Good Shepherd Catholic Parish

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.