Solemnity of Christ-the-King, 2016

2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43
From a Kingdom to a Life Style: Your Life is What Matters, It Shows Who Your King Is!

“WHO is your model”? is a more important question than “WHAT is your model”? “Who” asks the question of personality, and “what” asks the question about rules and regulations, human contrivance. “Who” worries and centers itself on LIFE, while “what” sets one’s gaze on things. A concrete example is found in Israel. Israel moved away from a theocracy (God’s leadership) which teaches them about WHO they are, to a monarchy (human leadership) copying from human rules because Israel wanted to be like other nations, and repudiated its aspiration to divinity—the power of the human will and freedom of choice to reject God.

Our first reading brings to the fore a fundamental aspect of kingship—the human ability to choose how to live life, and who it wants to model its life after. The tribes of Israel made a choice, “In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: ‘Here we are, your bone and flesh'” (2 Samuel 5:1). Biological resemblance was the basis for monarchy—since you look like us, you can lead us as your subjects. Second renouncement and renunciation, after the initial repudiation of God’s leadership: what is divine in us is not important, Israel’s choice shows, what does matter is the physical.

Foundational to human freedom of choice is a contract, terms of references for human co-existence. According to our first reading, Israel did just that: “King David made an agreement with them there before the Lord, and they anointed him king of Israel” (2 Samuel 5:3). The role of God in human enterprise is defined: God is neither the initiator nor guarantor of human lives, but simply a witness to humanly ratified rules and regulations. This is the final rejection of God’s authority over Israel. After all, a witness only says what he knows and sees, lawmakers and the judges certify to the authenticity and veracity of a “witness’s” testimony.

The denial of the importance of God in human polity is at the origin of today’s feast day—Christ the King Sunday. Today, all the three levels of God’s influences in human lives, which human beings have abrogated, as we have shown in preceding paragraphs, are being valued, and hopefully on track towards restoration in human lives. Of course, we can debate the fact that there is no serious nation operating a monarchical rule today, that “kingdoms” have ceded grounds and places to democracies of different shades and sizes. It suffices, however, to listen to the rhetoric of our politicians to realize that names may change, but reality remains the same. For instance, when Joe Biden, vice president of the United States of America, was asked about his commitments to his Christian faith to define marriage as heterosexual and abortion and contraception as evil, his response was: it is the constitution of the United States that will guide my leadership of the United States of America, not my Christian beliefs! Who still doubts that God has been outlawed and banned from human polity? If you still have your doubts because you are not American, simply look at the live-styles of the politicians of your country vis-à-vis God’s commandments, and judge for yourself, if God is still given a place in our societies today. Friends, we have drifted far away from God, and God’s plans for our lives. Christ the King Solemnity invites us to a rethink.

Since one of the Church’s many roles is to remind us of who we are, today’s feast reminds us of our wickedness made manifest in our expulsion of God from our polity and lives. The reality of today’s gospel is ours: we sneer and jeer at God by substituting God’s commandments with our criminal justice system; we reject our affinity with God by replacing the Bible with a humanly contrived constitution. Instead of asking the question of “who we are” (God’s children)? we worry about “what” we are (our countries and constitutions).

Do you remember our statement above that God’s job, in our present polity, is reduced to that of a witness? See it play out on the cross, in our gospel reading. Two thieves slugging it out about what justice and fairness means; what it means to be a king. “Are you not the Christ?,” says one of the thieves, “Save yourself and us.” That is to say, if you have powers, Jesus, use it now to free us from the cross. How utilitarian we are: when in troubled waters, God becomes a tool to be used and discarded afterwards. In fact, the general inscription above Jesus’ cross says it all: “This is the King of the Jews.” In other words, Jesus’ kingship is exclusively for those who decide to have him as their king, definitely not everybody’s king, they imply! The truth is, Jesus is everybody’s KING!

Since we have a God who does not accept human repudiation, his Holy Spirit always comes to his defense. Even on the cross, human beings did not have the last word; the other thief said: “Have you no fear of God? . . . Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” he concluded. In order to prove that he is indeed King, not as human beings define him, but the King of human lives, with powers to send souls to Heaven or Hell of Fires, Jesus declares a verdict: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:35-43); what a moment to make Heaven/Paradise!

Our two thieves reveal to us how the game of life is played, the confrontation between the good and the bad, between those who stand on the side of God and challenge our godless societies and those who promote the arsenal of evil and architects of Satan, in the name of democracy and freedom. On the side of reality is Christ-the-King, he who has powers over human lives and souls, who can decree who goes to Heaven or Hell of Fires. The kingship dear to Jesus is the offer of eternal life to all and sundry. Hanging between two criminals simply manifests his desire to save every sinner, just for the asking. He hangs everyday on the Cross as universal King of Salvation, offering us salvation, a very strong reminder that God’s mercy continues even after the closure of the Year of Mercy (November 20, 2016).

The beauty and singularity of Jesus’ kingship, as a kinship of salvation, is argued for in our second reading. Indeed, Jesus is a King, because he has a kingdom, a kingdom of FORGIVENESS OF SINS; “He delivered us,” Paul says, “from the power of darkness and transferred us to the KINGDOM of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of Sins.” This first quality of Jesus’ Kingdom makes Jesus the guarantor of salvation and not human beings. This Kingdom offers salvation to all who ask of Jesus, like the thief on the cross, who was promised salvation upon asking. On account of Jesus’ promise, the “good thief” was transferred from the kingdom of sin and death to Paradise, Jesus’ Kingdom.

In order to benefit from Jesus’ Kingdom and Kingship, It is important to recognize, as the good thief did, that “[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him.” There is no cluster of words that can better express the Universal Kingship of Jesus Christ, like these words of Paul do! One key element to human salvation is the recognition of the divinity of Jesus Christ and the evocation of his power to save.

Finally, the symbolism of a king who hangs on the cross teaches human beings about kingship and offers them a model of leadership—a king dies for his subjects, not his subjects for him. Better still, Jesus hangs on the cross, according to Paul: “through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Human salvation and redemption came at the price of Jesus’ cross. To look at and accept every cross in our lives is to become kings like Jesus Christ. We are kings over our bodies and minds, to make sure that vices have no places in them but virtues and holiness. When we practice abstinence and mortifications, we rule our bodies and prepare them for Heaven. When we take sides with the Bible and the Church we affirm the kingship of Jesus Christ. When we accept everyone as a child of God and fight against every form of segregation and injustice, we promote the universal reign of Christ-the-King.

Jesus is a universal king because his kingship goes beyond biology (our acceptance of theocracy). Jesus is a King of salvation (our recognition of our heavenly citizenship) because his kingship is primarily for eternal salvation, and not of this world. Jesus is God and the Bible contains his laws for human lives and actions (our enthronement of divine laws).

Assignment for the Week:
Identity one cross you are carrying, and find joy in carrying it this week because it shows you are a king like Jesus, despite the shamefulness of the cross OR Do something this week that shows that Jesus is KING.