King of the Universe, King of All

Feast of Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Gospel Jn 18:33b-37
Pilate said to Jesus,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?"
Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?"
Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here."
So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
Our Mighty King reigns in our hearts forever.
“Your Kingdom come!” This humble appeal or invitation from the Lord’s Prayer means to ask God to reveal His full sovereignty and power over all creation as we acknowledge His total involvement in our history. It is also waiting for Jesus’ Second Coming with hopeful anticipation that His reign will come into completion according to His will. Somehow, whatever has been promised in the Scriptures will be fulfilled and above all, this epoch hopefully will bring lasting renewal into our world. Your Kingdom come would also mean, above all, we have a true King-God Himself. His Kingdom is not of this world.
As our Sovereign King, sent us His Son to become one like us except sin. His incarnation, and in His saving act (passion, death, and resurrection) inaugurated a Kingdom, not a kingdom of temporal dominion, human succession, political or military domain, popularity, power, wealth, or prestige, yet a Kingdom of justice, selfless service, charity, and truth. No one other than Jesus, our King must govern our lives. We neither know the hour when the Kingdom will definitively arrive nor the exact way in which the world’s transfiguration will take place. Only the Father knows. (Mk. 13:32) It is still possible for any man to know the hour because this hour possesses us, not we the hour. The best way we bring to the promised hour (Kairos), is that childlike and trusting surrender of self which, imitating Jesus, constantly reposes itself in hope before the Father. As well as to work for this promised transformation (to build His Kingdom here on earth). (cf. CCC 1049).
The First Reading foreshadows the coming of a King in the vision of Daniel who describes Him as the Son of man, glorious and kingly and whose kingship shall not be destroyed. Whereas in the Second Reading, the King is identified as Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, priest, and ruler of the earth. His Kingdom reigns through His love and His ultimate sacrifice of His life for our salvation will cause many to lament-those who refuse to honor His majesty or the ones who reject Him.
King of the Jews and King of all.
During the trial, Jesus before Pilate, remained composed and calm, for all He wanted was to reveal the truth. The encounter between Pilate and Jesus revealed the dominance that the Jews had over Him and His own greatness and sovereignty as shown in His humility and obedience to His Father. However, it was during Pilate’s interrogation about Jesus’ kingship that elicited His true divine identity. Pilate did not want to offend the Jews, nor start a rebellion from them or perhaps, he wanted not to stain his hands with the innocent’s blood through His decision required of him to act according to his authority. But he has the last word. He has an inscription posted on the cross in three languages that says ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (19:19-20) or INRI “Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum.”
The chief priests protested the inscription; however, Pilate decided not to remove or change it. What’s behind the title? It is true that Jesus is the King not only of the Jews but also of the entire universe which Pilate denied. His kingship is not of this world (kosmou-from kosmos), (My Kingdom Greek: Basileia) neither a temporal kingdom of political or militant power, only a spiritual or messianic eternal reign. Pilate after all has one legitimate concern, and that is whether Jesus poses a threat to Rome or be guilty of treason. Pilate could not believe that an ordinary Nazorean who preached His kingdom of love, justice, and peace, healed the sick, forgave sinners, fed the multitude, and declared Himself the anointed One of God, was trying to qualify Himself as a king. Jesus was not playing politics with Pilate and the rest of the Jewish authorities. Jesus simply exposed the Jewish leaders’ hidden evil motive before Pilate who at first did not know why they wanted to kill Jesus. And this was the truth.
Jesus says that He has come into the world “that I should testify to the truth.” Truth is the preeminent theme of this Gospel. We learn the following about truth from this Gospel: -Jesus is the full truth (1:14)
-The truth makes us free (8:32)
-Jesus tells the truth (8:45-46)
-He is the way, the truth, and the life (14:6).
-He testifies to the truth (18:37)
-when Jesus departs, the Spirit of truth will come to be with us (16:7,13)
Everyone therefore who is of the truth listens to “His voice.”
Jesus is our Universal King who cares for the Kosmos-world. From heaven, He watches over the kosmos and He comes to save it. Phils. 2:6-7 “so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). Jesus will not assume a political kingship but instead desires that people will enthrone Him in their hearts- just as the Father will soon enthrone Him in heaven (Phils. 2:9-11).
Life’s Messages
1) We need to accept and surrender our lives to Christ the King. We prioritize Jesus in our daily choices, especially in making moral decisions. Christ is in full control and charge of our lives.
2) We serve Christ our King, as we serve one another. His sovereign power over our bodies, our thoughts, our heart, and our will. To become Jesus’ followers we see Jesus amongst the poor, the sick, the outcast, and the marginalized in society and render loving service to Jesus in each of them.
3) Jesus came to proclaim to all of us the Good News of God’s love and salvation gave us a “new commandment” of love: “Love one another as I have loved you,” and offered His life for our sakes.
As we observe the kingship of Christ today, the truth prevails that Jesus is not our King if we do not listen to, love, serve, and follow where He leads. The Church which He founded guides us to all truth. Do we listen to the moral teachings of the Church? We want to belong to Christ’s kingdom only when we walk with Christ, to try to live the Gospel truths is our mission and to believe that Christ is King of every facet of our living.
If we refuse to accept or obey the serious moral teaching that He entrusted to His Church, then we are behaving exactly as Pilate behaved: on the one hand, recognizing Jesus as faithful, innocent, trustworthy, and good; but on the other hand, rejecting his claim to be the Lord, the King of the universe. This is why the Church requires us to repent of and confess mortal sins before receiving Holy Communion. This is why the Church requires leaders who have publicly supported gravely immoral laws to publicly repent before receiving Holy Communion. The Church wants us to live in the freedom of the truth, not, locking ourselves into the prison of hypocrisy, as Pilate did, cutting ourselves off from God’s grace. (e-priest).