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November 18, 2019
Father Charles Puthota
Comparing the 52 Sundays of the liturgical year to a full deck of 52 playing cards, a priest said that on the last Sunday, the Feast of the solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Universe, the last card of the deck, the King of Hearts, is held up. He went on to explain that Jesus is not the King of Clubs. A club could be a symbol of force and violence, to which Jesus’ values are diametrically opposed. He is meek and humble of heart. Jesus is not the King of Spades. A spade could be used to throw dirt on others or bury the questionable past. Always looking for others’ happiness and peace, Jesus always upholds and uplifts. Even enemies are included in his offer of forgiveness. Jesus’ life is an open book with nothing to hide, illumined resplendently by the love of his Father. Jesus is not the King of Diamonds. Diamonds stand for wealth, greed, and attachment to material possessions. Jesus embraces poverty and simplicity, calling his disciples to detachment and renunciation.
Who then is Jesus? He is the King of Hearts. He dwells in the human hearts and rules over us with supreme love and sacrifice, in total humility and surrender. This King throws his life away so we can have life and abundant life. A king who dies for his citizens is unthinkable. Yet our King is absolutely convinced that there is no greater love for him, as well as for his followers, than to give one’s life away for others. It is this reality and mystery that we celebrate this Christ the King Sunday.
The gospel from Luke shows how this eternal King reigns. His throne is the Cross. The cross is a stumbling block and scandal to those who seek worldly wisdom and power, but to Jesus it is the only way he can ultimately love, forgive, and save. At the foot of the cross, the rulers sneer at Jesus and mock his title of the Messiah. They have contempt for Jesus’ powerlessness to save himself even though he is “the chosen one, the Christ of God.” The anointed one, the Messiah, is to be the mighty one, and yet Jesus in their view is utterly devoid of glory and power.
The reading from Samuel sets the context for the Jewish understanding of Messiahship. Now all the tribes anoint David as king. Claiming themselves to be of David’s bone and flesh, they assign his qualities: shepherd and commander. It was Israelites’ absolute conviction and expectation that the Messiah, in the line of David, would be a mighty commander and shepherd, vanquishing enemies and ushering them to safety, security, and prosperity. The cross of Christ dashes all those expectations of the Messiah and hence the mockery. The Roman soldiers, too, jeered at Jesus in their utter contempt for him and, by extension, for the people of Israel. Even one of the criminals taunts Jesus: “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.”
However, Christ the King on the cross quietly exercises his kingly power. He takes on the sin of the world and sacrifices himself to save us. On the throne and altar of the cross, Jesus is humiliated and reviled. The King is completely stripped of his power and dignity. Yet, no one can take away his kingly powers. There is nothing this King would shy away from if he could only love and save. Amazingly, the thief is able to discern beyond the terrible situation of this King to the time when he will “come into your kingdom.” Jesus hastens to assure the thief that he is saved, offering him the fullness of life in his Kingdom. The King’s ministry of welcoming, embracing, loving, forgiving, and saving is accomplished not from the diamond-studded throne of worldly power and pomp but from the cross.
It is this that Paul celebrates in Colossians: “He [God] delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” In Paul’s lofty hymn, God has willed “to reconcile all things …, making peace by the blood of his cross .…”
Next Sunday Advent begins. As we prepare to welcome the King through the heart-warming season of Advent giving way to the joy-filled season of Christmas, let us enter the mystery of the kingly presence and power of Jesus in our lives. A baby will be born, but he is the King. We are to embrace and further his Kingdom. Goodness and kindness, selflessness and sacrifice, love and service, faith and forgiveness, peace and justice – all these for every human being is what the King wants. You are the King of Hearts! Come, Lord Jesus!
Father Charles Puthota, Ph.D., is pastor of St. Veronica Church, South San Francisco, and director of pastoral ministry for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.