Kings

Three thousand years ago, the Jews decided that they wanted a king.

They were impressed with their neighbors’ kings.

And they wanted Israel to have one too.

God was not pleased with their desire for a human king.

He was already their King, why should they want another one?

But he let them have one.

He led the prophet Samuel out on the search.

Samuel found Saul, and anointed him king.

A few decades later Saul had to be replaced, and Samuel anointed David.

God had been the perfect King.

But the Jews didn’t follow him perfectly.

Maybe it was just too hard for the average Jew on the street.

God’s Kingship had to seem quite indirect, impersonal and abstract.

Saul and David—and all their successors—were more concrete.

But they were far from perfect.

So, God sent Israel a perfect human king.

The Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One—Jesus.

Here was perfection, delivered in a concrete, in-the-flesh King.

The people could see him, hear him, and deal with him directly.

And follow his example.

But most didn’t acknowledge him as king.

On Good Friday, Pontius Pilate asked him if he was a king.

Jesus responded that his Kingdom is not of this world.

As he hung on the cross, the sign over his head said King of the Jews.

But that was just Pilate’s jab at King Herod and the Jewish leaders.

They had already rejected him.

Throughout history, there have been thousands of worldly kings.

As well as chancellors, premiers, presidents, and other-titled leaders.

Some have even claimed a touch of divinity.

Some have been bad, some have been good—even saintly.

But none has ever been perfect.

None, except Christ the King.

In him, God returned as our King.

Because Jesus is both God and man.

Fully God and fully man.

He’s no longer walking among us in-the-flesh.

But he left us his example.

And he left his Spirit within us.

And he’s called us to acknowledge him as King.

To give proper honor to God, through him.

And to follow his example in caring for his people.

At baptism we were anointed and told to

Live always like Christ who was anointed priest, prophet and king.

We’re told to take up that regal responsibility for our people.

And who are our people?

Our families, our friends, our neighbors, our fellow Americans,

Our fellow citizens of the world, our fellow children of God. 

Everyone.

We have greater responsibility to those closer to us.

But ultimately we have responsibility for everyone.

We’re to be the kings and queens looking out for their welfare.

Giving ourselves for our people, just as Jesus gave himself for his people.

So we have this feast to call attention to our King,

And to our call to imitate him.

The Church has always proclaimed Christ as King.

But this special feast is relatively new.

It was declared in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.

At a time when the world was becoming 

Increasingly secular and materialistic.

And Church freedom was threatened 

By secular and atheistic governments.

It’s a reminder that we’re all called to serve  

A higher—other worldly—authority.

Even more recently, in 1969, Pope Paul VI made some adjustments.

The formal name for this Feast of Christ the King was changed to,

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

He’s not just King of the Jews, or King of Christians.

He’s King of the universe.

The universe that—in his Divine nature as God the Son—

He himself created.

The date for celebrating the feast was also changed.

It was moved to this final Sunday of the liturgical year.

(Next Sunday we begin a new year with Advent.)

It was moved to stress the relationship between Jesus’ Kingship

And the final coming of his Kingdom at the end of time.

It was moved to this final Sunday because this year-end time

Is an excellent time to step back and review our year.

And to assess it in the context of how well we’ve done 

In following our King.

So let’s take advantage of these few remaining days, let’s ask ourselves:

How well am I honoring my God?

How well am I serving my people?

34th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Feast of Christ the King

Lk 23:35-43   Read this Scripture @usccb.org

Election

It seems like everyone is tense and anxious about the election.

But by Tuesday night it should all be over.

Then, hopefully, we’ll be past the worst election campaign season

We’ll ever have to experience.

Tens of millions of us will then heave a sigh of relief.

Feeling that disaster has been averted.

But other tens of millions of us will feel that the disaster has struck.

They’ll remain anxious, and perhaps deeply bitter.

So, the next few years will be full of talk of impeachment, prosecutions,

Law suits, investigations, and stubborn opposition.

Exaggeration and outright lies will continue to work against Truth.

Rancorous division will continue to work against cooperation.

And against the common good.

Such is life in one of the greatest, wealthiest, most free, most blessed

Countries in the history of this world.

We’ll continue to have many good things, many causes for joy.

But this cloud of division will continue to darken our future.

By the standards of this world, 

Maybe just being under a cloud is not so bad.

We see so many other countries where things are far worse.

Where the divisions have already festered into oppression, poverty,

Misery, destruction, war and death.

Thank God we can look past all that to some ultimate Good News.

In the end, there’s a perfect world awaiting us.

After death, there’s resurrection to new life in that perfect world.

And we can hope to share in it.

Where did we get this idea that there’s life after death—

A perfect world after this one?

How can we know that?

Only through revelation from God.

Ultimately, we get the greatest detail and greatest assurance from Jesus.

But the Jews believed in resurrection long before Jesus came.

As we see in the Old Testament story of the mother and her seven sons. They accept torture and death, confident that they will be resurrected.

But not all Jews believed.

The Sadducees didn’t believe.

So they dispute it with their question about the widow

And her long procession of dying husbands.

But Jesus firmly states that there is indeed a resurrection.

And that knowledge of it extended back to at least 1400 BC with Moses.

Clearly, Catholics believe there is a resurrection.

It’s right there in our creed.

A fundamental tenet of our beliefs.

In our Nicene Creed we merely say we believe in

The resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

We get more specific in the Apostles’ Creed where we say

We believe in the resurrection of the body.

What will that after-life be like?

Jesus adds some detail in today’s Gospel.

He says that after the resurrection we’ll no longer marry.

He says we’ll be like angels.

Maybe that’s where some people get the idea that we’ll be angels.

But that’s not what he said.

He said we’ll be like angels—in that we’ll never die again.

Elsewhere, Jesus has revealed more.

Unlike angels, we’ll have bodies—glorified bodies, perfect bodies.

Bodies like the one he had after his resurrection.

A body that could eat and drink but didn’t need to.

A body that could appear and disappear, pass through walls and doors.

Move instantly from place to place.

Beam me up!

Jesus also told us there are many rooms in his Father’s house.

That he’s gone to prepare a place for us.

That we should store up treasures in Heaven.

And many other things that have shaped our vision of the next world.

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If we’re going to obsess over an election.

Let it be not over Campaign 2016 and the election of our people to office.

Yes, getting good leaders in office is important—very important.

But there’s an even more important election.

God’s election of all our people to eternal life.

Where our people are: ourselves, our families, 

Our friends, our neighbors.

And also our enemies, and the whole world.

We do need to work to fix this world.

And if we work in truth, love of God and neighbor, and mercy—

We will help to fix it.

And by those same acts, we’ll also fulfill our service as God’s elect.

And, with His mercy, fix our place in the next world.

One way to stay focused on that next world is to step back from this one.

To frequently take time out and imagine what Heaven will be like.

Using the clues that we’ve been given.

We should make our images as magnificent as we can envision.

Throwing in everything we can think of to create total joy and happiness.

Meeting God, understanding everything, 

Reuniting with all our loved ones.

We should see Heaven as a real place.

A place we’d do everything we possibly can to reach.

Because it is a real place.

The details of our imaginings will prove to be inaccurate—but that’s fine.

Because no matter how grandly we’ve imagined, we’ll have understated.

31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

Lk 20:27-38   Read this Scripture @usccb.org