34th Sunday, Solemnity of Christ the King, Year C, 2019

May the graces of today’s Eucharistic celebration enable us conduct our lives as worthy subjects of Christ’s kingdom that we may be welcomed by him into paradise at the end of time. Happy Sunday

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(2 Samuel 5,1-3; Colossians 1,12-20; Luke 23,35-43: 34th Sunday, Solemnity of Christ the King, Year C, 2019)

 The account recorded in the first reading, 2 Samuel 5,1-3, for this Sunday depicts the anointing of David as king of the northern tribes of Israel (cf. 2 Sam 2:1-4). It takes place in Hebron, a city with a long history as a sacred shrine. It is only appropriate that the new king should be anointed in this hallowed shrine. The people acknowledge the intimate bond they share with this new king. They are his bone and his flesh, his very kin. For their part they recognise him as a worthy leader. Although, it was the people who anointed David as their king, they believed it was really God who had chosen him. In fact, the passage states that God informed David of his fate, describing it in terms of two metaphors frequently associated with kings in the ancient Near Eastern world. Because they were responsible for the well-being of the people, kings were often characterised as shepherds. The second image is that of a commander or captain (nagid), one who leads by going before people. Both images represent the king as a leader for the people, not one who is far from them, expecting only to be served by them. The elders who anointed David king were the ones with whom, in the name of the people they represented, he entered into covenant. This anointing was not only a significant tribal act, but carried personal repercussions as well, for by this act the leaders were relinquishing some of their own authorities and powers and bestowing them on one individual.

The second reading, Colossians 1,12-20, is made up of a hymn of thanksgiving and an exaltation of Christ’s greatness. In the opening hymn, the Colossians are invited to thank God for three blessings: a share in the inheritance of the saints, deliverance from darkness, and transference into the kingdom of God's Son. Paul then focuses on the excellence of Christ, whose kingdom it is and through whom believers can gain access to it. The Christology expounded by Paul here extols the divine character and activity of Christ rather than his human nature and the physical life he lived on earth. In it, Paul uses several striking terms to characterise Christ: image of God, firstborn, the beginning, head of the Church. Each one adds a significant dimension to our understanding of Christ. As image or manifestation of the invisible God, the fullness of God dwells within Christ. In this capacity Christ is the agent of reconciliation. This reconciliation has a universal scope. It includes all created things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible things. The means of this reconciliation that Christ brings is the blood of the cross. Thus the sacrificial death of the human Jesus becomes the means through which the cosmic Christ reconciles all of creation with God.

In the scene of the crucifixion in Luke 23,35-43, Jesus is ridiculed for being who he really is. It is only at the end of the narrative, when speaking to the one person in the scene who does not jeer him but who professes faith in his innocence, which Jesus speaks with the royal authority that is his. Jesus is reviled by the rulers of the Jewish people, the Roman soldiers, and one of the criminals being executed at his side. These people who jeer him take the claims of Jesus in order to turn those claims against him, He has claimed to be the chosen one, the Christ of God, the King of the Jews-all messianic titles. The inscription above the cross could also be construed as ridicule on Pilate’s part. It plays a cryptic role. It was a Roman custom to display the crime of the condemned person so the passersby could both jeer the criminal and be sobered by the punishment inflicted. The inscription on the cross of Jesus reads King of the Jews. While this is, certainly, the reason he was crucified, it is also a statement of fact. He was indeed King of the Jews, even though his manner of ruling did not conform to the standard of the day. True to the paradox of the gospel, what was intended as derision, actually, became a proclamation of faith. There is already evidence of this faith in one of the criminals. He first recognised the innocence of Jesus and then his kingly character. It may not have been difficult to believe that Jesus was no threat to Roman rule. Many people, probably, believed in his innocence in this matter. However, this dying man professed a degree of eschatological hope. He seems to have believed that, somehow, Jesus would reign as king even after his death. What he asked was to be remembered by Jesus when he came into his own power. The only claim he has to make this request is the fact that he did not ridicule Jesus and he accepted his own imminent death as a just payment for his crimes. On Jesus’ part, this appears to be enough, for he promises the man immediate entrance into paradise. Jesus here assures the dying criminal that he will be granted entrance into His kingdom. Even from the cross Jesus rules with authority. Actually, it is, precisely, from the cross that Jesus rules with authority, because it is through the cross that he too entered into his kingdom.

Reflecting on the readings for this last Sunday would reveal that they were chosen to demonstrate the meaning of the feast we are celebrating today, the feast of Christ the King. This feast celebrates Christ’s power and authority by creating a collage of images that capture one or more characteristics of Christ's kingship. Each image, in some way, significantly reinterprets the concept of king, investing it with new meaning. Gathered together they create a kind of litany that extols Christ’s kingship. Shepherd and commander call to mind the care and protection Christ lavishes on those who place themselves under his care, who recognise his voice and follow him wherever he goes. According to this metaphor, the kingly rule of Christ is characterised by tenderness, not by the exercise of power. King of Israel is, in the reading from 2 Samuel, a sign of universal rule. David was of the tribe of Judah and had been called to rule over the southern tribes. Now he is asked to extend his rule over people who were not his own. So it is with the reign of Christ. It extends to all, even to those who are not his original people. Image of the invisible God acclaims the divine origin of Christ and, by extension, of the rule he exercises over all. The dominion of Christ include everything over which God reigns. Firstborn of all creation places Christ over the entire created world. The image of the caring shepherd reinterprets what could here be misunderstood as unfeeling dominion. Just as Christ tenderly cares for his sheep, in like manner he attentively tends the garden of the world over which he rules. Source of all created things acknowledges both the sovereignty of Christ and his importance as the model after which all things were fashioned. In other words, creation mirrors the image of Christ the King. This is also another reason to cherish it. Head of the body, the Church, underscores the intimacy and interrelationship that exist between Christ and all those who are joined to him through faith and baptism. This image challenges any idea of a distant and disinterested ruler. Just as a body needs a head, so a head needs a body. Firstborn of the dead not only acclaims Christ's resurrection, it also guarantees the resurrection of those who will follow him into death. Christ is the kind of kings who shares all of his privileges with others. Crucified King is clearly the image that reinterprets all other images. It strips from the notion of king all honour and glory that flow merely from pride of office rather than from the exercise of dedicated leadership. For the sake of sheep Jesus, willingly, endured humiliation and death. Nailed to the cross, outstretched arms embraced women and men from every corner of the world. In his own body the created world was beaten down, only to rise again in glory. As head of the Church he became a victim so that those who constitute his body could be spared many of the horrors he willingly endured. Finally, having conquered death by dying himself, he entrusts to all people the power over death he has won for them. He first exercised this authority as he hung dying on the cross, which forevermore will be seen as his glorious throne. In the last words of the gospel, words with which the entire Liturgical Year is brought to completion, he opens the gates of his kingdom to a repentant sinner: Today you will be with me in Paradise. These are the words we all long to hear, words that are empty when coming from one who has no authority but charged with power when spoken by the one who is King over us all. May we obtain graces in today’s Eucharistic celebration that will enable us conduct our lives as worthy members/subjects of the kingdom of Christ so as to be welcomed by him, on the last day, into Paradise. + John I. Okoye

(graphics  by charles)