Father Thomas Welbers' Homily	Jump back to Homily Index
Solemnity of Christ the King, November 23, 2003 Stewardship Follow-Up Sunday Daniel 7:13-14 Revelation 1:5-8 John 18:33b-37	Listen to Audio

The question for us is not, “Is Jesus a king?” Our question is, “Is Jesus my king? Is Jesus your king?”
And, if we can answer yes to that, then the question becomes, “What kind of a king is he? And what, as my Lord and Sovereign, does he expect of me?”

First of all, Jesus is not a king the way look at kings. Kings of old were monarchs who wielded absolute power, sometimes accomplishing great good, often great evil. We don’t call our rulers today “kings,” even if their power, for better or for worse, is greater and more far-reaching than the kings of old could even dream of. Today, sadly, the word “King” has been trivialized: Michael Jackson, the “king of pop”; “Elvis,” still “king” to a graying generation; and, of course, “Paul, the king of big screens”!

No, Jesus’ ways are not the ways of the world. If our way of life is indistinguishable from that of the rest of the world, except maybe for an hour on Sunday, perhaps we’d better look at our ways again. There may well come soon a fateful day when Jesus will ask us, “Are you truly mine?” And can we truthfully answer yes?

So, what kind of a king is he? The two images he most frequently uses are shepherd and servant. The shepherd who gives his life for his sheep, and who spares no effort to go after the lost and the straying. The servant who cares for the needs of others before his own needs.

And what does he ask of us? Well, he’s told us in a number of places. It’s clear from the Gospels that he doesn’t want our admiration or even our adoration; he wants our imitation. The only true adoration we can offer Jesus as the Son of God is imitation of Jesus as the suffering servant.

How do we put this into practice? How do we become one with Jesus, the suffering servant? The Gospels are very clear on this. He told us many times and in many ways that forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door to all the virtues. Forgiveness, without expecting appreciation, is the key to the command he gave most frequently, “Love one another, as I have loved you. . . . If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even sinners do as much?”
It is good to sing the praises of Christ our King. But when we come face to face with him, he’s going to ask us what we did about it. He’s going to look for an image of himself in us.

© Thomas Welbers 2003