Feast of Christ the King (B) [Jn 18:33-37]
34th Sunday of Ordinary Time
21.11.2021
Jesus
Before Pilate
1. Theme in
brief
The
true nature of Christ’s kingdom
2. Focus
Statement:
Christ’s kingdom
is not political but a spiritual rule of love established in human hearts through
service and sacrifice; it belongs to those who hear his voice and bear witness
to the truth revealed by him.
3. Explanation of the text
Today’s gospel text is about Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus during his trial. The
Jewish leaders wanting to eliminate Jesus bring him before Pilate with the accusation
that he claims to be the king of the Jews. Since this claim poses a political
threat to Pilate, they think it is the best trick to get Jesus executed with
Pilate’s collaboration (because they had no power to do so on their own, 18:31).
When Pilate gives Jesus an opportunity to defend himself, he admits indirectly
that he is a king (18:37) but not of the kind Jewish leaders want to portray him or of the type Pilate has in mind (18:36).
To
Pilate’s question whether he is a king of the Jews (18:33), Jesus puts a
counter-question: “Do you ask this on your
own, or did others tell you
about me” (18:34)? By this counter-question Jesus hints that it is Jewish leaders who are using Pilate to do
their dirty work of getting rid of him. Jesus asks him whether it is the Jewish religious authorities who have
told him about this claim, or he himself has found any crime in him that
deserves crucifixion. Jesus appeals to Pilate’s conscience
so that he may realize the blunder he commits by becoming a party to the hidden agenda of Jewish leaders. It is also possible Jesus wants to find out
what kind of a king Pilate has in mind. If Pilate is asking this question on
his own accord he should produce proofs of his rebellion against Roman Rule, and if others have told
him about it, he should make a proper inquiry with the people.
Pilate retorts that he is not a Jew and has nothing to do
with their religion or its laws. Since it is Jesus’ own religious leaders who
have handed him (Jesus) over to him (18:35), Pilate wants to expose their hidden motives by letting Jesus defend
himself. Jesus
makes it clear that his kingdom is “not of this world” (18:36). It is not a political kingdom; its nature is purely spiritual – a loving rule to be
established in people’s hearts and consciences. It does not require any military force to maintain and
advance it. Otherwise he would have permitted his followers to use their military force to get him
released (18:36).
He is not a rival to the political king, nor is his kingdom opposed to any
other kingdom on earth (including Roman). Jesus asserts, the source of Pilate’s authority is Roman emperor;
whereas the
source of his kingship is not “here” on earth (18:36) but
with God. Therefore, his strength or power does not come from military force but from God.
Thinking that Jesus' kingdom may somehow have political implications, Pilate wants an assurance. So he questions Jesus further about is kingship (18:37). To this Jesus admits that he is a king in Pilate’s own words, but his mission is to “testify to the truth” (18:37). Thus, his kingdom is a kingdom of truth because he himself is the Truth (Jn 14:6). In John’s gospel ‘truth’ is the reality (real fact) about God’s true nature as revealed by Jesus. He has revealed to humanity who God really is and to what extent he loves humans. By revealing the true nature of God, he has removed our ignorance about God’s true and unconditional love. To “belong to the truth” (18:37) is the same as to belong to God. At the end, Jesus restates before Pilate what he has already stated earlier that one of the characteristics of his sheep is to listen to the voice of the Shepherd (Jn 10:4-5, 27). His faithful sheep listen to his voice because he has words of truth and life. Neither Pilate nor the Jewish leaders belong to the truth because they are not his ‘sheep’ and do not “listen to his voice” (18:37).
In conclusion, we notice in this whole drama, Pilate is
afraid of taking a decision either in favour of Jesus (because he is afraid of a riot by the Jews) or against him (because he
knows Jesus is innocent and suspects that God
is with him). From a close scrutiny of this text we come to know that it is not
Jesus who is afraid of Pilate but Pilate is afraid of Jesus. Ultimately it is
not Jesus but Pilate who is put on trial to see whether he is of the truth. He
knows the truth about Jesus but fails to bear witness to it.
4. Application to life
Today’s
feast of Christ the King invites us to personally
accept Jesus as the only king of our hearts and put ourselves under
his loving rule (dominion). Yes, Christ is truly a king with a kingdom. But the
following factors differentiate his
kingdom from political kingdoms of this world: (1) it is not established on a geographical
area by succession, election, or military
conquest, but in human hearts by love,
service and sacrifice; (2) though it is in the world, it is not of this world
(= not political) but spiritual – a kingdom
of love, justice and fellowship within
us or established in our hearts and
communities (Lk 17:21), a kingdom of righteousness, peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17); (3) it neither has its origins in the world nor derives its authority from the world, but from God; it is opposed
to the spirit of the world (1 Co. 2:12); (4) it does not require weapons, arms or military force to protect/
maintain itself or to advance its cause; its weapons are spiritual such as self-sacrificing love; (5) it is not adorned
with pomp and power but with humble service done even to the least ones; and
finally (6) its citizens or subjects are not of the world, that is they do not belong to the world
though they are in the world. In fact, they are meant to be citizens of another
world (= heavenly kingdom).
Today’s
feast invites us to enthrone Christ as
the king of our hearts by enthroning his values
of love (for God and neighbours), peace and justice in our hearts and making
them as our guiding principles. Once we enthrone him in
our hearts we need to wage a continual war against the kingdom of sin and Satan. Whenever we yield to his rule of love, his kingdom is established. We
need to ask ourselves whether Christ’s principles of love and service,
sacrifice and commitment rule over
our minds and hearts. We need to examine ourselves whether we are deeply influenced by Christ’s kingdom-values, and
whether in turn we influence our children’s minds with those values so that
they may think beyond the boundaries of
their own selfish world. Today’s gospel reminds us that we, individual
Christians as well as our religious institutions, though are in the world,
should show that we do not belong to
the world. When we or our religious institutions blindly and aimlessly ape
consumerism, corrupt practices, power-mongering, unjust and violent ways of the
world, we project the image of
belonging more to the world than to Christ and his kingdom.
Actually, we have no problem to proclaim Christ as our king
in our words and prayer, especially in the context of today’s feast day. For instance, in my pastoral field here, the
annual Eucharistic procession is combined with the feast of Christ the King. During
the procession, the faithful shout slogans like, “Hosanna to Christ the King!”
However, just as Jesus asked Pilate whether he calls him king of his own accord or others have told him, today he
asks us to examine whether we acclaim him as our king just to follow the crowd,
or to follow a custom without really meaning
it. It is good to ask whether we acclaim Christ as our king in day-to-day life
on our own, out of our personal conviction,
or only because others (parents, teachers, catechists and pastors) have told us
to do so. To proclaim it is easy, but to show in our action that our allegiance
to his principles is much superior to
any other allegiance or commitment is not easy. We are always tempted to
proclaim and confess Christ as the only ruler over our lives with our lips but
to deny him in our actions. It is
right to examine today whether Christ is the only king of our lives, or we have
other ‘kings’ to whom we pay equal or even more allegiance. The other ‘kings’
ruling over our minds and hearts may be egoism, money, wealth, alcohol, drugs,
pleasures, sex, pride, jealousy, etc. In the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father) we pray
routinely, “Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done …” But in action we
project: “My kingdom come; my will be done….” Today, we have to ask ourselves,
“In my life, whose kingdom must come; mine or Christ’s?”
From
the answers I get from Christian students and the youth in various catechetical
instructions, value education classes, marriage preparation courses and youth
animation programmes (after 36 years of laity formation), I come to know that
most of them are not influenced much by Christ’s
kingdom-values. When I ask High School students why do they study,
almost all of them say: To gain knowledge; to pass in examinations; to get a
degree; to get a job; to earn money; to please their parents; to gain a higher
position in society. When I ask the youth what is the aim of their life, most
of them say: To study well; to get a good result; to get a good job; to marry a
good boy/girl; and to establish a good home. When I ask the engaged boys and
girls the reasons for their marriage, most of them say: To satisfy their sexual
needs; to continue their family line; to get a helpmate and companion for life;
to gain social position and security; to help parents in their work or to
please them. Though all these things are natural and essential to live a decent
life, in addition to all these things, our children/ students/ youth must be
able to articulate something beyond
these narrow boundaries of one’s own self –
some specific/ peronal contribution for human society. Then we shall be able to
say that Christ’s values reign in their hearts and minds. Where is anything of
Christ and his kingdom-values in the answers they give? Everything is about “my” kingdom.
If they are not able to articulate these values, it is clear that our way of
life or instructions have not deeply influenced them, or we have failed to inculcate them with Christ’s values. Further,
according to the studies conducted by experts, even some of the candidates for
religious life and priesthood in some developing countries enter formation
houses to get a higher status in
society, to get social security, to upgrade their standard of living, to escape
from the problems of life and hardships at home, to help the family financially
and to move upward in social mobility. Though these motives are not expressed
openly, and though outwardly they say they have joined to work for Christ’s
kingdom or mission, later it becomes clear from their attitudes and conduct
that they are interested more in their own ‘kingdom’ than in Christ’s.
Christ’s
kingship consists of those who hear his voice
and accept the truth about God as
revealed by him. In order to be attuned to his voice we need to belong to the
truth. What is the truth about God, about his Son Jesus and about ourselves?
The truth about God as told by Jesus is that he loves sinners as much as the
virtuous; the truth about Jesus is that he lays down his life to save sinners;
and truth about us is that we often refuse to allow God to rule over our lives
fully. Does the acceptance of this truth
bring about an attitudinal change in
us? To honour Christ as our only King means to listen to
his
voice and live our life according to his truth. We know the truth but yield to temptations to go
against it for selfish gains. We don’t want to face it and suffer for the truth.
5. Response to
God's Word
Do we acclaim Christ as
our King to follow the crowd, and because of custom, or out of personal
conviction? Is Christ the only King of our lives, or we have other ‘kings’ to
whom we pay equal or even more allegiance? Do Christ’s principles of love and
service, sacrifice and commitment rule over our minds and hearts? Are we deeply
influenced by them? Do we listen to the voice of our King who calls us daily to
love selflessly, to serve the needy, to do justice to others, to renounce or
sacrifice our self-interests for the food of others, to forgive those who
offend us, and to bring peace where there is unrest? To whom do we belong: to
God or to the world? Do our words, deeds, attitudes and behaviour suggest that we
belong more to the worldly kingdom than to Christ and his kingdom?
6. A prayer
Lord
God, you anointed your Son Jesus as the King of the universe to bear
witness to the truth. Grant that we may be always attuned to his voice and bear
witness to his kingdom-values of love and life, holiness and truth, justice and
peace. By remaining faithful subjects of
his kingdom, may we be found worthy to be citizens of his heavenly kingdom,
where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen
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