The Word Of Peace
Homiletic Reflections On Peacemaking

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti

Feast of Christ the King

"When statesman or leaders forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties....they lead their country by a short route to chaos."

These are the words of Sir Thomas More in the stage play, A Man For All Seasons. It is a play about the central role of integrity in being a leader. A real leader leads. A real leader is not interested in what is popular, but what is right!   A real leader is not interested in being popular, but in being just.

In John's gospel Jesus is on trial. Jesus tells Pilate that his mission is to testify to the truth. This is the essence of Jesus' kingship that will be manifest in his service, sacrificial death on the cross. In accepting his role as a King Jesus emphasizes that his Kingdom is not OF this world--but that must not be understood in such a way that it is not IN this world. The Word became flesh, therefore everything about creation and especially human beings is wrapped up with God's saving action in Jesus! What Jesus is getting at in John is that his reign is not like that of the kings of his own day .

Oriental despots, or kings were known for their cruelty, self-aggrandizement and arbitrary abuse of power. Jesus will have none of this--he is a king that defends the poor, the outcasts, the rejected, the "non-persons" of this world. For Jesus kingship, or leadership is effective and authentic to the degree that it serves in sacrifice for others ! Jesus is a king that brings the foundations, the power of the Holy Spirit to build a just and peaceful world--a world of universal cosmic peace.

This episode in John brings us to how Jesus understands his kingship. It is one that is won on the cross. His throne is a cross, not made of gold or studded with rubies. It is a throne that knows the suffering of people--and brings them the promise of a transformed tomorrow!

Jesus' kingship is the Alpha and Omega of all creation. What creation was intended for, what our lives mean, where they will find completion we see in the fecundity of God's love on the cross of Jesus.

That is what it means to be King ! Jesus is the Son of Man who will bring the Father's Kingdom. Jesus is the standard by which all leaders, nations and lives will be measured and judged. And what's more, judgment comes from the King who was willing to die for us.

This King, Jesus, the Son of Man will ask us: "when I was hungry, did you give me to eat, give me to drink, did you visit me when I was sick or in prison ? Did you care for yourself, for others and this world?"  Such will be directed to nations--especially those in the role of world leadership--communities and individuals.

Today we take up a collection for the U.S. Catholic Bishops Campaign for Human Devlopment, which concerned with charity and justice. Charity helps to place a "band aid" on a wound; justice seeks to find the reasons why there are wounds. In our world where 21 % of all children are homeless, and in a nation where 27% of the children of the working poor have no medical coverage this must become so ! Charity meets the immediate needs of people--justice asks questions about how things are structured, who has power and how can it be shared to make a more just society ? The danger always remains that charity without justice usually soothes the conscience of the powerful while perpetuating a system that keeps the conditions in place that cause the need for charity, fostering dependence rather than human liberation!

In her book, "Hungry Hearts" Anzia Yezierska puts it quite well when she says:  "Ain't I hurt enough without you having to hurt me yet with charity?  You want to give me "hush money" to swallow down unrightness that burns my flesh? I want justice ."

Justice is about human empowerment to live humanly. This is the future of humanity in Jesus Christ. And it is the duty of Jesus' followers to ensure and ratify the sacred dignity of every human person in working for a world that is just. This is not easy. It is a call to go beyond slogans, words and comfort. I t means examining our lifestyles and the policies of nations--it is hard work. But to fail to do so is to sow the seed of ever-growing violence. In April of 1886, Frederick Douglass said it most pointedly:

" Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."

The exaltation of Jesus on the throne of his cross and his resurrection born of testifying to the truth. It was this love, this love--as King--for all of us, that summons us to work together in the Lord to bring justice and peace to this world in the mode of the King's own sacrificial love. It is not only wise and prudent for building peace--it is the very future that Jesus will bring with Him on that day when all creation will be glorified. This is not optional if we truly be his followers, if we truly aspire to leadership. In the words of Pope John Paul II in 1991:

" The church would not be faithful to the Gospel if we were not close to the poor and if she did not defend their rights."

The Church is called to a leadership that does not forsake its conscience and thereby testify to the truth. It is called to a leadership that lives and values a way of life at odds with much of the world and the way power is abused. The Church, in imitation of the King, the Lord Jesus himself is called to be a leader that helps build peace in working for justice. Because this is what it means to be a leader--a leader that helps all journey to God's approaching future with us. A future of a whole new world.

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Uploaded January 14, 2000