Homily:
34th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle C
Solemnity
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
In anticipation of our
celebration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe this weekend, I took
the opportunity to speak about this feast with our second and third graders
here at Saint Mary’s School during my weekly visit. I used that to lead into a presentation of
various royal saints—that is, men and women royalty (kings and queens) who
lived holy lives after the manner of Jesus Christ, the King of the
Universe. The kiddos always have a lot
of questions (notice that I didn’t say great questions, because they aren’t
always great questions, but they do always have a lot of them!). I am usually equipped to answer them, but
sometimes they’ll stump me, and this was one of those times. In one of the third-grade classes, a student
asked, “How does someone become a king/queen?”
We all knew part of the answer, of course, which is that the person is
the son/daughter of a king/queen and so inherits the throne, but we quickly
came to the conclusion that we didn’t know how the first person in that
heritage becomes royalty. Much to my
credit, I didn’t immediately consult Google.
Much to my discredit, however, I threw their teachers under the bus and
said that they can look that up for them and let them know. 😀
I did think about that
question over these last few days and realized that, in general, there are two
basic ways that one becomes a king/queen: by inheritance (as I’ve already
mentioned) and by merit. Inheritance, of
course, we know very well: So-and-so is the son/daughter of King/Queen
so-and-so and so will inherit the throne when the king/queen dies. While the lines of succession can get
somewhat complicated, especially when there are many generations of
inheritance, this way of becoming a king/queen is still pretty
straightforward. The way of merit to
become king/queen is also pretty straightforward: more so, perhaps, than we
might initially think. In this way,
someone leads a grouping of people through some great challenge (overcoming and
enemy, fighting through a hardship, etc.) so as to establish that people as a
people of their own. The people then
turn to make that person the leader—the king/queen—of this newly established
people. This can also happen even if the
people already have a king/queen as another may prove him/herself even more worthy
than the current ruler. This latter case
is the example we see in our readings today.
In our first reading, we hear
of the people choosing David as their king.
For many years after entering the Promised Land, the Israelites did not
have a king, but rather managed their lives through recognized elders and the
adjudication of priests and prophets. At
one point, however, they became jealous of other nations that had kings and so
they demanded a king for their own. The
prophet Samuel was aghast at the idea, since he knew well that it was God who
had established this people and so that it was God who was already their
king. The people insisted, however, and,
by God’s prompting, Samuel anointed Saul—a great warrior—to be their first
king.
Saul displeased God, however,
and so was cut down in battle. His
direct heir, Jonathan, was also killed in battle. That left the Israelites without a direct
heir to succeed Saul. This is when they
turned to David. David was an indirect
heir to Saul, as he was married to Saul’s daughter. Nonetheless, as we heard in today's reading,
it wasn’t because of this connection that they asked David to be their
king. Rather, it was because of his merit. “You led the Israelites out [in battle] and
brought them back”, the leaders of the Israelites declared, and so they agreed
with David that he would be their king.
In other words, he proved his ability to lead them and so they chose him
to be their king.
This, of course, leads us
right to Jesus. Jesus, as we see, is
king both by inheritance and by merit.
By inheritance because he is of the lineage of king David (you can go
back to the beginning of Matthew’s gospel to read the genealogy of how Jesus
came from David’s line). Still more,
Jesus is king because he is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy
Trinity. This inheritance is a stronger
one than the first, since it was truly God the Father who was king of the
Israelites all along. Nonetheless, Jesus
also earned the kingship for himself by engaging in the battle against sin and
death and overcoming them. In our Gospel
reading today, we hear again the familiar story of the criminal crucified with
Jesus acknowledging him as king, in spite of the others there who did nothing
but mock him. This man did not recognize
Jesus’ heritage, but rather his merit.
And, in recognizing his merit, the criminal submitted himself to Jesus’
authority and asked that he would be remembered in Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus not only promised to remember him, but
rather to give him a place in that kingdom.
Friends, Jesus is the true
king of the universe and we must acknowledge him as such, both because of his
inheritance and because of his merit. As
Saint Paul says, “[God the Father] delivered us from the power of darkness and
transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sins.” Jesus is King
because he is the Son of the King, God the Father, who has given his Son the
kingdom and made us members of it. He is
not just a spiritual king, however, but rather a human one, which can make it
so much easier for us to acknowledge him as our king. The Israelites, when they came to David to
anoint him king, said, “Here we are, your bone and your flesh.” In a similar way, we can say the same to
Jesus: “Here we are, of the same bone and flesh that, in your divinity, you
took on to save us. And you did save
us! Now we implore you, rule over us:
for you know us and have shown us to be worthy of the honor.” And we must acknowledge and honor him as king
if we hope, like the criminal crucified with him, to dwell in his eternal
kingdom.
And so, how do we do
this? By submitting ourselves completely
to his authority. This means submitting
our minds, wills, and bodies to his will.
This means that, as subjects of our King, we don’t get to pick and
choose which teachings of Jesus that we will follow. Rather, we submit to the reality that, if
Jesus has revealed it and if the Church that he established teaches it, then we
must submit to it and uphold it. This
means everything! Especially the
teachings on the sanctity of life, marriage, human sexuality, service to and
solidarity with the poor, care for the environment, etc. Simply stated, if Jesus is king, then he must
be king of EVERY ASPECT of my life! To
live otherwise is to be a hypocrite.
Friends, as we know from
elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus ain’t got no love for hypocrites. Let us, therefore, examine ourselves to see if
there is any area in our lives in which we do not acknowledge Jesus as Lord and
King. Regardless of what we find, let us
turn back to him and submit ourselves to him—particularly through the sacrament
of confession. Only Christ has saved us,
and only Christ can save us now.
Therefore, let us boldly acclaim him as king in all that we think, say,
and do, and thus make our hearts and this place ready to acclaim him when he
comes again. Long live Christ the King!
Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – November
23rd & 24th, 2019
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