Gospel of Sunday, 24 November: John 18:33b-37
Feast of Christ the King Year B
33 Pilate then went back into the praetorium, summoned Jesus, and said to him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of yourself, or have others told you this about me?’ 35 Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your people and the high priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought lest I should be delivered up to the Jews; but my kingdom is not of here.’ 37 Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say so; I am king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Whoever is of the truth listens to my voice’.
Jn 18:33b-37
Dear sisters and brothers of Misericordia, I am Carlo Miglietta, a doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Also today I share with you a short thought meditation on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
TEXT
v. 33: the title of King was not used by Jesus himself, but was attributed to him (Jn 6:15; 1:49): in accordance with the statements of the Synoptics, this title summarises the accusations of the Jewish authorities (Jn 18:30, 35): Pilate interprets it politically, as sedition against Rome;
v. 34: Jesus asks Pilate whether he understands his kingship in a Jewish, i.e. religious, or Roman, i.e. political, sense;
v. 36: Jesus’ kingship is not based on the powers of this world (Lk 4:5-6; Acts 1:6), but comes from God, and does not aim to establish a temporal power, but the Lordship of God;
v. 37-38: the truth in John is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ: and Jesus will give the greatest revelation precisely on the royal throne of the Cross; here, Jesus invites people to listen to his voice; Pilate will listen to the voice of the Jews (Jn 19:12) who invite him to condemn Jesus; Pilate does not understand, because for him history is constituted by the political power of Rome, and is not subject to a divine plan of salvation.
LORD JESUS, YOU ARE A VERY STRANGE KING!
Lord Jesus, you are a very strange king! Your royal palace leaves much to be desired: you are born in a stable, your cradle is a manger, for there is no room for you in the inn (Lk 2:7), and all your life you have ‘not even where to lay your head’ (Mt 8:20). Your court is a disaster: you surround yourself not with the nobility and the great of your time, but you are the ‘friend of publicans and sinners’ (Mt 11:19; Lk 7:34), and you are not afraid to scandalise the well-to-do by sitting at the table of these outcasts (Lk 5:27-32; 7:36-50; 15:1-2; 19:1-10). You do not frequent the healthy, but the sick (Mt 9:12). You spend your kingly life not among pleasures and softness, but among the poor, the marginalised, the oppressed, the foulest sick (Lk 7:18-22; Acts 10:38; Mt 4:24; 8:2-4; 9:35; 14:35-36…). You are a strange King who suffers thirst (Jn 4:7), weariness (Jn 4:6), sleep (Mt 8:24). Your relatives think you are mad (Mk 3:21), your fellow citizens want to kill you (Lk 4:28-29), your trustees do not understand you, they abandon you (Jn 6:66; Mt 26:56), they betray you (Mt 26:47-50); and even your prime minister denies you three times (Mt 26:69-75). The only anointing you receive is an anointing for death (Jn 12:7), the only crown you wear is a crown of thorns (Jn 19:2), the only cloak you wear is a mock cloak (Jn 19:2); and when, thus anointed and clothed in purple, you are presented as king to your subjects, they cry out, ‘Crucify him, crucify him!’ (Jn 19:6). Lord Jesus, you are a most strange King!
And then, Lord, what kind of subjects do you choose! You proclaim that your Kingdom is reserved for the poor, for those who suffer, for the meek who never raise their voice, for those who die of hunger and thirst, for those who have a heart of wretchedness, for the simple, for those who repudiate all violence, for the persecuted of the whole earth, and you tell them that they will be blessed when they are insulted and slandered, and you exhort them to rejoice and exult in this (Mt 5:3-12; Lk 6:20-26). In your Kingdom even publicans and prostitutes have precedence (Mt 21:31). Lord Jesus, you are a very strange King!
In your Kingdom, then, all things go backwards: the last are first and the first the last (Mt 19:30), you overthrow the powerful from their thrones and raise the humble, you fill the hungry with goods and send the rich empty-handed (Lk 1:52-53), to save one’s life one must lose it (Mk 8:35), whoever wants to be the greatest must become like a child (Mt 18:4), whoever wants to be first must become the servant of all (Mk 10:43-44). You yourself did not want to be served but to serve (Mk 10:45), you did not come to exercise dominion over others, but to give your life for all (Mk 10:45). And when you sit at table, you, the Master and Lord, perform the act of the slave, washing the feet of your subjects (Jn 13:1-20). Lord Jesus, you are a most strange King!
When they acclaim you Son of God, you impose silence (Mk 1:34, 43-44); when they want to acknowledge you as King after the multiplication of the loaves, you flee up the mountain, all alone (Jn 6:15); when they proclaim you King at the entrance to Jerusalem, you displace them all by riding on a donkey (Mk 11:1-11); when they arrest you, you do not want your own people to fight for you, even renouncing the defence of twelve legions of angels (Mt 26:51-53). You manifest yourself as King only when you are lost, chained before a pagan (Jn 18:33-37). Your throne is a cross, on which finally stands the inscription that you are the King (Jn 19:19-22): as the Psalmist proclaimed: ‘The Lord reigns from the wood!’ (Ps 96:10). Your kingship is revealed as pure love, shining in the wounds of your tortured body. Truly, Lord Jesus, you are a most strange King!
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.
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