The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Lectionary: 162

In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:

"Here we are, your bone and your flesh.

Taking up where the divine authors of the New Testament left off, Catholic bishops of the first centuries — we call them the Church Fathers – heard in the words, “We are your bone and your flesh,” a prophecy about Jesus, the Messiah and Son of David. King David was an Old Testament ancestor who prefigured Jesus, whom we know and love as bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh.

The royal line of David had all but disappeared, and was nearly forgotten under the detritus of many centuries; but the Evangelist Saint Matthew identified Jesus as a descendant of David and rightful heir to the throne. His birth in Bethlehem, of Mary the wife of Joseph, who was of the house and line of David, proved his royal blood. With that authority he could invite everyone to do penance for the forgiveness of sins; and then dine with him at the royal banquet of God’s kingdom. 

And when all four evangelists tell us that Jesus was crowned with thorns, enthroned on a cross, and hailed as King of the Jews by Roman soldiers and Jewish priests, their japes, mockery, and sarcastic insults only prove his divine election as the Messiah and King. 

And, if there is any hesitation in those who follow the Lord, they hear his first royal decree -- amnesty for a convicted murderer. 

After he was raised from the dead and revealed as the Son of God to his disciples, the only thing left to fulfill his mission as King and Savior is the adoption of the entire human race from Genesis to Apocalypse into his bone and flesh. Everyone is called to be the body and blood of Jesus. For by our baptism we have been adopted into God's people. And we have been grafted into the family of Joseph, and Mary, David and Moses, Abraham. Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus’ work is finished – his life is consummated – his kingdom established – when we gather at the altar to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Like David’s people at Hebron, we are the flesh and bone of Jesus. 

During every Mass we hear the priest say, "Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you". And then he says, ““This is the chalice of my blood.” And we understand that we are to drink the blood of Jesus and eat his body. When we receive the Eucharist, we might hear the joyful cry of our ancestor Adam when he saw his wife Eve for the first time. He shouted, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” 

The chasm between God and man, the remoteness of men and women, the distance between saints and sinners has been closed. 

As Saint Paul said,

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of animosity through his flesh…

that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace,

and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that animosity to death by it.

He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:13-18)

In today's Gospel, we hear another story of the crucifixion and we are reminded that the body which was his and ours was suspended on a cross for several hours as the last drops of blood flowed out of it. We have seen the mockery of the soldiers who offered him wine; heard their jeering him, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself." Even Pontius Pilate placed a placard above his head, “The King of the Jews.” As I said, their mockery affirms our faith in Jesus as our Messiah and King, for we would not know the Lord, nor would we want to serve him, if he were crowned with honor by kings, rulers, tyrants, and demagogues of this world. He would be one of them, and not one of us. 

But when the Crucified Son of God, who is now our flesh and blood and bone, announces the Kingdom of God, he tells us of an entirely different kind of king, a very different kingdom, and an entirely new way of life for the servants of the king. While the servants still serve the King who is Lord of Heaven and Earth, they also serve one another. For Jesus has insisted, 

“I came to serve, and not to be served.” 

And then he tells us how we must serve him by serving one another: 

The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them and those in authority over them are addressed as ‘Benefactors’; but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.

There is no longer that constant competition that we find among servants and slaves of a tyrant. We are not a dysfunctional family whose children compete for the attention and affection of their narcissistic parents. We are more like the brothers and sisters of a healthy family sitting around the same table. We care about each other. We love God and we love one another as our own bodies, for we are all in the one Body of Christ, and there are no divisions of hostility, suspicion, rivalry, or competition among us. We say to Jesus and we say to one another as the tribes said to David, “Here we are, your bone and your flesh.” That is what it means to live in the Kingdom of God.