Solemnity of Christ the King<\/p>\n\n\n\n
November 24, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke 23:35-43<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Often we take for granted the name Jesus Christ, without realizing the\nmeaning behind it. The word \u201cChrist\u201d is neither part of the personal name of\nJesus nor the family name of Jesus. Jesus earns the name Christ not because of\nHis foster father, Joseph, otherwise we also call him as Joseph Christ and his\nwife, Mary Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christ is coming from the Greek word \u201cChristos\u201d meaning \u201cthe anointed\none\u201d. In Hebrew, the title is even more pronounced, \u201cthe Messiah\u201d. For us, the\ntitle does not ring us a bell, but for the Jewish people living in the time of\nJesus, the Messiah is the fulfillment of God\u2019s promise. In the Old Testament,\nthe title Messiah was given to one of the greatest figures in Israel, King\nDavid. He was the Christ because he was anointed by Prophet Samuel, and he was\npersonally chosen by God Himself to rule Israel. During his reign, the kingdom\nof Israel reached the pick of glory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, after David\u2019s death, the kingdom was declining and\neventually destroyed. In the time of Jesus, almost one millennium after David,\nPalestine was under the Roman Empire, and lives were awful. No wonder, people\nwere expecting the coming of the Messiah, the new king, that would restore the\nglory of Israel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We believe that Jesus is Christ, meaning we believe that Jesus is the\nexpected a king that will fulfill God\u2019s promise. Yet, in today\u2019s Gospel, we\ndiscover that Jesus was crucified. He had no army, except disbanded and coward\ndisciples. He had not a palace except a small and poor house in Nazareth. He\nwas insulted, spat upon, and tortured. He bore the greatest human humiliation.\nEven the criminal who was punished together with Him, mocked Jesus as a good-for-nothing\nking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we focus only on this cross and humiliation, we shall fail to see\nJesus as king. For Jesus, being a king is not about gold, guns and glory. It is\nneither about force nor control. Jesus is not a war-freak Messiah. So, what\ndoes it mean to be a King for Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When one of the repented criminals asked Jesus to remember him\nwhen Jesus comes into His Kingdom, Jesus said that he would be in Paradise. The\nword Paradise is a Greek word for \u201cgarden\u201d, it originally refers to the garden\nof Eden. That is what Jesus does as a king: He brings men and women who\nacknowledge Him as a king to Paradise. And no other kings in the world possess\nsuch power to bring us to paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If then we confess that Jesus is the Christ, and now we understand that\nJesus is our King, do we honor Him as our King? If Jesus is our King, do we\nallow Jesus to control us or we control Jesus? If Jesus is our leader, do we\nalign our lives and priorities to His missions, or Jesus has to follow us? When\nour King summons us for a mission, do we gladly embrace it, or we rather choose\nto our own plans and design? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Solemnity of Christ the King
\nNovember 24, 2019
\nLuke 23:35-43<\/p>\n
Often we take for granted the name Jesus Christ, without realizing the meaning behind it. The word \u201cChrist\u201d is neither part of the personal name of Jesus nor the family name of Jesus. Jesus earns the name Christ not because of His foster father, Joseph, otherwise we also call him as Joseph Christ and his wife, Mary Christ. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,58],"class_list":["post-8999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-english","tag-sunday-reflection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9000,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8999\/revisions\/9000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}