Sunday 25 November 2012
Daniel 7:13-14, Psalm 92:1-2.5. Rv1,
Apocalypse 1:5-8, John 18:33-37
His sovereignty is an eternal
sovereignty.
The Lord is king with majesty
enrobed.
Jesus Christ is ruler of the kings of
the earth and made us a line of kings
All who are on the side of truth
listen to my voice.
Readings at Mass
First reading
Daniel 7:13-14
I gazed into the
visions of the night.
And I saw,
coming on the clouds of heaven,
one like a son
of man.
He came to the
one of great age
and was led into
his presence.
On him was conferred
sovereignty,
glory and
kingship,
and men of all
peoples, nations and languages became his servants.
His sovereignty
is an eternal sovereignty
which shall
never pass away,
nor will his
empire ever be destroyed.
The
author wrote at a time of grave persecution. The persecutor had the upper hand
and was crushing the faithful people of Yahweh. However, in his vision he sees
that God will vindicate the simple faithful of Israel. The ‘son of man’
symbolises the last and the least among God’s faithful people. The eventual
victory goes not to the persecutor but to the simple faithful. Jesus applies
this title to himself. Though God he emptied himself and took the form of a
slave. He identified himself with the last and least and became one of them. He
had nowhere to lay his head. In Christ the Son of Man, all ‘the little ones’
who have faith will be glorified. Revalation 3:21.
Psalm
Psalm 92:1-2,5
The Lord is
king, with majesty enrobed.
The Lord is
king, with majesty enrobed;
the Lord has
robed himself with might,
he has girded
himself with power.
The Lord is
king, with majesty enrobed.
The world you
made firm, not to be moved;
your throne has
stood firm from of old.
From all
eternity, O Lord, you are.
The Lord is
king, with majesty enrobed.
Truly your
decrees are to be trusted.
Holiness is
fitting to your house,
O Lord, until
the end of time.
The Lord is
king, with majesty enrobed.
____________________
Second reading
Apocalypse 1:5-8
Jesus Christ is
the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of
the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us
a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory
and power for ever and ever. Amen. It is he who is coming on the clouds;
everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the
earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the
Omega’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
We are talking
of Jesus, Son of David and Son of Mary. It is this man who was humiliated and degraded who is raised to the level of
God. As God he was always equal with the Father in power and glory, but in his
humanity was so oppressed that he said ‘I am a worm and no man’ (Psalm 22).
This man is now God and all those who are in Christ will be raised by the
Father to the same dignity through the working of God’s Spirit.
____________________
Gospel Acclamation
Mk11:10
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Blessings on him
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessings on the
coming kingdom of our father David!
Alleluia!
____________________
Gospel
John 18:33-37
‘Are you the
king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this of your own
accord, or have others spoken to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew?
It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me:
what have you done?’ Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my
kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being
surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.’ ‘So you are a
king then?’ said Pilate. ‘It is you who say it’ answered Jesus. ‘Yes, I am a
king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to
the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’
Behold our King
Jesus stands before Pilate and Pilate asks, “What have you done?”
What had Jesus done? He went everywhere in Galilee
doing good and freeing those bound by Satan. He healed the sick, who came to
him as to a hospital. He put his hands on each of them. He took them by the
hand and lifted them up. He was utterly transparent. He was exactly what he
appeared to be. “Who can accuse me of sin?” he boldly challenged his enemies
and they were silent. “If I am not doing the works of my Father then do not
believe me, but if I do them then believe because of the works I do” (John
10:37). They would not believe. His actions show who he is. Every action was a
sign of his love. His words were the words of truth. He condemned hypocrisy;
appearing to be something we are not. His life and his words were a
condemnation of the priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees. He gave of himself
in love. They took for themselves in greed. His words were the truth about God
and about man. God looks for worshippers in spirit and in truth. They swallowed
up the property of widows under cover of long prayers. As a result “the whole
world is going after him” (John 12:19). It was Jesus or the leaders. Therefore,
they brought the innocent one, the witness to the truth, to a trial that was
based on falsehood. Jesus stood his ground.
He did not flinch. “I have come into this world to bear witness to the
truth. He who is on the side of truth listens to me.” He who lives a lie does
not come to Jesus because he will uncover the lie, which is his life.
Each human being must study the
life and words of Jesus. He cannot flippantly toss them off as Pilate did:
“What is truth” he asks and goes out without hearing the answer. Could he bear
to hear the truth? Seeing Jesus innocent he still condemned him to the scourging
and death on the cross.
To love the truth, to search for
the truth, this is to be a human being. Jesus is the perfect human being, the
model for us all. Do you love the truth? Alternatively, do you love your own
traditions, what you are used to, and your own comfort zones? Have you seriously contemplated the claims
that Jesus made? Have you read the Gospels searching for the Truth and been
open to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit?
If you have, you will recognize
Jesus, as Lord and you will choose him as your king. You will give your life to
him and for him as he gives his to you and for you.
Jesus calls you. On your answer
depends your eternal future.
Father, may I make the search for Truth the task of my
life.
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