CHRIST THE KING 2 - 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)

Homily for the 34^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)

Based on (Gospel), (First Reading) and (Second Reading)

From the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”

CHRIST THE KING 2

 “This is the King of the Jews.” (Lk. 23:38)

The Gospel reading for this 34^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycel C) is from Lk 23:35-43. The first title is “The Crucifixion.”  Parallel texts for this title are:

1.       Mt 27:39-43 - The passersby jeered at him; they shook their heads (v. 39) and said, “So you who would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! Then save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”(v. 40).The chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him in the same way. (v. 41) “He saved others’ they said ‘he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him (v.42).He puts his trust in God; now let God rescue him if he wants him. For he did say, ‘I am the son of God”’ (v. 43).

2.       Mk 15:29-32a  - The passersby jeered him; they shook their heads and said, “Aha! So you who would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days (v. 30)! Then save yourself and come down from the cross” (v.  31). The chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves in the same way. “He saved others,” they said he cannot save himself (v.32). Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.”(v. 32a).

Verse 35 says: The people stayed there watching him. As for the leaders, they sneered at him. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is  the Messiah of God, the Chosen One.”

Parallel texts are:

1.       Lk 2:26 - It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death until he had set his eyes on the Christ of the Lord.ⁱ  Footnote ⁱ  says “‘the Christ of the Lord’ is the one whom the Lord anoints, cf. Ex 30:22+, i.e. consecrates for a saving mission: the king of Israel, God’s chosen prince, is thus consecrated and thus, pre-eminently, the messiah who is to establish the kingdom of God.”

2.       Lk 9:35 - And a voice came from the cloud saying, “This is my Son, the chosen One.^h Listen to him.” Footnote ^h says “Var. ‘the Beloved’; cf. Mt and Mk. The titles ‘Chosen One’, cf. 23:33; Is 42:1, and ‘Son of Man’ alternate in the Parables of Enoch.”

Verses 36 and 37 say: The soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer him vinegar

they said, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.”

Parallel text for verse 36 is Mt 24:48 that says: But as for the dishonest servant who says to himself, ‘My master is taking his time’

Verse 38 says: Above him there was an inscription, “This is the King of the Jews.”

Parallel text is  Jn 19:19 that says: Pilate wrote out a notice and had it fixed to the cross; it ran, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.

Verse 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43 say: One of the criminals hanging there abused him.  “Are you not the Messiah?” he said, “Save yourself and us as well.” But the other  spoke up and rebuked him,  “Have you no fear of God at all,” he  said,  You got the same sentence as he did,  But in our case we deserved it; we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.”  “Jesus,”  he said “remember me when you come into your kingdom.”^k  “Indeed I promise you’  he replied  ‘today you will be with me in paradise. Footnote ^k  says “Or else ‘in your kingly power’, i.e. to establish your kingdom. Var. ‘when you come with (i.e. in possession of) your kingdom.’”

Parallel texts  for verse 39 are:

1.       Mt 27:44 - Even the robbers who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.

2.       Mk 15:32b - Even those who were crucified with him taunted him

The First Reading is from 2 S 5:1-3.

Verse 1, 2 and 3 say: All the tribes of Israel then came to David at Hebron. “Look” they said “we are your own flesh and blood.” In days past, when Saul was still our king, it was you who led Israel out in all their exploits. And Yahweh said to you: You are the man who shall shepherd my people Israel, you shall be the leader of Israel.” So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a pact with them at Hebron in the presence of Yahweh, and they anointed David king over Israel.

Parallel texts for verse 2 are:

1.       Dt 17:15 - It must be a king of Yahweh’s choosing whom you appoint over you; you are not to give yourself a foreign king, who is no brother of yours.

2.       2 S 3:10…to take the sovereignty from the House of Saul,  and set up the throne of David over Israel and Judah, from Dan to Beer-sheba.”^d  Footnote ^d  says “We are not told on what occasion this promise was made to David”.

3.       1 S 18:16 - But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he was their leader them in all their exploits.

The Second Reading is from  Col 1:12-20.

Verse 12 says: …thanking the Father who has made it possible for you to join the saints and with them to inherit the light.^c Footnote  ^c  says “Lit. ‘Thanking the Father (for) having made you (var. ‘us’) fit for the part of the lot of the saints in the light’; var. ‘for having called you (var. ‘us’) to…’ The ‘lot of the saints’ is what all holy people are to inherit, i.e. the ‘salvation’ that had been thought of as a bequest made exclusively to Israel. Now, non-Jews are called to share it, cf. Ep 1:11-13. The word ‘saints’ (lit. ‘holy ones’) here can mean either Christians, i.e. people called to live the ‘life of light’ while still living on earth, Rm 1:7f, cf. Jn 8:12f, or it can mean the angels who live with God in the eschatological ‘light’, cf. Ac 9:13+.”

Parallel texts are:

1.       Ws 5:5f  - How has he come to be counted as one of the sons of God? How does he come to be assigned a place among the saints?^a Footnote ^a – ‘sons of God’ and ‘saints’ may mean the angels, Jb 1:6+; 2:1, but here more probably the elect, cf. Ws 2:13,16,18.

2.       Ep 1:11-13 - And it is in him^l that we were claimed as God’s own,^m chosen from the beginning, under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things as he decides by his own will (v. 11); Chosen to be, for his greater glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came (v. 12). Now you too, ⁿ in him, have heard the message of the truth and the good news of your salvation, and have believed it; and you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise^o (. 13).

3.       Ep 5:8 - Make sure that you are not included with them.

4.       1 P 1:4…and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away, because it is being kept for you in the heavens.

5.       1 P 2:9 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

6.       Ac 26:18…to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light,^f from the dominion of Satan to God, and receive, through faith in me, forgiveness of their sins^g and a share in the inheritance of the sanctified. Footnote ^f  says “Paul’s missionary vocation is described here in OT terms used about two great prophetic figures, Jeremiah and the Servant of Yahweh.”; and Footnote ^g  says “In 9:17-18, Paul, his sight restored, passes from darkness to light; in 22:16 (cf 9:18) Paul is ordered to wash away his sins by baptism. Thus his own experience is a symbol of his mission to others.”

Verse 13 says: He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Parallel texts are:

1.       Jn 8:12 - When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said: ‘I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark; he will have the light of life’.

2.       Ep 1:6-7 - to make us praise the glory of his grace,^e his free gift to us in the Beloved,^f  in whom, through his blood, we gain freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.^g Such is the richness of the grace Footnote ^e says “The word grace (charis) as it is used here emphasizes not so much the interior gift that makes a human being holy, as the gratuitousness of God’s favor and the way he manifests his glory, cf. Ex 24:16f. These are the two themes that run through this account of God’s blessings: their source is God’s liberality, and their purpose is to make his glory appreciated by creatures. Everything comes from him, and everything should lead to him.”; Footnote ^f  says “Var. (Vulg) ‘his beloved Son’.”; and Footnote ^g  says “Third blessing: our redemption by an event in time, i.e. the death of Jesus.”

Verse  14 says: in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Parallel texts are:

1.       Rm 3:24 - And both are justified through the free gift of his graceⁱ by being redeemed^j in Christ Jesus.  Footnote ⁱ   says “This word (charis) when used with reference to human relationships can mean as the quality that makes a person attractive (Ac. 2:47), or it can mean thank for a gift (Lk. 6:32-34; 17:9); or it can mean something given free and unearned (Ac. 25:3, 1 Co. 16:3, 2 Co. 8:6-7, 19). This last sense predominates in the NT and especially in Paul. (John uses agape), who uses the word to describe the way God saves through Jesus: it is a work of spontaneous love to which no one has any claim It was an act of ‘grace’ for Jesus to come on earth (2 Co. 8:9, Tt. 2:11, Jh. 1:14,47); to die (Heb. 2:9), for his Father to give up as a gift that includes all divine favors (Rm 8:32; cf. 1 Co 2:12; Ep 1:8f): justification, salvation, and the right to inherit by having faith in him, without having to perform the works of the Law ( Rm 3:24; 4:4f; Ep 2:5,8; Tt. 3:7; cf. Ac 15:11): it will also be an act of ‘grace’ for Christ to come again at the end of the world and for us to receive everlasting glory (1 P1:13; 2 Th 1:12). It was by grace that Abraham received the promise (Rm 4:16; Ga 3:18) and that a few Israelites were chosen to survive  (Rm 11:5f). Since grace is God’s love for us, it is inexhaustible (Ep 1:7; 2:7; cf. 2 Co 4:15; 9:8,14; 1 Tm 1:14) and it conquers sins (Rm 5:15,7,20). The one word ‘grace’ is so useful and full of meaning that it can be used to indicate the entire messianic era that was once proclaimed by the prophets (1 P.1:10) and is now proclaimed as the  Good News (Col 1:6; cf. Ac 14:3; 20:24,32). The word sumps up the gifts of God so well that Paul begins and ends his letters by wishing ‘grace’ to all his readers (1 Th 1:1 and 5:28, etc.; cf 1 P 1:2; 5:10,12; 2 P 1:2; 3:8, 2 Jn 3; Rv 1:4; 22:21). It is by an act of grace that ‘the God of all grace’ (1 P 5:10) calls men to salvation (Ga 1:6; 2 Tim 1:9; 1 P 3:7), leads them with all spiritual gifts (1 Co 1:4-7; cf 2 Th 2:16; Ac 6:8), makes Paul an apostle of the pagans (Rm 1:5; 12:3; 15:15f; 1 Co 3:10; Ga 1:15f; 2:9; Ep 3:2,7,8; Ph 1:2) and assigns to each Christian a part he has to play in the life of the Church (Rm 12:6; 1 Co 12:1+; 2 Co 8:1;  Ep 4:7;  1 P 4:10); similarly, it is a ‘grace’ to suffer for Christ (Ph 1:29; 1 P 2:19-20). Mary ’found grace’ with God (Lk 1:30; cf Ac 7:46; and LXX passim); Jesus himself received the ‘grace’ of the highest name of all (Ph 2:9; cf. Lk 2:40). For human beings to be agreeable to God depends primarily on God’s initiative and secondarily on human response. It is possible to receive grace I vain (2 Co 6:1; cf. 1 Co 5:10), to fall from grace (Ga. 5:4), to forfeit grace (Heb 12:15), and thus to insult the Spirit of grace (Heb 10:29). Grace obtained must be carefully guarded (Rm 5:2; Heb 12:28; 1 P 5:12) and used wisely (1 P 4:10); it is not enough to remain in grace (Ac 13:43; cf 14:26;  15:40), it  must increase (2 P 3:18), to strengthen us (2 Tm 2:1), and help us to persist in our good intention (Heb 13:9). This divine help is given to the humble (Jm 4:6; 1 P 5:5) and is obtained by prayer, since this is to approach ‘the throne of grace’ confidently (Heb 4:26). Grace will be granted and will be found sufficient; it is the power of Christ operating in weak man (2 Co 12:9; cf. 1 Co 15:10) and this grace of Christ triumphs over unspiritual wisdom (2 Co 1:12). The same word charis is also used for thanksgiving (Rm 6:17; 7:25; 1 Co 10:30; 15:57; 2 Co 2:14; 8:16; 9:15; Col 3:6; 1 Tm 1:12; 2 Tm 1:3;and cf. the verb eucharistein), since gratitude to God is the fundamental and necessary disposition for grace. From all these shades of meaning, it is clear that the word charis is always used to emphasize that the gift  is absolutely free: to bring out its power and its inwardness Paul also uses the word pneuma (cf. Rm 5:5+)”.; and Footnote ^j  says “Yahweh had ‘redeemed’ Israel by delivering her from slavery of Egypt, to provide himself with a nation for his ‘inheritance’ Dt 7:6+. When the prophets spoke of the ‘redemption’ from Babylon, Is 41:14+, they hinted at a deliverance more profound and less restricted, the forgiveness that is deliverance from sin, Is 44:22; cf Ps 130:8; 49:7-8. This messianic redemption is fulfilled in Christ, 1 Co 1:30; cf. Lk 1:68; 2:38. God the Father through Christ - and indeed Christ himself- has ‘delivered’ the new Israel from slavery of the Law, Ga 3:13, 4:5; and of sin, Col 1:14; Ep 1:7; Heb 9:15, by ‘acquiring’ her, Ac 20:28, making her his own, Tt 2:14; purchasing her, Ga 3:13; 4:5; 1 Co 6:20; 7:23; cf. 2 P 2:1. The price was the blood of Christ, Ac 20:28; Ep 1:7; Heb 9:12; 1 P 1:18f; Rv 1:5; 5:9. This redemption, begun on Calvary and guaranteed by the present gift of the Spirit, Ep 1:14; 4:30, will be complete only at the parousia, Lk 21:28, when deliverance from death is secured by the resurrection of the body, Rm 8:23.”

2.       Heb 1:3 - He is the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of his nature,^c sustaining the universe by his powerful command; and now that he has destroyed the defilement of sin, he has gone to take his place in heaven at the right hand of divine Majesty. Footnote ^c  says “These two metaphors are borrowed from the Sophia and logos theologies of Alexandria, Ws 7:25-26; they express both the identity of nature between Father and Son, and the distinction of person. The Son is the brightness, the light shining from its source, which is the bright glory, cf. Ex. 24:16+, of the Father (‘Light from Light’). He is also the replica, cf. Col 1:15+, of the Father’s substance, like an exact impression made by a seal on clay or wax, cf. Jn 14:9.”

Title “Christ is the head of all creation^e”. Footnote ^e says “In this poem Paul introduces two ways in which can claim to be the ‘head’ of everything that exists:1. He is the head of creation, of all that exists naturally, vv. 15-17; 2. He is head of the new creation and all that exists supernaturally through having been saved, vv. 18-20. The subject of the poem is the pre-existent Christ, but considered only in so far as he is manifest in the unique historic person that is the Son of God made man, cf. Ph 2:5+. It is as the incarnate God that Jesus is the ‘image of God’, i.e. his human nature was the visible manifestation of God who is invisible, cf. Rm 8:29+, and it is as such, in this concrete human nature, and as part of creation, that Jesus is called the ‘first born of creation’ - not in the temporal sense of having been born first, but in the sense of having been given the first place of honor.”

Verse 15 says: He is the image of the unseen God, and the firstborn of all creation.

Parallel texts are:

1.       Col 1:18 - Now the church is his body, he is the head, ^f As he is the Beginning, he was first to be born from the dead, so that he should be first in every way. Footnote ^f  says “On the church a Christ’s body, cf. 1 Co. 12:12f, he is called the ‘head’ of his own body both in a temporal sense (v. 18, i.e., he was the first to rise from the dead) and in a spiritual sense (v. 20, i.e. he is the leader of all the saved).”

2.       Gn 1:1-2 - In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (v. 1). Now the earth was a formless void, ^b there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirit hovered^c the water (v. 2). Footnote ^b  says “In Hebrew tohu and bohu, ‘trackless waste and emptiness; these, like the ‘darkness over the deep’ and the ‘waters’, are images that attempt to express in virtue of those negative quality the idea of creation from nothing’ which reaches precise formulation for the first time in 2 M 7:28.” and Footnote ^c  says ^“Like a bird hanging in the air over its young in the nest, Dt 32:11.”

3.       Ps 89:27…and I shall make him my first born, the Most Highⁱ for kings on earth. Footnote ⁱ  says “A divine title here applied to God’s anointed king.”

4.       Ws 7:26 - She is the reflection of the eternal light^k untarnished mirror of God’s active power, image of his goodness. Footnote ^k  says “In the OT God is never called ‘light’ cf. 1 Jn 1:5; Jm 1:17, but light accompanied him, Ex. 24:17, cf. Ex 24:16+; Ezk 1:27, Hab 3:4; Ps 50:3; 104:1-2; Is 60:19-20. See Jn 8:12+.”

5.       Zc 12:10 - But over the house of David and the citizens of Jerusalem I will pour a spirit  of kindness and prayer. They will look on the one whom they have pierced;^e they will mourn for him as for an only son, and weep for him as people weep for a first-born child. Footnote ^e  says “‘the one’ Theodotion, Jn. 19:37; ‘me’ Hebr. The death of the Pierced One occurs in an eschatological context (cf. Rv. 1:7), ch. The raising of the siege of Jerusalem, the national mourning, vv. 10-14, the opening of the fountain of salvation, 13:1. The messianic age thus depends on a passion and a mysterious death comparable to the sufferings of the servant in Is. 52:13-53:12. Jn. 19:37 sees is this passage the figure of the passion of Christ, the ‘only son’ and the ‘first-born’, cf. Jh.  1:18,; Col. 1:15, whose pierced body will be ‘looked on’ with the saving eye of faith, cf. Jn 3:14+; Nb. 21:8-9. And whose opened side is a fountain of salvation, Jn. 19:34; 7:38.”

6.       Jn 1:3,18 - Through him all things came to be, not one thing has its being but through him (v. 3). No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son,^r who is nearest to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. Footnote ^r  says “Var. ‘God, only begotten’.

7.       Rm 8:29 - They are the ones he chose especially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son,^q so that the Son might be the eldest of many brothers. Footnote ^q  says “Christ, the image of God in the primordial creation, Col 1:15+; cf. Heb. 1:3, has now come, by a new creation, 2 Co 5:17+, to restore to fallen man  the splendor of that image which has been darkened by sin, Gn 1:26+, 3:22-24+; Rm 5:12+. He does this by forming man in a still more splendid image of a son of God (Rm 8:29); thus, sound moral judgment is restored to the ‘new man’, Col 3:10+, and also his claim to glory which he had sacrificed by sin, Rm 3:23+. This glory which Christ as the image of God possesses by right, 2 Co 4:4, is progressively communicated to the Christian, 2 Co 3:18, until his body is itself clothed in the image of the ‘heavenly man, 1 Co 15:49.”

8.       Heb 1:3,6 - He is the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of his nature,^c sustaining the universe by his powerful command; and now that he has destroyed the defilement of sin, he has gone to take his place in heaven at the right hand of divine Majesty(v. 3) Again, when he brings the First-born into the world^d, he says: Let all the angels of God worship him. Footnote ^c  says “These two metaphors are borrowed from the Sophia and logos theologies of Alexandria, Ws 7:25-26; they express both the identity of nature between Father and Son, and the distinction of person. The Son is the brightness, the light shining from its source, which is the bright glory, cf. Ex. 24:16+, of the Father (‘Light from Light’). He is also the replica, cf. Col 1:15+, of the Father’s substance, like an exact impression made by a seal on clay or wax, cf. Jn 14:9”; and Footnote ^d  says “Either at the Parousia or more probably, at the incarnation.”

Verses 16 and 17 say: for him were created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, Powers - all things were created through him and for him. Before anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity.

Parallel texts are:

1.       Ep 1:10,21 - To act upon when the times had run their course to the end;^j that he would bring everything together under Christ as head, everything in the heaven and everything on earth^k (v. 10)… far above every Sovereignty, Authority, Power or Dominion,^t or any other name that can be named, not only in this age but also in the age to come (v. 21). Footnote ^j  says “Lit. ‘for a dispensation of the times’ fullness’, cf. Ga 4:4f.”; Footnote ^k  says “The main theme of this letter is how the whole body of creation, having been cut off from the Creator by sin, is  decomposing, and how its rebirth is effected by Christ reuniting its parts into an organism with himself as the head, so as to reattach it to God. The human (Jew and pagan) and the angelic worlds are brought together again through the fact that they were saved by a single act, cf. 4:10f. Footnote ^t  says “Names traditional in Jewish literature for angelic hierarchies.”

2.       Rm 11:36 - All that exists comes from him; all is by him and for him. To him be glory forever. Amen.

3.       1 Co 8:6 - Still for us there is one God, the Father, from all things come and for whom we exist; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, though whom all things come through whom we exist.