The Revolution of Kingship, or when the king dies out of love to save his subjects.
November 24 2019: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
A Wolof proverb says, “To love the king is not bad, but a
king who loves you is better.”
It will sound surprising, but the first chapters of the New
Testament (the Gospels) referring to Jesus birth introduce him as king (Luke 1:32-33).
The last chapters talking of his death speak of his kingship (John 19:19). He was
born king, he died king. That is what we celebrate today.
There is a soon to come American fiction movie, “The King’s
Man”, which gives a beautiful definition of power and nobility. It says, “real
power is not found running after war. But real power lies in understanding who
it is you are truly fighting, and how they can be defeated.”
We all dream of kingship, noble life, power and position of
authority; and to reach the fulfilment of that dream, we will easily do
anything, even of killing others. The world has its own definition and
understanding of authority and kingship. Power or authority is seen as the
ability to exercise one’s will over others. in that sense, authority is taken
as the right to command and control other people.
Today’s solemnity comes to teach us other way of being king,
the way of Jesus. In Jesus
we have a revolution of kingship. The Lord is introduced to us as a king who condemns and kills
nobody. But instead, he gives himself for everybody.
We are the last Sunday in the Ordinary Time of the Year C.
The Church closes today its liturgical year. And while we are closing the year,
we are given to meditate on a great mystery; the mystery of God’s love. This
love took all its meaning and its greatest expression on the cross.
The first reading from the second book of the Prophet Samuel
talks of the kingship of David. It tells us how David was anointed to lead the
people of God. The beautiful lesson of David’s reign is about the unity of all
the Tribes of Israel. Because of that unity, the monarchy of David became
symbol of peace and justice. Until today, the Jews refer to David as the
greatest of all Kings, and this opens them to a messianic dream, a king who
will come from the lineage of David and bring real and everlasting peace.
For us Christians, this messianism, the Kingdom promised to
David descendant, finds it completion in Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, in a
different way. Jesus was not proclaimed king, crowned with gold and seated on a
golden throne. He did not sit in a palace as we imagine and see with our
today’s kings. Jesus’ kingship was revealed on the cross, crowned with thorns.
It was a monarchy of love, peace and humility, beyond human expectations. The
Lord came to set mankind free from sin and reconciled to God. He went not in
war against other kings as kings do. Instead, he offered the most thrilling of
all wars. He fought against the king of this world, the devil and defeated him.
The victory of the Lord, as we can read from today’s Gospel, is the victory of
love, not of arrogance or violence. Because, in him, we read that, “God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). Through the death of
Jesus of Jesus on the Cross, Paul affirms to the Colossians, that God
“delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of
his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
In the Gospel of Luke, we read of that same love through
Jesus promising paradise to the repentant thief. In Jesus, we have a new
definition of kingship and authority. It is all about giving up oneself out of
love for others. Because, he said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay
down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).
Through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, he became the
king of all Kings, the king of universe. He is the king who loves and serve,
rather than being loved and served.
Through our Baptism, we all share in the kingship of Christ.
The priest or the deacon marked us with oil as a sign that we are consecrated
to God and anointed by the Holy Spirit. That anointing also was a sign that you
are joined to Christ and share in his threefold mission as priest, prophet, and
king. Like Jesus, therefore, we have a mission: to make present God reign in
the hearts of all and to have peace and justice in the world.
Just as Jesus exercised his royal office by serving and loving,
so too, his disciples should make of love and service their priority. This passes
through accepting to suffer out of love for others. Jesus teaches us that
kingship is not only about nobility and authority. It is before all, about
accepting to love and to die out of love.
This way of being king, it is obvious, is opposed to that of
our world. Today’s kings live by taking others’ life. Our politicians and
leaders, to ensure the durability of their authority, are ready to kill all
those who are against them. Seeing the flow of others’ blood has become a
common reality. But we never accept to shed our blood for others. The blood is
the true symbol of love because it comes from the heart. This consequently
reflects how far our leaders today lack of true love for their people. Because he
who cannot accept bleeding for you does not really love you.
This solemnity teaches us that we will truly
have peace in the world and in our countries only when our leaders will understand
that authority means love, service and the willingness to die for the people,
instead of killing each other, or killing others in order to safeguard one’s
power and position. Jesus died in the most humiliating way because of his love.
But then his death became the fulfillment of all the prophecies, “Jesus of
Nazareth, King of the Jews.”
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