Christ the King, C November 20, 2022
Fr. Alexander Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
“We have been condemned justly.” Have we? Since the beginning of the Church, there have been those who keep coming back to the same error, the same mistake: the idea that our condemnation isn’t really just, that damnation just can’t be real. There are a lot of subtle and clever arguments to support the idea that everyone goes to heaven – we call it universalism – but it seems to me there is always something beneath the surface… a rejection of the justice behind such a condemnation.
Most people who defend universalism or who claim that hell is empty will point to God’s mercy. They will claim that their belief in God’s mercy is so great that they just can’t believe he’d condemn anyone. That is a false mercy… it is a horrific insult to human freedom. Even worse, it’s an insult to God and a rejection of what we celebrate today, what we see depicted in the Gospel.
Jesus Christ is the king of the universe! It’s why we rejoice today, why I wear gold, why I sing a little more, why we go into the streets today to lift him up and acknowledge his rightful to claim to all that we have, all that we are, all that there is.
What makes Jesus Christ the king? St. Paul tells us in this ancient hymn, probably sung by the first Christians in the liturgy. “He is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn of all creation. For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth.” As the Son, Jesus is God and creator and so has all the powers of a king and much, much more.
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church.” A king comes first like the point of an arrow. He signifies the unity of his people, acting as a single figure to connect a multitude. Jesus is the unifier of the Church since his sacrificial self-gift on the Cross unites us to his very body… that same body which is the place of union between humanity and divinity.
“He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent.” By entering into death and rising from it, Jesus manifested his power not only over the first creation, but over the re-creation, the resurrection promised to us. So, he is king of this life as well as king of the life to come.
“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 on earth or those in heaven.” The “fullness” of God’s infinite splendor and goodness is what created us. By sin, we reject that infinite goodness, incurring a debt we can never repay. Sin in a very real sense rejects the very source of our own existence. That is why the heresy of universalism so offensive. Jesus the God-Man died on the cross in order to “reconcile” heaven and earth.
Think about what it means to “reconcile” people to each other. Since a person has free will, reconciliation is only possible if they themselves choose it. God, for his part, has willed – chosen – to reconcile with us. That’s why he sent his son who freely chose to die on the cross as proof of his offer of reconciliation.
The proclamation of God’s Kingdom by Jesus – for all its diverse expressions – could be summed up in this short scene on the cross: the criminal who rejects and ridicules Jesus versus the one who pleads for mercy. The one who ignores the justice of his condemnation versus the one who accepts it and pleads for mercy. We can be one or the other.
In God, mercy and justice are not in conflict. A good king does not ignore justice. No, Jesus reconciles us to God by meeting justice out of his own goodness and love. God does not leave spiritual debts and wounds unpaid and unhealed. He pulls from his own infinite love to pay our debts and heal our wounds on our behalf. God’s mercy is the fulfillment of his justice, not its rejection. But once given, there is something this reconciliation requires from us: our acceptance.
Jesus promises the repentant criminal that he will be in paradise, but he says nothing to the one who rejects him. He does not say “I will bring you to paradise against your will.” God, who created us to be free, respects that freedom. If He gives us the freedom to reject Him but then forces us to be with him in heaven, he has not really given us freedom, has he? A king who forces people into his kingdom against their will is no longer a king, but a tyrant, a kidnapper, a slaver. God is no such thing. By sin, we are under the power of darkness and only by grace are we “transferred… to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” The ability to accept grace also means the ability to reject it, meaning it is not only possible, but in fact likely that people reject it forever. Indeed, for those who reject grace, being forced to stay near God’s glory in heaven would be even worse than hell.
Understanding and accepting this can be hard. If we approach this mystery with presumption, if we think we deserve heaven simply because we exist… we will think the Lord unjust. Such an error is evidence that we don’t understand sin. And we don’t understand sin because we don’t understand the glory of the King against whom we sin.
Your every heartbeat is a pure gift from God, whose Son is our King. The majesty of his splendor is shown in our undeserved and continued existence, in the undeserved offer of his mercy to reconcile us to himself, in the undeserved patience he shows us by extending the offer of that mercy up to the very moment of death. Do not insult that King by taking his goodness for granted. Do not insult him by denying the freedom he gives us or claiming him to be a tyrant. Honor your king by turning from sin. Honor him by accepting his mercy. Honor him by giving him what he wants most of all: to have you with him in paradise.
“We have been condemned justly.” I am not saying God’s condemnation is proof of his glory. I am saying that once we understand how glorious our king is, we will understand how grave sin is and therefore how just is our condemnation. And yet, all that is but a preparation, the precursor to seeing the even more luminous revelation of his kingship in this profound mystery: Despite all the justice of his condemnation, despite the infinite difference between God’s goodness and our sinfulness, despite owing us nothing… if we accept his justice we can, through baptism, confession, and all the sacraments, say to that king, “remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he will.