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November 21, 2022Our second reading from St. Paul is a great reflection on who Jesus is, especially on this great day celebrating Christ our King.
“He is the image of the invisible God.” Pope Francis famously said a few years ago that Jesus Christ is the face of mercy. That’s a theological truth I’ll never forget. Anyone here who took an intro to Christianity class or read any of the documents of the Second Vatican Council has definitely heard that Jesus Christ is the fullness of Divine Revelation, which is essentially the same point Pope Francis is making. When we look at Jesus we see who God is. God is love. Because Jesus is God, that means He existed before everything else, since God is outside of space and time. God is eternal. This is why Paul describes Jesus as “the firstborn of all creation. For in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and invisible.” Paul is reminding us that God has always been and created everything in both the physical world that we can see and the spiritual world that we cannot see. Angels and demons to be exact.
St. Paul continues, “whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” While I often give the Jesuits a hard time, their famous motto sums up what Paul is explaining, all things are for the Greater Glory of God, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. Everything that God created, which is everything, was created to give Him glory. St. Ireneaus famously said that the glory of God is man fully alive! By our living out our humanity to the fullest, which is how Jesus lived His life, we give glory to God! Celebrating the sacred mysteries here at Holy Mass is giving glory and praise to God. We were created by God, who is love, because His love is so vast He needed to love more than the other two persons of the Blessed Trinity. God created us so He could love us in hopes that we would freely choose to love Him in return. Jesus shows us how to love God in return.
“He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, firstborn from the dead, that in all things He himself might be preeminent.” Jesus is King of the Universe. Jesus is God who left heaven and came to earth, taking on our human flesh, walking our walk, talking our talk, and even dying our death so that just as He shared in our humanity in all things but sin, we might one day share in His divinity if we follow Him faithfully. Paul continues, “For in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile all things for Him, making peace by the blood of His cross through Him, whether those one earth or those in heaven.”
Our King doesn’t sit on a throne of gold, rather His throne is a Cross, an instrument of torture and death. Our King doesn’t have a crown of gold or precious stones, rather a crown of thorns. Our King doesn’t bring peace through threats of violence or war, rather He brings peace by becoming the victim, although He is innocent, and allows Himself to be killed so we will never need to fear suffering or death. Our King changes lives for the better, but it comes at the price of our lives. If Christ is to truly be our king and allow us to inherit eternal life, we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. Sunday Mass must be the priority of our week. We must pray every day and make our prayer time the priority of our day. We must confess our sins humbly with contrite hearts regularly. We must die to ourselves and become Jesus, our King.
