Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” November-December 2022
Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (S)
proper
FIRST READING
From the Second Book of Samuel (2Sam 5:1-3)
In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said to him: “Here we are, your bone and your flesh. Even before, when Saul was king over us, you led Israel out and brought it back. The Lord said to you: ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, you will be leader of Israel.’” So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king of Israel. – The word of God.
Commentary on the first reading
Israel, after the dramatic interlude of Saul’s conflict with David, has finally reached a new stability. In the journey of the community of believers, one can never be certain that scandal will not arise, even among its consecrated members. Let us not forget that Saul himself was chosen by God as a leader, but then destroyed everything by giving room in his heart to jealousy. This cannot and must not be a reason to distance ourselves from or lose esteem for God’s plan and its unfolding in history. Every crisis always brings great new possibilities. The crisis God allows is meant to bring renewed purification. Yet David is not someone who appeared out of nowhere for Israel. Already during Saul’s reign he had demonstrated his commitment to the people of God. He is not an outsider to the faith; he is someone who lived through the people’s trials to the full, who risked his life when he had to fight Goliath. Now that people have someone to look to in order to recover unity. They anoint David king, recognize God’s choice, and obey it.
SECOND READING
From the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Colossians (Col 1:12-20)
Brothers and sisters, give thanks with joy to the Father who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, through whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, because in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible: thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers. All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him and for him to reconcile all things, making peace by the blood of his cross, whether on earth or in heaven. – The word of God.
Commentary on the second reading
What great consolation should come to us from these few words that the apostle Paul addresses to the Christians of Colossae. Our salvation does not depend primarily on our efforts or our consistency; it depends solely on one fact: everything, including me and you who are reading, was made through him and for him. I was made through Christ. How can we understand this statement? I like to think that he was the one who asked the Father to give me life; he wanted me for himself. How many times in our families have we been told, or heard, the phrase: “Because of you we are in this situation” (sometimes with a negative connotation and sometimes with a positive meaning). We are in this situation, that is, inserted into the great history of salvation, because Christ wanted it. With what great care should we cultivate the dignity that comes to us from this desire. Yet we often live as though everything, including ourselves, were the result of chance, a series of fortunate coincidences, within a plan that has no perspective, amid great abstraction and distraction.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 23:35-43)
At that time, [after they had crucified Jesus,] the people stood by watching; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at Jesus, saying: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the chosen one.” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up to offer him vinegar and saying: “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” Above him there was also an inscription: “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals hanging on the cross reviled him: “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” The other, however, rebuked him, saying: “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” – The Gospel of the Lord.
Commentary on the Gospel of the day
I have a kind of allergy when I read grandiose, redundant phrases in liturgical titles, at risk of pointless rhetoric. This feast is one of those that triggers this allergy in me: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.” What solemnity. But then what follows these words? Looking around us and within ourselves, we see that reality testifies to the contrary. Hatred, wars, enmity, lack of respect for life, illness, suffering, death: these are things that challenge this kingship. Can you imagine a king in whose kingdom everything happens contrary to what he commands? A naked king, Andersen would say. Yes, Christ is a naked king, on the cross, and he is not ashamed to show himself as such; on the contrary. During a meeting with a group of religious women, one of them asked me bluntly: “But why is Jesus always depicted naked on the cross? It lacks all human compassion and any sense of modesty.” The question surprised me greatly. It forced me to reflect. I thought, and professional theologians should not take offense, that Christ’s nakedness on the cross is nothing other than the redemption of Adam and Eve’s nakedness. The Lord Jesus, the naked king, brings us back into that paradise where nakedness was the sign of perfect communion.
