Christ, the King

Solemnity of Christ the King B

 Readings: Daniel 7:13-14  Revelation 1:5-8  John 18:33-37

On the last Sunday of the Church year, the feast of Christ the King, we are reminded of the ultimate triumph of God’s kingdom through Jesus, “the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev 1:5).  Although the readings may seem to have an almost triumphal tone, each hints at the conflict between God’s kingdom and the powers of evil in the world.  In the midst of our secular culture, we must take a leap of faith to pray today’s responsorial psalm: “The Lord is king/ He is robed in majesty” (Ps 93).

Daniel’s account of his apocalyptic vision in the first reading was originally meant to offer hope to the Jewish community experiencing a terrible pogrom from the wicked Seleucid king Antiochus IV in the years 168 through 163 B.C. (see 1 Maccabees).  In the first part of his vision Daniel sees four terrifying beasts coming out of the chaotic sea (7:1-8).  More detail is given to the fourth beast, especially to a boastful “little horn” (a symbol for Antiochus; see 7:19-27).  Daniel next sees the heavenly throne room of “the Ancient of Days,” God, and witnesses the destruction of the fourth beast and the removal of the dominion of others (7:9-12).  This is followed by our reading in which a human figure, “one like a son of man,” ascends “with the clouds of heaven” into the heavenly court and receives from the Ancient of Days “everlasting dominion and glory and kingdom” (7:13-14).  At this point an anxious Daniel asks a figure in the heavenly court (the interpreting angel of apocalyptic visions) to explain the vision to him.  He learns that the four beasts are four kingdoms which shall arise out of the earth (7:17).  These represent the nations who have dominated the Near East from 600-168 B.C., but have ultimately lost their great empires (Babylon, Media, Persia, and the Greeks under Alexander).  Daniel then learns that the human figure is a symbol of “the saints of the Most High,” who will receive God’s kingdom and possess it forever.  The angel also informs him that the arrogant little horn will “speak against the Most High/ and oppress the holy ones of the Most High” but will ultimately lose his power when kingship shall be given to the “holy people of the Most High.”  Despite the apparent triumph of the world’s evil powers, God’s faithful (the Jews dying for their faith) will be vindicated in the end.

The second reading from Revelation is also part of an apocalyptic vision offering hope for persecuted peoples: seven Christian churches in Asia Minor (Revelation 2-3) in the midst of trials to their faith and persecutions from the Roman government for failure to either recognize the Roman state-gods or to participate in the emperor cult.  Their hope rests in the triumph of the risen Jesus who has himself endured martyrdom but now reigns in heaven. Our reading is taken from the opening salutation to the seven churches, greeting them with grace and peace from the seven protective spirits before God’s throne and especially the triumphant Jesus, who was himself a faithful witness (martyr) and is now “the first born from the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.”  The salutation continues with two doxologies consoling the churches with their status as a kingdom of priests, freed from their sins and awaiting the coming of Christ with the clouds (recall Daniel’s vision).  The final words are from God himself, who assures them that he is in control of all history.  “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the One who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

In the Gospel reading from John’s account of Jesus’ trial before Pilate, Jesus challenges the Roman procurator, and us, to accept “the truth of his kingdom that does not belong to this world.”  Throughout John, characters in dialogue with Jesus are asked to move from an earthly to a spiritual understanding of Jesus (see chs. 3, 4, 6, 9, 11).  This gives an ironic tone to the whole Gospel.  Pilate thinks he is putting Jesus on trial and begins his interrogation by asking, “Are you king of the Jews?”  In reality, Jesus is inviting Pilate to move from his earthly and political understanding of kingship to a spiritual one rooted in his act of love in laying down his life (see 10:14-18).  He tells Pilate: “My kingdom does not belong to this world.  If my kingdom were of this world, my subjects would be fighting to save me from being handed over to the Jews.  As it is my kingdom is not here.”  At this point Pilate shows some interest in Jesus’ kingship, asking, “So, then, you are a king?”  But Jesus brushes aside the implication that he is an earthly king and invites Pilate to believe in the truth of his heavenly kingship: “Anyone committed to the truth hears my voice.”  In John’s Gospel, “the truth” always refers to Jesus identity as the One who has come from the Father to reveal his love for the world by laying down his life (see 5:33; 8:40,45-46; 14:6; 17:17,19).  In the remainder of the trial, Pilate chooses the earthly kingship of Caesar and gives in to the demands for Jesus’ death (see 18:37-19:16).  We might ask ourselves if we are the subjects of the powerful earthly Caesars of worldly expediency or of Jesus, who says, “I am the good shepherd.  A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).