Hail the King
of Justice! Rule the Universe
Daniel 7:13-14;
Revelation 1:5-8; John 18:33b-37 (B)
The Rising Sun
will sit on the throne and rule over all.
He will speak of peace to the peoples (Divine Office)
Today,
the Church presents Jesus Christ to us as the King of the Universe. The Bible
attributes the word “King” to our Lord. The Psalm says, “The Lord is king; he
is robed in majesty” (Ps 93). John writes the claim of Jesus: “I am a king” (Jn
18:37). People shouted when he was entering Jerusalem, saying “Blessed is the
king who comes in the name of the Lord” (Lk 19:38). But his “(My) kingship is
not from here” (Jn 18:36).
The
rule of Jesus is far removed from a dictatorship. This king robed in purple and
crowned with thorns as a mock king before a ruthless Roman judge, claims only a
spiritual authority that has nothing to do with the power or to compel by
force. His authority is the authority of truth. He says, “For this I was born
and came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. All who are on the side
of truth listen to my voice” (Jn 18:37). Christ lived by the truth and died for
it. The truth of Christ blends word and action in perfect harmony.
Getting
deeper in touch with the truth demands a lifestyle change. For this, one needs quiet
time with oneself in personal prayer. Truth cannot mark our lives without inspiration
from Christ's spirit. It must flow from prayer to life and back into prayer
again. A new commitment to the truth can give us a new vision of life. And
Christ, the King of Truth, will be the one to set us free from all bondages and
attachments.
Jesus
is the King of the Universe. He is our Lord who rules our whole being. When we
say, “Your kingdom come”, in the Lord’s prayer, we mean we would like to see
more and more people find the source of their happiness in God alone (St.
Ambrose). The kingdom is our hope, and we enjoy it whenever justice is done for
the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and the oppressed.
The
best way to honor Christ our King is to work to make his kingdom a reality
among us. Anything we do for the relief of the deprived and underprivileged is
also a service to Christ because he identifies himself personally with people
in need. The disciple of Christ the King cannot afford the luxury of
comfortably keeping oneself to oneself. To be deaf to the cries of the neighbor
in need is to close our ears to Christ. To be blind to the anguish of the dying
is to shut our eyes to him. If we follow Jesus Christ as our Shepherd-king we
must in some way, be shepherds ourselves, for his sake.
“He
will judge the world with justice, and the peoples with equity” (Divine Office)
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