Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe, Year B
Theme: My Kingdom Does Not Belong To This World
When Pilate interrogated Jesus for treason charges, asking Him whether He was the king of the Jews, the Lord gave Pilate an opportunity to confess if he truly believes so (John 18:34). Pilate was under pressure. On one hand, he had lost favour before Caesar and was assigned a difficult job of governing a turbulent province: Judaea. He needed the chief priests to support the Roman colonial rule and Pilate knew that they handed Jesus over out of jealousy (Mark 15:10). On the other hand, he has the responsibility to enforce Roman justice, at least to show that Roman laws were impartial. It was a dilemma. Taking the chief priests’ side went against Roman justice and was immoral. Opposing them would lose their support. Pilate tried hard to get off the hook and the rest is history.
When Jesus asks Pilate if he truly believes that He is the king of the Jews, Pilate declares his neutrality/impartiality and continues to press for evidence, “What have you done?” (John 18:35) As usual, Jesus answers in an off-topic manner, speaking of “kingdom” three times in order to give Pilate the “evidence” he needs to incriminate Him. “My kingdom does not belong to this world…” (18:36) and in the end, Pilate could only wash his hands in the sight of the crowd to declare his own innocence of Jesus’ blood (Matthew 27:24).
Though a bit old-fashioned, our understanding of kingdom consists of the concept of space, viz. territory. Naturally we’ll wonder, if Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, then where?
There could be three possibilities. Jesus’ kingdom would be far-away and other-worldly which has nothing to do with this world. Neither is it Jewish, nor Roman, nor Chinese etc. Most likely, it may be somewhere in the outer space or in some dimensions beyond the usual three! This is not an attractive interpretation because it portrays a God who is all powerful, all knowing and all present. He could create a magnificent universe from void with just a snap of fingers. Yet, there is no way to reach Him, no way to migrate into His kingdom. So, we may forget it.
Or Jesus’ kingdom can be closer and bigger than this world, enveloping it and yet it can still exclude this world. Again, such a kingdom suggests an indifferent, lofty and almighty God who doesn’t care about us, doesn’t bother to relate to us. Do you think you may flourish in such an environment? No thanks. I would not migrate to this kingdom even if it is within reach.
At last, it is possible for Jesus’ kingdom to envelop this world as well as penetrating this world. In other words, Jesus’ kingdom is everywhere, within and without all of us. Thus, Jesus’ ambiguous answer could be a declaration that His kingdom is NOT Jewish as Pilate thinks, but universal. This interpretation agrees with what Catholics always believe because the God we believe in is love (1 John 4:8). Love is inclusive and accepts all. Love offers oneself instead of enslaving others. Thus, love only invites and forces nobody to accept it.
Despite the fact that technologies of transportation, from sailing to flying, from horseback to the internet, have broken down national borders, almost all kingdoms on earth are exclusive. Governments set up regulations to define who are qualified to be their nationals and who are not. This is convenient for greedy and ambitious mandarins because they could easily set up enemies to divert the dissatisfaction and frustration of their subjects. They could abuse the concept of territory to claim natural underground resources which should be shared by all humanity! Consequently and sadly, the world is more fragmented and polarized! Since almost all kingdoms on earth are exclusive, Jesus’ kingdom is unable to find a niche among them. Its invitation to build a kingdom of love and peace on earth has almost always fallen on deaf ears of the people in power. No kingdom on earth is interested to form alliance with Jesus’ kingdom ... No wonder Jesus’ kingdom does not belong to this world.
Brethren! All of us are citizens of Jesus’ kingdom. We can’t afford to lose hope even when the prospect is gloomy! Our king did not give up even when He was hanging on the cross. He has conquered death with resurrection. This is the turning point of the spiritual battle between good and evil, life and death. Like chess, Christ has secured for humanity a winning position and it is up to us to turn this winning position into victory. Our mission is clear, “God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20a)
Jesus does not count Pilate’s trespasses. Instead, Jesus gives him opportunities to know the truth. No matter how hard he had tried to get off the hook, Pilate went down into history as the man who failed to uphold justice and condemned Jesus. Pilate’s plight is representative of the contradictions humanity has to face in all ages. Like Pilate, all of us are facing different degrees of dilemma in our daily life. Many of us don’t have the moral courage to take the right actions. Fortunately, we Christians occupy a better position than Pilate did because we acknowledge the kingship of Jesus Christ. Since the Father is pleased to give us the kingdom (Luke 12:32), we are able to proclaim the gospel of reconciliation boldly to bring the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
God bless!
Picture Credit: widiart.org
2018 Reflection
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