1st
Reading: Daniel7:13-14
Glorious vision of the
Son of Man
As I watched in the
night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient one and was presented before him. To him was given
dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass
away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
2nd
Reading: Revelation 1:5-8
The first born of the
dead will be ruler of the kings of the earth
Jesus Christ, the
faithful witness, is the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. 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 forever and ever.
Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those
who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So
it is to be. Amen. " I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord
God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
Gospel:
John 18:33-37
Pilate questions Jesus
about kingship
Then Pilate entered the
headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, " Are you the king of
the Jews?" Jesus answered, " Do you asks this on your own, or did
others tell you about me?" Pilate replied, " I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you
done?" Jesus answered, "my kingdom is not from this world. If my
kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the
Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." Pilate asked him,
"So you are a king?" Jesus answered, " You say that I am a king.
For this I was born, and for this I came into the World, to testify to the
truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
REFLECTIONS
AND MEDITATIONS ON THE READINGS
An anonymous person
once said, " Being brave doesn't mean you are looking for trouble."
The gospel that we use for today's feast is about Jesus being prosecuted by
Pontius Pilate on the accusation filed against Him by the leaders of the Jewish
people. And there is no other government
official in history as well as in legend more famous than Pontius
Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea before whom Jesus is brought for judgment.
The Lord is being judged not by God's standards but by the legal standards of
human beings.
Is Jesus really a king?
If so, what is his kingdom all about? And what is its significance for us? In
our stereotyped thinking about a "king" that he is a person robed in
royal splendor, surrounded by a host of military officers and advisers,
courtiers and servants like what we see in movies.
Christ did not deny
that He is a king. But he is not the kind of king Pilate is thinking whose
followers and soldiers would fight for him or whose domain is limited to one
nation. In other words, he is not the king who would destroy the sinners and
lawless; a king of efficiency and results; a king who solve our problems in
magical means; a king whose name is to be invoked by powerful earthly leaders
to sow tyranny among the weak, nor for the weak to be consumed by anger to act
with terror themselves; an inspiration for the rich to become richer at the
expense of exploiting the poor nor for the poor to be poorer as persons by
being exploiters themselves. In short He is not a God who would cater to the
whims of humans. That is why people in the Old Testament as well as the people
of today often complain to God, " Why don't you be God as You are supposed
to be?"
One writer whose book's
title is Jesus in My Heart said that Jesus is king of hearts in every
Christian. He elaborated it by way of comparing it with a deck of cards which
carries several images of kings. The first image is the king of clubs. A club
is an extension of a violent hand. A club is an extension of a hostile man.
Christ cannot be king of clubs because is not here to sow violence. Jesus is
not here to sow hostility. Jesus is here as a king of peace. Jesus is here,
gentle and humble of heart, not to sow enmity among us. Jesus is here so that
all may be brothers and sisters to one another.
Furthermore, the writer
of the book went on saying, Jesus could not be king of spades. A spade is used
to throw dirt. Jesus is not here to make our lives dirty. Jesus is here to
cleanse us from everything that defiles us. Jesus is not the king of spades
because Jesus is not in the grave. Jesus is risen from the dead. Jesus is not
king of spades because the business of Jesus is not to make other people dirty,
to make people look at the grave dug by spades. The business of Jesus is to
give hope and purity to us.
Jesus cannot be king of
diamonds for he came to bless our poverty. Jesus came to bless our pains and
our aches. Jesus is not here to make our lives easier and more comfortable.
Jesus is here to give meaning and purpose to our crosses and pains and
trials. But Jesus can only be king of
hearts. This is the kind of king that Jesus is. He is the king of the universe
because he is the king of hearts.
It is a call to each
one of us dear brothers and sisters that our call to Christians does not entail
intention to take revenge, and promoting violence rather our call as partakers
in Christ's kingship, is to promote justice and peace as well as other man's
welfare. Let us not be Christians of spades, clubs or diamonds; let us be
Christians of hearts. So let us make a loyalty check up with our hearts and see
if Jesus is there.
A
kingdom of Justice, Love and Peace
The kingdom of God is
our hope but somehow it is also in our midst, in the process of becoming. The
gospel tells how we are to promote the fuller coming of God's kingdom among us.
The kingdom of God comes and prevails whenever justice is done for the hungry,
the thirsty, the naked, and the oppressed. To behave in this way is to imitated
the Shepherd- King himself who is presented in our Gospels as one who rescues
from situations of alienation, who feeds, who give rest, heals and makes
strong. Among his final words was a promise to the thief being crucified at his
side, that he would be enfolded by the eternal love of God, in paradise.
The way to serve Christ
our King is to work for the coming of his Kingdom. In working for the relief of
the deprived, the oppressed and the outcast we are serving Christ in person,
because he fully identifies himself with all those in need, right up to his
final moment in this life. The disciple Christ the King cannot afford the
luxury of comfortably " keeping myself to myself" or " Well
anyway, I do nobody any harm." To be deaf to the cries of the
neighbor in need is to be deaf to
Christ. To be blind to the anguish of the dying is to be blind Shepherds in
some way ourselves; for the work goes on.
0 Response to "HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING ( YEAR B)"
Chapisha Maoni