Reflection on the Readings for the Solemnity of Christ the King

November 21, 2010

Reading the Gospel I was to reflect on, I had to look again. I was
not expecting a reading appropriate for Lent to be read today. And
then I realized, it is the correct reading. It was just that time flew and I
did not notice how we have, once more, come to the end of the liturgical
year.

As I was pondering why the church chooses these very painful

scripture to celebrate Christ the King, I thought, couldn’t they have
chosen for example Matthew 26: 63-64 when Jesus was being
interrogated by the high priests, “I order you to tell us under oath before
the living God, whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus said
to him in reply, “You have said so. But I tell you:

From now on you will see the Son of Man

Seated at the right hand of the Power
And coming on the clouds of heaven.”

These verses give us a feeling of victory, that in the end the good
man wins. It will just be a matter of time before God reveals his hand.

Instead we get, “When they came to the place called the Skull, they
crucified him, and the criminals there, one on his right and the other on
his left.” (Luke 23:33).

Sordid. Yes and this is our King. He is not only King but the
Christ, the Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer. And He hung on a cross.
No wonder very few want to believe in Him. Very few want to know
Him. Much more to follow Him. Who wants to follow a loser, someone
who will soon be dead.

Why is our God not obvious? Why does He hide behind symbols
of suffering? Why does He hide behind insignificant, inconsequential
things. Is He deliberately making it difficult for His children to
recognize Him? Consider these. The King who created the entire
universe, Who owns all, was born in a stable and made animals’ feedbox
His crib. He gives Himself to us hidden in the form of bread that can be
desecrated at will. He says He is the Messiah but immolates Himself on
the cross. Even during His most glorious moment, His resurrection, He
did not allow Himself to be seen and recognized by all of those who
persecuted Him to give them the chance to repent of their wrong doing.

And yet, we stand here with many others who believe that this
man who died on the cross is our King and our God. Why indeed? I
am convinced that only One who says He is God can employ ways such
as this to draw men to Himself. Another god, or even the most powerful
man would draw their subjects by using power and miracles and other
predictable devices.

If I were an extremely wealthy and influential man as to sway

countries and generations, my demeanor would give me the license to
act as such. So you would expect such a man to be given the highest
preferential treatment, the ears of all, running in the most powerful
circles with a lot of say in many things. Expect too some form of
arrogance and grandeur. Why? He can not help it. He was born to it,
has the talent for it and was destined for it. If you asked him to sit in
the sidelines, he wouldn’t know how. But no matter how great he is, he
remains a mere man. Only the true God, who possesses all the majesty
and grandeur and victory and power can come little and hidden,
defenseless and seemingly defeated. By His sheer majesty, He will
embrace all that. He will choose to be born so that He could die, if need
be, to achieve His purpose. And to what purpose? To bring us all back
home where we belong. To restore to God the Father what we, in our
fallen nature, have deprived Him of - His glory. Yes, the cross was His
answer to all the evils that man has conceived. Through the cross, He
made each wrong act right before God. How? By doing the opposite of
our sin. Where there was pride, humility. Where there was hatred,
love and mercy. And so on. For each act that we deprived God of His
glory, Jesus repaired and restored by doing the virtue opposite the sin.
No wonder He died a gruesome death. This was what we deserved for
our many sins and weaknesses. But He took the penalty for us all.

So, you see brothers and sisters, Jesus is King and the Christ.
Only He would have conceived of rescuing us in this manner. He made
peace between His Father and us. He gathered us all together by His
supreme sacrifice, losing no one, except those who will choose to be lost.
Truly only One who says He is God can endure, be constant in purpose
and will perfectly accomplish what He set out to do.
 May our King and Christ, Jesus, grant us the grace to understand
even more the immensity of His love for us as we gaze at Him on that
cross. And yes, there is a happy ending. Soon, we “will see the Son of
Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of
heaven.”