The feast of the kingship of Christ which marks the end of the liturgical year, reminds us of our loyalty to ‘Our Lord’, and our commitment to living according to his values. And chief among these values is truth – “everyone who is not deaf to truth listens to my voice”.
Today’s Gospel is taken from that dramatic scene in John, where Jesus, arrested and condemned by his own people, is brought for judgment before Pilate, the Roman governor. The Jews could have stoned Jesus for blasphemy, for claiming to be ‘Son of God’, but they wanted a Roman execution, and for this they needed Pilate’s verdict. Pilate, shrewd enough to see that he is being manipulated, calls Jesus in for a closer interrogation. His spies have told him that Jesus was a ‘possible messiah,’ that is, a political leader set on overturning Roman rule.
So Pilate comes straight to the point: “Are you the king of the Jews ?” he asks.
Jesus deflects the question: “Is this your own idea, or have others suggested it to you?”
Pilate rebuffs the implication that he has been set up by the Jews, and asks Jesus, “What have you done?”
“My kingdom does not belong to this world”, replies Jesus. “You are a king then?” asks Pilate, astonished. “ ‘King’ is your word,” says Jesus. “My task is to bear witness to the truth. For this I was born…and all who are not deaf to truth, listen to my voice.”
Nowhere does Jesus state more clearly his fulfillment of the messianic ‘kingly’ ideal – one chosen by God to act with goodness, truth and justice, as David did, the “man after God’s own heart”. In John’s Gospel, ‘truth’ is an important value. It has a divine quality – God’s fidelity to his word, God fulfilling his promises. Time and time again Jesus will reiterate that his words and deeds bear ‘witness to who he is’, in very truth, the Son of God. Put differently, Jesus is the ‘truthful witness’, testifying to the love of God for all of us, a love that saves the world, doesn’t condemn it. But men have rejected this truth because their lives are false, their deeds full of deceit.
This is why Jesus is on trial, rejected by his own people. He appeals to worldly Pilate: “everyone who is not deaf to truth listens to what I say.” But Pilate closes the conversation with a cynical response: “What is truth?”
Christ the King is a symbol addressed to all who have the responsibility of governance, whether in the Church or elsewhere. To rule rightly is to bear witness to the truth, as Jesus did, even at the cost of one’s life. It is the only way to bring about a society of love, goodness and peace.
