Homily: 34th Sunday in
Ordinary Time – Cycle B
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, King of the Universe
For
those of us of a certain generation, “reality TV” has shaped much of our
television experience. In spite of what
it looks like today, reality TV began as a simple project: stick seven
strangers in a house together for a certain period of time and record their
lives. To see their “real, unscripted
reactions” to each other, it was thought, would be just as entertaining as any
scripted story-line. And, for the most
part, they were right. “The Real World”,
which was the name of this first “reality show”, was a big hit and the concept
of “reality TV” quickly blossomed and saturated our televisions with variations
on the same theme.
Just
as quickly, though, it moved away from the basic concept of real people in
real-life situations into sensationalism.
In other words, each new show had to do more to “manufacture” drama, and
its participants, it seems, had to be all the more willing to respond to
it. Instead of being an opportunity to
look into the lives of other human persons, and perhaps glean an insight into
the mystery of human relationships, reality TV has morphed into a voyeuristic
fantasy land where the only thing connected to reality, it seems, is that these
people still have to eat and sleep once in a while. As a result, “reality TV” no more resembles
real human life than do any of the Harry Potter films. ///
It
shouldn’t be too hard for us to see that this notion of “manufactured reality”
reflects our culture today. The dominant
culture that we experience in the media, and which is put forth in certain
politics and academia, wants us to believe that truth is relative to the person
and the reality that he/she experiences in which it is interpreted. In this model, we equate experiences with
truth. One example of this is “transgenderism”. In this a person experiences “gender
dysphoria”: that is, that the gender with which one identifies him/herself does
not align with his/her biological gender and thus experiences an internal
conflict (or “dysphoria”). This
experience is real. The interpretation
of the experience, however—that this person must now live as if he/she is the
gender opposite to his/her biological gender (possibly going to the extremes of
bodily modifications in pursuit of it)—is a reality manufactured on the false
notion that what this person has experienced is not just reality, but is the
truth: in spite of the obvious physical data that exists to the contrary.
All
of this is to highlight that to live in reality—that is, to experience the
world as it really is and to flourish within it—one must interpret reality
(that is, our experiences) based on what is true. In order to do this, one must begin with the
most fundamental truths. The first and
most true thing that we can say is that God is being itself. When God appeared to Moses in the burning
bush and Moses asked him, “What should I tell them is your name?” God replied,
“Tell them ‘I AM who AM’ sent you”: in other words, “I am existence itself”. If, therefore, God is existence itself, then
he must also be the source of all that exists.
And because he has shown us that he is not a distant, aloof creator, but
rather a creator that cares for his creation, we know that all things that
exist (which come from him) are, therefore, ordered to him. This is reality. This is true.
When we get this idea backwards, however—that is, when we believe that
things and experiences in existence are ordered towards me (or to some other
reality that isn’t God)—is when we fall into trouble.
Given
this, the dialogue that we heard in today’s Gospel is poignant. This exchange between Pilate and Jesus is the
stuff of which great reality TV is made: tension, drama, suspense… and real
consequences for decisions that are made.
Although we didn’t hear it in today’s reading, Pilate’s next words in
the Gospel—the ones that follow Christ telling him that he came to bear witness
to the truth—are some of his most famous: he says “What is truth?” As a governing officer in the Roman Army,
Pilate had spent years of his life following orders without question—even if it
contradicted what he thought was true—and now, in the face of Truth incarnate,
this “manufactured reality” distorted his view of what was really real. In other words, he could no longer see
reality for what it was. Thus, he was
trapped in a conflict between Truth (capital “T”) that stood before him and the
truth (small “t”) under which he had been living for most of his life. He had ordered his reality to the false truth
that all things are ordered to Caesar and the empire and so, in the conflict
between his truth and Truth itself, he ignored what was really real and chose
to live in his falsehood.
The
abuse crisis that we have been suffering through in the Church has this
disordering of reality as part of its cause.
The actions of individual priests were reprehensible and the result of a
criminal indulgence of the temptations to sin.
The responses of some in authority over those priests was also
reprehensible and betrayed, it seems, that those men had ordered their reality
to the truth that the institution of the Church was the ultimate good, instead
of God (and, specifically, his commands to protect the most vulnerable). It is a sad reality from which we must now
recover.
And
we will recover, if we re-order our reality to the truth that we celebrate
today: that Jesus Christ is King of the Universe: that is, that he is Lord—Dominus,
in Latin, he who dominates—over all that exists. If we see that all that exists comes from him
who existed before all things and is, therefore, ordered to him, then we have a
solid truth on which to interpret our reality (that is, all that we
experience); and, thus, we can live in confidence that our reality is not a manufactured
reality, but a true reality that will lead us to true happiness and peace.
Friends,
it is no mere coincidence that this feast also closes our liturgical year. Celebrating the kingship of Christ at the end
of our liturgical year invites us to rejoice: in the truth that all things in
the universe are created from and subject to a king who has suffered and died
for us—and who now lives again forever—so that we, too, can live forever in
him; and to lament and repent from the ways in which our lives have not
conformed to that truth and thus strive (making a “new year’s resolution” even)
to order our lives completely to this truth and to work so that the world
around us might also be ordered to this truth.
This Eucharist is the foremost way in which we do this: ordering our
praise, worship, and thanksgiving to God, who is its source. Our 40 hours devotion, which begins tonight,
is a privileged time to reflect on this truth, as well, and so I hope that you
all will find an hour to spend with our Lord in adoration during these 40
hours.
My
brothers and sisters, in a few moments we will have the opportunity to look
directly at Truth Incarnate: the King who reigns over all existence. If we have any doubt about what is true, let
us not fail to ask him—not like Pilate, who asked in frustration, but in
humility—“Lord, what is truth?” and then listen with open hearts for what he
will reveal to us. Friends, if we can do
this, we will then be prepared for the greatest reality show of all time: the
triumphant return of Christ our King.
Given
at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – November 25th, 2018
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