What Kind of King?
Nov. 26: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
In last week’s Gospel, Jesus quoted this week’s first reading. I don’t know about you, but I find that confusing. One of the beautiful things about the Bible is the way everything connects—
Pastor Christoph Römhild and Chris Harrison cataloged 63,779 cross references in the Bible,1 and depicted each by a single arc. The color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect.
Reading I
Dn 7:13-14
As the visions during the night continued, I saw one like a Son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.
The seventh chapter of Daniel is a prophetic dream, describing four horrible beasts roaming the Earth and devouring the innocent. They represent the great powers Israel had faced—the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, and Greeks.
But in today’s reading, we hear about a king who is “like a Son of man.” In other words, not a monster, but a human being. The greatest king is one who is like us, who understands us.
Although His power is great, it’s not something to be afraid of.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 93:1, 1-2, 5
R. (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed;
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
This is one of the “Enthronement Psalms,” sung during a liturgy when the Israelites would reenact God’s ascent to the throne in the temple. The verses we skip over describe a great flood2 that makes it impossible for humans to have any sort of stability, washing the ground away from their feet.
God makes our world firm, gives us a grounding to stand on. Again, His kingship is not something to fear, but to find comfort and safety in.
Reading II
Rv 1:5-8
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes. Amen.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, " says the Lord God, "the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty."
Although it’s quite a long book, Revelation begins and ends as a letter to the “Seven Churches in Asia.” This section here isn’t part of John’s vision at all, but rather part of the salutation.
In other words, John isn’t telling the reader anything they don’t already know in this passage. He assumes the reader already accepts that Jesus is a king. Although Pope Pius XI instituted today’s feast just 99 years ago, Christians have believed in His kingship since the first century.
Alleluia
Mk 11:9, 10
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is sung as Jesus enters Jerusalem, but the greeting stops short of proclaiming him Messiah. His work isn’t completed, yet.
Gospel
Jn 18:33b-37
Pilate said to Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?"
Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?"
Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here."
So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
This year, most of our Gospel readings have been from Mark. One theme that occurs throughout that book is the Messianic Secret—
Today’s Gospel is from John, but it still fits in that general pattern. Jesus never outright states that He’s the king. He wants Pilate to come to that conclusion on his own, just like He wants us to. But Pilate, despite his great worldly power, doesn’t want to accept that responsibility. He refuses to make a definitive declaration, even going so far as to sarcastically ask “What is truth?” in the next verse.
Jesus is king, and He could command Pilate—and us—to bow down. But He doesn’t abuse His heavenly power.
That’s not the kind of king He is. Pope Benedict said, “God did not intend Israel to have a kingdom. The kingdom was a result of Israel’s rebellion against God. The law was to be Israel’s king, and, through the law, God himself.
“God yielded to Israel’s obstinacy and so devised a new kind of kingship for them. The king is Jesus; in him God entered humanity and espoused it to himself. This is the usual form of the divine activity in relation to mankind…. [God] has many different ways of finding man and even of turning his wrong ways into right ways. The feast of Christ the King is therefore not a feast of those who are subjugated, but a feast of those who know that they are in the hands of the one who writes straight on crooked lines.”
Yes, Jesus should be worshipped and honored, more than any king; but He’s also a man like us, who loves us and wants to be among us, not above us. We should be eternally grateful for a king like that.
They used the King James Bible, so they’re missing 7 books, along with parts of Esther and Daniel, but the effect is still there.
Not Noah’s flood, as far as I can determine.