Christ the King

None of us asked to be born. By creating us without our permission, God shows His absolute sovereignty over our lives. Furthermore, though He offers us the freedom to accept His gift of eternal life or not, He doesn't give us an alternative. Most of the time, we try to work out a compromise between God and the world. But, we have no real choice other than to accept God and His claims on us or reject Him; and, along with that, to accept Jesus' claim that He is the Son of God or reject it.

Jesus is King! This Sunday's second reading (Col.1: 12-20) tells us that Jesus is the pattern of creation. "All things were made through Him." Jesus is also the finish line of creation, the culmination of evolution. "All things are for Him." Jesus is the reason we continue to exist. "In Him, everything continues in being."

Jesus is like our lungs and our heart. Our lungs continue to take in life-giving oxygen even when we are not paying attention to them. Our heart circulates blood through our body, although we are not conscious of it. So, Jesus sustains our life, sustains our very being, even though we often fail to realize it or acknowledge it. Jesus is the reason for everything, whether we know it or not.

And now that we know it, now that it has been revealed to us, we have a decision to make. It is a decision we cannot avoid. Just as we could not decide whether or not to be born, we cannot decide not to decide about Jesus' sovereignty over our lives. To "not decide" or to "put off deciding" is already to decide, and to decide wrongly.

In Crossing the Threshhold of Hope, Pope John Paul II calls the crucifixion the judgment of man on God. God is judged to be impotent and indifferent before the reality of suffering and evil. Jesus on the cross is derided by the soldiers: "If you are the king of the Jews, then save yourself." The crowd said: "He saved others, why can't he save himself?" Even the thief crucified beside him taunted Him, "Why don't you save yourself; and while you're at it, save us too!" Man has always judged God to be silent before evil and the suffering it causes. Man has always interpreted that silence to mean that God is indifferent in the face of our suffering.

The present Pope would revisit this theme in his book, Jesus of Nazareth. The world asks, "What difference did Jesus make?" Two thousand years after Jesus there is still poverty, conflict and death. What exactly did Jesus bring? Pope Benedict answers, "He brought God." Jesus ended God's seeming silence, indifference and impotence before the reality of evil, suffering and death. In Jesus, we can no longer say that God doesn't know what death is and, more importantly, that He doesn't care.

The world continues to look at Jesus and require from Him a salvation that can be measured in economic or political terms - a salvation that can be put to some use. But, to those for whom God is enough, Jesus speaks clearly and forcefully from the throne of His cross.

Like the soldiers, the crowd and the thieves, we have a decision to make as we look up at Jesus on the cross. Is that our God and King twisted in pain on two planks of wood, or an imposter? Is the salvation He offers good enough, or should it come from politicians, scientists or corporations?

Whom will we make our King?