This Sunday the incumbent State Government have got a reason to party as their party won the yesterday’s State election. They have been given a mandate to govern Victoria over the next four years. The celebratory atmosphere which dominated in their headquarters last night was the outcome of the support given them by the people of Victoria. The people who voted for them believed that the Labor would be the best option for our State. The Gospel for this Sunday hardly resembles the victorious mood we could see among the Labor supporters yesterday. Jesus is brought before Pilate. Was it an ancient summit of the Roman Empire and the heavenly Kingdom? It could have been. The powerful Roman Empire which ruled the whole known world, including the Holy Land, had a chance to converse with the King of the Universe, with Jesus Christ. However Jesus hadn’t gathered enough supporters to frighten Pilate. On the contrary Jesus’ opponents were more successful to convince the crowds to demand Jesus’ death. The Gospel reading we have just heard is part of that deliberation Pilate was undertaking in regards to Our Blessed Lord. Although he was convinced that Jesus was innocent the voice of the majority was more important than his conscience, his personal convictions or his integrity. Those who wanted Jesus dead had a reason to party. They won. At least they thought so. As we contemplate this event which happened in the Pilate’s palace we need to ask ourselves again: ‘Who won there? Did the Jewish leaders win? Or did Jesus Christ win?
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! We, the disciples of Jesus, have been in a celebratory mood, not only today as we observe the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, Universal King, but every day for two thousand years. St John in the Book of the Apocalypse called Jesus ‘the faithful witness.’ Jesus was indeed faithful to the truth. That’s what gives us a reason for celebrating. When Pilate asked the Lord: ‘Are you a king?’ Jesus answered: ‘Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth.’ Jesus is the Truth who bears witness to the love God has for his children, that God is a loving Father who gives life and freedom. Jesus is the Truth who bears witness to the happiness people can have when they receive this love and being transformed by it they are capable of loving others according to the measure of God’s love.
Reading the account of that time Jesus was in the Roman headquarters in Jerusalem we notice that the Governor keeps moving in and out of the building where Jesus is kept. When he speaks to Jesus he sees the Lord’s innocence and integrity, he is inspired to search for a way of freeing Jesus but when he goes out to face the Jewish leaders and the crowd he sees that the numbers are on the side of the condemnation. Eventually he gives in to the numbers. However it is not the way of Jesus. Jesus is for the truth not for the numbers. One of the Church Fathers, Saint Augustin explained it in this way: ‘Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.’
As I said before those who wanted Jesus’ death had a reason to party. They had achieved it. What they didn’t realize was that the true winner was the One who was crowned with thorns and raised on the cross. Jesus was like the seed sown in the ground. He died not to be annihilated but to be resurrected. His Resurrection is fulfils the hope the Prophet Daniel expressed when he said: ‘I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man. On him was conferred sovereignty, glory and kingship.’ Because Jesus was ‘the true witness,’ in his life, in his ministry and in his passion; he is ‘the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.’ As Christians we constantly return to Jesus. From him we draw an inspiration and to him we look for hope. Even if this approach is ridiculed in our society we hold fast to it by bearing witness to the Truth and hoping that those who govern us witnessing our profound religious obedience to the Lord Jesus will have their hour of truth like Pilate did. We also pray for those who govern us, as St Paul has urged us to do, so that, unlike Pilate, they could embrace the sovereignty of Jesus and express it in the laws they make.
My Dear Sisters and Brothers! We, the disciples of Jesus, have been in a celebratory mood, not only today as we observe the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, Universal King, but every day for two thousand years. St John in the Book of the Apocalypse called Jesus ‘the faithful witness.’ Jesus was indeed faithful to the truth. That’s what gives us a reason for celebrating. When Pilate asked the Lord: ‘Are you a king?’ Jesus answered: ‘Yes, I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth.’ Jesus is the Truth who bears witness to the love God has for his children, that God is a loving Father who gives life and freedom. Jesus is the Truth who bears witness to the happiness people can have when they receive this love and being transformed by it they are capable of loving others according to the measure of God’s love.
Reading the account of that time Jesus was in the Roman headquarters in Jerusalem we notice that the Governor keeps moving in and out of the building where Jesus is kept. When he speaks to Jesus he sees the Lord’s innocence and integrity, he is inspired to search for a way of freeing Jesus but when he goes out to face the Jewish leaders and the crowd he sees that the numbers are on the side of the condemnation. Eventually he gives in to the numbers. However it is not the way of Jesus. Jesus is for the truth not for the numbers. One of the Church Fathers, Saint Augustin explained it in this way: ‘Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.’
As I said before those who wanted Jesus’ death had a reason to party. They had achieved it. What they didn’t realize was that the true winner was the One who was crowned with thorns and raised on the cross. Jesus was like the seed sown in the ground. He died not to be annihilated but to be resurrected. His Resurrection is fulfils the hope the Prophet Daniel expressed when he said: ‘I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man. On him was conferred sovereignty, glory and kingship.’ Because Jesus was ‘the true witness,’ in his life, in his ministry and in his passion; he is ‘the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last.’ As Christians we constantly return to Jesus. From him we draw an inspiration and to him we look for hope. Even if this approach is ridiculed in our society we hold fast to it by bearing witness to the Truth and hoping that those who govern us witnessing our profound religious obedience to the Lord Jesus will have their hour of truth like Pilate did. We also pray for those who govern us, as St Paul has urged us to do, so that, unlike Pilate, they could embrace the sovereignty of Jesus and express it in the laws they make.
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