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22 Nov 2015 - Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Cycle B

TODAY’S CELEBRATION HAS the grandest sounding title on the church calendar: Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe! With a lead-in like that, any secular holiday would include fireworks and speeches, parades and pageantry. There would be formal dinners in resplendent ballrooms. The occasion would cry for red-carpet couture, flashing jewels, and, oh yes, at least one golden crown! But Christ the King isn’t celebrated like that. Some years our gospel for this day centers our attention on the horror of the cross—about as far removed from a tickertape parade as the conscious mind can go. Other years we’re invited to consider the urgency of Judgment Day, when Christ the King doubles as Just and Final Judge of the Universe. This year, our focus is comparatively small and intimate. It involves a conversation between two men. If it weren’t for the stakes involved, if one man didn’t hold the authority to execute the other, this conversation might be mistaken for a casual political debate. As it is, for the duration of this exchange, all of heaven and earth might be holding its breath. Pontius Pilate isn’t a king. But he’s a governor and where he governs his power is nearly absolute. The backwater that is Palestine is not an enviable territory to rule over, but Caesar is behind him and the centurions under his control are weapons of mass destruction. When Pilate asks a question, the answer could be the death of a man, or a village. When the question is “Are you a king?” the answer had better be the right one. How can Jesus answer this question? It’s too small to admit the correct answer. The King of the Universe is technically, yes, the King of the Jews too. It’s like asking the president of the United States if he has the authority to order a pizza. Yes, and international military interventions as well. When a question is the wrong question, when it’s too small, it’s hard to tell the big truth that doesn’t fit inside its constraints. “My kingdom doesn’t belong to this world,” Jesus replies. Does Pilate even hear this? How can he? Too often we ask the wrong questions of God and of a truth that’s bigger than anything in our heads, more expansive than the capacity of our hearts. Can we hear the answers we receive, and do they sometimes sound like silence? Maybe the next time we charge into prayer with the narrow question—“God, why are you doing this?”—we might try a more expansive approach: “God, what are you doing? What’s going on?” We might even add, as Jesus does, the most significant response: “And what would you have me do?” Related scripture links God as king: Pss. 93, 95-99; Isa. 43:14-21; 52:7-10; Zeph. 3:14-15 Matthew’s kingdom sayings: Matt. 4:17; 5:20; 6:10, 33; 7:21; 22:9; 26:29; 28:18 Paul and kingdom: 1 Cor. 4:20; 6:9-10; 15:50; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5; Col. 1:13-14; 4:11; 1 Thess. 2:11-12; 2 Thess. 1:5

Authors Alice Camille

king king of the jews

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In other words

22 Nov 2015 - Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Cycle B

Pilate said, “Are you the ‘King of the Jews’?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you this about me?” Pilate said, “Do I look like a Jew? Your people and your high priests turned you over to me. What did you do?” “My kingdom,” said Jesus, “doesn’t consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But I’m not that kind of king, not the world’s kind of king.” Then Pilate said, “So, are you a king or not?” Jesus answered, “You tell me. Because I am King, I was born and entered the world so that I could witness to the truth. Everyone who cares for truth, who has any feeling for the truth, recognizes my voice” (from John 18). Taken from The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition by Eugene Peterson (ACTA Publications, 2014); actapublications.com; 800-397-228

king king of the jews

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Exploring the word

25 Nov 2012 - Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Cycle B

“I’m the procurator over Judea. I am a friend of Caesar. I am the arm of Rome, the mightiest empire of the known world. If someone is brought to my attention, they had better be worth my time.” So thinks Pilate, as this Jesus is dragged before him. And truthfully Jesus could not have looked like much to warrant Pilate’s judgment during the usual frenzied season of Jewish religious feasting. The streets are swelling with strangers and the potential for riot ever threatening. If Jesus is the best the Jews can offer, Pilate isn’t too worried about Passover this year. Jesus doesn’t dress for success in rich robes or with military armor. His bearing may be regal, but it’s humility, not swagger that Pilate observes. He doesn’t look like a man prepared to take over the world.“ Are you a king?” he asks Jesus. “If so, what kind? If not, what have you done to attract such concern?” Jesus is not evasive. He simply answers with a truth that is greater than the poverty of the questions put to him. Yes, he has come to rule. No, he hasn’t come for territory of the usual order. His domain is truth. Jesus comes to speak truth and to provide the way to it. He is not an imminent threat to Pilate or to Rome, but he does shake the foundation of the whole world by challenging reality as we know it and business as usual. Pilate determines that Jesus has committed no crime, technically. Truth-telling is not normally a capital offense—though John the Baptist lost his head for telling it about the wrong person in public too many times. Pilate would like to keep the Passover quiet, and crucifixions are rarely quiet. The bottom line for the procurator of Judea is expediency. What a coincidence: It’s the same thing that the high priest Caiaphas has on his mind: “It is better for one man to die to save a nation.” Expediency has been the death of more people than we can count. It is easier to clobber my opponent than to talk him into a compromise. It is faster to level a whole village than to surgically remove a problematic knot of combatants. It’s simpler to offer a woman an abortion than to provide long-term care for her child. It’s less expensive to let homeless people die on the streets than to amass the will and resources to treat mental illness, addiction, domestic violence, and joblessness. One of the cruelest and most effective weapons in the world is mere expedience in the hands of the powerful. It solves problems, successfully concludes the workday, and we can all go home. But first we must wash our hands. Related scripture links God as king: Pss. 93, 95-99; Isa. 43:14-21; 52:7-10; Zeph. 3:14-15 Matthew’s kingdom sayings: Matt. 4:17; 5:20; 6:10, 33; 7:21; 22:9; 26:29; 28:18 Paul and kingdom: 1 Cor. 4:20; 6:9-10; 15:50; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5; Col. 1:13-14; 4:11; 1 Thess. 2:11-12; 2 Thess. 1:5 Catechism links Kingdom: CCC 541-560 Pilate: CCC 596-600

Authors Alice Camille

king of the jews Pilate expendiency

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Exploring the word

29 Jul 2012 - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

They were going to carry him off and make him king; Jesus came that close to being King of the Jews the day he fed the crowds. But what good would that do? Israel had had many kings. Kings never brought Israel together, and kings never proved to be the messiahs they were anointed to be. Kings built cities and temples, levied taxes, raised armies, fought battles, occasionally governed, and spawned sons to succeed them.Kings also betrayed their people, made foolish coalitions, arranged political marriages to cement their alliances, permitted shrines to accommodate their foreign wives’ religions, and drove the nation into the arms of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Fat lot of good a king ever did for Israel! So when Jesus senses the crowds prepared to name him a rival to Herod for showing there really is a free lunch, he slips away. He’ll wear a crown one day—made of thorns. They’ll proclaim him king one day—when he’s sentenced to execution. Till then, he’ll shrug off worldly honors. “The Prophet who is to come into the world” has no need of other titles. The miracle of multiplication occurs as “the Jewish feast of Passover was near.” John’s gospel notes each calendar feast deliberately. The synoptic gospels, of course, present Jesus’ ministry as the journey of a single year. Jesus celebrates one Passover “on the night before he suffered.” In John’s story there are three Passovers: at the Temple cleansing in chapter 2; the multiplication event told today; and Good Friday (not Thursday, as in the synoptic gospels), lengthening the mission to as many as three years. What is the point of relating these events to Passover? It’s the feast of liberation. It identifies Israel as the people whom God saves. The sign-value of the third Johannine Passover is the most obvious: By aligning the feast with Good Friday, the gospel presents Jesus as the Lamb whose body and blood liberates the world. In the first Johannine Passover Jesus takes the Temple area. In a year that has seen many “occupations” of public spaces, we may appreciate how this occupation by Jesus might have affected those who normally held that territory. By doing so Jesus claims ultimate religious authority. He also “liberates” the holy place and returns it to the people as a house of prayer. Today’s reading references Passover again. Here Jesus sustains the multitude. That’s the king’s job, to provide for his people. Jesus also liberates them from the economy of Rome. No wonder they want to make him king! But Jesus has no need for temples or thrones. He is himself the Lamb, the Temple, and the Bread. He does not seek to claim supplicants but to liberate friends. This authority is much too big for any earthly office. Related Scripture links God’s generosity at work: Gen. 33:11; Num. 10:29; Sir. 35:7-14; Luke 6:38 The evils of gluttony and excess: Sir. 31:12-20; 37:26-30; Amos 4:1-3; 6:1-7 Lilies of the field: Matt. 6:25-34; Luke 12:22-34 Faith is sufficient: Matt. 17:19-20; Mark 5:34, 36; 6:8; 11:22-24; Luke 11:9-13; John 14:12-14; 20:27-29; 2 Cor. 5:7; Gal. 5:6; Heb. 11:1 Catechism links One God of all: CCC 74; 172; 1971; 2792 Multiplication of loaves: CCC 1335

Authors Alice Camille

king of the jews lamb Passover Bread

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Let the healing begin

08 Feb 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

We hear in this Sunday's psalm that "the Lord rebuilds Jerusalem." In an effort to rebuild relations with the Jewish community that were damaged last week, the Vatican on Wednesday issued a statement demanding that a prelate who denied the Holocaust recant his positions before being fully admitted as a bishop into the Roman Catholic Church. The statement also said Pope Benedict XVI had not known about Bishop Richard Williamson's views when he agreed to lift his excommunication and that of three other traditionalist bishops. The Vatican's Secretariat of State issued the statement a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in an unprecedented move, strongly urged the German-born pope to make a clearer rejection of Holocaust denials, saying there had not been adequate clarification from the Catholic Church. The Holy See on January 24 announced the rehabilitation of four bishops excommunicated in 1988 after being consecrated without papal consent [see the February 1 issue of this Preaching in Light of the News]. The bishops had been consecrated by the late traditionalist Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who in 1969 founded the Society of St. Pius X opposed to the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including its outreach to Jews. Just days before his excommunication was lifted, Williamson was shown on Swedish state television saying historical evidence "is hugely against 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed" during World War II. Williamson has since apologized to the pope for having stirred controversy, but he did not repudiate his comments, in which he also said only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews were killed during World War II and none were gassed. Though the Vatican quickly said it did not share Williamson's views when the controversy erupted, Jewish groups voiced outrage at his rehabilitation and demanded stronger action be taken in order to restore relations. "This was the sign the Jewish world has been waiting for," said Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, after Wednesday's Vatican statement. Earlier, Cardinal Walter Kasper, in charge of ecumenical relations for the Holy See, admitted different parts of the Vatican administration had not talked to each other enough and failed to check for potential problems. Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, thanked Merkel for her "righteous comments" and said the process to heal the "deep wound that this crisis caused to the Catholic-Jewish dialogue" could now begin. Source: Articles by BBC News and Nicole Winfield for the Associated Press.

elan steinberg world jewish congress ronald lauder vatican holy see walter kasper jews society of st pius x angela merkel holocaust denial benedict xvi richard williamson holocaust american gathering of holocaust survivors and

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Wailing at Western Wall prayers

08 Mar 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"If God is for us, who can be against?" asks Saint Paul in the Letter to the Romans. While International Women's Day this Sunday is designed to acknowledge and celebrate women's achievements and contributions in all sectors of society, the presence of about 70 Jewish women praying aloud at Jerusalem's Western Wall area was not a cause for celebration among some Orthodox Jews. Reform Jewish women rabbis from North America sparked controversy by praying at the Western Wall last Wednesday, defying Orthodox Jewish customs by praying and singing aloud while wearing prayer shawls and skull caps at the holy site. The women, in Israel for a gathering of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, arrived at the Western Wall at about 7 a.m. on February 25 along with members of the Women of the Wall organization, which regularly organizes prayers at the site for ultra-Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative women. "There were about 70 of us praying when someone from the men's section started shouting that 'a woman's voice is lewd' and that our singing was offensive," said Anat Hoffman, an activist for Reform Judaism in Israel who attended the prayer. "I was ashamed in front of the guests from America." Jackie Ellenson, one of the visitors who attended the prayer, said that several ultra-Orthodox women then approached and demanded that the Reform prayers remain quiet and that the women rabbis take off their shawls and skull caps. In explaining the prayer, Ellenson--the wife of Hebrew Union College President David Ellenson--noted that the Wall is sacred to all Jews. "The ultra-Orthodox movement does not own the Wall," she said. "All Jews own it." Source: Articles by Ecumenical News International and Cnaan Liphshiz for Haaretz.com

western wall women rabbis reformed jews orthodox jews jerusalem international womens day wailing wall

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Wailing at Western Wall prayers

08 Mar 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"If God is for us, who can be against?" asks Saint Paul in the Letter to the Romans. While International Women's Day this Sunday is designed to acknowledge and celebrate women's achievements and contributions in all sectors of society, the presence of about 70 Jewish women praying aloud at Jerusalem's Western Wall area was not a cause for celebration among some Orthodox Jews. Reform Jewish women rabbis from North America sparked controversy by praying at the Western Wall last Wednesday, defying Orthodox Jewish customs by praying and singing aloud while wearing prayer shawls and skull caps at the holy site. The women, in Israel for a gathering of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, arrived at the Western Wall at about 7 a.m. on February 25 along with members of the Women of the Wall organization, which regularly organizes prayers at the site for ultra-Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative women. "There were about 70 of us praying when someone from the men's section started shouting that 'a woman's voice is lewd' and that our singing was offensive," said Anat Hoffman, an activist for Reform Judaism in Israel who attended the prayer. "I was ashamed in front of the guests from America." Jackie Ellenson, one of the visitors who attended the prayer, said that several ultra-Orthodox women then approached and demanded that the Reform prayers remain quiet and that the women rabbis take off their shawls and skull caps. In explaining the prayer, Ellenson--the wife of Hebrew Union College President David Ellenson--noted that the Wall is sacred to all Jews. "The ultra-Orthodox movement does not own the Wall," she said. "All Jews own it." Source: Articles by Ecumenical News International and Cnaan Liphshiz for Haaretz.com

western wall women rabbis reformed jews orthodox jews jerusalem international womens day wailing wall

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Body scanners scandalize some believers

14 Mar 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday's psalm suggests we look upon the Lord so "that you may be radiant with joy and your faces may not blush for shame." Followers of Islamic law and Orthodox Jews are among those in the traveling public who not only blush at the thought of having to pass through a full-body scanner at the airport but believe the machines violate religious norms. The scanners can detect items such as guns or explosives hidden under clothing. The images are grainy outlines of the human body, but also clearly show the outlines of breasts, buttocks, and sexual organs. Concerns about the images produced by the scanners prompted the 18-member Fiqh Council of North America to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, that said the scanners violate Islamic law. Muslims, the fatwa said, should instead request a pat-down. "It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women. Islam highly emphasizes 'haya' (modesty) and considers it part of faith," the edict said. Agudath Israel, an Orthodox Jewish umbrella group, has told lawmakers that scanners should only be used on passengers who had failed metal detectors. In a letter to Congress the group called full-body imaging "offensive, demeaning, and far short of acceptable norms of modesty" within Judaism and other faiths. Source: An article by Omar Sacirbey for Religion News Service

Muslims orthodox jews islamic law body scanners airport security fiqh council of north america fatwa agudath israel modesty

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Et tu, Franco?

27 Jun 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the Letter to the Galatians this Sunday reminds us that the law is fulfilled in the directive to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Spanish dictator general Francisco Franco apparently saw things differently. Contrary to reports that he sheltered Jews from the Nazis, recently uncovered archives show he ordered the creation of a list of some 6,000 Jews living in Spain for the Nazis. The list was turned over to German S.S. leader Henrich Himmler as the two countries negotiated Spain’s possible incorporation into the group of Axis powers that included Italy, according to an investigation by the Spanish newspaper El País. The newspaper printed the original order, recently unearthed from Spanish archives, that instructed provincial governors to draw up lists of “all the national and foreign Jews living in the province . . . showing their personal and political leanings, means of living, commercial activities, degree of danger, and security category.” Provincial governors were ordered to look out especially for Sephardic Jews, descendants of those expelled from Spain in 1492, because their Ladino language and Hispanic background helped them fit into Spanish society. “Their adaptation to our environment and their similar temperament allow them to hide their origins more easily,” said the order, sent out in May, 1941. Spaniards have long argued over Franco’s attitude toward Jews, which appeared to vary according to what was most useful to his foreign policy. With Hitler and Benito Mussolini defeated and the allies under pressure to oust Franco, his regime tried to cover the tracks of its collaboration with Hitler and rewrite the history of its policy towards Jews, says the newspaper. Most of the Jewish register was destroyed. Copies of some parts of it, however, remained in the provincial governors’ offices and these have since been found in archives. Source: An article by Giles Tremlett for Guardian.co.uk

holocaust jews spain francisco franco

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Bishop has some choice words for Israel

31 Oct 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday promises to bless God’s name forever and ever, and Jesus points out in this Sunday’s gospel that despite his less than reputable profession, Zacchaeus, too, is a “descendent of Abraham.” Whether God still considers descendents of Abraham to be the "chosen people,” however, has been called into question by a U.S. bishop in controversial remarks. Presenting the final document of a month-long Vatican synod of Middle Eastern bishops, Greek-Melkite Bishop Cyrille Salim Bustros of Newton, Mass. rejected the idea of a biblical rationale for Israel as a Jewish state, sparking immediate criticism from Jewish spokespersons. Speaking at a news conference last Saturday, Bustros said that for Christians, “The concept of the promised land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians.” The advent of Jesus, he said, meant that Jews “are no longer the preferred people, the chosen people; all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.” Bustros added that “sacred scripture should not be used to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestine.” Bustros’ remarks sparked condemnation from Israel and Jewish organizations. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) protested what it called “shocking and outrageous” comments. “By stating that God’s covenantal promise of land to the Jewish people ‘was nullified by Christ’ and that ‘there is no longer a chosen people,’ Archbishop Bustros is effectively stating that Judaism should no longer exist,” ADL National Director Abe Foxman wrote in a letter to the new Vatican official in charge of Catholic-Jewish relations, Cardinal-elect Kurt Koch. “This represents the worst kind of anti-Judaism, bordering on anti-Semitism.” The Vatican’s chief spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, responded to the criticism by distancing the synod from Bustros’ remarks. He said Monday that personal comments by individual synod participants “should not be considered as the voice of the synod in its entirety.” The final document, or “Message,” was the only text that expressed the approval of the full synod, Lombardi said. The Message mainly dealt with the plight of Christians in the Middle East, but it devoted a section to Israel and Jews. Calling for a furthering of Jewish-Catholic dialogue, it condemned anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism, noted “the suffering and insecurity in which Israelis live,” and affirmed Israel’s right to live at peace within its “internationally recognized borders.” But it also noted “the impact of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the whole region, especially on the Palestinians who are suffering the consequences of the Israeli occupation. It went on to say that “. . . we see that a just and lasting peace is the only salvation for everyone and for the good of the region and its peoples.” Source: An article by JTA.org

israel chosen people cyrille salim bustros promised land anti-defamation league abe foxman christians middle east federico lombardi jews palestinians synod of bishops

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