King of the Hill according to Jesus & John
(CHRIST THE KING)
To the church in Diaspora[1].
Daniel 7:13-14 Revelation
1:5-8 John 18:33-37
Introduction
New Year’s Day in the church
After having
celebrated all the feasts of Our Lord and his saints through fifty-two weeks, we
crown the church’s fast departing old year this morning with the feast of
Christ the King. Then next Sunday we celebrate New Year’s Day in the church
with the arrival of the first Sunday of Advent--the season which keeps us so
busy preparing for Christmas that we have little time to prepare for the
birthday of the Lord.
Our
fill of kings
The
feast of Christ the King was instituted as recently as
The human race has
always had its fill of kings who pretend to hold unquestionable authority over
other human beings. Back in Jesus’ day,
King Herod, leery of Jesus, the new-born king of the Jews, slew all baby boys
two years and younger just to make sure he had eliminated a threat to his
throne (Mt
His
kingship clarified
Given the reputation that kings have
had down through history, it is no surprise that Jesus never accepted the title
of king without clarification. When Pilate in Matthew, Mark and Luke asks Jesus
at his trial, "Are you a king?" his response "You say so!"
is taken by scholars to mean, "That's what you say! I've never called
myself a king"(Mt 27:11; Mk 15:2; Lk 23:3). Jesus clarifies his kingship
for Pilate
and for all ages to come and especially for his church when he replies yes he
is a king but his kingdom is not of this world (Jn
Palm
Sunday & Good Friday
On Palm Sunday the crowds
sang out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna to the King of
On Good Friday the Romans
nailed Jesus to a cross and attached an inscription over his thorn-crowned
head: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum--Jesus
of Nazareth, King of the Jews (Lk
King of the Hill
Kids like to play a game called King of the Hill.
They stand on top of a raft or some other lofty height and push down anyone who
tries to get on top. The game caters to the yen in us to triumph over others. Whoever
manages to dethrone the one on top proclaims himself king. Adults, too, like to
play King of the Hill. Churches, too, like to play King of the Hill.
In
Do you know what Jesus does
every time we play King of the Hill in his name? After the multiplication of the
loaves and fishes, the fervent crowds wanted to seize him and make him king.
Scripture says, “Jesus fled from them and hid himself alone up in the
mountains” (Jn
There’s a tricky dynamic at
work whenever we play King of the Hill in Jesus’ name. We’re really busy not
with Jesus’ kingship but with our own.
That is to say, we’re busy placing in God whatever we want to declare as right
or wrong, as valid or invalid, as orthodox or unorthodox; placing in God whatever
we want to espouse or disown, include or exclude, attack or defend
It’s a tricky dynamic in which we now possess
God instead of God possessing us. We now
have God doing our bidding instead of us doing God’s bidding. We now have God
hating gays when it is really we who hate them. We now have God excluding married
men or women from ministry when it is really we who exclude them. We now have
God disdaining “a la carte Catholics” or “cafeteria Catholics” or ”Call to Action
Catholics” as “nominal” Catholics when it is really we who disdain them. We now
have God silencing prophets when it is really we who silence them. At the end
of the day, we now have God in our employ and doing jobs for us. At the end of
the day, it’s God who is obedient not we. At the end of the day, it is not
Jesus but we who reign as king.
An
effective dynamic
It’s also a very effective
dynamic that’s at work when we play King of the Hill in Jesus’ name. It puts
the stamp of divine approval upon whatever our agenda might be. Now with God doing
our bidding there is no limit to how far we can go. If our agenda is squarely
and exclusively pro-life, and we’re tricky enough to place it in God, then we
have the stamp of divine approval to bomb abortion clinics or shoot abortion
doctors in the head. If our agenda is to bring down Western culture because we
perceive it to be a threat to our Islamic culture, and we are tricky enough to
place that agenda in God, then we have Allah’s blessing to bring down the Twin
Towers in Lower Manhattan and three thousand innocent human beings.
If our agenda is
gay-bashing, and we are tricky enough to place that agenda in God, then we have
the stamp of divine approval to beat Matt Shepard to a pulp and tie him to a
wooden fence out in the country and leave him there to die in his blood and
tears. And the Rev. Mr. Phelps has God’s permission and blessing to parade a
sign at the lad’s funeral, which has God endorsing his agenda, and which reads,
“God hates fags and buries them in hell. Read Romans 9:13.”
Christ’s agenda in us
We make Christ king not by
putting our agenda in him but his agenda in us. What’s his agenda? It is not to bash gays whether savagely or
benignly or condescendingly. It is not to exclude married men or women from
ministry. It is not to disdain “a la carte” or “cafeteria” or “Call to Action”
Catholics as “nominal” Catholics. It is not to silence Hans Küng or Bishop Gumbleton—those
true defenders of the faith. Christ’s agenda is not to protect the table of the
Lord from those who practice birth control or who are divorced and remarried or
who simply aren’t Roman Catholics. At the end of the day, Jesus’ agenda is not
to protect the magisterium of the church! His agenda is not to protect
teachings! His agenda is to protect human beings!
In cycle C the gospel for
the feast of Christ the King lists Jesus’ agenda: “When the Son of man comes as
king and all the angels with him, he will divide all the peoples of the earth
into two groups. To the one he will say, `Come you blessed of my Father. Come
and receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was
thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was
naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and
you visited me” (Mt 25:31-46). That’s Christ’s agenda: to protect human
beings. Make that our agenda, and we have made Christ our king.
Conclusion
King of the Hill according to Jesus &John
Close upon this late fall feast of Christ the King
comes the birthday of Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli.
He was born poor like Jesus on Nov. 25 (yesterday), 1881, in a little
Italian village called
When he got to the top, Good Pope John, like Jesus himself,
played a completely new game of King of the Hill. In the old game, 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 cross, he drew everyone up to himself (Jn
We now pray for, we now long for and work for a
church that will play the game as Jesus and John did.
[1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. It refers to a religious group who for one reason or other has left its homeland and has taken up residence as a minority in a foreign land.
[2] Now there is a
raging sea of angry demonstrators in