34TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME



Feast of Christ the King - 24 November 2013


First reading: 2 Samuel 5.1-3
Second reading: Colossians 1.12-20
Gospel: Luke 23.35-43

For a long time now, the Feast of Christ the King has bothered me.  I wasn’t sure why.  Then one year, I think it was part of the 2000 Jubilee celebrations, the Feast of Christ the King was celebrated by whole the diocese at the Italian Centre near the PNE.  The homilist was extolling how the kingship of Christ was so different from earthly kings.  The words of the homily spoke of seeking heavenly riches instead of earthly riches.  These words were almost comical as the sunlight beamed on the sparkling jewels of the Eparchial Bishop’s mitre. 

The theme of Jubilee is to release people from bondage and to let the Earth rest.  If we contrast West Georgia Street between Granville and Denman and East Georgia Street between Columbia and Commercial Drive, we see a micro picture of our nations and our Churches.   The burdens of the people and of the land are heavier than ever before in history.  When I think of the social, economic, political and religious hierarchies of today, the “Christ the King” metaphor just doesn’t fit, my Jesus.

For example, the first reading tells us about the beginning of David’s kingship.  We know from the stories how David misused his power, even arranging the death of one of his loyal soldiers so that he could take his wife.

The second reading tells us that Christ is the firstborn of all creation; that everything was created through and for him.  It is telling us, just as Jesus did, that Jesus is the way to wholeness.  We reach wholeness through the practice of love and justice.  Although wholeness may call us to die in some ways; it is a death to self that brings new life. 

We know that Jesus died because he was saying, doing, and living what is just.  He was a threat to the political and religious status quo.  The second thief actually emulated what Jesus taught when he spoke up in defence of Jesus.  I think it was this thief’s love of neighbour and sense of justice that led Jesus to say, ‘today you will be with me in Paradise.’  Salvation is gained in loving God by loving our neighbour. 

So to me Jesus as “Christ the King,” just doesn’t fit.   Jesus is the Holy One who became one of us, died to bring love of justice into the world and then, in the ultimate act of rule-breaking, rose from the dead.  I think “Christ the Anarchist” is a more apt metaphor. 

What are your thoughts on the metaphor of “Christ the King.”



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2023-06-04_Trinity Sunday_Pride Month

Image
Trinity Sunday_Pride Month June 4, 2023   Today is the Feast of the Holy Trinity.   June is both Pride Month and Indigenous Peoples Month in Canada.   Today, I used one of the bible translations accepted by the English-speaking Church because I want to share with you how word choice can limit inclusive and creative thought.   Due to the patriarchal culture of the time, God is addressed as Adonai or Lord in speaking to God, with only the first letter capitalized, as is used by Moses’ prayer in the first reading.   The word LORD in all caps is used six times in today’s first reading.   The name of God used most often in the Hebrew Bible when speaking of God is the Tetragrammaton , romanized as YHWH .   However, the Jewish people traditionally do not pronounce it, and instead refer to God as HaShem , literally "the Name".   This conveys that God cannot be reduced to a “he/him” or a “she/her”.   The culture of our time allows for the use of non-gendered, all-encompassing wo
Read more

7 July 2013 – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Image
Shared Homily Starter First Reading: Isaiah 66.10-14 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 62 Second Reading: Galatians 6:14-18 Gospel: Luke 10.1-12, [13-16], 17-20 Today’s gospel is about evangelization.   The word, “evangelization” has become, for many of us, a word that sends up red flags.   This is because, unfortunately, for almost two millennia, evangelization has been used more as a weapon than as an invitation to follow Christ’s example of peace and love.   Let’s examine evangelization from Jesus’ perspective.   He knows there are plenty of people out there who would be open to hearing the Good News.   He also knows that there are plenty who don’t want to hear it.   But Jesus sends out his disciples like lambs into a sea of wolves.   We live in a culture of ravenous consumption and accumulation.   We seek to accumulate more and more money, more and more power and more and more ad nauseam.   The more we have, the more we want and more we have to get; the more we get t
Read more

The High Cost of Free Trade for Indigenous and Afro-Colombians

Image
Victoria Marie, PhD Presented at the Racial Violence and the Colour Line of the New World Order Conference Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia April 2, 2005 The power of spreading the word… When governments speak they don’t speak the truth. Plan Colombia is not addressing social probems but spending more on war, which seems to have the aim of eliminating the civilian population (OFP, 2004) . Introduction Colombia has been in a state of civil war for the past 40 years. The combatants are the legitimately armed actors, such as the army and police; paramilitaries, who protect the interests of legal and illegal businesses; and two major groups of revolutionary forces. However, it is the civilian population that is most adversely impacted from the ongoing conflict. They are endangered by the warring factions, who routinely murder, displace or conscript them. The aim of this paper is to explore how this conflict and economic policies have adversely affected the people of colour in Col
Read more