(Scripture readings for Sunday, November 22nd: Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33-37)
THE KING OF KINGS DEMONSTRATES POWER IN WEAKNESS
This week we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. It is the last week of the official Church year, which means next week a new Church year begins with the first Sunday of Advent. (Advent?! So soon? How can it be Christmas season again? Wasn’t it just Christmas, like, three months ago?!! Man, time is flying by WAY too fast these days.)
The theme this week is that Jesus the Christ is indeed the King of kings and the Lord of lords. In the first reading, the prophet Daniel described a vision he had. “I saw one like a Son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven….[he] received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.”
In the responsorial psalm this week, from Psalm 93, we proclaim, “The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.” One of the other verses says, “Your throne stands firm from of old; from everlasting you are, O Lord.”
In the second reading, from Revelation, St. John wrote, “Jesus Christ is…ruler of the kings of the earth….he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him.” Then Jesus Himself is quoted as saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.”
So there is no doubt in all of these verses from Scripture, quite powerful imagery is employed to portray Jesus as an omnipotent ruler coming in glory and majesty, to rule the entire universe forever and ever.
Now that’s my idea of a king. Power, majesty, glory, splendidly robed, having an eternal dominion over “all peoples, nations, and languages,” the Alpha and the Omega—which are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, indicating that Jesus is the beginning and the end.
So, after these three different sections of Scripture, taken from three very diverse books in the Bible, all proclaiming Jesus’ royal power and glory, we’re ready for the climax, the reading from the gospel. This week, to commemorate the Solemnity of Christ the King, the gospel reading if from the 18th chapter of John’s gospel.
In this reading, our King of kings, our Lord of lord, is splendidly robed in…a simple, dusty tunic. He stands majestically with…chains on his wrists and a rope around his neck. His glory is displayed by the…blood trickling from his lip and the swelling around his eye, from the punches recently thrown at Him from sadistic guards. His power and dominion are evident in the fact that…all His followers abandoned Him.
To top it all off, our King of kings and Lord of lords, the ruler of the universe, who reigns over kings of the earth forever and ever, demonstrates His omnipotence by standing before a two-bit politician who sneers at Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
How odd is this? We celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King by reading about the time when Jesus was weak and powerless, scorned and humiliated, mocked by a bunch of self-serving religious leaders and spineless politicians? That’s being a king? What gives?
The key to this puzzle is the statement Jesus made to Pontius Pilate in the middle of the gospel reading. He said, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
If you think this earthly life is the only realm of existence we will experience, as my mother used to say, boy, have you got another think coming. Our natural life here on earth—with all it’s selfishness, materialism, lust, and frantic quests for power and prestige—is really just a brief shadow of our true, eternal existence: life in the spiritual world.
In Jesus’ eternal spiritual world, the kingdom which is “not of this world,” the dominate attitudes are humility, not ambition; sacrificial giving, not greed; love, not lust; and serene joy, not the nagging, unfulfilled emptiness that defines our current secular culture.
In Jesus’ kingdom, the almighty ruler Himself willingly lays down His life for His subjects. He willingly strips away all His power and majesty, and lowers Himself to stand before a sneering weasel of a politician—a guy who by comparison makes even Chris Dodd look halfway decent.
In Jesus’ kingdom, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, willingly allows Himself to be tortured and beaten and nailed to a cross.
This is true kingship. This is the ruler being more concerned about the wellbeing of His subjects rather than His own wellbeing. This is the exact opposite of earthly rulers, who throughout history have always indulged their own desires before giving any thought to the needs of their subjects.
Jesus’ kingdom is definitely not of this world. Right now each of us lives between two worlds: the selfish, earthly world (where we often devote 99% of our attention), and the eternal, spiritual world. Sooner or later, each of us will make the final passage from this earthly existence to the spiritual world. (And much sooner than expected for some of us.)
When that inevitable time comes, will we recognize our humble King of kings? Will He recognize us?
Jesus clearly tells us throughout the gospels how we can enter into the eternal joy of His kingdom. If we focus all our time and effort on worldly pursuits, we not only will endure nagging, unfulfilled emptiness right here and now, we also will forfeit our chance at peace and joy then.
Don’t make that fatal mistake. Embrace the King of kings and Lord of lords, and His counter-culture values, right here and now. You’ll never regret it.
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A Matter of Laugh or Death
By Bill Dunn
(Appearing each week in the Republican-American newspaper, Waterbury, Conn.)
A GREAT INVENTION: MOVIES ON DVD
No doubt there have been some remarkable technological advancements in recent years that have greatly improved our quality of life:
- “Smart” phones the size of a deck of cards that can do hundreds of amazing functions, including the primary function of a cell phone: disconnect the call whenever we drive under a highway overpass.
- Plasma screens that are ten feet wide but only two inches thick, which allow us to save money on wall paper since none of the wall is visible anymore.
- MP3 players that can store every song ever recorded on a device no larger than our thumb, so that whenever we want to listen to a particular song all we have to do is wander around the house saying, “Did I lose that darn thing again?!”
- The Internet website “YouTube,” which as we speak is ruining the future political careers of hundreds of college students whose hilarious “beer and bong and bra” skit won’t seem nearly as funny when it turns up in an opponent’s campaign commercial in 20 years.
- Chinese buffet restaurants in every community, which allow us to get a month’s worth of calories in a single sitting.
- Miraculous micro-fibers used to make comfortable stretch pants (see previous item).
These advancements are terrific, but by far the best technological development during the past decade has been the shift from movies on VHS tape to movies on DVD disk. When movies were first available on VHS tape over 20 years ago, I thought it was the greatest invention ever. Imagine, being able to watch a film in the peace and quiet of your living room without unruly youngsters running around the theatre, or without your feet sticking to the floor, or without the fear of being hit in the back of the head by flying popcorn and Raisinettes. Imagine, being able to watch a movie without paying the outrageous price of $3.25. (Ticket price in 1987. Kind of quaint now.)
When I view some old VHS tapes, compared to a DVD, it’s like a Model-T Ford compared to a brand new BMW. The advantages of DVD are numerous:
- Optional subtitles. I’m not hearing impaired—yet. (Although my wife would disagree.) But sometimes the dialog is delivered while an explosion occurs in the background, like during the car chase scene in “Mary Poppins.” Or sometimes Mel Gibson is trying to affect a bad Scottish accent. Being able to read what he’s trying to say is a major benefit.
- Deleted scenes. Sometimes these deleted scenes fill in some minor gaps in the plot, such as: what the heck IS the plot anyway?
- Commentaries by the director and cast members, and “how the film was made” documentaries. These bonus features give us a fascinating behind the scenes look at the magic of Hollywood. For example, the star of a film will explain that enduring the heat and humidity of a five-star hotel in Manila for four weeks really allowed him to “relate to what the G.I.’s experienced in the jungles of Vietnam.” Yes, I’m sure your experience was exactly like theirs, Mr. Movie Star—especially the Swedish masseuse. Thank you for sacrificing so much for the sake of art.
- The $5 bargain bin at Walmart, which gives me the chance to see a lot of films I’ve always wanted to see. After finally viewing many of these films, I realize always wanting to see them was a mistake. But at least it’s a low-cost way to fritter away my life with amusement, which after all is the main purpose of modern technology, isn’t it?
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