34th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Christ the King, Year C

34 ^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Christ the King, Year C

Peace be with you on this, our very last Sunday in the Liturgical year and the celebration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. King of the Universe. Really? When you gaze upon that Crucifix, it’s not really a very kingly image is it? Paul said for the Jews it was scandal and for the Gentiles it was folly. Now I will say, in our first reading from Daniel we were told, “His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.” Then, we have the second reading from The Book of Revelation where we hear an even more definitive proclamation of Jesus’ Lordship, “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.” Both of these readings are certainly in harmony with today’s Christ the King celebration. The Gospel reading from John, however, seems a little out of place with today’s overall message. On the surface, a Gospel scene with Jesus humbly standing trial before Pontius Pilate may not appear to be in agreement with our celebration of; “Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.”

In fact, if we look at this scene from a purely secular perspective, now I emphasize the word secular, Jesus’ trial and crucifixion says – he died a failure. And speaking of a secular perspective, has anyone ever heard of Michael H. Hart? In 1978 he wrote a book entitled, “The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History.” Jesus was number three on his list, behind Isaac Newton. Anyone want to guess who number one was? It was Muhammad. Now before you get upset and walk out of Church, let me explain his analysis, because when we examine his logic, it really highlights the true miracle Christianity. First, Mr. Hart used purely secular variables and focused on those people who influenced numbers of other people. He did not focus on people because they did great things for humanity. Consequently, even guys like Stalin and Hitler made his list because they influenced large numbers of people. Using these secular variables, Muhammad not only died a successful religious leader, he was a successful military and political leader as well. Hart actually credits Paul of Tarsus with the real success of Christianity’s influence. Paul was number six on his list of 100, BTW.

As we sit here comfortably in Sunday worship, some 2000 years after Jesus’ ascension, with 2.4 billion other Christians, we know the whole story and we know with confidence the essential elements of Jesus’ story are spiritual not secular. We know all about Jesus’ Resurrection, we know about the Blessed Trinity, we know Jesus Christ as true God and true man. Perhaps we don’t know however; the divinity of Jesus Christ with absolute belief that He is God and reigns forever with the Father and the Holy Spirit was debated and even fought over for many centuries after His Ascension into Heaven. We can thank our early Church Fathers like Ignatius of Antioch, Athanasius, and Augustine for fighting the good fight as they were led by the Holy Spirit. And we can thank our own Catholic Church’s Sacred Tradition, with a firm conviction that her 21 Ecumenical Councils were led by the Holy Spirit to define Christian belief without error. Because without all of these spiritual gifts from God it is unlikely, we’d be sitting here today in this worship service founded on a belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior – nor would any other Christian denomination, for that matter.

So, it is with this absolute certainty that the crucified Jesus is in fact God that makes this particular reading from the Gospel of John appropriate as we celebrate Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. In his book “Jesus of Nazareth,” Pope Benedict XVI makes it clear that only because Jesus is truly God could his Passion and Resurrection open the gates of Heaven. Benedict says this; “In Jesus’ Passion, all the filth of the world touches the infinitely pure one, the soul of Jesus Christ and hence, God himself. Through this contact, the filth of the world is truly absorbed, wiped out, and transformed in the pain of infinite love.” What Benedict is telling us is this; only because Jesus is God and then became man and actually became historically present and active in our physical world was he able to break down the impenetrable wall of evil that stood between humankind and the perfection of God in heaven.

Now, another notion that deserves consideration as we think about the Passion of Christ is the idea of God’s demand for atonement. There are many people today who have this image of a cruel Father demanding the bloody Passion of his only Son to atone for the many sins of mankind. My friends, there is nothing that could be further from the truth. The real forgiveness accomplished on the Cross functions in exactly the opposite direction. Here is what Benedict tells us again; “God himself becomes the absolute focal center of reconciliation, and in the person of his Son takes the suffering upon himself. God himself ‘drinks the cup’ of every horror to the dregs and thereby restores justice through the greatness of his love, which, through suffering, transforms the darkness.” Many scholars and theologians through the ages have tried to understand the mystery of the Trinity and failed. What Benedict is telling us, through this very mystery of the Trinity; the limitless creator of our limitless universe is the one suffering on that Cross because of limitless love for us. In my humble opinion, anyone who thinks that is a cruel God, is simply ignorant.

You know, sometimes we Catholics are criticized for our crucifixes depicting the bloody, beaten, and dead body of a human Jesus on the Cross. “After all,” they say, “Jesus has risen in glory and isn’t there on that Cross anymore.” “Well, you’re right” I respond, “but that crucifix vividly reminds me that the King of the Universe, the Creator of the Universe, and God eternal, went through that pain and suffering because of infinite love for me and you.” I like to be reminded of that Divine love for humanity and that’s why I wear a crucifix, display it in my home, and am forever grateful the image of a Crucified Jesus is displayed in the place I worship. In her wisdom, the Church has given us a perfect Gospel reading to define Jesus’ Kingdom and describe the absolute miracle of our Christian faith.

< Older Post

Newer Post >

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time August 30, 2026

By Teresa Stephens • September 2, 2026

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 30, 2026

12th Sunday in Ordinary time June 21, 2026

September 2, 2026

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time July 19, 2026

By Gail Johnson • September 2, 2026

Paul T. Keil, 18-19 July 2026 16 th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Season A Peace be with you and welcome to our celebration of the Mass for the 16 th Sunday in Ordinary Time. OK, some of you may remember I’ve said before, in Matthew’s Gospel, Chapters 5, 6, and 7 comprise the whole Sermon on the Mount, but did you know Chapter 13, where we are today, is often called the Sermon of the Parables. In this single chapter Matthew strings together seven separate parables from Jesus. Today we just heard numbers two, three, and four. Last weekend we heard the first one with the Parable of the Sower and what happens to the seeds scattered in different places. Next weekend you’ll hear the final three parables from Chapter 13 so, be sure to come back. So, what is Jesus saying in these readings. Last week we heard the parable about seeds as an allegory for Jesus’s words falling on a path and being eaten by birds, falling on rocky ground and withering with no roots, falling into thorns and being choked by life’s anxieties, and falling on fertile soil to bear fruit. Today we have Jesus giving us another parable about planting seeds and again, just like last week, Jesus’ disciples ask him to explain the parable. And since He stops to explain both parables about planting, he just might be trying to emphasize something important here for his disciples, and for us. One thing is clear in these parables however, God’s Kingdom will always coexist in this physical world with forces opposing it, like the wheat and the weeds growing together. Now many religious people struggle with this condition. Some see it as predestination. A weed in the wheat field or a seed in the rocks must represent people predestined to go to hell. That’s what it literally says, right? Still others ask in frustration; this is God we’re talking about, why does God’s Kingdom have to struggle with opposing forces at all? Why doesn’t God just get rid of the evil? Well, our old friend, St Thomas Aquinas wrote quite a bit about good and evil coexisting in our fallen world. He said sometimes the two are so tightly interwoven that you couldn’t have certain types of good without certain types of evil. For example, he said simply, “there would be no virtue of the martyr without the cruelty of the tyrant.” Friends, God delights in our freedom, our intelligence, and our cooperation when we freely make the decision to accept God’s love. Without free will we cannot choose to love. Jesus’ explanation of the wheat and weed parable certainly helps when he says; “The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels” and in the next verse he says; “The Son of Man will send his angels.” There is a very important take-away here every single Christian should remember. Eternal judgment belongs to God alone, not to anyone else – period. This is a consistent message Jesus gives us in all four Gospels but unfortunately, there are those who sometimes forget this simple divine fact about humanity’s relationship with the unlimited creator of the universe. We may perceive an individual as being bad or even intrinsically evil but judgment for their immortal souls belongs exclusively to God. I always like an old adage that goes like this, “if I ever get to heaven, I may be surprised by who I see there, and they may be even more surprised to see me.” I’ll admit, over the years for a long time, as I’ve meditated on this parable about weeds and wheat or last week’s parable about seeds, especially the ones falling into thorns choked by worldly anxiety, there was something always bothering me. You see, if we’re not careful both parables can make life, heaven, and hell sound kind of random or worse yet, they can make God’s love sound like it is exclusively reserved for preselected people. I know now however, there is nothing further from the truth. If you’ve lived life for a while and think back to times when you were say maybe,,, struggling in school, or first dating, or trying to make ends meet while raising a family, or competing for promotions at work, or trying to buy that first house, you realize there may have been times when your life wasn’t very spiritually fruitful. In fact, I now realize there were times in my own past when thoughts of God, salvation, or prayer were nowhere in my daily routine. I even wonder; was there a period in my life when I was one of those weeds or a seed in the thorns? Thankfully, with reflection on the whole of Scripture, guidance from the Church, and maybe some help from the Holy Spirit I realize now these parables are not “either / or” propositions. God doesn’t intentionally create some people as weeds and some people as wheat nor does God throw souls into the wind to randomly fall in the thorns, or on stony ground, or in fertile soil. If you’re not careful, you can come to those conclusions, however. You can read the Bible too narrowly and pick out verses here and there that help support your personal image of what you want God to be. Those tend to be the same people who like to do God’s judgment work for him. Here’s the thing; some of us here today may have actually spent some time as those ugly weeds but at some point, with God’s help, we decided to change and now we’re wheat growing in that good old fertile soil. My sisters and brothers, sin must never be viewed as a permanent state. Like we heard from the Book of Wisdom today, “you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.” This is the greatest gift of our Christian faith; God loves us all so much, even great sinners, God is always ready to forgive. So, here’s a challenge and homework for us all today. Most of us know people out there from all age groups, but especially some of our youth, who may be temporarily living life like the weeds in our parable today or maybe tangled in those thorns of life’s tribulations. First and foremost, we must be confident, sin is not a permanent state of life, second, we don’t judge, third, pray for them no matter how nasty they may seem. And finally, if we’re really, really brave, we offer them a hand to pull them up and out of the weeds, rocks, or thorns into God’s fertile soil.