This passage in particular is a series of
significant allusions to Old Testament texts.
The phrase “firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth”
is an allusion to Psalm 89 (esp. v. 27) and refers to Jesus status as Son of
David and King over the House of David, which was to rule the whole earth (Ps
89:25-27). “Who has made us into a
kingdom, priests for his God and Father,” is an allusion to God’s promise to
Israel before the revelation of the covenant at Sinai in Exodus 19:5-6, where
he promises that if they obey they covenant, they will become “a kingdom of
priests” or better, “a royal priesthood.”
Israel at Sinai rejected God’s covenant and also this royal priestly
status; but it is granted now to those who join themselves to Jesus Christ.
Next, we here “Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,” a
reference to our First Reading; and then, “every eye will see him, even those
who pierced him,” an allusion to the mysterious prophecy of Zech 12:10, which
seems to predict the death-by-piercing of the heir of the royal house, the Son
of David.
This montage of Scriptural allusions helps to communicate
the fact that, at the return of Christ, all the prophecy and typology in
Scripture will find its culmination and fulfillment. He is the “Alpha and Omega”: all revelation
is fulfilled in Him.
4. The Gospel is John
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."
This is one of the great dramatic dialogues in biblical
literature; indeed, in all world literature.
It lacks only Pilate’s cynical, or perhaps despairing, final reply,
“What is Truth?” (John 18:38).
This passage is a great reminder to us all about the nature
of Jesus kingdom and his kingship. It is
not of this world.
That does not mean it is not in this world. The Kingdom
of Christ is very much in this
world. Its visible manifestation is the
Catholic Church. We could go into a
description of many impressive external features of the Catholic Church: with
over a billion members and 2000 years of history, it is both the world’s
largest and oldest organization.
Contrary to appearances, it remains a major, perhaps the major, driver of world culture. World institutions and concepts that everyone
takes for granted—like the hospital, the university, and “human rights”—come
squarely out of the cultural heritage of the Catholic Church, even if their
origin is forgotten. Even the dominant
political force of our day—Western social liberalism, with its suffocating
“political correctness,” “anti-discrimination,” and unsustainable
government-funded welfare programs—has religious roots in Catholicism. It’s basically Catholic charity divorced from
Catholic theology and morality.
So we could talk about visible manifestations of Christ’s
kingdom, and its influence on the world, but this would be a distraction.
The heart of Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. It is in the next.
As Catholics, we distinguish the Church Triumphant (the
saints in heaven) from the Church Militant (us struggling here below). The heart of the Church, and the Kingdom, is
with the Church Triumphant, the “Jerusalem which is above, our Mother,” to
which we are joined by faith and the sacraments. The Church militant is only a little tip of
the iceberg that pokes out into temporal reality. The rest of the “iceberg”—the major part of
it—has already been perfected in heaven.
We Catholics truly need to cultivate our hope for heaven and
follow St. Paul’s advice to “seek the things that are above,
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” We get too distracted trying to seek comfort,
pleasure, peace, and safety in this temporary life. St. Paul goes on: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are
on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life appears, then
you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:1-4). This Feast gives us a good opportunity for us
to make an examination of conscience:
What am I living for? Is it to
make a little more money or have a little more fun? Is that what motivates me to get up in the
morning? Or have I begun to look forward
to heaven, and keep a vision of Christ awaiting me at the end of my life as a
motivation to keep going day by day? For
the saints and martyrs, it was, ironically, their lively hope in heaven that
gave them the courage to do the things necessary to make a real difference on
earth.
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