Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Dn 7:13-14
Rev 1:5-8
Jn 18:33b-37

The idea of a king is supposed to be a foreign one to us Americans. After all, we are the great democracy, right? All people are created equal, no one can claim to be greater before the law than another. At least that is the way it is supposed to work. We don’t have an official royalty or an official aristocracy, but that doesn’t mean we Americans don’t have one. There must be something in us that seeks a role model, someone that we look up to, that we want to emulate. There is always that desire to be like someone else. Without an official aristocracy, we Americans have created one. It is an aristocracy made up of movie stars, athletes, wealthy business people, all manner of famous people, some famous just for being famous. We place these people on a pedestal, we want to be like them, we want the things they have. We want fame and fortune, just like they have. We want the talents, the abilities, or at least the money, that this self-imposed aristocracy has. But what a group we have chosen to look up to. Brittney and Paris and Tom and Katie may be the latest thing, the aristocracy we have chosen, but do we really want to be like them, really? We use them, and their earthly kingdom, to fill a void, a place in our selves that acknowledges that something is missing, that there is one piece of this puzzle that we don’t quite have. This earthly kingdom will never quite fill the void. Tom and Katie are on the pedestal today, only to be replaced by a new king and queen tomorrow. They are not the piece of the puzzle that we lack. To finish the puzzle we must look to the one whose kingdom is not of this world. Pilate asked him, “Then you are a king?” The only true king replied, “For this I was born and came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” We must seek to belong to the truth. There is in us something that seeks to find some one to emulate, someone to follow. We can look to the shallow and worldly, never quite finding what we want. Or, we can look to the one who testifies to the truth, to the King of Kings.
Deacon John
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King
Nov. 26, 2006