This solemnity once was simply known as the Solemnity of Christ the King. It seems in more recent times to take on the longer title … bringing to my mind that Jesus Christ is now a member of the Marvel Universe of super heroes. However, before we begin to envision Jesus Christ as a Marvel super hero, heavily muscular, dressed in bright colored leotards with a big JC emblazoned on his chest, we need to unpack all the images, religious and those influenced by social media of Jesus the Christ. My approach to this is from the alternative theological orthodoxy of St. Francis of Assisi.
Liturgically, this solemnity marks the end of the Catholic liturgical year, and the beginning of the new liturgical year next weekend as we celebrate the First Sunday of Advent. That being said, what does it mean to entitle Jesus Christ as Lord and King of the Universe?
Viewing this feast through the eyes and the mind of Francis of Assisi, gives us a wonderful insight into the feast.
The Alternative Orthodoxy of Francis of Assisi
The theology of Francis of Assisi saw the incarnation of Jesus not as one that was redemptive. Jesus did not come to atone for sin. God did not need a blood sacrifice in order to love what God created. The purpose of Jesus was to reveal that God loves us inherently for who we are. There is no exclusion in the theology of Francis of Assisi, but rather inclusion. Jesus was born among the poor in a stable, and that that alone revealed to humanity that we were already redeemed. The inclusivity of Jesus is revealed in that he lived among those despised, those most hated, and served them, teaching them that God loved them regardless of their imperfections. The most revealing sign of the inclusiveness of God’s love is Jesus’ solidarity with all of humanity, even being executed alongside criminals.
The First Incarnation of the Christ
In the theology of Francis of Assisi, and the Franciscan theologians, Bonaventure and Duns Scotus, the first incarnation did not occur at the birth of Jesus, but rather at the very beginning of the universe, created over 5 billion years ago. This is supported in the Prologue of John’s Gospel (the Gospel of the Day on Christmas and regretfully, rarely if ever proclaimed at Christmas), in which it was through the Logos or Word of God (think Jesus) that all life began, God’s breath (think Ruach, the female tense of God’s Spirit) breathing life into that which was created. Essentially from that very moment, the DNA of Christ, God the Word, was imprinted in ALL which was created, both animate and inanimate. In other words, all created things, be it a rock, vegetable, animal, and human, bear the living image of God. Period! This theology explains the behavior of Francis of Assisi who addressed all of Creation as Brother or Sister (see The Canticle of the Creatures, or Canticle of the Sun), and could be found removing earth worms from the path of horses’ hooves on the highways and byways of Assisi. It also explains why Franciscans are and must be people of non-violence and environmentalists. Quite simply how can we kill life, whether it be human, animal, or environment, if we see the face of God imprinted upon it all?
This also reveals, in the words of Fr Richard Rohr, Franciscan and theologian, that God is very comfortable with multiplicity and pluralformity. For within all of Creation, each different manifestation shows us the eternal inclusiveness of God. In other words, God is all about harmony of all of the parts and things of Creation.
The Second Incarnation of the Christ
In Franciscan theology, the second incarnation of the Christ was at the birth of Jesus. As was stated above, in the union of God with humanity at the birth of Jesus, God showed all of humanity God’s human face.
In this time of extreme tribalism, in which humanity is broken into extreme factions, evident in our courtrooms, evident in our politics, evident in the violence in our neighborhoods and cities, the wars between nations, the misogyny, the racism, and in the religious intolerance of humanity.
The second incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth illustrates God’s harmony with all of humanity. Jesus the Christ is the living sign of God’s harmony with all of life, as opposed to the polarization that humanity likes to heap upon our understanding of God and life. Building upon the harmony of God in all of Creation’s various parts, can only one religious understanding of God state that it and it alone holds the full and complete knowledge of God? The Psalmist would say no. The apostle Paul would say absolutely not! For who knows the mind of God? This question reaches an emphatic answer, “None of us.” Neither Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Shintoism, Buddhism, or any other religion in the world can contain the full and complete understanding of God. Rather, as in nature, God is revealed a little in each of these religious understandings. I think it rather telling that the Great Commandment of Jesus is present in various different forms in all of the world’s major religions. This illustrated vividly for me the truthfulness in the statement that within all these different religions exists the harmony of God.
So as we close out this liturgical year, how do we go about evaluating how well we have lived the life God has given us this year? In what way, has the harmony implicit in God and manifested in Jesus the Christ, been lived out in our lives?
As I look over my own life, I continue to find brokenness in my life. With the violence and disharmony, the selfishness and self-centeredness present in all areas of human life, I find myself getting caught up in all that disharmony. In other words, I could have done better.
Action Steps
What are some action steps I can take in order to make my life more cosmic (cosmos means harmony), more harmonious with all of life?
The First Step
The first is simply healing the brokenness that continues to exist within my own life. Just as the world is broken into factions, so within all of human life, mine included, exists broken factions, disharmony. In my prayer, I am calling upon God to not take away my broken, sinful nature, for as St Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians, it is in my sin (the metaphor Paul uses is “the thorn in my side”), my brokenness that the power of God is revealed. Rather, I am seeing my brokenness and sinfulness as a blessing from God, for my sinfulness is revealing to me that I am powerless in healing myself, and am totally reliant upon God to heal my brokenness.
The theology of Francis of Assisi recognizes that we not strive to be perfect, for perfection is something that applies only to God. Rather, we strive for poverty, recognizing within ourselves our powerlessness, and our imperfections. When we can own our vulnerability and our imperfections, then we are in solidarity with the vulnerability and imperfections of all people. Jesus never expressed anger at sinners. Rather, the only people Jesus confronted were those who thought they were perfect and would not acknowledge their own vulnerability and powerlessness over the sin in their lives. When we all can acknowledge our vulnerability and powerlessness, we can also know that we are beloved children of God, that God loves us, cares for us and believes in us, in spite of our imperfections.
The Second Step
The second action step is to continue to pray for not only those with whom I am in solidarity, but to pray for those who are diametrically opposed to me. The prayer is not for God to throw lightning bolts at those with whom I vehemently at odds (unlike the psalmist who asks God to bash the heads of his enemies on the rocks). Rather, I pray that God’s self may grow within them, that their understanding of God may grow and that they begin to choose paths of harmony.
Third Action Step
The third action step is to begin to live that second action step. In other words, to emulate the harmony and love of God toward those with whom I find myself opposed. However, I have tried to be more inclusive in my prayer life. Included in my daily prayer are intercessions for not only those who think like me, but also for the welfare for those diametrically opposed to what I think is important. What I need to do is emulate more in my life is acting upon that for which I have been praying.
Fourth Action Step and Third Incarnation of Christ
The fourth action step requires an understanding that what the Christian community calls the “second coming of Christ” has already occurred at Pentecost, when, through the power of the Spirit of God, the breath of God, the fullness of Jesus the Christ was passed on to the apostles and to those whom the apostles baptized. As the apostle Paul tells us in Romans, we have been baptized into the death AND into the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We, who are baptized, ARE the third incarnation of Jesus. This is why when the apostle Paul uses the word, “Christ”, he is referring to the full presence of Jesus the Christ within the Christian community. Our work is the same as that of Jesus, in his second incarnation, namely, to reveal the real presence of God in our world.
I think we mistakenly think that our mission as a Christian community is to “build up the Reign of God” in our world, as if God’s Reign is completely absent in the world without us working to build it here. On the contrary, the Reign of God in our world was already present at the moment of Creation. Our purpose, our mission in life is to reveal to all that Reign of God is already fully present here in our world.
So my fourth action step is to peel back, so to speak, all that covers the real presence of God’s Reign for all to see. As the apostle Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians, as we get closer to death, we begin to see that which is truly real, that which has existed from the beginning of time. All that we see, all that we experience in life is transitory, a smokescreen that has masked the reality of God’s Reign.
This will require me to first peel away in my own life, that which masks the Reign of God present in me. As little by little, I peel away the masks I have created for myself in order to fool myself and others to think I am someone different from who I am really, I reveal in each unveiling the Reign of God within me. In the disrobing of false identity and the false selves I have constructed, I rid myself of the disharmony in my life and find harmony. As I work toward harmony in my life I must also simultaneously work toward harmony in the world around me. In my working for harmony instead of disharmony, in my working for God’s justice and peace in our world, in my prayers, in what I say, and in what I do, I, in solidarity with others, will reveal the Reign of God that is around us and within us.
Fifth Action Step
My fifth and final action step is to accept that in all the previous four action steps, I will do this imperfectly.
All this steps are expressed wonderfully in this poem by Francis of Assisi
Dear God, please reveal to us
your sublime
beauty
that is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere,
so that we will never again
feel frightened.
My divine love, my love,
please let us touch
your face.*
I believe that is our doing of all these steps, we will fully acknowledge the reality of God Reign in our lives and that Jesus the Christ is really the Lord and King of the Universe.
*St. Francis of Assisi, translated by Daniel Ladinsky, Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Volumes from the East and West, copyright © Daniel Ladinsky 2002, Penguin Compass. Used with permission.
