I

(Pope John XXIII -- born Nov.25, 1881)

The Game according to Jesus and John

(Feast of Christ the King)

November 25, 2007, 34^th Sunday of Ordinary Time

II Samuel 5:1-3 Colossians 1:12-20 Luke 23:35-43

To the church in the diaspora[1]

& to the church of the unchurched[2]

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, Lord.

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God." Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer Him, wine they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." Above him, an inscription read, "This is the King of the Jews." Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? Moreover, indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal. "Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

The end of the year

After having celebrated all the feasts of Our Lord and his saints through fifty-two weeks, on this 34^th Sunday of Ordinary Time we crown the church’s fast departing old year with a feast in honor of Christ the King. Then next Sunday we will celebrate New Year’s Day in the church with the arrival of the first Sunday of Advent. That season keeps us so busy preparing for Christmas that it is hard to find any time to prepare for the birthday of the Lord.

A recent feast

Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of Christ the King as recently as 1925. At that time, the pope was battling various kings of this world. He was fighting anticlericalism in Mexico and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. In his own backyard, he was battling the Italian State which had wrested Italy back from the popes. The newly instituted feast seemed to say, “We have a king who is more powerful than all the kings of the world. He is Jesus -- the King of kings and the Lord of hosts.”

A superfluous feast?

That might not be as good as it sounds; it could simply line up Jesus with the other kings - better than all of them but still “one of the boys.” This late November feast might even be superfluous. Already in early spring, the church has a feast honoring Christ as king. In the solemn celebration of Palm Sunday the opening words of the old Latin Mass sang out, “Hosanna Filio David! O Rex Israel, hosanna in excelsis!” ("Hosanna to the Son of David! O King of Israel, hosanna in the highest!") Holy Week is a better context for the kingship of Christ. It sets Jesus upon an ass and not upon a throne. It places a palm branch in his hand and not a scepter. It plants a wreath of thorns upon his head and not a tiara. The Palm Sunday celebration of the kingship of Christ sets the records straight for all of us who want to build an earthly kingdom for Jesus. "My kingdom,” he tells us, “is not of this world" (Jn 18:36).

A long history of rogue kings

The human race has a long history of rogue kings who exercise lethal authority over others. Back in Jesus’ day, King Herod, leery about Jesus the “new-born king of the Jews” (Mt 2:2), slew all baby boys two years and younger, just to make sure he had eliminated a threat to his throne (Mt 2:16). During WW II Hitler gassed and starved to death six million Jews in the concentration camps of Dachau, Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Saddam Hussein (who lived as a king in eight palaces before he ended up in a hole in the ground) dotted the landscape of Iraq with kingly statues of himself and filled the dumps with the remains of people who did not want him as king. In present days, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, ominously promises that the regime occupying Jerusalem “must vanish from the page of time” and that “Israel must be wiped off the map.”

The American war of independence (1775-83) from Mother England rid the Thirteen Colonies of King George III. General George Washington and his armies put an end to his kinging in the colonies. Understandably, there is something in us sons and daughters of the American Revolution that does not like kings, or at least finds it hard to interiorize them. Americans are not as enthusiastic about royalty as the Brits are.

King on the Hill 33 AD

However, we might feel about kings, the testimony of scripture is clear: Jesus is a king. He is a king as he comes into the world and as he leaves it. At his conception the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that the Lord God would give to her son the throne of David, his father, and that his kingdom would have no end (Lk 1:33). At his trial toward the end of his life, He is asked, “Are you a king?” He answers, “Yes, for this I was born, and for this I came into the world” (Jn 18:37). Accordingly, a gang of Roman soldiers concocted a crown of thorns and pressed it on Jesus’ head (Mt 27:29). Then they forced him up the hill of Calvary and nailed him to a cross with an inscription over head which read Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (Lk 23:38). Then they lifted him up (Jn 12:32).

An old game

Before the days when kids had money to buy hi-tech games, they had to invent their own games. One game we invented was called King of the Hill. It fed an innate yen in us to overcome and lord it over others. In that game you stood on top of a raft or a mound or any kind of a height, and you drove down anyone trying to get to the top. Whoever managed to get to the top and unseat the occupant proclaimed himself king. Not only kids but also full-grown people play the game. Even the great monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) play King of the Hill. All want to be on top, and each by various means (some refined and others gross) try to get to the top, declare themselves king and lord it over others. That is the history of the church (and of the synagogue and mosque).

King on the Hill 258 AD.

It did not take long for the nascent church to declare herself to be King of the Hill. St. Cyprian of Carthage, a bishop of the third century (200-258), wrote that extra ecclesiam nulla salus – that outside the church there was no salvation. Perhaps it was not much more than a comment made off the top of his head, but it certainly stuck. Later generations of theologians and churchmen kept quoting Cyprian’s words as gospel truth. They quoted it in Latin to make it sound impressive. Down through the centuries Cyprian’s famous dictum deteriorated into a mumbled and half-examined belief that only Christians (and sometimes even only Catholics) made it to the top of the hill in the Kingdom of God.

Those who felt that it was too gross to believe in a massa damnata[3] -- in a mass of damned people outside the church -- did their best to reinterpret Cyprian’s words so as to make them say something less gross. It would have been much simpler and more honest simply to ditch his dictum in the first place. That could have saved the world some of the pain and mischief committed by centuries of missionary activity fueled by the frantic thought that outside the church there is no salvation but only a sea of damnation.

After Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes, the fervent crowds wanted to seize him and make him king. Scripture says, “Jesus fled from them and went alone into the mountains and hid himself” (Jn 6: 15). The church like Jesus must flee the temptation to be king.

King on the hill 2000 AD

On August 6, 2000, Cardinal Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a 36-page document entitled Dominus Iesus (Jesus the Lord). It warned Catholics not to water down the very extraordinary uniqueness of Jesus when dealing with Buddhism and Hinduism. In dialoguing with non-Catholic Christian churches, the document also warned us not to water down the extraordinary uniqueness of the Catholic Church. The document, heavy with ponderous theology, was disheartening for ecumenists who for thirty years were laboriously building bridges. At times it seemed arrogant and condescending in such remarks as, “Though non-Catholic churches suffer from defects, they by no means have been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation.”

Recently (July 10, 2007) Pope Benedict approved a document which restated the key sections of Dominus Iesus. The Rev. Sara MacVane of the Anglican Center in Rome said there was nothing new in the new document, and she did not know what motivated it. She pointed out that there is the official position which likes to play lonely King of the Hill. There is also an unofficial position which is infused with fellowship with others, and which even worships with others. This is certainly true, she said, between Anglicans and Catholics and also between other groups and Catholics.

One triumphant Catholic gentlemen responding to Dominus Iesus said, “The ultimate goal of dialogue among the various Christian religions is to eventually bring these people back into the Catholic Church. Three cheers to the pope for having the courage to say it.” Another triumphant Catholic gentleman said, “With Dominus Iesus the cafeteria now is closed! No more picking and choosing. All religions are not created equal. Period!” Both gentlemen were playing King of the Hill in the name of their church. On the other hand, however, an angry Catholic gentleman responding to the same Vatican document wrote, “As an American Catholic, I want to apologize to my non-Catholic friends and acquaintances for the arrogance of my church toward them.”

Who is Jesus of Nazareth, and where is his true church? The answer given by Dominus Iesus might well be the only one right answer. But what’s the use of having a right answer if it can easily be misunderstood, or if it tears down bridges laboriously built, or if it angers people with its seeming arrogance and condescension?

King on the Hill 2007

The Rev. Ray Martin was born in Northern Ireland, moved to Baltimore in 1958 and was ordained a priest in 1994. Martin led a funeral Mass on Oct. 15, 2007, at Our Lady of Good Counsel for a Locust Point activist. Attending were several clergy, including the Rev. Annette Chappell, pastor of the Episcopal Church of the Redemption in Locust Point. Chappell did not participate with Fr. Martin in the consecration of the Eucharist, but she did read the Gospel at the Mass. Someone at the service reported to the archdiocese that Fr. Martin had actually invited Episcopal Rev. Annette to take Catholic Communion, and that was scandalous!

Baltimore's new Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien personally ordered Fr. Martin to resign from his three parishes and sign a statement apologizing for "bringing scandal to the church." That scandal included officiating at a funeral Mass with an Episcopal priest (and a female to boot!). That violated canon law. Sean Caine, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, said that event was but one example of repeated administrative and liturgical offenses Fr. Martin had committed in more than a year. Whatever might be the exact details of that case, it breathed heavily of arrogance and condescension. At the end of the day, it was the church again playing King of the Hill over non-Catholics, and in this case perhaps also over females.

November 25 – the birthday of a great man

Today, November 25, is the birthday of a great man who like Jesus fled the temptation to become king and chose instead to gird himself with a towel and become a servant. He was born on November 25 in 1881. Though that is 106 years ago, many of us were his contemporaries and remember him and his powerful example with very deep affection. His name was Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli. He was born poor in a little Italian village called Bergamo Sotto il Monte (Bergamo at the Foot of the Mountain). Though born at the foot of the hill, he made it to the top. On October 28, 1958, Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected pope and took the name of John XXIII. On November 4, the day of his coronation, a tiara was placed upon his head. In his homily that day the new pope said that he had in mind for his pontificate the example of the Good Shepherd who came not to be served as kings are served but to serve.

The next day after his coronation he sped off through elaborate Vatican gates to serve. He visited aging brother priests in nursing homes. He visited inmates in the nearby Regina Coeli Prison along the Tiber. “I come to you,” he told them, “because you couldn’t come to me.” Moreover, when he celebrated his first Holy Thursday as pope, he revived an ancient custom of the church. Like Jesus John girded himself with a towel and bent down to wash the feet of 13 young priests. The rite of washing feet had fallen into disuse for many centuries, and that disuse in itself was symbolic of a prevailing institutional attitude. At the end of the day, John’s wonderful pontificate, devoid of any speck of arrogance or condescension but flooded instead with humility and fraternity, put an end to the crowning of popes. It is true the next pope after him, Paul VI, was crowned with an elaborate tiara given him as a gift by the people of Milan. However, after John’s wonderful shepherding, Paul’s coronation fell flat, and he sold his crown and gave the money to the poor. John Paul I and II and Benedict XVI were not crowned; they were inaugurated.

A great cloud of witnesses

By his very attractive example emanating from the lofty throne of Peter, Pope John drew the whole church and world up to himself. He drew Morris West up to himself. West, an Australian writer (1916-1999), is famous especially for his books The Devil’s Advocate and The Shoes of the Fisherman. In A View from the Ridge he writes, “I believe I can say with certainty that I remained in communion with the Church even when the Church itself excluded me[4], and I remain there still, principally because of the presence of John XXIII, the Good Pastor, whom I never met, though I did meet his predecessor (Pius XII) and his successor (John Paul II). Goodness went out from this man to me. I acknowledged it then. I acknowledge it again.”

Many of us say the same as Morris West said. We remain in the church because of the presence and witness of Pope John, the Good Pastor. We remain in the church not only because of him but also because of”a great cloud of witnesses that surround us” (Heb 12:1): St. Francis of Assisi, Fr. Damien of Molokai, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Archbishop Hunthausen of Seattle, Bishop Kenneth Untener of Saginaw, Auxiliary Bishop Gumbleton of Detroit, Fr. Hans Küng, Sr. Joan Chittister and a whole constellation of other witnesses. All of them are true sons and daughters of the church; all of them were begotten in some mysterious fashion by the very church they take to task. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance which weighs us down and every sin which entangles our feet, and let us patiently run the race God has set before us” (Heb 12:1).

Conclusion

The game according to Jesus and John

When Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who was born at Bergamo at the Foot of the Mountain, made it to the top of the hill as John XXIII, he, like Jesus, played a completely new game of King of the Hill. In the old one, when you got to the top, you pushed everyone down. In the new game when Jesus got to the top -- when he was lifted up on the hill of Calvary -- he drew everyone up to himself (Jn 12:32). When John got to the top and sat on the very throne of Peter, he, too, played the game in an entirely new way. In his very brief but wonderfully blessed pontificate, he drew us all up to himself. He showed the church and all of us how much more blessed it is to draw others up to ourselves than it is to look down and lord it over them.

1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. Originally it referred to the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It’s now come to mean the migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland or parish!

[2]] By the “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!

[3] Augustine had a theory called Massa Damnata. By original sin the whole human race became a damned mass. God wills to display his mercy and his justice. To display his mercy, He rescues a small percent. To display his justice, the rest go to hell to show that all should have gone to hell!

[4] Though West was and always remained a Catholic his various writings contain a good deal of criticism about the church, and the church was not always pleased with him.