Jesus Christ, the Divine King

Gospel Reflection for November 24, 2024, the Solemnity of Christ the King - John 18:33-37

Pilate therefore went into the hall again, and called Jesus, and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews?

Jesus answered: Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of me?

Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Thy own nation, and the chief priests, have delivered thee up to me: what hast thou done?

Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence.

Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth, heareth my voice. (John 18:33-37 DRA)

Today is the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. The readings chosen for this great feast day, in the Novus Ordo lectionary, are intriguing. Though each of them highlights the theme of kingship, the readings from Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (as Revelation was called by all Christians prior to the Reformation, and by Catholics until recent times) share a specific image which reveals the most distinctive element of Christ’s royalty: the “clouds of heaven.” The Gospel chosen for today follows on the general theme of the solemnity, but another reading also could have been used to carry this theme of the “clouds of heaven” into Christ’s own words:

Again the high priest asked him, and said to him: Art thou the Christ the Son of the blessed God? And Jesus said to him: I am. And you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven. (Mark 14:61-62)

Our Lord, answering to the authoritative request of the high priest, directly quoted from Daniel, applying the prophet’s words to Himself. He also used the divine name – I AM – causing the high priest to respond by “rending his garments” and accusing Christ of blasphemy, showing that, for him as for other ancient Jews, Christ’s self-identification as the one true God was crystal clear. (Mark 14:63; cf. John 18:6) It is also revealing that, for his Jewish audience (unlike St. Mark’s, which would have been primarily Gentile Romans), St. Matthew’s parallel refrains from using the divine name, giving instead Christ’s customary response, “Thou hast said it.” (Matthew 26:64)

But why are “the clouds of heaven” used as a sign of Christ’s divinity? This question points back to the first revelation of God in the glory-cloud – the Shekinah – to Moses during the Exodus, when God appeared in a pillar of cloud following the Israelites in the wilderness and covering the Tabernacle which contained the Ark of the Covenant and the Bread of the Presence. From this point on, the Shekinah became associated with the “bright darkness” of God’s glory, the divine presence which can be seen but not beheld, known but not comprehended in this life.

Christ’s words to the high priest not only point forward to the final eschatology of the End Times, when Christ will return “in the clouds of heaven” and His divinity will be evident to all – they also point back in time from this moment to the Transfiguration, when “a bright cloud overshadowed” Christ with Sts. Peter, James and John on Mt. Tabor. Peter, connecting this cloud to the Shekinah of the first Exodus, thus suggested to build “tabernacles” for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He understood, though imperfectly, that the cloud was a sign of the presence of God, revealed here in the new tabernacle of Christ Himself, the incarnate Son of God. (Matthew 17:4-5) For Peter, this return of the glory-cloud was a sign of the new Exodus which the Messiah was expected to lead – hence why St. Luke, in his version of the Transfiguration account, described Christ as appearing “in majesty” and discussing His “decease (Gk. exodus) that he should accomplish in Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:31)

But there is also another time, one less well-known, when “the clouds of heaven” appeared in Christ’s life: at His Ascension. After the resurrected Christ promised to send the apostles the Holy Ghost and prophesied the evangelization of the world, “while they looked on, he was raised up: and a cloud received him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:9) This event, marking Christ’s entrance into the power and majesty at the right hand of the Ancient One which Daniel foresaw, was the final sign before the Second Coming of Christ’s divine identity. He is not merely the Messiah, even the spiritual (not military) Savior which most Jews hoped for, but the divine Messiah, Immanuel (God-with-us). (Matthew 1:23)

What does this tell us about Christ’s Kingdom, which as He told Pilate is “not of this world”? Does this mean that Christ’s Kingdom is purely spiritual and invisible, belonging only in Heaven and not revealed until He returns? This is certainly one aspect of His Kingdom, one which can be equated to God’s presence and to the place where His will is done, as we pray in the Our Father. But His Kingdom also has a visible expression: the Catholic Church. For this reason, St. Paul used the architectural imagery of the Temple to represent the Church:

[Y]ou are fellow citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God, Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone: In whom all the building, being framed together, groweth up into an holy temple in the Lord. In whom you also are built together into an habitation of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)

The Church is thus hierarchical, grounded in Christ and the apostles and prophets, a continuation and fulfillment of the Church of the Jews in the Old Covenant. Christ, as the Son of David, truly built a Kingdom – not simply an invisible communion of believers but a visible, structural dominion on Earth, one whose authority succeeds from that given by Christ to the apostles and from them to the bishops and which is ruled not by earthly power but by humility, charity and truth, enlivened not by material wealth but by the treasure of grace and the power of the Holy Ghost. In this way, the Church is indeed the Kingdom of God on Earth, and, despite the faults of her members, will remain the inviolate Body of Christ forever, extending His reign throughout the world and even to those who, like Pilate, were ignorant of God and corrupted by sin yet still acknowledged His divine kingship.

As Christians, we are called to be ambassadors of our King, heralding His return and fighting as knights of the Cross “against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” (Ephesians 6:12) We must therefore strive not only for a new Christendom, when governments rightly acknowledge and submit to the supreme authority of the Church, but for the conversion of ourselves and the whole world to Christ, in obedience to St. Peter’s command to “enthrone Christ as Lord in your hearts.” (1 Peter 3:15 Knox Translation)