Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
~Daniel 7:13-14
This Sunday is the the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. A fitting Mass for Thanksgiving weekend. The Solemnity proclaims that Christ is preeminent over all creation. But Jesus’ rise to kingship is like no other.
The desire for power is itself a powerful thing. Man has always craved power. We like to control things. But as history tells us, power also corrupts. The irony of power is that the more you desire and attain it at the expense of others, the more it destroys you–a basic survey of the history of the Byzantine emperors alone will prove this sufficiently. The Biblical record of this is also quite clear. In the garden Adam was tempted by the Serpent that if he were only to eat of the fruit, he would yield a power comparable to God. Adam knew it was forbidden, but desired to disobey God and sacrifice love in order to achieve his goal. In his moment of sin, he cared nothing for God, and as a result, nothing for himself. Adam, desiring to elevate himself, fell, and with him, the entire human race.
It seems to be that elevating yourself is... not a keen idea. But it is too late for warnings, man is severed from God and needs radical surgery to stitch up the relationship. Man, as a creature, can do nothing to reconcile himself before God. His offerings to God of things created and owned by God are worthless offerings. Man’s pride and power-seeking has been his undoing. There is no hope in himself and he knows it.
The Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, through whom the Father Almighty made all things, took the reverse route of Adam. He shared with God all things in the perfect unity of love. The Son had everything, or rather, he transcended everything. His Father loved him with a perfect love and called him His beloved Son. The Lover and the Beloved–they needed nothing. Man’s folly was no hindrance to the bliss of the Holy Godhead. But the love of the Father knows no limits. Knowing the plight of us men, the Father had compassion for us in our hopeless state. It is as if he sees from a carriage on a cold, rainy, gray day an orphaned baby sitting in the middle of the muddy road, looking, looking and crying, for someone to pick him up and hold him. There is no hope for this pitiful child, but the Father will not abandon the orphan. The Father desires to bring the child to himself. He turns to his Son, who is always with him, and asks him to get down into the mud and filth and save the child from certain death. The Son desires nothing but to please his Father. With supreme love, he gets down from the carriage.
Unlike Adam who wanted to elevated himself, the Son lowered himself to our level. He did not desire to exploit power, power that was rightfully his, but instead condescended to our lowly state and emptied himself and took on the nature of man. He restricted his divine abilities by accepting the limitations of man. “You know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” The incomprehensibleness of his divinity remained what it was, but what he assumed was like us in every way–measurable and knowable. This divine human, whose presence among the kings of men should be beneath him, was born into poverty and grew up in a carpenter’s shop. During his ministry, he preached the Kingdom of God but desired no power. His enemies, who clung to their temporal gains, arrested him because he threatened their authority. He was stripped and scourged, humiliated with a “kingly” crown of thorns, and mocked as a king whose only subjects were but jeering, violent soldiers. Pilate, prefect of Rome in Judaea, abused his authority by avoiding responsibility and handed the Son of God over to the wishes of an angry mob.
Jesus received ultimate humiliation–condemned to die while suspended between heaven and earth on a cross. Death on a cross was the greatest insult in the Roman world. It was reserved for the wretched. He was cursed by men and felt the full brunt of man’s enmity for God. Jesus cries a psalm of David in solidarity with us: “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” Can more shame and dishonor be heaped upon one man? As he expired, he died an enemy of the Jews, a “blasphemer” and a despised outcast. He was removed from his wooden altar and laid to rest in a common tomb.
Yet, through all this suffering lies the hope of man. The injustice of his death was purposed. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, offered himself to the Father in sacrificial love and accomplishes the redemption of humanity. He passed over from death to life. Death could not contain him. This is the Paschal Mystery: Christ’s Passion as the Suffering Servant is the model and atonement for all humanity, and at the same time by his death he destroys death, and by his resurrection he opens up to us the path to eternal life. By stooping down, he lifts us up.
With his victory won and his work accomplished, he can now claim his promise from the Father–glory, honor and authority of universal proportions. He ascends through his own power to where he was before in the presence of his Father. His entry into the courts of heaven is no small thing. The entrance of the Highly Exalted One, the King of Kings, is the culminating moment in the Kingdom of God. He then takes His place at the right hand of the Father. The same unity of the Divine before the Son’s condescension is now once again fully realized, but things are different now. Jesus is still what he assumed–a man. In the love of the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, the Father introduces Christ’s humanity into the Godhead. God assumed Man, and now, Man assumes God. From his throne on High he intercedes to the Father on our behalf as the one mediator between God and Man. He spans the gulf now as he did while suspending on a tree drawing all men to himself.
But even now in His exalted state, he does not think it beneath him to continue to stoop down to our level. He promised to always be with us and he does so really, truly and substantially. As St. Francis notes: “For One in such a lofty position to stoop so low is a marvel that is staggering. What sublime humility and humble sublimeness, that the Lord of the Universe, the Divine Son of God, should stoop as to hide Himself under the appearance of bread for our salvation! Behold the humble way of God, my brothers. Therefore, do not hold yourselves to be anything of yourselves, so that you may be entirely acceptable to One Who gives Himself entirely to you.” He is with us in the form of Bread and Wine; he is with us at every Mass.
“Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” ~Philippians 2:6-11
Through humility he has been exalted. Through giving he has gained all. Through sacrificial love he is the beneficiary of the perfect love of the Father. Through emptying himself of power, he now rules with all power. He is the Great King. There is no throne or dominion in heaven or on earth that moves without him. The stars and galaxies are bound by his word. The great and powerful as well as the lowly are under his watchful eye. There is none who can escape him, and all will bow before him. He rules with justice and mercy through his perfect love. He cares about his subjects and ever serves them by making himself one with them. He gives his peace to all who are in him. He is our salvation and our King whose kingdom will last for all eternity. He shows us the way of salvation: by humbling himself, he is was raised to glory. This is the most unusual rise to power, but the only rise to power that has ever mattered. “How worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and divinity, and wisdom and strength and honor. To him belong glory and power for ever and ever.”
That is Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Praise be to God.
The desire for power is itself a powerful thing. Man has always craved power. We like to control things. But as history tells us, power also corrupts. The irony of power is that the more you desire and attain it at the expense of others, the more it destroys you–a basic survey of the history of the Byzantine emperors alone will prove this sufficiently. The Biblical record of this is also quite clear. In the garden Adam was tempted by the Serpent that if he were only to eat of the fruit, he would yield a power comparable to God. Adam knew it was forbidden, but desired to disobey God and sacrifice love in order to achieve his goal. In his moment of sin, he cared nothing for God, and as a result, nothing for himself. Adam, desiring to elevate himself, fell, and with him, the entire human race.
It seems to be that elevating yourself is... not a keen idea. But it is too late for warnings, man is severed from God and needs radical surgery to stitch up the relationship. Man, as a creature, can do nothing to reconcile himself before God. His offerings to God of things created and owned by God are worthless offerings. Man’s pride and power-seeking has been his undoing. There is no hope in himself and he knows it.
The Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, through whom the Father Almighty made all things, took the reverse route of Adam. He shared with God all things in the perfect unity of love. The Son had everything, or rather, he transcended everything. His Father loved him with a perfect love and called him His beloved Son. The Lover and the Beloved–they needed nothing. Man’s folly was no hindrance to the bliss of the Holy Godhead. But the love of the Father knows no limits. Knowing the plight of us men, the Father had compassion for us in our hopeless state. It is as if he sees from a carriage on a cold, rainy, gray day an orphaned baby sitting in the middle of the muddy road, looking, looking and crying, for someone to pick him up and hold him. There is no hope for this pitiful child, but the Father will not abandon the orphan. The Father desires to bring the child to himself. He turns to his Son, who is always with him, and asks him to get down into the mud and filth and save the child from certain death. The Son desires nothing but to please his Father. With supreme love, he gets down from the carriage.
Unlike Adam who wanted to elevated himself, the Son lowered himself to our level. He did not desire to exploit power, power that was rightfully his, but instead condescended to our lowly state and emptied himself and took on the nature of man. He restricted his divine abilities by accepting the limitations of man. “You know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” The incomprehensibleness of his divinity remained what it was, but what he assumed was like us in every way–measurable and knowable. This divine human, whose presence among the kings of men should be beneath him, was born into poverty and grew up in a carpenter’s shop. During his ministry, he preached the Kingdom of God but desired no power. His enemies, who clung to their temporal gains, arrested him because he threatened their authority. He was stripped and scourged, humiliated with a “kingly” crown of thorns, and mocked as a king whose only subjects were but jeering, violent soldiers. Pilate, prefect of Rome in Judaea, abused his authority by avoiding responsibility and handed the Son of God over to the wishes of an angry mob.
Jesus received ultimate humiliation–condemned to die while suspended between heaven and earth on a cross. Death on a cross was the greatest insult in the Roman world. It was reserved for the wretched. He was cursed by men and felt the full brunt of man’s enmity for God. Jesus cries a psalm of David in solidarity with us: “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” Can more shame and dishonor be heaped upon one man? As he expired, he died an enemy of the Jews, a “blasphemer” and a despised outcast. He was removed from his wooden altar and laid to rest in a common tomb.
Yet, through all this suffering lies the hope of man. The injustice of his death was purposed. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, offered himself to the Father in sacrificial love and accomplishes the redemption of humanity. He passed over from death to life. Death could not contain him. This is the Paschal Mystery: Christ’s Passion as the Suffering Servant is the model and atonement for all humanity, and at the same time by his death he destroys death, and by his resurrection he opens up to us the path to eternal life. By stooping down, he lifts us up.
With his victory won and his work accomplished, he can now claim his promise from the Father–glory, honor and authority of universal proportions. He ascends through his own power to where he was before in the presence of his Father. His entry into the courts of heaven is no small thing. The entrance of the Highly Exalted One, the King of Kings, is the culminating moment in the Kingdom of God. He then takes His place at the right hand of the Father. The same unity of the Divine before the Son’s condescension is now once again fully realized, but things are different now. Jesus is still what he assumed–a man. In the love of the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, the Father introduces Christ’s humanity into the Godhead. God assumed Man, and now, Man assumes God. From his throne on High he intercedes to the Father on our behalf as the one mediator between God and Man. He spans the gulf now as he did while suspending on a tree drawing all men to himself.
But even now in His exalted state, he does not think it beneath him to continue to stoop down to our level. He promised to always be with us and he does so really, truly and substantially. As St. Francis notes: “For One in such a lofty position to stoop so low is a marvel that is staggering. What sublime humility and humble sublimeness, that the Lord of the Universe, the Divine Son of God, should stoop as to hide Himself under the appearance of bread for our salvation! Behold the humble way of God, my brothers. Therefore, do not hold yourselves to be anything of yourselves, so that you may be entirely acceptable to One Who gives Himself entirely to you.” He is with us in the form of Bread and Wine; he is with us at every Mass.
“Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” ~Philippians 2:6-11
Through humility he has been exalted. Through giving he has gained all. Through sacrificial love he is the beneficiary of the perfect love of the Father. Through emptying himself of power, he now rules with all power. He is the Great King. There is no throne or dominion in heaven or on earth that moves without him. The stars and galaxies are bound by his word. The great and powerful as well as the lowly are under his watchful eye. There is none who can escape him, and all will bow before him. He rules with justice and mercy through his perfect love. He cares about his subjects and ever serves them by making himself one with them. He gives his peace to all who are in him. He is our salvation and our King whose kingdom will last for all eternity. He shows us the way of salvation: by humbling himself, he is was raised to glory. This is the most unusual rise to power, but the only rise to power that has ever mattered. “How worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and divinity, and wisdom and strength and honor. To him belong glory and power for ever and ever.”
That is Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Praise be to God.
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