November 24, 2024
Solemnity of Christ the King
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord,
“the one who is and who was and who is to come.” Revelation 1: 5-8
Pilate said to Jesus, “are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, ““my kingdom is not of this world.” John 18:33-37
Every day since our shattering election, the leaves have fallen from our tree.
Every day since the wars began in Gaza and Ukraine,
the steam has risen from my coffee cup.
Bumble has slept at my feet.
Sunrises. Sunsets.
My four-year-old grandson made this joke: do you know
what would be funny? A baby with glasses on!
Jesus says his kingdom is not of this world: not the world of the bombs
and the lies and the things that governments do or try to do,
that all the Pilates do or try to do,
but this world: the world of the sleeping dog.
The world of the steaming cup.
The psalms and the gospels are full of images of destruction
and apocalypse and lamentation and grief: full of them.
When we lament we are with God.
When we grieve we are with God.
When we are afraid, we are feeling one of the sacred emotions.
But of course this isn’t all, because without promising
that the destruction will cease, or all the sinfulness will disappear,
the Lord proclaims his constancy, his unending presence,
underneath, this love that flows.
The existence of love isn’t proven or disproven
by the state of the world but in spite of it,
beneath it, above it, outside it.
In us.
The promise isn’t that everything will be alright
but that the Lord will be with us always
even when everything isn’t right.
The promise isn’t that everything will be alright this minute
but in the end.
Maybe thousands of years from now. Eons.
The vast galaxies spin.
The scale is different: unbelievably vast
and yet breathtakingly small.
The Alpha and the Omega.
The One who is and who was and who is to come.
We must act.
Protest.
Stand at the barricades.
Stand in the gaps.
Face the truth.
Tell the truth.
Give money.
Work for systems, structures, justice.
Lift up the poor.
Heal the suffering.
Weep. Cry out. Rage.
Jesus was crucified: he lost: he failed: he died:
he was lied to, he was tortured, he was used for show.
Governments used and betrayed him, and they still are.
And yet he stood fast. He held his ground.
He said: my kingdom is not of this world.
Do you think that Jesus didn’t weep?
He didn’t grieve? He didn’t question? He didn’t doubt?
He was like us in all things except sin,
and weeping isn’t a sin. Grieving isn’t a sin.
Fear and doubt and righteous anger: they are not sins.
Don’t despair: Jesus is with the little boy in the rubble.
Jesus is with the little girl on the border.
Jesus is with the woman dying all alone.
Do you know what would be funny?
A baby with glasses on!
Do you know what would be amazing?
Jesus rising from the dead.
Do you know what is beautiful?
What is unending?
The leaves that fall from the tree.
The steam that rises from the cup.
This moment.
Every moment.
You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.
Thomas Merton