Dan 7: 13-14; Rev 1:5-8; Jn 18: 33-37
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today we are celebrating the last Sunday of the liturgical year with the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. This solemnity was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 in the aftermath of the first world war and the evils of those days.
The Pope remarked that the ‘manifold evils in the world were due to the fact that the majority of men had thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics (…) as long as individuals and states refused to submit to the rule of our Savior, there would be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations.’ (Quas Primas). How about our world today? How about men and women of our times? How about our families? The words of the Pope are very clear. There will be no peace in the world if today’s men and women do not submit themselves to Christ. Once upon the time two priests approached their bishop and asked him to reconcile them. The bishop brought them into the chapel. He asked the warrying priests to fix their eyes on the crucifix, then told them: ‘You have chased Christ from your lives. Bring him back.”
In the first reading, we read that the power, the glory and the kingdom have been entrusted to the ‘Son of man’. The book of revelation proclaims Christ as the highest of kings. (Rev.1: 5). While Pilate asks Jesus: ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answers Pilate that he was born for the Kingdom and for the Kingdom he came into the world.’ In the New Testament, Jesus identifies himself with the ‘Son man’ who has come to inaugurate the kingdom of God. He says: ‘The time is accomplished. The Kingdom is at hand. Repent and believe.’ (Mk 1:15). Elsewhere he says: ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and the rest shall be added unto you’ (Mt 6:33). We see how the theme of the Kingdom is central to the teaching of Jesus.
The question that comes to our mind is this: What type of kingdom did Christ come to establish? What type of King is He? What does it mean to celebrate Christ the King of the universe? Saint John Paul II says: ‘The kingdom of God is not a concept, a doctrine, or a program subject to free interpretation, but it is before all else a person with the face and name of Jesus of Nazareth, the image of the invisible God’ (Redemptoris Missio, 18).
When the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate, they wanted Pilate to charge and condemn him on political ground. This man, they said, proclaimed himself to be the King of the Jews. Pilate is very curious to know about this king who is brought in front of him. How can this prisoner be a king? In a kind of mockery, he asks: Are you the king of the Jews? Pilate is thinking about the might of earthly kings. Truly this man cannot be a king. He treats the issue as trivial matter. ‘Your own people, and the chief priests have handed you over to me.’ In other words, Pilate is telling Jesus, you are not a king. You are a prisoner in my hands. Jesus and Pilate do not read from the same script. Jesus does not fit into Pilate’s categories and understanding of kingship. Jesus is not a king in a political sense. He is not a king like kings of this world. His authority does not come from this world. In the Gospel of John Jesus said: ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (Jn 18:36). In his curiosity Pilate is obliged to come to a conclusion: ‘So you are king!’. As Jesus does often, he makes Pilate profess that He is the King. Pilate must act consequently by admitting the truth of the kingship of Jesus. Hence Jesus tells him: ‘Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.’ In other words he tells Pilate : ‘Listen to the truth in your heart and submit yourself to me.’ The truth will set you free. (Jn 8:32)
Today we are once again invited to admit the truth that Jesus is the real king of the universe. He is the king of peace. The whole world must submit to him. We must let him take control over our lives. We have chased him out of families, we have chased him out of hearts, we have chased him out of our world politics. We have become too secular and have refused him to reign over us instead we have submitted ourselves to earthly powers and kings who lord it over us. We have become their prisoners and prisoners of ourselves. As the bishop told the two priests: Let us bring back Jesus our king and the king of the Universe. Pope Pius XI says that Christ the King must reign in our minds. He must reign in our wills. He must reign in our hearts. He must reign in our bodies and our members.
My dear brothers and sisters, Jesus himself makes a humble appeal to each one of us: ‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’ (Mt 11:29). We lose nothing by submitting ourselves to him. Instead, we become much more free. Let us then consecrate ourselves to Christ the King of the universe and let him take control over us. Let us surrender to him.
Have a blessed Sunday.
Fr. Maganya H. Innocent, M.Afr
IEM-Kenya Chairperson
