Inherit the Kingdom

November 23, 2003

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal (but the sleek and the strong I will destroy), shepherding them rightly. Ezekiel 34: 15-16

Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me. Matthew 25:34-36

Piety
Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack. In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me; you restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name. Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage. You set a table before me as my enemies watch; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.

Study

King David was the perfect king for the Jews. He had won the right to be leader by his life and his word and way of doing things brought to the Jews the respect, the wealth, the well being and everything they had been looking for. He made it possible for them to be the best. Christ is King in the line of David. He is the Messiah King that the Jews were expecting to be like David. That is the reason they found it so hard to take the King on the Cross.

Our second reading has Christ in the fullness of Kingship in the vision of Paul. It reads like a pedigree of all the right things. First-born, etc. Power and justice were found in him. It is of his glory we all have a share. The good thief from the cross who steals heaven gives us an insight if we look. He saw something of the true kingship of Christ in the way Christ was dying. He understood that Christ was dying for others and put it all together in his asking to be remembered.

As a child, I wondered why someone who was born to kingship should be honored. What did a king do to deserve kingship? Christ deserves kingship because he died for our sakes. By his death on the cross and his faithfulness to the plan of the Father, he was given the name above all names to which we owe obeisance. Some people today still have a problem with the kingship of Christ. They are in competition with Christ. Or they are stuck with a problem with authority in their lives.

How to find Christ who is the perfect image of God as the object of all their breathing moments and the reason behind everything or anything as the case might be. Christ is the source of all life. All is created through him and for him. He should be the object of every wish and desire of our being. That is kingship in its deepest meaning.

The question of what can I say about Christ forever needs an answer. I see Christ as the perfect connection with God. I see him as the deepest meaning of my life. I see him as the person behind all love. What do you say about Christ?

What I say to Christ is simple. I love you. I want you. I search for you. You are what I like about anyone who comes into my life.

Kingship speaks rule. My pain can tell me what to do and I listen to my pain. When it is bad, it can control my life. Pain can be king.

Comfort speaks rule. I listen to my pleasures. When they are loud and heady, I take time for them and do what they ask. Unless the kingship of the Christ of the Cross is claiming my heart, I leave good enough alone.

Pain and pleasure can be dictators and control a life. They can be brought under control and lived within their proper places. Pleasure and consolation can be mixed up. One can seem the other and have control of one's life. Pleasure can be the voice of unbridled passions and when it reaches such intensity that it blocks out duty and responsibility, it is wrong. Consolation is the voice of peace and rightness and when it flows over one's entire being, it can be the voice of God in our lives. The kingship of Christ is spoken through the consolations of our lives and is seen in the fruits of the Spirit. The Christ of the "Cross" sits on the throne of God's love for us and claims our love in return. The wood of the "Cross" is the claim the kingship of Christ has on our lives.

Action

The embrace of the "Cross" is for the good and the bad alike. The altruistic love of the "Cross" issues the claim over our hearts of the kingship of Christ. His love is a forever. It will always be there for us until the end of time. Wealth and power will pass away. The love of God for the simple and the poor is a heavenly bias that will never end.

Faith and hope in Christ open the doors of our heart to the mystery of his love. His love is not just forever; it is also so free it can never be deserved. We are able to claim this love any moment of our lives.

Faith and hope will pass away when we see Christ in the fullness of his kingship. Then the only thing that will last is the love that is forever. How can we not love Christ who rules our hearts? He is the God of love and all creation becomes the statement of a king that sings God's love for us. The God of love is the king of glory. A share in his cross is our claim to glory. Our love for one another is how we celebrate his kingship.

People today are annoyed by the celebration of the kingship of Christ.

Their problem is undeserved kingship. No one is born to be a king by human worth in itself. On this feast of Christ the King we celebrate his kingship over our hearts. I honor his kingship by how close I come to him in mind and heart. Spirituality is putting on the mind and the heart of Christ. The great saints and the mystics give us the challenge of that kind of love where one identifies with the beloved and strives to be like the beloved in mind and heart. This is why the Church of Christ is so important to the Saint. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ.

The people of God are the members. We live the fullness of our belonging to Christ in His Church. And we owe the Church obedience in the name of Christ. The saints are always checking out what they believe through the teaching of the Church. Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. There is continuity to the teaching of Christ and while it is true we grow in wisdom and knowledge, the seeds of what we believe have been there from the beginning of the Church. Some of Christ's word comes through the bible in the very words of Jesus. More comes from the mind and the heart of Christ lived out in the Church as it applies its memory of the way Christ handled his problems with the same spirit to the problems of the day. The sign of that Spirit is the continuity of that teaching no matter what individuals or popularity would change.