Gospel Reflection
This week marks the end of the liturgical year. Next week, with the first week of Advent, we begin the new liturgical cycle. It is fitting that the Church concludes the liturgical year with the celebration of Christ the King. The Gospel this Sunday breaks from our usual Gospel of Mark, to read from John’s Passion account. On Sundays we hear just a small section of the Gospel and so can miss its wider context. This is particularly true this Sunday. Throughout the entire narrative of John’s Gospel, Jesus has spoken of his passion, his ‘Hour’, not as a death, but as a ‘lifting up’.
The conversation between Jesus and Pilate displays a lot of word play on the part of Jesus and quite a lot of confusion on the part of Pilate. The confusion stems from different perceptions of what it means to be a king. For Pilate, part of the most powerful political and military rule in the ancient world, the idea of a king was a threat. Claiming kingship was claiming authority and power that would inevitably lead to challenging the authority and power of Rome and, more directly, its representative in Palestine – Pilate.
Jesus, of course, had a completely different idea about ushering in a kingdom. He does indeed declare that he is a king and that is what leads us to Sunday’s Feast of Christ the King. However, his intention is not to claim a position of power and authority. When we think back to Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom of God, we recall that he declares the people of highest status – the first – in the kingdom to be the lowliest of this world. It is the poor, the sick, the outcast, the children and the widows who will hold the highest places in the kingdom of God. In a kingdom like that, what does it mean to declare oneself king? The confusion about what it means to be a king that is captured in this interaction between Jesus and Pilate is the same confusion that we saw among the disciples as they came to terms with exactly what it means to be the Messiah.
Jesus says to Pilate that he came into the world ‘to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’ That is where Sunday’s gospel passage finishes but as the gospel continues on, Pilate famously asks Jesus ‘What is truth?’ and the question is left dangling; unanswered. The truth Jesus has borne witness to is the truth of his whole life – the revelation of God’s love for humanity. It is for proclaiming this truth that Jesus is placed on trial and is brought before Pilate.
Unfortunately, political and military images of kingship have played a dominating role in the Church since very early in its history. The very earliest Christians, or followers of the Way, did not conform to social and political hierarchies of their day. But when Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Roman Empire the structure of the Church quickly adopted the political and social structures of the empire. At times in history the Pope has adopted a regal status and led huge armies into battle. Many of these structures persist today and we sometimes struggle to recapture Jesus’ intention when he declared himself a king.
When Jesus speaks about the Kingdom of God he never gives a particularly clear picture of what he means. He usually refers to the kingdom with metaphoric language (‘the kingdom of God is like …’) and often the kingdom is defined by what it is not. The kingdom is also a real contradiction: it is here and now and yet it is still to come; it is almost impossible for some to enter the kingdom while others are assured a place; it is within us and in our hearts and yet is a great banquet to which all are invited.
Jesus, as king, does not claim the sort of over-bearing political, military, or economic power that Pilate exercises on behalf of the Roman emperor. His authority has nothing to do with power over or domination of others. It is grounded in truth (1:17) or, in other words, in the revelation of God. Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life” (14:6) and his mission is to testify to the truth. The path to freedom and life lies in acceptance of the truth (8:32): “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
To celebrate this Feast, then, is to move in the direction of peaceful solutions to the conflicts in our world and away from the paths of violence and domination. It is to seek the truth in dialogue and to respond to the plight of those who suffer the pain of hunger, of persecution and of loss. It is to rule as God rules and not as Rome ruled. It is to look again at how we inhabit our world and to change our ways for the sake of truth and life, the present and future life of our beleaguered planet. As we move into the Season of Advent let us remember that Jesus must be the ruler of every part of our lives—family, work, personal, intellectual, and physical.
Prayer for the Feast of Christ the King
O Lord our God, You alone are the Most Holy King and Ruler of all nations.
We pray to You, Lord, in the great expectation of receiving from You, O Divine King, mercy, peace, justice and all good things.
Protect, O Lord our King, our families and the land of our birth.
Guard us we pray Most Faithful One.
Protect us from our enemies and from Your Just Judgment.
Forgive us, O Sovereign King, our sins against you.
Jesus, You are a King of Mercy.
We have deserved Your Just Judgment
Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.
We trust in Your Great Mercy.
O most awe-inspiring King, we bow before You and pray;
May Your Reign, Your Kingdom, be recognized on earth.
Amen.
