20211121 SERVANT LEADERSHIP TO TRUTH AND COMPASSION
21 November, 2021, Sunday, Christ the King
First reading | Daniel 7:13-14 © |
I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man
I gazed into the visions of the night.
And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven,
one like a son of man.
He came to the one of great age
and was led into his presence.
On him was conferred sovereignty,
glory and kingship,
and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.
His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty
which shall never pass away,
nor will his empire ever be destroyed.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 92(93):1-2,5 © |
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed;
the Lord has robed himself with might,
he has girded himself with power.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.
The world you made firm, not to be moved;
your throne has stood firm from of old.
From all eternity, O Lord, you are.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.
Truly your decrees are to be trusted.
Holiness is fitting to your house,
O Lord, until the end of time.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.
Second reading |
Apocalypse 1:5-8 © |
Jesus Christ has made us a line of kings and priests
Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-Born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. It is he who is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
Gospel Acclamation | Mk11:10 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessings on the coming kingdom of our father David!
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 18:33-37 © |
Yes, I am a king
‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?’ Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.’ ‘So you are a king then?’ said Pilate. ‘It is you who say it’ answered Jesus. ‘Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’
SERVANT LEADERSHIP TO TRUTH AND COMPASSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Dan 7:13-14; Ps 93:1-2,5; Rev 1:5-8; Jn 18:33-37]
Today, the Church celebrates the Kingship of our Lord. Being the last Sunday of the Church’s liturgical year, this celebration anticipates the eventual establishment of the Kingship of Christ over the entire universe. The book of Revelation declares, “Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth.” But what does it mean to be king in today’s terms when very few countries live under absolute monarchy? Most monarchs are symbolic and representative of the country’s unity. In most countries, we live under an elected government.
Even then, the kingship of Christ is not so much focused on power, glory and domination. Jesus made it clear, “Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.” We must therefore not impose the notion of earthly kingship on our Lord. The kingship of this world often is about controlling people and making them serve our will. But the true meaning of kingship, even in earthly terms, is about promoting unity in the country and empowering the people to work together using their talents for the common good of everyone. Unfortunately, wealth and power are often the privilege of the few. The social and financial divide is getting wider. Wealth is not shared equitably among the peoples.
This was the case of the Jews under persecution. In the first reading from the Book of Daniel, this prophecy was written during the Syrian persecution of Judaism just two centuries before Christ. It was a time when they had to struggle against the attempts of the king to impose pagan worship on the Jews and dividing the loyalty of the people by buying them over with gifts, social and political positions. Although the intention was to bring all peoples under one nation, one rule, one religion, it was accomplished with the use of force without respect for the sensitivity, conscience and freedom of the person. Using military might, weapons, economic manipulation, distorting truths, sowing discord through the media to gain power, control and influence over a nation or a group are methods that the world still uses to promote division.
Indeed, the Kingship of our Lord is to gather all as one people. The Book of Revelation says, “He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.” The King of Kings came to die for us, to save us from our sins with His blood and to reconcile us with His Father by His example of unselfish love, forgiveness of His enemies. By so doing, we share in His priesthood and kingship as the adopted sons of God by virtue of our baptism. In Christ Jesus, we are made members of the royal priesthood, priests and kings to serve God our Father. In God’s kingdom, all are priests and kings. This is why, all of us are one in Jesus’ kingship. In God’s kingdom, no one is greater than the other.
In claiming Christ to be our King, we take heart that we are all one people even though we are of different nationalities, races, languages and cultures. The kingship of Christ is all-embracing and transcends all human boundaries. We are proud not just to be Christian but we are proud to be Catholic. Sometimes, calling ourselves Christian, whilst uniting us with other non-Catholic Christians as disciples of Christ, does not spell out the true nature of the Church as truly universal. Jesus who referred Himself as the Son of Man in the Book of Daniel, identified Himself with every man. Yet it also has the connotation of authority and power. Jesus has come to make us all a line of kings of love. We too must be identified with every man and woman. As priests, let us lead them to know Jesus as their king by our humble love and service. And even if they still do not accept Jesus explicitly, we must continue to disseminate the values of the kingdom so that we all can live in unity and peace and love.
But this cannot happen unless we understand Christian Kingship as not reigning over others but ruling ourselves by having control over our desires, our thoughts so that we can direct them in a way for the service of God and the good of our fellowmen. It is the ability to master our pride and selfishness or self-indulgence that makes us king of ourselves. For if we cannot rule our mind and heart, we have no right to rule over others. How can one desire to control others when one lacks control of oneself? One should never think of being a leader when one has no control of one’s thoughts, will, speech and actions. A leader must be calm and self-restrained. He seeks to control himself by allowing Christ to rule his heart and mind so that he will act justly with compassion and love for his fellowmen. He rules the people for their sake, motivated by love for his countrymen, never for glory, power or for self-interest. He rules in truth and justice, protecting the common good of all.
Hence, a leader must be ready to stand up for the truth. Truth is not a concept or a philosophical notion. Truth is authentic love of all. When Pilate asked our Lord, “So you are a king then?” Jesus answered, “Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.” Jesus was not thinking about being King but His mission of testifying to the truth. Jesus was the king of truth and manifested His royal power not by force but by bearing witness to the Truth. Jesus showed Himself to be King by being faithful to Himself, to His identity and His mission, which is uniting all peoples together in love by being reconciled with God. The kingdom that He came to establish is a spiritual kingdom. He was seeking to establish the rule of God which is one of justice, charity and mercy. Such a kingdom should be of no threat to anyone except those who are thinking only of their interests. Only those who are selfish, inward-looking, protectionist and are concerned about their self-interests react negatively to the truth. Those of us who desire true justice, equality and respect of all will not be afraid of the truth.
This explains why self-serving leaders are afraid of the truth because they lack love. Few leaders dare to speak the truth openly because we are expected to be politically correct, and make statements without offending anyone. But the fact is that the truth hurts and it is inevitable that those who refuse to see the truth will be offended and those who are seeking the truth will be confused as to what the truth is because of the ambiguity of our statements. This was why Pilate dismissed the idea of even examining the truth of the matter. He had heard enough to know that Jesus was no political threat to the Romans. He was afraid of his political position, that if he did not accede to the interests of the religious authority, they would cause him trouble. Yet, deep in his heart, he sought the truth, seen by his desire to know Jesus more.
Pilate’s conduct and that of the Jewish leaders is reflective of what some leaders would do today. When Jesus invited Pilate to stand up for the truth, since this is what a judge must do, Pilate declared three times that Jesus was innocent. But he did not do the right thing. He left it to the crowd to make the popular decision, a decision that was engineered by the Jewish authorities, just as how people today are often manipulated by influencers in social and mass media to adopt a particular line of thinking. He failed to uphold the truth as a leader and judge should. Instead, he left it to the masses to determine the truth. He pushed the responsibility to them. He compromised. He mocked at Jesus by robing and crowning Him as King of the Jews, sitting Him on the Judgement seat. By so doing, Pilate condemned himself for he was not on the side of truth. But the Jewish leaders were even worse, because they denied their faith by declaring that “we have no king but Caesar”, which was a direct betrayal of their faith in God as their king. If that were so, then Judaism has no identity.
Today, when we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, we need to consider our commitment to Christ our King. To claim Him as our king is more than a verbal confession of faith. It means to follow Him, walking in love, truth and selfless service. He must be the centre of our life. Our loyalty must go to Him above everyone else. He must be in charge of our lives. All our decisions, thinking and values must be drawn from Him. Only in this way, does Christ reign in our hearts.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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