Chapter
16
by Fr. Thomas Keating
Christ the King
Pilate said to Jesus, Are you the
King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or
did others tell you about me?" Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am
I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have
you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my
kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from
being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from
here." Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered,
"You say that 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." (John 18:34-38)
In our time we think
of kings a dictators. In other words, we have a new name for the same old thing.
Most kingdoms or
dictatorships are concerned with sovereignty, power, and domination. These are
the connotations of any kingdom or dictatorship that come to mind, or any kind
of community in which the leadership views authority as domination. In many
places in the gospel, Jesus challenges that attitude and makes it clear that his
kingdom has nothing to do with sovereignty, power, or domination. It is just the
opposite.
The kingdom is not
like any kingdom that we know of. Jesus said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not
of this world." It is indeed a kingdom--that is to say, a community. It has
its purposes and structures, but they have a very different spirit and
motivation from those of the kingdoms of this world.
The truth to which
this kingdom points is that the God of the universe, the ultimate reality, is
the Father of infinite compassion and concern for every living thing. This is a
revolutionary idea for human beings. Most people live in situations that are
more or less oppressive and in varying degrees of interior turmoil, because they
do not know how to deal with their frustration. Our false self--the apparatus
for self-centered projects for happiness-- places us in a continuous double
bind. How can we believe in God's infinite compassion and concern for us when we
are experiencing some form of oppression, continuous disappointment and
frustration, and failure in everyday life? "What is the matter with this
God whom we worship?," we ask. "Why doesn't he defend me and provide
for me and others better than he does? Isn't this what kings and dictators are
for?" Actually, kings and dictators only offer an illusion of security, a
vain hope that hides the basic uneasiness of everyday life, which is that we are
not secure, not loved as we would like, and not in complete control of anything
including our lives and our deaths.
This kingdom to
which Jesus bears witness addresses the human condition exactly where it is and
says in effect, "It's okay to be weak, broken, even sinful, as long as you
accept yourselves and your condition for the love of God." This is the
wisdom that Jesus refers to when he proclaims in the beatitudes, "Oh, how
happy you would be if you were poor." The people of his
time had just as much trouble with that statement as we have today. Poverty does
not look like happiness to us, and few have any aspiration to become a part of
it. In his day, external poverty was believed to be a sure sign of God's
punishment. Jesus totally rejected the popular conception that poverty,
oppression, or difficult situations bear any relationship to divine judgment.
They are simply the way things are. The acceptance of our particular situation
is the beginning of wisdom. It is the starting point on the road to happiness.
On one occasion
Jesus experienced ecstatic joy and cried out, "I praise you Father in
heaven, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and
revealed them to little ones"--ordinary folks, the insignificant, nobodies
(Matt. 11:25-30). We may not think insignificance, poverty, and
persecution are such great ideas. But Jesus states clearly that those who suffer
these things belong to the kingdom that he is introducing into the world. God
has identified with us just as we are.
If Jesus' kingdom
were "of this world," he would certainly have been rescued by his
disciples. If the gospel needed to be vindicated by a show of power, his
trial and execution would have been the moment to provide it. The fact that
nobody came to Jesus' rescue, even though he could have called upon legions of
angels to defend him, is a good indication of the nature of this kingdom. It
means that the kingdom is present without our being rescued from our
difficulties and the consequences of our sinfulness.
God is present in
our lives and deaths just as they are. Whatever happens, the divine presence and
action--is secretly changing, not the painful circumstances of our lives, but
our attitude toward them. In this kingdom we experience our brokenness and our
trust in God rather than our virtue and our trust in ourselves.
This does not mean
we should not work to resolve our problems and those of others, but rather that
we should not try to change other people and the world as if we were divinely
appointed to do so. We change the world by accepting it as it is and by helping
other people to change by accepting them as they are. The chief work of the
transforming attitude of openness to God's will enables us to change. The secret
power of the Holy Spirit, totally in the service of infinite love, is working
beyond appearances to bring about the final triumph, not of our particular
interest, but of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, filled with this love,
does not depend on support systems that we regard as essential for our
happiness. The love of God is the heart of the universe, the meaning of all
creation: it is the happiness.
The kingdom to which
Jesus bears witness by becoming a part of the human condition and by identifying
with our suffering and dying, reveals the ultimate truth about the God of the
universe, which it is that God that is completely together with us on every
level of our being. God's presence and care are greater than anything we can
imagine and much more substantial than anything we can contrive. This
reassurance is available whoever we are, wherever we are, whatever is happening,
on only one condition: our consent--the consent of faith in the infinite mercy
of God. Interior turmoil and the external vicissitudes of life do not interfere
with divine union. The gift of wisdom empowers us to find God in our
helplessness, weakness, and sinfulness. This is the source of Jesus' ecstatic
joy at the thought of how his Father brings to perfect happiness such hopeless
and helpless creatures as we are, who are always at one another's throats when
we should be in one another's arms.
More information can be obtained by reading the book The
Kingdom of God is Like . . .by Fr. Thomas Keating. It is offered in our Book
Store.
