{"id":2713,"date":"2018-11-25T12:22:15","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T17:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2713"},"modified":"2018-11-25T12:22:15","modified_gmt":"2018-11-25T17:22:15","slug":"our-lord-jesus-christ-king-of-the-universe-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/our-lord-jesus-christ-king-of-the-universe-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year B<\/a>
\nDaniel 7:13-14
\nPsalm 93:1, 1-2, 5 (1a)
\nRevelation 1:5-8
\nJohn 18:33b-37
\nNovember 25, 2018<\/p>\n

Daniel prophesized that a Son of Man will come who will given \u201cdominion, glory, and kingship<\/em>\u201d and that it will be \u201can everlasting dominion\u2026his kingship shall not be destroyed<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

What king last forever?\u00a0 We all die, kings die, and earthly kingdoms do the same.\u00a0 Who is Daniel referring to?\u00a0 Here we look to the words from today\u2019s psalm, \u201cThe LORD is king.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n

Jesus comes as the Son of Man and he is put on trial.\u00a0 The accusation brought against him is that he is the King of the Jews.\u00a0 If he is the King of the Jews, the promised Messiah, how could he be arrested and crucified?\u00a0 This is not what the Jews expected.<\/p>\n

What is a king?\u00a0 How do we define kingdom today?<\/p>\n

In our country we do not use the title \u201cking.\u201d\u00a0 The founding of our country from the British kingdom happened in part because of a king overreaching his bounds.\u00a0 So, our country was founded as a country where the leaders are elected and do not serve for life.\u00a0 They can be ousted from office when they run for reelection.<\/p>\n

We call our leaders President, Congress, Governors, etc.\u00a0 No matter what we call them, they are our leaders.<\/p>\n

Whatever name we call them, what do we expect of our \u201cleaders?\u201d\u00a0 As elected leaders, I think the basic expectation is that they do what we want<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 For many, this really becomes what I<\/em><\/strong> want.<\/p>\n

Many elected leaders think they have all the answers and other elected representatives should just go along with them.\u00a0 Everything gets caught up in partisan politics and personal ideologies when government activity should be based on what is good for the people as a whole.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we see some of this in the church where leaders worry about the image of the church instead of focusing on God\u2019s children.\u00a0 We hear of the \u201cleft\u201d and \u201cright\u201d divisions in the church when it should always be about doing God\u2019s will.<\/p>\n

For centuries the Israelites did not have a king.\u00a0 God was their \u201cking.\u201d\u00a0 God knew that if they had earthly \u201ckings,\u201d those kings would fall short of doing God\u2019s will, instead choosing to do what brought them wealth and power.\u00a0 God warned the people of this but they begged for a king.<\/p>\n

Saul became the first king.\u00a0 He was not good.\u00a0 Then came King David.\u00a0 He was a good king in many ways but he was also a sinner.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Jesus comes as our king but his kingdom is not a kingdom in earthly terms.\u00a0 As Jesus told Pilate, \u201cMy kingdom does not belong to this world\u2026my kingdom is not here.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 kingdom is not defined by geographical boundaries.\u00a0 It is not based on how much material wealth he has.\u00a0 Jesus had no material wealth.\u00a0 It is not based on how much land he has.\u00a0 It is not based on how many troops he has.\u00a0 His kingdom is not a \u201cplace\u201d in this world.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 kingdom transcends all these things.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 throne is in the Kingdom of Heaven.\u00a0 It is \u201ca kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus came into our world to bring us truth, \u201cFor this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Do we listen to the truth that Jesus\u2019 brings or do we try to do everything our way?\u00a0 The latter is becoming the normal, especially for those who don\u2019t come to church but even for those who do.<\/p>\n

Is Jesus our king or are we own king?<\/p>\n

We call Jesus our king but do we live like he is the one in charge?\u00a0 In some countries today that still have a king or a queen, that person is more a figurehead than a real ruler.\u00a0 Is that what we want of Jesus?\u00a0 Somebody we put on a pedestal but don\u2019t really listen to?<\/p>\n

We are completely free to choose whatever we want in this world<\/em>.\u00a0 In the Lord\u2019s Prayer, we pray \u201cthy kingdom come\u201d but God does not force his kingdom on us.<\/p>\n

While we are free to choose whatever we want in this world<\/em>, we need to realize our actions in this world have consequences for eternity.\u00a0 Where do you want to spend eternity, Heaven or Hell?<\/p>\n

Heaven is God\u2019s Kingdom.\u00a0 It is his choice who he lets into Heaven.\u00a0 The good news is that he wants everyone to get into Heaven.\u00a0 Remember, \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why he sent Jesus \u201cto testify to the truth<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 If we truly want Jesus to be our king, we need to listen to what he has to say.\u00a0 Actually, listening is not enough.\u00a0 If we truly want Jesus to be our king, we need to live<\/em> according to his teaching which is the truth of God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year B Daniel 7:13-14 Psalm 93:1, 1-2, 5 (1a) Revelation 1:5-8 John 18:33b-37 November 25, 2018 Daniel prophesized that a Son of Man will come who will given \u201cdominion, glory, and kingship\u201d and that it will be \u201can everlasting dominion\u2026his kingship shall not be destroyed.\u201d What king …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[372,522,523],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-HL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2714,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2713\/revisions\/2714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}