His Kingdom Will Have No End!

(Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King, Year B)

     Existentially speaking, today we live in hard and distressing times. We are confronted everyday with the discomforting news of terror, power tussle, political protests, kid-napping, injustice and the global nascent plight of migrants etc. Be that as it may, these experiences create fear and distrust in us. As such, every reasonable and God fearing individual is in search of and praying for a world where peace and justice reign. And we can only find that world in our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the universe. The feast of Christ the King was introduced by Pope Pius XI in 1925, in order to confront the abuse of power by the nations and the surge of secularism among the nations and must importantly, to proclaim the primacy and supremacy of Christ over the kingdoms of the world. For as St. Paul would have it, “for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth; everything visible and everything invisible, thrones, ruling forces, sovereignties, powers -- all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:16).

     On this day we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe, the grand finale of the liturgical year. With the solemnity of Christ the King we conclude the Church’s liturgical year, through which the Church, with the Sunday liturgical celebrations, celebrate and relive the history of our salvation, which has as its centre and culminating point the mystery of Christ. Most importantly, today the church presents the figure of Christ in his kingly dignity. Christ is the King of the universe and his kingdom is eternal. The readings of today went a long way in helping us grasp the origin and true meaning of his Kingship. The confirmation of Christ’s Kingship from above is prophetically announced by Daniel in the first reading: “One who comes on the cloud of heaven like a Son of Man” (Dan. 7:13). In the second reading from the Apocalypse of St. John, “He comes on the clouds; everyone will see Him” (Ap. 1:7). In the Gospel Jesus reconfirms the divine origin of his Kingship and Kingdom, thus: “Mine is not a Kingdom of this world” (Jn. 18:36b). Today therefore, we celebrate a King whose kingdom is totally different from the kingdoms of the world. The Preface of the Mass puts it thus: “a Kingdom of truth and life, kingdom of holiness and grace, a Kingdom of justice, love and peace”. Kings come and go, likewise their kingdoms, but the kingship and the kingdom of Christ is eternal. The only Being who died more than 2000 years ago without RIP attached to his name, for he reigns for ever (cf. Ap. 1:17b-18a). St. Luke says: “his kingdom will have no end” (Lk. 1:33).

     The first reading (Dan. 7:13-14) is the prophecy about the Son of man and the divine origin of his kingdom. As we noted last Sunday, the figure of the Son of man in Daniel stands to indicate the people of the Lord. However, this concept underwent a sort of evolution especially in the Jewish apocalyptic literature, such that in the New Testament it becomes an individual figure from above, the Messiah, who will sit as the Agent of final judgement and salvation. Meditating on the seventh chapter of the book of Daniel, we have to do so not in the light of a prediction that has already taken place, for that will jettison the not-yet character of the Christ Event. Instead we ought to read it as a proclamation of the final inauguration of Christ’s kingly rule, for all things are yet to be subdued under his feet. In the passage Daniel described the kingly investiture which the Son of man received directly from the Father: “On him was conferred rule, honour and kingship, and all peoples, nations and languages became his servants” (v.4a). And again, “His rule is an everlasting rule which will never pass away, and his kingship will never come to an end” (v.4b). Daniel presented the kingdom of the Son of man as an eternal and a universal kingdom. And as such, his power is an eternal power. His power is eternal because his kingdom is a Kingdom of love, and love lasts forever.

     The Gospel passage (Jn. 18:33-37) is taken from the Gospel of St. John, which is guided from the beginning to the end, with the idea of a process: the process between light and darkness, between faith and incredulity, between Jesus and the world. In the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate, two different orders and plans are delineated, two orders of greatness: that of force and greatness (Pilate), and that of truth (Jesus). Pilate was not even able to have a glimpse of that order and he asked Jesus: What is truth? In the narrative, we see that dramatic dialogue that issued between Jesus and Pilate. It is obvious that Jesus was crucified on the charge of being a messianic pretender. This could be ascertained by the inscription on the Cross: “King of the Jews” (at that time king was the Roman equivalent for Messiah). And over the question of his kingship, opinions differ as regards Jesus’ reaction to this accusation, some present Jesus observing a stony silence, while the synoptic  present him as not rejecting it, as he responds, “It is you who say it” (cf. Mt. 27:11; Mk. 15:2; Lk. 23:3), which could be interpreted to mean “it is your word not mine”. However, in the Johannine narrative of the trial before Pilate Jesus offers a response that clears the air, for he embarked on the reinterpretation of the meaning of kingship in his own parlance, through his responses to the three questions of Pilate: ►First, Pilate asked: Are you a King? In reply Jesus questioned Pilate where he got the idea from. In response Pilate indicated that the charge is put against him by the Jewish authorities and then asked Jesus the basis of his behaviour? ►Second, Jesus replies via negativa by affirming what his kingship is not, it is not of this world. Thus, affirming in a certain sense that he is a king. This prompted Pilate to repeat the first question, which gave rise to Jesus’ redefinition of his kingship. ►Third, he delineated the inherent character of his kingship in terms of witness to the truth. Jesus conceived his kingdom as a testimony to the truth.

     The dialogue began with Pilate’s question: “Are you the King of the Jews?”, and ended with the answer and the affirmation of Jesus. Jesus affirmed and at the same time specified the character of his kingship. Jesus told Pilate, “My kingship is not of this world”, which goes a long way in confirming the vision of Daniel in the first reading. His kingship is from above, and not from below. It has no political or worldly character, but spiritual. Above all else, however, Jesus declared that his kingship is founded on Truth, or rather on the testimony he bears for the Truth. “For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the Truth” (v.37). What does He mean by Truth? The word truth has a dense meaning in the Gospel of John. Therein, truth acquired a Trinitarian dimension: ●Truth is the word of the Father: “Father consecrate them in the truth, your word is truth” (Jn. 17:17). ●Christ himself is also the truth, in the measure He communicates to us the words of the Father. “I am the way; I am the truth and life” (Jn. 14:6). ●“The Spirit is Truth” (1Jn. 5:6), “when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you into all the truth” (Jn. 16:13). Synthetically, truth in the Gospel of John is the word of the Father, incarnated and revealed in Christ, interiorized and rendered efficacious in us through the action of the Holy Spirit. Besides, truth in the gospel of John is not an abstract concept, but a concrete revelation of God and His Love, the truth is that God so love the world that He gave his only Begotten Son (cf. Jn. 3:16). Christ bore witness to the truth, and he manifested this love through his words and works, with his life and death. Indeed, He is the one “who loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood” (Rev 1:6).

     Jesus defines who effectively belongs to His kingdom. He says: “Everyone who is of the truth hears (akuoè) my voice” (v.37), those who are in harmony with his word of truth, those who listen to his word and put it into practice, these are the people who belong to his kingdom. Indeed, Jesus in the parable of the Good Shepherd opined that his “sheep listen to his voice” (Jn. 10:3), and again elsewhere he expressed that “It is not anyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt. 7:21). We are members of his kingdom, for St. Paul tells us that, “It is he who has rescued us from the ruling force of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son that he loves” (Col. 1:13).

     Today’s celebration ought to lead us to the consciousness of the particularity of Christ’s Kingship, especially when viewed from the perspective of some earthly kings and kingdoms already in decline and those that did not leave an exalting history behind, but Jesus made it clear that his kingdom is not of this world, that is why it is universal, inclusive and eternal. Paradoxically, it is at the peak of his suffering that Jesus speaks of his Kingdom. At the very moment he was to be condemned, scourged and nailed to the cross, he affirms his kingship. It follows that the reality of our own participation in his Kingship has to follow the way of the cross too. He is a King that stoops low to wash our feet. He stoops low so as to exalt us high. He is a King that overhauls world order, for “he has cast down the mighty from their thrones and he has lifted up the lowly” (Lk. 1:46-47, 51-52). Speaking on the Kingship of Christ, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said: “It is not that of the kings of the great of this world; it is the divine power to give eternal life, to liberate from evil, to defeat the dominion of death. It is the power of Love that can draw good from evil, soften a hardened heart, bring peace to the bitterest conflict, turn the thickest darkness into hope. This Kingdom of Grace is never imposed and always respects our freedom” (Angelus November 22, 2009).

     In the second reading (Rev. 1:5-8), he was called the “faithful witness” and “the highest of all earthly kings” (v.5), for he witnesses to the truth. The passage continues with a triple doxology: First, he loves us; the verb here is in present tense. Thus, it denotes that Christ’s love for us is eternal. It follows that the Kingdom of Christ is the Kingdom of love, founded on the love of the Father, who willed the salvation of the world, it is no doubt, a love made visible, and concretely witnessed and manifested glaringly by the Son, Jesus Christ, “the faithful witness”. Second, we see the event of the atonement, “he washed away our sins with his blood”. Third, the effect of the redemption of Christ is to establish a community which shares in Christ’s priestly and kingly functions, “he made us a Kingdom of Priests”. After the triple doxology comes the proclamation of the imminent parousia, which no doubt is the central theme of the Apocalypse. There is the vision of the Second Coming of Jesus when he comes on the clouds and every eye will see Him and everyone on earth will lament because they will see that he is pierced, he suffered and died for everyone in the world. The question of Pilate to Jesus on truth receives its response, this is truth: that Jesus loves us and has liberated us with His blood. Through our baptism, He loves us, and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. Our kingly dignity lies in our capacity to win evil forces, slavery of sin and to live freely as God’s children. This interesting passage ends with the self-proclamation of Yahweh with three titles: ●Alpha and Omega, which entails that He is the First and the Last, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, signifying that Jesus is the beginning and the end of everything we do and say, that Jesus is the King of our lives; ●The name Yahweh “who is, who was, and who is to come” indicates that God’s being comprises of the present, the past and the future. ●The title Almighty which in Greek is Pantokrator, the All-ruling or Ruler of everything.

     Today, the hot button questions we have to ask ourselves are: Is Christ really my King?  What or who is ruling in my life? Christ is our King when his words and examples have become norms for our actions. Today’s feast should not only end with mere and empty proclamations, we have to allow the Truth to lead us. We belong to his kingdom when we live according to his words. His is a kingdom of truth, a kingdom of love. Do we bear witness to the truth and to his love? That is bearing witness to his kingdom. Or do we bear witness to evil? The second reading says that He made us a Kingdom. Therefore, we are his kingdom when we live in truth, grace, holiness, justice, love and peace. Once again, let each person asks himself or herself: Am i still a kingdom as God desired or a Kingdom as I desire? Which kingdom do i belong? The one of Jesus or the one of the Devil? Today, we are marching out to tell the whole world that we have a King whose Kingdom is eternal. We are going out to proclaim and acclaim his Kingship. We are going out to confess and profess that there is no King like him: Eze Onyedika (cf. Ex. 15:11), Eze Chinyere (cf. Dn.7:14), Eze Chimere (cf. Ps.110:3; Jn.18:37). We are at the same time challenged to allow him to be the ultimate King in our lives. It is not untrue that most of us have various kings and kingdoms that are ruling our lives. We need to stop a while and ask ourselves: who is actually ruling in my life? Let us re-echo our voices together with that of the Psalmist in declaring the smooth entrance of this King:

Lift high your heads, o ye gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! Let him enter the King of glory”. Who is the king of glory? The Lord of Host, He is the King of glory (Ps. 24:9-10).

Let us lift all those things in our life, in our families and in our societies that may be a hindrance to His entrance. Come Lord Jesus, come and reign in my life! Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus M. C. Unegbu, SC)