REFLECTIONS TODAY
Gospel • John 18:33b-37
Pilate said to Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”
So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
First Reading • Dn 7:13-14
As the visions during the night continued, I saw one like a Son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.
Second Reading • Rv 1:5-8
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament him. Yes. Amen.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.”
Building a kingdom in wisdom and justice
As soon as we reach this point in our liturgical life, often the question that is asked is, “How is this great feast of Christ the King still relevant to our times when secular monarchies are just a minority?” Most of us who have not lived under such an arrangement would perhaps ask, “What does it mean to be under a king or a queen?”
As royal people are often viewed as unreachable by ordinary mortals, how do we feel a connection with them? To be sure, there are some who are still very fanatic about the monarchy. Somehow, despite their being some kind of unreachable, they are still being adored and idolized, a symbol of power and stability and protection.
Today’s solemnity celebrates the Kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ, not just over Israel, the first members of the People of God, but of the whole universe. For unlike earthly rulers whose kingdoms are space-bound and time-bound, our Lord’s Kingship is forever and knows no boundaries.
This, even if many still do not believe in him. He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. Our Lord, in his own time in the flesh, had tried to teach people how to be king, how to be a leader, a ruler.
His strategies were very simple: living closely to the realities of the people, that is, in poverty and simplicity; living according to the standards of mercy, compassion, and love, and less according to merely human and legalistic standards; living as one who served, as one who put himself last and not as one who wanted to be served and be recognized as head and first; living according to his Father’s will, always consulting the Father in his decisions, and not simply according to what he wanted and planned; most of all, living and leading with a consciousness that he may even have to give his life for his flock if and when necessary, which was what he precisely did.
In this country, many leaders had already shown genuine patriotism and a sense of self-sacrifice, and had tried their best to improve the lives of our people. However, it seems that none of them had really solved the problem which is not just Filipino but at the same time also very Filipino, and that is the lack of unity, the desire to pull one another down as soon as one senses being overtaken or left behind in the struggle for power.
Instead of working together and dreaming together about what this blessed country could become, we degenerate into manipulative and destructive alliances, making the lives of the already disadvantaged even more pitiable. What have we learned from our heroes? What have we learned from the examples of those who gave their lives for this country? What have we learned from our neighbors who had much less than we had years ago but are now overtaking us?
A sense of common purpose, a dreaming together with a good and wise and self-sacrificing leader or king is what most countries need; it is what we badly need in this country. And so, on today’s closing solemnity of this liturgical year, we pray for our leaders, the leaders of the world, that they may look at Christ’s example of how to be a king, how to be a pastor, how to be a leader, how to be a guide. That it cannot be according to the simple standard of raw force and coercion, but according to the testimony or witness of one’s life, of humble servanthood.
Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.