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Accepting the King

  • gospelthoughts
  • Nov 15, 2016
  • 6 min read

Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Jer 29:11, 12, 14 The Lord said: I think thoughts of peace and not of affliction. You will call upon me, and I will answer you, and I will lead back your captives from every place.

Collect Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God, the constant gladness of being devoted to you, for it is full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Apocalypse 4:1-11; Psalm 150; Luke 19:11-28

While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. He said: A man of noble birth went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. 'Put this money to work,' he said, 'until I come back.' But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king.' He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it. The first one came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned ten more.' 'Well done, my good servant!' his master replied. 'Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.' The second came and said, 'Sir, your mina has earned five more.' His master answered, 'You take charge of five cities.' Then another servant came and said, 'Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.' His master replied, 'I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?' Then he said to those standing by, 'Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.' 'Sir,' they said, 'he already has ten!' He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be a king over them— bring them here and kill them in front of me.' After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. (Luke 19:11-28)

Accepting the King The procedure of a prominent man being granted a kingship was well known in the ancient world. A case in point was Herod the Great, who died during Christ’s infancy — after attempting to eliminate Jesus after his birth in Bethlehem. Herod, born around 74 BC, was the second son of Antipater the Idumaean. Antipater appointed his son Herod as governor of Galilee at 25. He enjoyed the backing of Rome. To cut a long and turgid story short, after Mark Antony marched into Asia, Herod was named tetrarch of Galilee by the Romans, but was subsequently overthrown by Antigonus who had the help of the Parthians. With that, Herod fled to Rome and won from the Roman Senate the recognition and title of King of the Jews. He then returned and, with the help of Rome, eventually captured Jerusalem and then by Mark Antony’s authority put Antigonus to death. With this he took command of Israel with the title of Basileus (king) in about 36 or 37 BC, ruling for decades and dying in 4 BC. He had effectively received his kingship from Rome, and always depended on that recognition. So too his son Herod Archelaus, who was made ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Edom from 4 BCE to 6 CE. However, he was judged incompetent by the Emperor Augustus who then made Herod's other son Herod Antipas ruler of Galilee from 6 CE — 39 CE. Herod Antipas was the ruler of Galilee during Christ’s youth and manhood, and Christ was sent to him by Pilate at the commencement of his Passion. Antipas was an appointment of Rome. The Jews of our Lord’s time, the time of the Roman Empire, were very familiar with the image of a man of high standing going to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then returning. Herod the Great had returned with his kingship from Rome, and had put to death Antigonus his enemy. Well then, in our Gospel today our Lord uses this familiar scenario to respond to an expectation. We read that “he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once.” Now, let us notice an important feature of the Kingdom of God — the attitude we have to the King.

It cannot but be noticed how often divine judgment and retribution appears in the parables and teachings of our Lord. Perhaps the most picturesque description of the Last Judgment is that given in Matthew 25, where the angels assemble the nations before Christ who is the Judge of all. The sheep are separated from the goats, and the decisive issue will be how each treated his neighbour. Those who treated their neighbour well will be received into the Kingdom. Those who did not, will be cast into the everlasting fire. Now, there are those who have said that all that will count is how we treat our neighbour. But let us notice how our Lord casts the words of the Judge: “I was hungry and you never gave me to eat.” It is Christ whom we serve in serving our poor neighbour, and doubtless God wishes us to bear this in mind in a life of service. The greatest servants of the poor among Christ’s faithful do bear this in mind constantly. St Vincent de Paul and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta had it before them all day every day. The Christian is called to love and serve Christ his King and to do so constantly. It is Christ whom he loves when he loves the poor. In our Gospel today, let us notice what the judgment of the new king’s servants and subjects turns on. It turns on their service and acceptance of him. He returns, now the king. He summons his servants and examines their service of him. Those who served him well, received a commensurate reward. The one who served him poorly, lost everything. “‘Why then didn't you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’ Then he said to those standing by, 'Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.'” Then he turned from his servants to his subjects: “But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be a king over them— bring them here and kill them in front of me” (Luke 19:11-28). The Judgment turned on the faithful service or otherwise of his “servants,” and on the full acceptance of him as king by his “subjects.”

When Christ uttered this parable, he was about to embark on his journey to his heavenly Father. The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ was nigh. He would leave for the distant land of heaven. Then he would come back, and when he did, he explained to his disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him. They were to go, then, and make disciples of all the nations. They were to baptize and to teach all that he had commanded them. History, then, revolves around Jesus Christ and his recognition as Lord of lords and King of kings. Let us resolve to follow him as the Master and Lord of our life, leaving behind all other masters who do not follow in his footsteps.

(E.J.Tyler)


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