Imagine, if you would that you went to sleep one night. And when you woke up, you found that there was a completely new government in place, with faces and names of individuals you have never heard of before. Imagine, you look outside, that despite all the familiar landmarks, buildings and stores, you notice that all the street names have been changed, there is a different flag flying and shops are no longer carrying brand names you had always been familiar with. But no one seems to mind, everyone seems to be at peace with it or don’t even notice. Is it too much of a stretch of the imagination.
If so, all of a sudden you get a new boss you know nothing about and they make immediate policy changes in the workplace. Or maybe you relocate to a new home in a different state or even a foreign land, and the way of life you were so accustomed to live doesn’t translate in this new environment. What if you had been attending this parish church for all your life and now had to attend the only church in a new town where everything was different? Or you arrive at St. Margaret’s one Sunday, and there’s a new pastor, with a different accent, a different way of doing things and who had a full head of hair!
Think, not about all these scenarios. Reflect upon how you would respond if a revolution of sorts, took place all of a sudden. Maybe you say, “Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later”. Maybe you might be in shock, angry and frustrated that your whole world has been turned upside down. Maybe you’ll just go with the flow and accept that nothing can stay the same forever. Or, perhaps, you might retreat into your own world of memories of times past and nostalgia for the “good old days”.
Today we mark the end of the church year with the celebration of Christ the King. What have we learnt during this past year of attending Mass, engaging in the prayers, reflecting on the Scriptures, entering into Holy Communion with Christ? Has anything changed in your life, will anything be different, has your way of looking at God, the world, changed? Many of us don’t know how to truly answer that question honestly because for many we are creatures of habit, masters of predictability, custodians of tradition and security.
One thing we, as Catholics, are so familiar with is the crucifix. We have grown up with it. It’s attached to our rosary beads, hangs on our wall, adorns the top of the altar, is the point of reference when we come into the church. But if we were to see an actual crucifixion for the first time, it would make your stomach turn. It would haunt you, disgust you, traumatize you. You would see your world differently, your relationships would be affected, your involvement in society would change, your appetite, your personality, your value system would all turn upside down. And it should. You would never be the same again, and you should never be the same again. But are you?
While the world is sleeping or while everyone is going about their daily rhythm of life, for a long time Christ has been patiently provoking each and early one of his disciples to change their attitudes about him, about God, about the world, about all things familiar. His life was all about preparing this world for a new kingdom, a new structure of relationships in a new kingdom. Everything we have been familiar with, he stands it on its head, offering us an ever new and always challenging world order if you dare look closely at him from the consequence of him being crucified on the cross by a hostile people.
Christ, the embodiment of God with us, made friends and hung out with all the wrong people. He preached dangerously to all the wrong people. He warned the wrong people about judgement day. He offered forgiveness to those who were seen as all the wrong people. From the cross he offered a place in paradise to someone society presumed did not deserve it. In short, our Savior was crucified by the right people for saying the wrong thing to the wrong people!
When he rose from the dead, and showed himself to his disciples, their world changed, everything changed. Nothing would, could ever be the same again. And they entered into this new way of existing in the world with the hope that a new Kingdom is coming. If we think it is the wrong time, the wrong place and we are the wrong people who should be hearing this message, look again at Christ on the cross, and hear again the words he spoke as if for the very first time. And when we make his words he taught us to say in the Lord’s Prayer, consider if your heart is ready to bravely embrace a new world to wake up into.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.