Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 507​

Thrones were set up
and the Ancient One took his throne.
His clothing was snow bright,
and the hair on his head as white as wool;
His throne was flames of fire,

Perhaps the notion of God the Father as an old ("ancient") man with a white beard, often seen in older churches, began with these verses in the Book of Daniel. The prophet's vision fits the description of ancient near-east rulers. Few of Daniel's impoverished contemporaries would have seen the throne room of a king or emperor. They could only imagine the scene of cringing courtiers, fawning pages, and sycophant messengers. There should be some beautiful women in gorgeous gowns with an orchestra of musicians quietly filling out the scene.

But every once in a while these persons might appear in public, accompanied by ominous bodyguards and threatening soldiers. They would march through the villages, towns, and cities to remind everyone of who is in charge, and of the consequences of discontent.

Americans recoil against these oppressive images. Our rulers eschew the fabulous clothing of royalty, preferring the subtler appearance -- nonetheless expensive -- of well-cut suits and ties.

But that religious image of God persists. Many people imagine God as an old man on a throne with a white beard and stern, judicious manner. Only reluctantly has the Roman Catholic Church let it slip into the past. The solemnity of Christ the King was instituted by Pope Pius XI to shore up sagging support for the independent Vatican state, and the lost cause of European dynasties. Even after the Vatican was reduced to a few acres the Pope would be carried around the piazza on his royal litter into the 1960's.

In the first centuries of its history, the Church kept the Book of Daniel in our Bible not for its image of the Ancient One but for the prophecy of:

One like a son of man coming,

on the clouds of heaven;

When he reached the Ancient One

and was presented before him,

He received dominion, glory, and kingship;

nations and peoples of every language serve him.

The only reliable "image" of God the Father is the one Jesus gives us. He is never visible to the naked eye but, as we watch the "Son of Man" we see that his God is trustworthy, generous, and profoundly good. As Saint Francis would say a thousand years later, "You are good, all good, supreme Good!" We cannot see this Goodness but we know that Jesus is no fool. We can love, trust, and believe in God because Jesus does. He is the ambassador of God. More than that, he is the image of the invisible God.

The only throne for this God is the cross; his only crown is made of thorns. Our God reigns by suffering with us the frailty of our human bodies and the contempt we heap on each other, He leads us through his suffering, which is our suffering, to life.

We begin on Sunday the season of Advent. We shall again ponder this God who is the Son of Man, the son of Mary. Come let us worship.