I was wondering if any of you have the same problem I do about time? It seems the older I get the faster time goes by. Can you believe next Thursday is Thanksgiving? For some of us, the question is: Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?
When time goes that fast, I have a problem telling how long it’s been since something has happened. For instance, can you remember the big news event of several weeks ago? Back then, half the country was following the adventures of Prince Charles and Princess Di. How many of you really cared whether or not they saw the maternity clothes at Penney’s? A lot of folks seemed to. I’m always surprised at how many Americans are interested in royalty.
Of course, the reason I bring this up is because today we’re celebrating a royal holiday. Today is the Feast of Christ the King. It’s amazing to me, just how much attention we pay to a visit by British royalty and how little involved we are with a celebration like Christ the King. I guess part of it is the fact we’re fascinated by someone else’s royalty, but we really don’t know, first-hand, about Kings. After all, how many of you have ever met a real king? Not knowing a king, makes it hard for us in this country to celebrate a feast day like Christ the King. It’s hard for us to think about Kings at all, let alone think about Jesus Christ as being the King of kings.
When I mention the word “King,” itself, what comes to mind? For a lot of people, if you ask them to name a king, many of them might respond with “Burger King.”
We really don’t have much respect for kings in this country, ever since the days of George III. So, it’s no wonder we have a problem with a feast day like Christ the King, and to really feel what’s meant by such a title. Even when we try to substitute our image of a king with that of other leaders, we still have problems. Somehow “Christ the President” or “Christ the Chief Executive Officer” doesn’t quite make it.
Other ways of approaching the problem of a title like “Christ the King” aren’t very helpful either. We might try to think of the leadership qualities a king is suppose to have and come out with titles like: “Christ the Football Captain” or “Christ the Coach.” I don’t think the Vatican would accept either one as a substitute.
In order to get a better handle on today’s celebration, it seems we’ll need to ask another question: what kind of a king is Jesus? First of all, he certainly wasn’t a king who wore royal robes dripping with furs. He never wore a golden tiara. His only crown was made of thorns. He was not a king who had subjects. Instead, he had disciples or followers. He never compelled obedience, rather, he invited people to come to see what he did, what he had to say. Jesus was a companion, someone with whom you “break bread.”
He acted like a leader, but he didn’t look like a king. A lot of people had a problem with that. Pilate was one of them. He was puzzled in today’s Gospel Reading with the insignificant looking man in front of him. So, Pilate asked Jesus a question: what have you done? At times, I, too, am much like Pilate. The difference is I ask the question: Jesus, what have you done – for me? Why should I accept you as my king?
When Pilate asked his question, Jesus did not respond by telling Pilate about what he did or what he could do. Instead, Jesus told him the reason he was born was to testify to the truth. Jesus told Pilate not what he did, but rather who he was: the truth. Just as Jesus once told his friends he was “… the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
What did Jesus mean by “truth?” He didn’t mean some intellectual fact. In Hebrew, the word for truth is emeth. It doesn’t mean what we often think of as truth in the sense of what we can see and measure. The word, emeth, means reality, reliable. It means un-changeable, permanent. It means “to stand firm.”
Another Hebrew word related to emeth, or truth, is one we hear a lot. It is the word, amen. It means “I believe, I agree, I accept completely.” Colloquially, it could be translated as “Right On!” Every time we say Amen, we are testifying to the truth of our prayer, the reality of what we believe. At every mass, in response to the consecration of the host, we sing out a joyous “Amen.” And when we receive the bread from a minister who says “The body of Christ,” we whisper “amen … In this I stand firm, I witness to the truth.”
When Pilate asked Jesus what kind of a king are you? What have you done? Jesus did not tell him what he did, but rather, who he was: the truth, the reality which lasts forever. And when Pilate asked that question of Jesus: are you the King of Jews? Jesus, in turn, asked Pilate a question – a question which each of us needs to answer. Jesus asked Pilate: “Are you saying this on your own, or have others been telling you about me?”
I believe Jesus asks me the same question: “Do you say I am king on your own or do you say it because others tell you to say it?” The real question is: Do I really experience Jesus as the King, the Lord of my life? Am I committed to his truth? Do I hear his voice? When everything in life seems to be going wrong, when I feel under attack, do I stop and look for the King who stands by my side? A King who does not stand on a far distant hill overlooking my battle, but one, nearby, who takes my hand and leads me away from my troubles.
When others are being hurt within his kingdom, do I ignore them or do I understand that his kingdom is our kingdom? Do I understand I have a shared responsibility to help him in his maintaining, protecting the kingdom. And when I look around and see everything is not perfect, war and famine are still present, the earth still quakes and volcanoes still erupt, do I become disheartened with his kingdom, our kingdom, or do I truly understand this kingdom is not a place but a condition. This kingdom exists within all of us right now, yet It is still to come.
In the Second Reading for today, we are reminded we are a “Royal nation … in the service of God, the Father.” In the First Reading, we heard the dominion of Christ is an everlasting dominion, it shall not be taken away. His kingship shall not be destroyed. Each day, do I live as if I am part of a royal nation? Do I live as if I’m a part of an everlasting Kingdom? In all honesty, I don’t, but each day I try.
At the beginning of this reflection, I said time goes by more quickly each year. We have, once more, reached the end of the liturgical year. Next Sunday begins the first week of the new year, the first week in Advent, the time of waiting, of expecting. We begin to look forward to the celebration of Christmas, the celebration of the birth of the King of kings.
Today, the Feast of Christ the King marks the end of the church year. With the end of the year, there is a natural time for resolutions for a new year. There is no need to wait until January 1st of 1986. Today, right now, is a good time for me to make a set of resolutions, resolutions that will help me to acknowledge Jesus Christ is my King, my Lord. He invites me, today, to be part of his kingdom. Is today the day for you to make your own resolutions for the new year? Perhaps, if we start now, on the Feast of Christ the King, we will be more ready when it’s time to greet our King, the King of kings, when he comes. And when he comes, we can sing out a joyous “Amen.”
Christ the King; November 24, 1985
Dan 7:13-14; Rev 1:5-8; Jn 18:33b-37