34th Sunday Ordinary (B)

 

Christ the King
 

Dan 7:13-14/ Ps 93/ Rev 1:5-8/ Jn. 18:33-37
   
  Introduction
        Whenever I hear the word “king”, it reminds me of the game chess, which is one of my favorites. In playing chess, you should know first: (1) what is the king, the bishop the knight and other officials look like and (2) learn how they move and (3) what their values are, so that you can decide which one is to be sacrificed if you want to save the other. In today’s Gospel, Pilate can hardly win the game because he did not know how to
Sacrifice his own career in order to save his own king. 		 
   
  Background
  1. Pilate rambles on throwing questions at Jesus although he is not really interested in getting answers. He knows too well that releasing Jesus will agitate the crowd and antagonize the high priests who will not hesitate to send a complaint to Rome, thereby endangering his position as the governor of Judea.  
     
  2. “King of the Jews” meant one thing to Pilate, a political leader - Roman governor. It meant another to the Jews who looked for the Messianic king who would usher an earthly kingdom into God’s kingdom. There was nothing more important in the mind of the Jews than restoring their kingdom. Their initial motivation was not that they wanted power over other nations, but that their kingdom would be God’s kingdom – a sign of power and authority of the God of the Jews.  
     
  3.

Jesus expressed that his purpose was to establish the Kingdom of God. Jesus played with Pilate’s misunderstanding of His kingship because Jesus knew that many in the Jewish leadership had forgotten their own understanding of the kingdom. They substituted their desire for God’s kingdom by their desire for an earthly kingdom by which they can hope to free themselves from foreign invaders and restore the former glory of David’s kingdom.

  
       
  4. Jesus’ kingship is not about exercising power and might to control human institutions. He redefines the very meaning of being a king. Jesus’ power comes from God and his kingship is exercised through self giving and love. His ultimate kingly act is to die on the cross in service to all humankind.  
       
  Reflections  
  1.

The mind of a good servant is always aligned with the mind of his king. His values, his focus and his mission must be according to that of his king. Do we make an effort to surrender our will and our freedom at the disposal our King? Let us exert an outmost effort to be identical to our king, because whatever values we have will always reflect the kind of king we have.

  
       
  2.

As Christ claimed that he is a King, he likewise makes it clear that his kingdom is not based on force but is a kingdom in the hearts of men. He would never deny that he aimed at conquest, but it was the conquest of love.

  
       
  3.

In the game chess the king might move slowly but it is the most valuable piece in it. In our relationship with Him in prayer, he might respond a gentle as a wind but with his presence in your life, you can win true happiness for your hearts.

When arranging your pieces on “chess board of your life”, be sure to put the King at the center on the second line so that your small pawns can protect it and the rest of the officers on either side of the king, so that they can easily come to the rescue of the king. If Christ is your King, can you rearrange the setup of your life, and put Christ at the center of it?

In same game, when the opponent’s king is in danger, the player say, check, to warn his opponent of his forthcoming defeat. So the opponent will pause and think it all over again, trying to make another plan how to save his King, usually he put all his other pieces around the king to protect it, and if necessary, sacrifice some of them, just to save the king. When needed, can you give up the things you like most (or persons you value most) just to keep Christ always safe in your soul?

  
       
  4.

Death itself, apparently Satan's triumph over us but he cannot defeat the supreme power of God's love. Saint Paul reminds us: "Christ must reign until God has put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Cor. 15:26).

  
     
  Conclusion  
 

In the game of our life nobody loves a loser. We all aspire to be a winner who expects a reward of eternal happiness is his Kingdom.  Thus never dare to lose Christ as your king, even during the hardest and darkest part of your life, because when you lost your King - that’s the end of it …you lose everything - you are check MATE!