Homily: Christ the King (34th Sunday in Ordinary time cycle B)

Today (Sunday Nov. 25th) is my three month anniversary of being ordained a priest.  Having given that some thought I also thought about the types of things that I have said in my homilies.  I noticed that I have shared with you information about who I am and other person bits of information.

So today I thought I would share something else with you.  I am a fan of country music.  I'm not sure if this fact positively or negatively impacts your opinion of me but it is true.

As I was thinking and praying about these readings the lyrics to a few country music songs came to my mind.  The first is the phrase Have you ever seen a headstone with these words, "If only I had spent more time at work?" The other song is a bit more obscure and unknown but it says, "Ain't no hearse with a trailer hitch." 

 As I thought about our celebration of the Solemnity of Jesus Christ the King of the Universe the idea, the challenge, and the question of our priorities came to mind.  The truth is that our faith, these readings, and this celebration does challenge us to rethink what our priorities are.

What words would you put on your headstone?  What would you want to put in a trailer behind your hearse?

In our lives there are so many things that we consider important and valuable.  But the question for us today, as we celebration Christ the King is, "Is Jesus Christ our King?"  

We heard in our first reading that the prophet Daniel foretells of the Kingdom of Jesus when he tells us that "His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away.  His kingship shall not be destroyed."

We all know that there are also so many "authorities" in our lives.  We have mayors, governors, presidents, all manners of elected and appointed officials.  There are princes, kings, queens, royalty, emperors, dictators, potentates, czars, oligarchs, and all types of bosses that seem to rule our world.  We have states, counties, nations, countries, federations, empires, towns, dominions, and fiefdoms.  Yet all of these will ultimately come to nothing.  

The only Kingdom and authority that will last is that of Jesus Christ.

Pilate and Jesus

In the Gospel we see the conversation between Pontius Pilate and Jesus just before Jesus is crucified.  Pilate wants to know if Jesus is a king because Pilate is a powerful governor of the Roman empire and if Jesus is a king he would deal with Jesus very differently than if He were just some unimportant Jewish carpenter.

When Jesus is asked if he is a king He responds that His "kingdom does not belong to this world."  The truth is that His Kingdom is not of this world.  Jesus is not a worldly king.  His Kingdom does not belong to this world but... this world does belong to His Kingdom!

When it is all over the only authority and Kingdom that will last is that of Jesus Christ.

In our second reading Jesus clearly says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega [the beginning and the end]... the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, the almighty." 

There is another common phrase that you've probably heard, "There are no atheists in a fox hole."

I can say that this is absolutely true.  Now, I've never see war or known combat but I can say that at the moment when you face the reality of your own mortality that faith is real.

At that moment of death, when you pass from this life to the next, you know and experience the presence of Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe.  I know because I have been dead.

I was born with a very serious heart condition.  I have had five open-heart surgeries and I've been "clinically" dead twice.  I know, no faith needed and no doubts possible, that Jesus was there at my birth and He was there at my death.  He was there at your birth and he will be there at your death.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  

He was there at the creation of the world and He will be there at the end of the world when God finally puts all things right.

Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe.  The only question that remains is... "Is Jesus your king?"