Christ as the norm of our living

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the nature of the transformation of the world that Jesus reigns over as King.

Building a Kingdom of Love

In the passage from the Book of Daniel, one like the Son of Man is coming to people suffering persecution from the Hellenistic Empire in the first century BCE.

* [7:13–14] One like a son of man: In contrast to the worldly kingdoms opposed to God, which are represented as grotesque beasts, the coming Kingdom of God is represented by a human figure. Scholars disagree as to whether this figure should be taken as a collective symbol for the people of God (cf. 7:27) or identified as a particular individual, e.g., the archangel Michael (cf. 12:1) or the messiah. The phrase “Son of Man” becomes a title for Jesus in the gospels, especially in passages dealing with the Second Coming (Mk 13 and parallels)

The Greeting from the Book of Revelation identifies Jesus as bringing the total and eternal triumph of God over evil and injustice to a Church under severe persecution by the Roman Empire.

* [1:8] The Alpha and the Omega: the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. In Rev 22:13 the same words occur together with the expressions “the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End”; cf. Rev 1:17; 2:8; 21:6; Is 41:4; 44:6.

In the scene of the interrogation of Jesus before Pilate from the Gospel of John, the nature of Jesus Kingdom as not of this world is declared to the Roman authority.

* [18:37] You say I am a king: see Mt 26:64 for a similar response to the high priest. It is at best a reluctant affirmative.

Luis Rodriguez, S.J. celebrates Christ as the norm of our living.

What we are called to celebrate today is not a concept, but our recognizing Christ as the rule/norm of our daily living, our letting his values/preferences/choices be also our values/preferences/choices. Obviously, this is not the rule/norm of our society, as the craze of Black Friday and the shopping season show us. But if, contrary to how we desire to be ruled, this is how our society is in fact ruled, the question could occur to us: are we normal?

Don Schwager quotes Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D. on “My kingdom is not of the world.”

"What in fact is Christ's kingdom? It is simply those who believe in him, those to whom he said, 'You are not of this world, even as I am not of this world.' He willed, nevertheless, that they should be in the world, which is why he prayed to the Father, 'I ask you not to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one' (John 17:15-16). So here also he did not say, 'My kingdom is not' in this world but 'is not of this world.' And when he went on to prove this by declaring, 'If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought to save me from being handed over to the Jews,' he concluded by saying not 'my kingdom is not here' but 'my kingdom is not from here.'

The Word Among Us Meditation on John 18:33-37 asks to clarify the kingdom Jesus rules.

It’s a kingdom of converted hearts. It’s a kingdom of people who have renounced sin and violence and who are striving to live in peace and justice.

Friar Jude Winkler links the nature of Jesus kingship to the Son of Man in Daniel and the Suffering Servant in Isaiah. A message for communities being persecuted is that God is faithful. Friar Jude described the detailed literary structure of this section of John’s Gospel that points to the image of Jesus crowned in thorns.

An article by Felix Just, S.J. describes the structure of this section of John’s Gospel in more detail.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares how both St. Francis and Pope Francis are simply following Jesus’ lead in calling us to live the joy of the Gospel.

Fr. Richard believes that the Gospel itself, and the Franciscan vision of the Gospel, is primarily communicated by highly symbolic human lives that operate as “Prime Attractors”: through actions visibly done in love; by a nonviolent, humble, and liberated lifestyle; and through identification with the edged out and the excluded of every system. The very presence of such Prime Attractors “gives others reasons for spiritual joy,” as St. Francis said.

A time of persecution and joy in our relationship with Christ the King often co-exist in our journey. The faithfulness of God to the Kingship of Jesus is our truth.

References

(n.d.). Daniel, chapter 7 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 25, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/daniel/7
(n.d.). Revelation chapter 1 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 25, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/revelation/1
(n.d.). John, chapter 18 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved November 25, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/18
(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved November 25, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved November 25, 2018, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved November 25, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/