Oh friends, if we wanted to hide from the pain of the world in the embrace of our religious texts, we would be sorely disappointed, especially this week. For we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of a political fight with religious undercurrents – sound familiar? Within a day of the interview at the center of this Sunday’s gospel story, a man revered by thousands will be dead, brutally killed at the hands of the secular ruler, under urging from the man’s own religious leaders. His followers will have scattered, hiding in terror of being arrested themselves.
We can’t get away from blood, power and violence in our Christian story. That intersection is exactly where God’s incarnate Son landed as his mission in this world culminated in his humiliation and execution. But the governor who ordered his death did not want to see him die. He questioned his prisoner closely, hoping to find a loophole that would allow him to save Jesus. Jesus did not make it easy:
Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me.”
This week we wrap up our liturgical year before resetting the clock on the first Sunday of Advent. On this final Sunday in “ordinary time,” we celebrate Christ as King. But the only images the Gospels give us of Christ as king show him as a helpless child, honored by magi; humbled, riding on a donkey; powerless, under arrest and trial; or nailed to a cross. Vulnerable, humble and powerless – is that what kingship looks like for Christ-followers?
I cannot but think of the seventeen missionaries kidnapped in Haiti nearly a month ago, or the many incidences of brutality some Christians around the world suffer for their faith. Persecution is not unique to Christians, of course – in fact, worldwide, Christians have it better than members of other religious traditions, and in our country people of Muslim, Sikh and Hindu traditions are more apt to be targeted. Yet risk and sacrifice are part of the package if we desire to follow the One who went to the Cross for us. Vulnerability and humility and service can look an awful lot like powerlessness.
The Way of Jesus was to prevail through humility and powerlessness in the temporal realm. The power he exerted was spiritual – a force so strong it could raise the dead, but not discernible to those who refused to see it.
Can we be bold enough to wield that power, given to us through his Holy Spirit? Can we dare to stand against hatred with love, against violence with generosity? That’s what Jesus did – he stood calm in the face of the man who had the power to end his life, and spoke nothing but truth. He walked into death itself and rendered it impotent. That’s how you respond to evil.
God, give us the grace to comfort, to seek justice, to forgive – and to wield love in the power of Christ.
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