“For this I was
born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth” (John 18:37)
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of
the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All
rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
(Year B: Christ the King, 21st
November 2021)
Two things strike me in hearing once again this
short extract from the Gospel of John. First, as John tells the story, Jesus
shows himself not to be afraid of anyone: neither Pontius Pilate the Prefect of
the Roman province of Judaea or Caiaphas the High Priest or the mob baying for
his life and blood. He faced power knowing what was before him. The second
striking feature of this story is that Jesus does not allow anyone – least of
all his adversaries and accusers – to define who he is. Pilate demands answers
to questions he has framed. Jesus does not engage with him: rather He declares
plainly who he is.
Meek and humble as he was, Jesus as Son of
God and Son of Man was no push over. He
stood his ground for truth and for human liberation. He is, after all, the Way, the Truth and the Life
(John
14.6). He is not some interpretation of truth or some projection of our
limited ideas of truth and goodness in the 21st century.
One of the reasons Jesus was executed is
that he walked, knowingly, into confrontation with the religious and,
ultimately, Roman political authorities of his time. These two authorities were
openly collaborating with each other.
Now, Jesus could have chosen more nuanced
language. He could have bit his tongue. He could have curried favours with the
‘powers-that-be’. He could have checked what he said with some legal experts to
avoid lawsuits over defamation and libel. He could have avoided making a scene
in Jerusalem and especially in the Temple. In fact, he could have stuck to
pious teaching, performed a few miracles and healings and generally lead a
quiet and sheltered life and not transgressed particular boundaries where the
Sabbath, or purity laws or other conventions were concerned.
But this was not Jesus’ way.
His rule was and is, today, based on love –
real love that this world hardly knows. It is a reign of profound gentleness,
utter kindness and a loving and free invitation. In other words, it is a type
of reigning with which we are very unfamiliar.
However, there is a chance that we can find that spark within us where
the Risen Jesus is mysteriously present ever and always. The first in-breaking of the Kingdom starts
with its out-breaking in my heart and your heart and someone else’s heart.
Where two or three are sincerely gathered in his name and united in his love
there is the Kingdom right now, in our midst. ‘For this I was born, and for
this I came into the world, to testify to the truth’ (verse 37) says the Lord.
In a sense all of us as disciples can share in the costly priesthood of Jesus
who gave himself in kingly service of the truth. We may, too, share in his
kingship and face with courage and faith those who ridicule, misunderstand or
persecute us.
The late Dutch writer and theologian, Henri
Nouwen, helps us to understand the significance of this Sunday when he wrote:
"on the last Sunday of the liturgical
year, Christ is presented to us as the mocked King on the Cross as well of the
King of the universe. The greatest humiliation and the greatest victory are
both shown to us in today's liturgy. It is important to look at this humiliated
and victorious Christ before we start the new liturgical year with the
celebration of Advent. All through the year we have to stay close to the
humiliation as well as to the victory of Christ, because we are called to live
both in our own daily lives."
As we read, today, in the Book of
Revelation (1:6):
To him who loves us and freed us from our
sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests
serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen.
(words
above = 655)
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Notes
The choice of passage fits with the solemn
feast of Christ the King. You might be
surprised to know that this is a relatively new feast in the Western Christian
Calendar – instituted as it was by Pope Pius XI in 1925 against a particular
political context globally as well as in Italy at that time. In time, many
Western Christian churches followed this lead including the Church of England
and most churches in communion with the See of Canterbury.
Talk of Kingdom and Kingdom of Heaven is
all over the scriptures including the four gospels. This can be a little
off-putting to some people especially in Ireland as notions of royalty,
privilege and submission are foreign to modern-day civic republicanism. However, we are not talking, today, about
kingdom in the common earthly sense. Did you know that the word, ‘kingdom’, as
in heavenly kingdom or kingdom of God, crops up over 100 times in the four
Gospels in the form of the Greek word, basileia, or some grammatical
variation on basileia). Yet, in the four gospels, the word, church, or ekklêsia
is only used twice and that in Matthew, only. Clearly, ‘kingdom’ is an
important reality that Jesus came to announce and to initiate in the here and
now.
The context for a kingly messiah is set in
the Hebrew scriptures where, for long, the Jewish people looked to a
restoration of kingly power to unite and lead God’s people. However, the idea of royalty only arrived
late in the history of Israel. In the first book of Samuel (1 Samuel 8) we learn that God only reluctantly agreed to make Saul a king. The
behaviour of the various kings that followed Saul was less than impressive or exemplary.
In fact, kings, at that time, were often bullies, immoral and murderous. In this context, ‘kingdom talk’ found on the
lips of Jesus or in the traditions that followed Jesus’ earthly life must be
seen as surprisingly subversive and provocative.
In what sense could Jesus speak of himself
as ‘King’? Certainly not in the sense that the term was understood and applied
in his time. Whereas the passage in this
Sunday’s reading from the gospel of John is not to be taken as a verbatim
transcript of a conversation that happened almost 2,000 years ago, we can be
sure that somewhere along the line Jesus challenged prevailing notions of royal
power and dynasty. He juxtaposed a completely different model and way of ruling
based on love, service and justice.
