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Browsing Father Michael Deering's Sunday Homilies

Christ The King

Preached on Sunday, November 26, 2017

 

If you were asked to name some of the great kings in history, who would come to mind?

 

Julius Caesar was a king. He was involved with Cleopatra in Egypt. He was murdered by Brutus on the Ides of March in the year 44 BC at the age of 56.

 

Henry VIII was a king. He was made king of England at the age of 17. He had 6 different wives and beheaded 2 of them. He died in the year 1547 at the age of 55.

 

Louie the Great was a king. He was made king of France at the age of 19.

He was executed along with his wife in the year 1793 at the age of 38.

 

So these were some of the great kings in history. Do you remember these kings?

What else can you tell me about Julius Caesar, Henry VIII, or Louie the Great?

 

I bet that you’d be hard pressed to tell me anything else about them?

Most people couldn’t even come up with the correct century in which they lived

let alone be able to say what they stood for or what they accomplished as king!

 

Well there’s another King … who also died young … at the age of 33.

But this King then raised Himself from the dead … ascended into Heaven … and is now seated at the right hand of God … in a Kingdom that will have no end!

 

His name is Jesus.          He never married ... and he never killed anyone,

but like many kings before Him … He was killed by the people.

 

Do you remember this King? Of course you do! And today, almost 2000 years

after his death, over 2 Billion people still claim Him as their King!

 

They know a lot about Him, because they remind themselves of His life by gathering every 7 days and hearing about what He stood for and all He accomplished!

 

Yes, even though He’s gone from our sight ... millions of people

hold onto his teachings and trust in His promises,

and go right on serving Him … and would even die for the love of Him!

 

Wow!          What a great King He must be!          And indeed He is!

Jesus is the King … above every other King.       Jesus is … the King of Kings!

 

Now, how did Jesus become the King of so many people ... for so long a time?

 

He was anointed by God the Fatherto redeem, govern and guide ... all People!

 

He carries out the most remarkable role ever … here’s how it happened.

 

Around 1250 BC, Moses led the Chosen People out of Egypt to freedom from slavery to Pharaoh. And after wandering 40 years in the desert, Joshua led them to the Promised Land where Judges were selected to govern and guide the people.

These Judges were not set up as permanent leaders or kings

because God Himself was to be their King.

 

But the Jews continued to complain that they wanted a human King

to rule over them … just like all the neighboring nations had.

God did not like thisbecause this was a rejection of His Kingship.

 

God did not intend Israel to have a kingdom. “The Law” that God had given them was to be Israel’s king ... and through the Law ... God Himself.

 

But God yielded to Israel’s obstinacy and granted their request for human kings,

the first one was Saul ...  followed by David, followed by Solomon.

The greatest of these was David. And God promised David he’d have a descendent, whose kingdom would last forever.

 

But this did not happen quickly! In fact, 1000 years would go by before God’s promise would be fulfilled. And during this time, after being united for 40 years under King David, and 40 years under King Solomon ... the Jewish Kingdom would eventually be split:  with

the Northern Kingdom being conquered by the Assyrians in 721 BC, and

the Southern Kingdom being taken into captivity by the Babylonians in 587 BC.

 

And so, the Jews, who wanted a king, were now governed by foreign Kings

Persian Kings, Greek kings & Roman Kings.

 

Finally, God sent an angel to a young virgin in the town of Nazareth to ask her to be the mother of the Messiah and telling her that her Son would be the one to sit on the throne of David and that His Kingdom would be without end.    Mary said yes!

 

And nine months later, Mary gave birth to Jesus, in the little town of Bethlehem …  

the very town in which mighty King David had been born!

 

So in the end, how did God answer the people’s rejection of His Divine Kingship?

 

With mercy and compassion, as God sent His only begotten Son to be their King.

Now they had their human kingbut One who was both human and divine!

 

In JesusGod was once again … the King of the Chosen People!

 

Unfortunately not many of them realized it.

 

In fact many called for His death … because they didn’t understand the nature of His Kingship … you see His Kingdom was not here … it was yet to come.

 

Recall how Jesus answered when Pontius Pilate asked if He was King of the Jews.

 

Jesus replied, “My Kingdom does not belong to this world.

If it did, 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 acknowledged, “Then you are a King!”

 

Yes, Jesus is indeed a King … a very powerful King. Why just a few hours earlier, Jesus had been arrested by Roman soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane and when Peter acted to defend Jesus, cutting off a servant’s ear ... Jesus said,

“Put your sword back into its sheath, Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father and he will not provide me at this moment with more than 12 legions of angels?”

 

There are 6,000 angels in a Legion; which means that Jesus would have had

72,000 angels at his disposal just for the asking. Jesus is a powerful King!

 

Pilate got it right when he wrote Jesus’ accusation on the placard hung over his head on the Cross which read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews

 

Today we celebrate Him as way more “Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

 

You know, all throughout history, human kings always appointed various people to be their messengers.

What an honor it was to be a messenger for the king.

 

People were so happy just to have the role of messenger of the king!

 

Well, consider this, all of us gathered here, are messengers of a King, Jesus Christ!

 

Through the gift of Baptism, we get to live in His palace, which is the Church, the Kingdom of God on Earth. And we have the privilege of carrying His messages out to the world.   So we too, are messengers of the King!

 

What kind of king is Jesus? He is a spiritual King, not just a material king.

He came to shepherd us, not to subject us!

 

The Prophet Ezekiel foretold this in our First Reading when God said through him, “I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock”

 

And how does a shepherd tend his flock?             Lovingly, caringly, faithfully.

 

How comforting to know that Our King, Jesus, is the Good Shepherd, who lovingly, caringly & faithfully looks out for us. And He promises to keep looking for us even when we wander off into places that are “cloudy and dark.” 

 

God says thru Ezekiel, “I will rescue them … I will give them rest … I will seek out

   … I will bring back … I will bind up … I will heal!

 

How different that is from many of the human kings in history

such as King Henry VIII, who had the reputation not for healing but for beheading

all those who turned away from him, including 2 of his 6 wives.

 

Jesus is both King and Shepherd. His goal is not to condemn but to save.

He never ceases to call us to come back into the fold which is His Church on earth

so that we’ll be able to reign under Him in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.

 

We’re free to choose whether we follow the calls of the Shepherd or not. But we must know that we’ll be judged by the King at the end of our lives. In Ezekiel today, God says, “I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams & goats.”

 

How interesting that 500 years later, Jesus would use the very same language in speaking of what will happen on the last day of the world. In Matthew’s Gospel, that we heard today, Jesus announced that “when (He) comes in his glory …

all the nations will be assembled before Him. And he will separate them

          one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

 

And, what will be the basis of this separation?

What will determine whether one is a sheep or a goat?

 

Quite simply it will be:

those who have lived their lives for others, will be judged as sheep, and

those who have lived their lives for themselves will be judged as goats.

 

Yes, Jesus, as our King, wants us to serve Him.

And the way that we ... serve Him ... is by serving ... one another.

 

He clearly points this out in today’s Gospel by declaring,

“Whatever you did ... or didn’t do ... for one of these least ones ...

you did or didn’t do for me.”

 

Yes, when we serve our brothers & sisters, we’re really serving Jesus.   And

when we neglect to serve our brothers & sisters, we’re neglecting to serve Jesus.

 

How do we serve our unseen King? By serving our neighbors who we can see.

 

 

What’s at stake?     Being granted entry into God’s Kingdom … or being shut out!

 

Even though we cannot see it now, God’s Kingdom exists

notice how often we refer to it in our prayers at Mass.

 

In our Creed, we say, “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his Kingdom will have no end.”

 

In the Eucharistic Prayer the Priest prays:

“To our departed brothers & sisters and  to all who were pleasing to you

at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your Kingdom.”

 

And in praying The Lord’s Prayer together, we say:

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Followed by the closing acclamation:

For the Kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen!

 

All of us are privileged to be serving the King in this temporary Earthly Kingdom

awaiting the day we merit to serve the King in His eternal Heavenly Kingdom.

 

How do we get there? Jesus says we get there by caring for those around us.

 

Let’s recognize the great dignity we have of being in the Kingdom of God on earth,

and the great dignity we have in being messengers of The King!

 

You know, I couldn’t tell you much more than I already did about JC, Julius Caesar

… but I could talk to your for hours about another JC ... Jesus Christ!

 

And so could youbecause you know a lot of the story about Him!

 

By faithfully coming to Mass over the years, you know so much about Him

That He was born in Bethlehem in the year zero, that His Mother was the Virgin Mary, His Foster-Father was Joseph, they took Him to Egypt to escape Herod’s order to kill the children, that He changed water into wine, walked on water, multiplied the loaves and fed 5000, that He raised Lazarus from the dead, that he was baptized by John the Baptist, and transfigured before Peter, James and John … that he raised Himself from the dead and lives forever to make intercession for us.

 

You don’t need a Degree in Theology; you’re well equipped to be His Messenger.

 

This is the very direction of Pope Francis in his work, “The Joy of the Gospel”.

There, he’s calling us to be joyful messengers of the King

You know the story … it’s a True Story ... so share the story ... with everyone!

 

 

Let’s be good messengers of the King

  • by spreading the Good News of our salvation in Christ,
  • and by caring for the least of our brothers and sisters.

 

If we do, then one day we’ll be pleased to hear Jesus, our King, say to us,

“Come blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world!”

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