God has made the world firm, not to be moved, we ourselves proclaim with the psalmist. I am the Alpha and the Omega, God proclaims in the Book of Revelations. And so Jesus goes willingly to his death, trusting that God saves. By his own blood he testifies, that God’s dominion extends over life and death itself and knows no contradiction. Whereas Jesus stands before Pilate, strong in the everlasting truth of the reign of God, the truth for which he came into the world. Find out more by contacting Elaine Kern at 80please leave a number and message. The day begins at 9:30am with an Arts and Crafts Show in the Nazareth School Band Hall, south of the Community Hall, which runs until 2:30pm. And so he realizes the truth: the power that oppresses depends on lies. For the 50th time, a German Sausage Festival will take place in Nazareth, with a full day of activities. “You are a liar,” Raúl Juliá’s Romero says to the dictator’s face. There’s a scene in the movie Romero that captures the moment of his discovery. It’s the kind of strength the poor know in their extremity, and that Saint Oscar Romero discovered when he fell in love with them and the gospel. For there is different kind of strength to save here. For that very reason, we can and must celebrate it, to nourish our hope and resistance. The Solemnity of Christ the King confronts us with that temptation toward worldly strength and power and glory. When Christians marched under the banners of the Crusades, they marched under a false flag when the Inquisition bled its opponents with the blade, it sought truth with lies and today, in this age of anxiety, do we not face the temptation to hitch ourselves to a leader, any leader, who has the seeming strength to save us? Or to any power, or any technology, or any means whatsoever, no matter the ultimate cost-so long as it seemingly helps us through the terrible now? We would do well to heed Jesus’s admonishment ourselves, for too many times in Christian history we’ve made Pilate’s mistake. The church’s choice of this gospel passage for the Solemnity of Christ the King invites us to solemn reflection. As Jesus stands before Pilate, he stands ready to shed his own blood for a different kind of reign. The kind of king whose reign begins and ends steeped in others’ blood. “ You say I am a king.” So Jesus admonishes Pilate, with this half-affirmation at best, because he knows what kind of king Pilate has in mind: the beastly kind, the prophet Daniel’s tyrant of ten horns, who rules by the lie that might makes right. “ You say I am a king.” So Jesus responds to Pilate, when Pilate presses him on his kingship.
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