The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
November 24, 2013
10 AM Liturgy
J.A. Loftus, S.J.
A thoughtful and well-educated member of our parish
community recently shared with out Liturgy Commission a
reflection on Christ the King. It comes from Roger Haight’s
Christian Spirituality for Seekers (Orbis 2012). I will quote it at
some length.
“No one knows God directly. We all seek a way to find God, to
be in relationship with God, to know God. The Feast of Christ the
King calls us to embrace Jesus as the human link to the
transcendent God.” Here comes the take-home paragraph. “Jesus
of Nazareth was not a king, did not seek to be a king, rejected all
attempts to be named a king, and was a complete contradiction to
the hope of the captive Jewish people for a warrior king. So, we are
called to bypass the imagery of king and embrace Jesus as he was.”
So this could be a very short homily—if I just stopped there.
Roger suggests we just “bypass” the image entirely. Perhaps it’s
just the contrarian in me that wants to suggest an alternative,
perhaps an alternative that can bear much fruit for a 21st century
community. Please understand, Roger Haight is a distinguished
theologian. To borrow a trite phrase: he has probably forgotten
more theology than I ever knew. He is also a friend and a former
colleague. (And I have promised myself that I will forward this
homily to him.) But here goes in any case.
What Roger says about Jesus of Nazareth is true. He never
called himself a king nor did he ever give any evidence that he
wanted to be crowned. But others did call him a king, perhaps in
mockery, sometimes in jest, perhaps just in longing. Even St. Luke
records in today’s gospel that the guards taunted him with the
phrase, and Pilate placed it “officially” on the cross to explain the
crime for which he was being executed. So “King” was used of him.
But in that very old context, almost 2000 years ago, everyone
was thinking of a quite literal king, a king just like David in today’s
first reading. David was crowned and anointed King of Israel. He
is a “real” king. Yet even by St. Paul’s time, only a few short years
later, when he writes to the Colossians, he speaks in a whole
different language, and with a whole different idea of a king. Paul’s
“king” is a “king” of the universe. (That is, interestingly enough the
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formal title of today’s celebration: “The Solemnity of Christ the
King, King of the Universe.”)
Paul speaks of the image of the invisible God, the first-born of
all creation. “For in him were created all things in heaven and on
earth. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
This is an analogical king, by no means a literal king.
I suggest to you that therein lays the alternative to simply
bypassing the image entirely. Today is not a celebration for the
literal-minded! If one gets too comfortable only with the image of a
literal king, a whole rich dimension of today’s celebration will be
missed. If you can only be a literalist at heart today, in the jargon
of today’s youth, you may need to “just get over it!”
Even in St. Luke’s portrayal, this is no ordinary king. The
throne is fashioned from an execution’s bloody remains, and from
that throne this king speaks a quiet word of pardon and promises
to remember a petty thief. The throne is a cross. This king is far
less than any real king we’ve ever seen.
And for St. Paul, this king is far more than any king we might
imagine. This king is the lord of all that lives and has breath. This
king is a cosmic king who presides over the “big-bang” of the
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universe, and who is the pinnacle of the spiral towards which all
creation and all energy hurtles.
This passage from St. Paul was a favorite for the amazing
poet, paleontologist, and theologian Teilhard de Chardin. He wrote
of this king: “After we have harnessed the energies of the tides, the
sun and the moon, and gravitation itself, we will harness for the
King the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in
the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.”
This king is real! This is the same king who was born in a
stable, died on his throne, and yet guides all creation with a
universal energy of acceptance, compassion, and love—much like a
little child might. This analogical king is a strange king indeed. Not
really much of a threat to democratic ideals, inclusive politics, or
even gender-neutrality.
There is a paradox at the heart of this celebration. If we only
offer ourselves the literal perspective, it is an image that seems
shallow and at times even offensive to many. But we live in an age
increasingly crying for a more analogic imagination.
So by all means feel free to bypass the literal. But let’s not
throw this baby out with the bathwater. Try to cherish the
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analogical mystery that discloses a King of the Universe, whose
only mandate is about inclusion, acceptance, compassion, and love.
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