Catechism Links
CCC 440, 446-451, 668-672, 783, 786, 908, 2105, 2628: Christ as Lord and King
CCC 678-679, 1001, 1038-1041: Christ as Judge
CCC 2816-2821: “Thy Kingdom Come”
CCC Cross Reference:
Dn 7:13 440; Dn 7:14 664
Rev 1:6 1546, 2855; Rev 1:8 2854
Jn 18:36 549, 600; Jn 18:37 217, 559, 2471
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Reading 1
Dn 7:13-14
As the visions during the night continued, I saw
one like a Son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
when he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed.
Responsorial Psalm:
Ps 93:1, 1-2, 5
R. (1a) The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed;
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.
Reading II:
Rv 1:5-8
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father,
to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will lament him.
Yes. Amen.
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, " says the Lord God,
"the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty."
Gospel:
Jn 18:33b-37
Pilate said to Jesus,
"Are you the King of the Jews?"
Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?"
Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?"
Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here."
So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?"
Jesus answered, "You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading Daniel 7:13-14
I gazed into the visions of the night.
And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven,
one like a son of man.
He came to the one of great age
and was led into his presence.
On him was conferred sovereignty,
glory and kingship,
and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.
His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty
which shall never pass away,
nor will his empire ever be destroyed.
Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 92(93):1-2,5
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed;
the Lord has robed himself with might,
he has girded himself with power.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.
The world you made firm, not to be moved;
your throne has stood firm from of old.
From all eternity, O Lord, you are.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.
Truly your decrees are to be trusted.
Holiness is fitting to your house,
O Lord, until the end of time.
The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.
Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth. He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him, then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. It is he who is coming on the clouds; everyone will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. This is the truth. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
Gospel John 18:33-37
‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?’ Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind.’ ‘So you are a king then?’ said Pilate. ‘It is you who say it’ answered Jesus. ‘Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
Solemnity: Christ the King
From: Daniel 7:13-14
Daniel's Vision (Continuation)
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[13] I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. [14] And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
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Commentary:
7:9-14. Divine judgment is passed on the kingdoms in this scene. God is depicted as being seated on a throne in heaven, his glory flashing out and angels all around. Judgment is about to take place, and it will be followed by execution of the sentence. The books (v. 10) contain all the actions of men (cf. Jer 17:1; Mal 3:16; Ps 56:8; Rev 20:12). The seer is shown history past (not laid out according to chronology: all the empires are included in one glance), and he notes that a more severe sentence is passed on the blasphemous horn than on the other beasts. They had their lives extended (v. 12), that is, their deprivation of power did not spell the end; but the little horn is destroyed forthwith. "Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgment of the Last Day in his preaching (cf. Dan 7:10; Joel 3-4; Mal 3:19; Mt 3:7-42)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 678).
The one "like a son of man" who comes with the clouds of heaven and who, after the judgment, is given everlasting dominion over all the earth, is the very antithesis of the beasts. He has not risen from a turbulent sea like them; there is nothing ferocious about him. Rather, he has been raised up by God (he comes with the clouds of heaven) and he shares the human condition. The dignity of all mankind is restored through this son of man's triumph over the beasts. This figure, as we will discover later, stands for 'the people of the saints of the Most High' (7:27), that is, faithful Israel. However, he is also an individual (just as the winged lion was an individual, and the little horn), and insofar as he is given a kingdom, he is a king. What we have here is an individual who represents the people. In Jewish circles around the time of Christ, this "son of man" was interpreted as being the Messiah, a real person (cf. "Book of the Parables of Enoch"); but it was a title that became linked to the sufferings of the Messiah and to his resurrection from the dead only when Jesus Christ applied it to himself in the Gospel. "Jesus accepted Peter's profession of faith, which acknowledged him to be the Messiah, by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man (cf. Mt 16:23). He unveiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent identity of the Son of Man 'who came down from heaven' (Jn 3:13; cf. Jn 6:62; Dan 7:13), and in his redemptive mission as the suffering Servant: 'The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many' (Mt 20:28; cf. Is 53:10-12)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 440).
When the Church proclaims in the Creed that Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, she is saying that it was to Christ that dominion was given; "Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah's kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel's vision concerning the Son of man; 'To him was given domination and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed' (Dan 7:14). After this event the apostles became witnesses of the 'kingdom [that] will have no end' (Nicene Creed)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 664).
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From: Revelation 1:5-8
Address and Greeting
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[5] And from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood [6] and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. [7] Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
[8] "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
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Commentary:
5-6. Three messianic titles taken from Psalm 89:28-38 are given a new meaning in the light of fulfillment of Christian faith and applied to Jesus Christ. He is "the faithful witness" of the fulfillment of God's Old Testament promises of a Savior, a son of David (cf. 2 Sam 7:14; Rev 5:5;), for it is Christ who has in fact brought about salvation. That is why, later on in the book, St John calls Jesus Christ "the Amen" (Rev 3:4) -- which is like saying that through what Christ did God has ratified and kept his word; St John also calls him "Faithful and True" (Rev 19;11), because God's fidelity and the truth of his promises have been manifested in Jesus. This is to be seen in the Resurrection, which made Jesus "the first-born from the dead", in the sense that the Resurrection constituted a victory in which all who abide in him share (cf. Col 1:18). Christ is also "the ruler of kings on earth" because he is Lord of the world: this will be clearly seen when he comes a second time, but his dominion is already making itself felt because he has begun to conquer the power of sin and death.
The second part of v. 5 and all v. 6 are a kind of paean in praise of Christ recalling his great love for us as expressed in his words, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). Christ's love for us knows no bounds: his generosity led him to sacrifice his life by the shedding of his blood, which redeemed us from our sins. There was nothing we could have done to redeem ourselves. "All were held captive by the devil", St Augustine comments, "and were in the thrall of demons; but they have been rescued from that captivity. The Redeemer came and paid the ransom: he shed his blood and with it purchased the entire orb of the earth" ("Enarrationes in Psalmos", 95, 5).
Not content with setting us free from our sins, our Lord gave us a share in his kingship and priesthood. "Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men (cf. Heb 5:1-5), made the new people 'a kingdom of priests to his God and Father' (Rev 1:6; cf. 5:9-10). The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that through all the works of Christian men and women they may offer spiritual sacrifices and proclaim the perfection of him who has called them out of darkness into his marvelous light (cf. 1 Pet 2:4-10)" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 10).
7. Christ's work is not finished. He has assembled his holy people on earth to bring them enduring salvation, and he will be revealed in all his glory to the whole world at the end of time. Although the text speaks in the present tense -- "he is coming with the clouds"--this should be understood as referring to the future: the prophet was seeing future events as if they were actually happening (cf. Dan 7:13). This will be the day of final victory, when those who crucified Jesus, "every one who pierced him" (cf. Zech 12:10; Jn 19:37), will be astonished by the grandeur and glory of the crucified One. "The Sacred Scriptures inform us that there are two comings of the Son of God--one when he assumed human flesh for our salvation in the womb of a virgin; the other when he shall come at the end of the world to judge all mankind [...]; and if, from the beginning of the world that day of the Lord, on which he was clothed with our flesh, was sighed for by all as the foundation of their hope of deliverance; so also, after the death and ascension of the Son of God, we should make that other day of the Lord the object of our most earnest desires, 'awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God' (Titus 2:13)" ("St Pius V Catechism", I, 8, 2).
Commenting on this passage of the Apocalypse, St Bede says: "He who at his first coming came in a hidden way and in order to be judged (by men) will then come in a manifest way. (John) recalls these truths in order to help the Church bear its suffering: now it is being persecuted by its enemies, later it will reign at Christ's side" ("Explanatio Apocalypsis", 1, 1).
The joy of those who put their hope in this glorious manifestation of Christ will contrast with the pains of those who reject God's love and mercy to the very end. "Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Mt 24:30).
8. The coming of the Lord in glory, the climax of his dominion, is guaranteed by the power of God, the absolute master of the world and its destiny. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet; here they are used to proclaim that God is the beginning and end of all things, of the world and of history; he is present at all times -- times past, present and future.
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From: John 18:33b-37
The Trial before Pilate: Jesus is King (Continuation)
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[33] Pilate entered the praetorium again and called Jesus, and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" [34] Jesus answered, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?" [35] Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?" [36] Jesus answered, "My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world." [37] Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."
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Commentary
33-34. There is no onus on Pilate to interfere in religious questions, but because the accusation levelled against Jesus had to do with politics and public order, he begins his interrogation naturally by examining him on the main charge: "Are you the King of the Jews?"
By replying with another question, Jesus is not refusing to answer: he wishes to make quite clear, as he has always done, that his mission is a spiritual one. And really Pilate's was not an easy question to answer, because, to a Gentile, a king of the Jews meant simply a subverter of the Empire; whereas, to a Jewish nationalist, the King-Messiah was a politico-religious liberator who would obtain their freedom from Rome. The true character of Christ's messiahship completely transcends both these concepts--as Jesus explains to the procurator, although he realizes how enormously difficult it is for Pilate to understand what Christ's Kingship really involves.
35-36. After the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, Jesus refused to be proclaimed king because the people were thinking in terms of an earthly kingdom (cf. Jn 6:15). However, Jesus did enter Jerusalem in triumph, and he did accept acclamation as King-Messiah. Now, in the passion, he acknowledges before Pilate that he is truly a King, making it clear that his kingship is not an earthly one. Thus, "those who expected the Messiah to have visible temporal power were mistaken. 'The kingdom of God does not mean food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit' (Rom 14:17). Truth and justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That is the kingdom of Christ: the divine activity which saves men and which will reach its culmination when history ends and the Lord comes from the heights of paradise finally to judge men" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ is Passing By", 180).
37. This is what his kingship really is: his kingdom is "the kingdom of Truth and Life, the kingdom of Holiness and Grace, the kingdom of Justice, Love and Peace" (Preface of the Mass of Christ the King). Christ reigns over those who accept and practise the truth revealed by him--his Father's love for the world (Jn 3:16; 1 Jn 4:9). He became man to make this truth known and to enable men to accept it. And so, those who recognize Christ's kingship and sovereignty accept his authority, and he thus reigns over them in an eternal and universal kingdom.
For its part, "the Church, looking to Christ who bears witness to the truth, must always and everywhere ask herself, and in a certain sense also the contemporary 'world', how to make good emerge from man, how to liberate the dynamism of the good that is in man, in order that it may be stronger than evil, than any moral, social or other evil" (John Paul II, "General Audience", 21 February 1979).
"If we [Christians] are trying to have Christ as our king we must be consistent. We must start by giving him our heart. Not to do that and still talk about the kingdom of Christ would be completely hollow. There would be no real Christian substance in our behavior. We would be making an outward show of a faith which simply did not exist. We would be misusing God's name to human advantage. If we let Christ reign in our souls, we will not become authoritarian. Rather we will serve everyone. How l like that word: service! To serve my king and, through him, all those who have been redeemed by his blood. I really wish we Christians knew how to serve, for only by serving can we know and love Christ and make him known and loved" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ is Passing By", 181-182).
By his death and resurrection, Jesus shows that the accusations laid against him were based on lies: it was he who was telling the truth, not his judges and accusers, and God confirms the truth of Jesus--the truth of his words, of deeds, of his revelation--by the singular miracle of his resurrection. To men Christ's kingship may seem paradoxical: he dies, yet he lives for ever; he is defeated and is crucified, yet he is victorious. "When Jesus Christ him appeared as a prisoner before Pilate's tribunal and was interrogated by him...did he not answer: 'For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth'? It was as if with these words [...] he was once more confirming what he had said earlier: 'You will know the truth, and truth will make you free'. In the course of so many centuries, of so many generations, from the time of the Apostles on, is it not often Jesus Christ himself that has made an appearance at the side of people judged for the sake of truth? And has he not gone to death with people condemned for the sake of truth? Does he ever cease to be the continuous spokesman and advocate for person who lives 'in spirit and truth' (cf. Jn 4:23)? Just as he does not cease to be it before the Father, he is it also with regard to the history of man" (John Paul II, "Redemptor Hominis", 12).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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