Christ the King

Feast of Christ the King
Today’s Readings: Dn 7: 13-14; Ps 93; Rev 1: 5-8; Jn 18: 33-37

Today we celebrate the mass of the last Sunday of the liturgical year. Back in 1925, Pope Pius XI established that this final Sunday of the Church calendar would be a special feast day: the Feast of Christ the King. The purpose of today’s solemnity is to remind us of the ancient idea that Christ is the divine King who sits on his throne at the right hand of the Father and who will return at the end of time in might and majesty.

For us Americans, the idea of having a king over us is a little hard to grasp. We’re more familiar with the principles of democracy. We elect our leaders and ultimately, we get rid of them if we don’t like how they govern. That’s not how it works with a king. He has all the chips, all the power.

Because of this, kingship is a rather scary concept. Doesn’t it make you nervous that so much control and authority is concentrated in one person’s hands? People can get drunk on power. Henry Kissinger called it the ultimate aphrodisiac. And most of us have heard Lord Acton’s famous dictum: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”

But what if our king weren’t like that at all? What if his goodness towards his subjects, and his love for them, were unquestionable? What if there were no danger that he’d go off on an ego trip, or change his mind or his loyalties on a whim, or have new best friends every week? Now we’re getting closer to the idea of Christ the King.

Yes, his power and authority are absolute... but he wields this power with mercy, compassion, patience and profound love.

I think for many of us, God is way far away. The theological word is “transcendent.” Maybe you picture him like a puppeteer pulling the world’s strings… someone we can’t see but who we could try rather pathetically to pray to for favors as if he were the Great and Terrible Oz.

But the Church reminds us that he’s also right here among us… or to use another five-dollar word from theology, he’s “immanent.” I have often reflected with amazement that God knows me. God knows you. God knows everything about us. He knows when we sit or stand. He knows what we’re going to say even before we know. He actually knows us better than we know ourselves. God does hear our prayers and cares deeply for us. He knows our deepest secrets. In fact, God has known absolutely everything about us, going back even before our conception and birth.

I know many of us can’t help but think that we’d be unlovable to anyone who knows us quite that intimately and thoroughly. But guess what? God does love us. He wants us to pray and ask for things we need or want. He wants us to share our hopes and dreams with him. Oh yes, we can be assured that God cares. God sees. He stops, looks and listens to our cries. It is wonderful to be with God.

In one of my previous parish assignments, we had a parishioner who was quite a successful businessman. He was a self-made millionaire. He was polished and well-spoken. And despite the fact that he was a generous man and a respected employer, some people were intimidated and afraid of him… even suspicious of his motives.

One time, he invited me to his house for dinner. His mother was in visiting from out of state. She was the opposite of him. While he was polished and debonair, she spoke with a heavy foreign accent, wore the clothes and hair of a poor immigrant, and didn’t hesitate to pick her teeth at the table. And you could see that he absolutely adored her. He doted on her, and she loved every bit of it… not because he was Mister Fancy Pants, but because this was her darling son who liked treating his mother like a queen.

And from that day on, whenever anyone would make some remark about this man’s character, I would remember my experience and could say, “No. He is a good and kind man.”

This fellow saw his mother as a gift. And you know what? We shouldn’t forget that despite the shortcomings we may see in ourselves, we are very much a gift to God!

It’s often hard to believe that God wants to be known by us, but it’s true. He wants nothing more than to have a wonderful two-way relationship with us that’s personal and intimate. He wants to love us, and he wants us to love him back.

If you’ve been hurt by the Church in the past, then realize that it’s people, not God, who are the abusers. God will never refuse, reject, denigrate or ridicule you. So maybe it’s time to find the courage to take a risk with God. Spend some leisure time together. Think of the beautiful words of Hosea the prophet: “I don’t want your sacrifices; I want your love. I don’t want your offerings; I want you to know me.”

And that, my friends, is Christ our King. Don’t be afraid of him or be angry at him or think you don’t need him in your life. What a terrible loss—for both of you! No, let him love you and draw you closer to him a day at a time. Let him be your king. Amen.

The End

The 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s Readings: Dan 12: 1-3; Ps 16; Heb 10: 11-14, 18; Mk 13: 24-32

In the year 1980, I was living in a little town in western Maine called Fryeburg, in the White Mountains near the New Hampshire border. A man named Howard Ruff had just written a book called How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years. You can sometimes find it in flea markets for about a penny a copy, but back then it was hot stuff. Ruff’s premise was that we as a nation were heading for doom and disaster. There was going to be financial collapse and famine and widespread panic. Ruff said sell your stocks, buy gold, store up at least a year’s worth of food and provisions, and have plenty of ammo on hand to hold back the hordes who wanted to take it away from you.

I don’t know what we were thinking, but we kind of bought into some of it. Don’t ask me why, but we bought cases of stuff—everything from coffee and powdered milk to pop-tarts and ammonia. Years and years later, we were still trying to use up our original supply of ammonia...

Well, needless to say, Howard Ruff’s dire prophecies never came to pass. Oh—and he’s still publishing his newsletter, spinning new theories even as we speak.

Then a few years later, many devout Christians sincerely thought the end of the world was coming as the last millennium ended and we ushered in the twenty-first century. Remember all the “Y2K” predictions? Computer systems were going to fail, banks would collapse, financial markets would be in ruins, the country would have blackouts because the power stations were all going to go down—and Jesus was coming, too! Profiteers made a fortune hawking supplies and programs to the gullible and fearful. Pseudo-religious gurus spoke about the prophecies of Nostradamus, amazing astrological conjunctures, secret patterns in bible texts a la DaVinci Code, and more. As a result, some people sold their homes, moved to rural areas—any of you here?—armed themselves against possible thieves, and prepared for the very worst. They thoroughly were ready for violence and other natural and human disasters based on their fallible understanding of Holy Scripture. Other Christians insisted the end of the world couldn’t take place until the gospel had been preached to the whole world and the Jews converted to Christianity.

It’s interesting. Devout people throughout history have believed that the end was in sight when the world experienced famine, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. Wars and rumors of war always bring this speculation. I guess Christian disunity on the subject isn’t news. It’s as old as the New Testament.

The bible tells us that someday there will be a great and terrible day of God’s holy, righteous judgment. We read today: In those days after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory, and then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.

Those are the words of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to prepare us for that day so we can stand before God with confidence as beloved children. He doesn’t want us to be quaking in our boots. Many Christians differ in their interpretation of when and how and if this will actually and literally happen. The original disciples approached Jesus privately for a fuller explanation. Today’s gospel passage is a very difficult teaching to understand.

But the simple fact is, some day, in some way, this world will come to an end. Every material thing will disappear. Physicists and astronomers and other scientists can guarantee that all stars eventually burn out—including our sun… if we don’t blow ourselves up first in a nuclear holocaust. And whenever and however that happens, Jesus Christ is coming again. We take that on his very words and on faith. The signs of the end times will most likely be very chaotic and confusing. But according to Scripture, the signs will be as plain as knowing that summer is coming when you see trees starting to bloom.

The Scripture also tells us in other places that many—falsely, of course—will claim to be Christ. The real Christ warns us: Do not be deceived. The world will experience suffering beyond description. Be brave. Christians of every stripe will be persecuted, put to death and hated because of Christ. Be faithful unto death. Many believers will waver in their faith and lose their love for God as a result of their suffering. But you, be vigilant and stand firm through your last breath.

And then, when the entire world has heard the liberating gospel message of Jesus Christ, in God’s timing which he alone knows, the end will come and a new heaven and a new earth will be ushered in.

This is a mystery that’s so deep that you can barely wrap your mind around the concept… but believe it you must.

Don’t be frightened. Trust in God’s profound love and merciful protection. But at the same time, don’t put off strengthening your relationship with Christ. Everything depends on it.

Keep looking up! Jesus is coming! Maybe even today…

The Great Commandment

The 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Play Sh'ma)
Today’s Readings: Dt 6: 2-6; Ps 18; Heb 7: 23-28; Mk 12: 28-34

There was a very sad article on race and health in last Sunday’s The (Champaign) News-Gazette [Link to article]. It talked about the effects of subtle and not-so-subtle discrimination against African-Americans. According to this story, the life expectancy for blacks is 9.3 years shorter than for whites. Some of the other disturbing findings are that people of color receive poorer health care than whites; they are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS; their rates of infant mortality, low birth-weight and disease are greater than for whites; and many, many other disturbing disparities. Even so-called “middle class” blacks, the article reported, aren’t middle class like whites because of so many differences in their backgrounds and upbringing.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution officially abolished slavery 140 years ago. President Lyndon Johnson signed sweeping Civil Rights legislation in 1964—more than forty years ago. Why, so many years later, are black people still suffering and so unjustly burdened?

Today, the news is filled with sexual minorities struggling for equal rights. We hear how they are opposed in every quarter of society—including the legislature, the judiciary, the military, and even many churches, schools and organizations. Maybe it’s because people are frightened or feel threatened by anyone who happens to be different. Maybe they’re jealous… that goes back to Cain and Abel. Look at the distrust and enmity between Jews and Arabs. That struggle goes back to the time of Abraham.

But today’s gospel message is abundantly clear. Jesus tells us that love is the greatest commandment in biblical law. With just four concise sentences, Jesus sums up the entire Old Testament for us. Love God with every fiber, breath and cell of our being. Then love our neighbors as ourselves. Love ourselves as we love our neighbors. This Great Commandment is a teaching for every culture, every generation, every nation.

We all fall short and miss the mark in loving God, our neighbor and ourselves. Intentionally or unintentionally, we practice intolerance and discrimination. We may not even realize it, but our action or inaction causes great pain and suffering for many people. Sexual minorities are more visible and (quote) “accepted” than ever before—or are they? We freed the slaves and gave them every opportunity, right? Ancient history, right? A dark chapter of our history, but a closed chapter, right?

Then how come blacks are 50% more likely to have heart disease then whites or 140% more likely to have diabetes? Or why do blacks, who make up 12% of the population, account for almost 50% of the HIV/AIDS cases?

Sometimes we Catholics forget. At the same time the Civil War was brewing, Irish Catholics—your ancestors—were the target of the so-called Nativist movement. There were beatings and killings and terrible discrimination against the hordes of Catholics flooding our lily-white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant shores. Even Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York City in the anti-Catholic nativist party. It was socially and politically acceptable. Wrong, but acceptable.

Yes, there was—and is—discrimination against many groups: Jews, Asians, Arabs, even drinkers of alcohol… It’s scary to think that some of our toughest laws may do little more than enforce some outward courtesy, while our hearts remain cold and dark.

Christ, of course, peers easily into our hearts. He expects—no, he demands—that we follow this first and greatest commandment. As he told the scribe today, to understand this is not to be far from the kingdom of God.

Scholars of the bible tell us that “the law” given by Moses was actually 613 different laws covering every aspect of life, worship, morality and justice. These 613 comprise the most backward and the most exalted laws, the most primitive and also the most enlightened laws. Are we to accept them all uncritically and without distinction between them? Hardly. Jesus often took the religious authorities of his day to task for their selective interpretation of the law to benefit their selfish interests. They were experts at emphasizing the peripheral and minutiae of their faith to get what they wanted. Today, we might cynically say, “Follow the money.”

But Jesus, as always, is masterful in cutting through the politics and greed, the insecurities and egos. He reduces everything to such a simple proposition: love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength… and love your neighbor as yourself.

The Lord knows that to live like that is very counter-cultural. We’re sometimes going to have to fight city hall, our families, our friends, and maybe even our religious guides. That is the price of genuine love. That’s how Jesus got onto the cross.

In the words of today’s psalm, may the Lord truly be our shield, our refuge, our stronghold in fearlessly allowing ourselves to love. To this may we all truly commit ourselves.