November 21, 2021 (Solemnity of Christ the King)
/by Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P.
[This is the text composed by the homilist prior to delivering the homily.]
Pilate must have thought he had entered fantasyland. He represented the might and the majesty, the power and the glory of Rome, and before him stood Jesus alone, abandoned and bloodied.
Pilate knew he sounded absurd when he asked: “Are you the King of the Jews?”… The guards must have howled! … This was all too laughable. … Jesus was no criminal; he was stark, raving mad!
The soldiers knew how to treat him. … They scourged and flayed him, crowned him with thorns, cloaked him with imperial purple, gave him a reed for a scepter and mocked “Hail, King of the Jews.” … Pilate displayed then him: Ecce, homo! Behold the man! … Behold Jewish foolishness and weakness! Am I not Roman power!
… Admit it; we too love power! … We defer to the influential, and dote on the wealthy, cheer at parades of power. Even the Church once aped Roman pomp, instead of the Jewish Jesus! …
Yet we acclaim Jesus as Messiah and Lord; the kingdom of God in his person. … Jesus is everything we don’t want. … Do you really want the kingdom Jesus offers?
If you want the Kingdom of God, embrace the Jesus Way. Follow Jesus whose wealth is poverty, whose power is gentleness, whose weapon is forgiveness, whose followers are no accounts. … Embrace the un-King King!
So what is with today’s feast of Christ the King? … It’s young, established only in 1925 by Pope Pius XI when Mussolini and anticlericalism were on the rise, and church influence was fading. This Feast offered the assurance that someone, somehow knows what in the blue blazes is going on down here. So let’s call him king.
But what if Jesus isn’t just showing what true kingship looks like, but how the Father is in himself eternally? … Maybe it’s time to embrace God’s topsy-turvy logic. After all, the world’s logic is killing us.
Jesus always refused to be viewed as a kingly Messiah or do we forget Jesus’ stunning words to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan. For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Or again, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20:28)
Asked by Pilate if he is a king of the Jews, Jesus says: “My kingdom does not belong to this world.” … But Pilate wants a clearer answer: “Then you are a king?” Jesus gives this reluctant answer that is neither “Yes”, nor “No.” Jesus said, “You say that I am a king.” Now that’s a strange phrase; in essence it says: “That’s your word, not mine.” (Cf. Reginald Fuller) Kingship is our word, not Jesus!
Pilate’s mocks him one last time when he had the Jesus’ crimes nailed to the cross: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” If Jesus refuses to be the kind of king we want on earth, what kind would he be in the resurrection?
His mission was not to proclaim himself king, but to reveal the face of God in his own face. … whoever sees me sees him who sent me.” (Jn 12:45) Jesus displays not a God of might, but of self-emptying love.
Don’t give Jesus the very qualities he rejected! … Don’t baptize force and coercion; don’t canonize power and pomp, don’t bless law and rule. Jesus was about something else.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ glorification is his dying, his ruling is washing his disciples’ feet, his giving new life is blood and water flowing from his side, his sharing is Take, eat this is my body. … Take, drink this is my blood. He pours his life into our death to bring us to life.
Sadly, too many Christians want a muscular Christianity wielding a spiritual Uzi; instead Jesus proclaims a vulnerable Christianity that carries a cross and carries your neighbor. Jesus doesn’t coerce; he would love you into divine life.
So what does kingship look like for Jesus and for his Father? Empires rule, but Jesus said: “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; … But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. … I am among you as one who serves.” (Lk 22:25-27)
Empires retaliate and conquer, but Jesus said: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ... If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also...” (Lk 6:28-29)
Empires judge and condemn, but Jesus said: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; …” (Lk 6:37-38)
Empires amass wealth, but Jesus said: “… give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, .... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:33-34)
Jesus demands a revolution of thinking if you want glimpse his Kingdom that is already now. Jesus said: “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; … For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” (Luke 17:20-21) The signs of the kingdom are all around you if you know how to see! … If you instead critique the Gospel by your politics, party or preferences, then who is your god? … Choose the Jesus way! Choose Jesus! And be made sons and daughters of the Father!
