Come Again

A Reflection on the First Reading for November 25th, 2018:
​​The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Daniel 7:13-14

13 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, 14 He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed.

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The First Reading on the Feast of Christ the King proclaims the majesty of Our Lord. Daniel’s vision of Jesus as Sovereign Ruler sees Him “coming with the clouds of heaven” to take up “everlasting dominion” over every created thing, being and nation. The sovereignty of Jesus is unreserved; God withholds nothing from Him. His power is absolute and immense.

In one week’s time, however, Christians will begin preparations to witness a very different coming, the simplicity of which is a contrast to the splendour of Daniel’s vision. At Christmas Jesus will come to us in humility. Although He remains the King of Heaven, His entrance into this world is as modest as Daniel’s vision is magnificent. Jesus enters our world helpless not empowered, as a human not “like a human,” before shepherds not “the Ancient One.” He is the one who serves, not the One whom “all peoples, nations, and languages” will serve.

Jesus sets aside the fullness of His divinity not as an “experience” but to live an earthly life as we do. He commits to being one of us in all ways but sin, to model for us love and courage and truth. He is for us the Lord who washes the feet of His disciples, who allows Himself to be taken and beaten, who lays down His life for us. Then, with the Resurrection, His humanity, humility and divinity combine in a way that changes the universe and fundamentally alters the nature of our relationship with God. We know how that part of the story ends: as we say in the Creed at every Mass, “He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.” We profess that “He will come again in glory,” which Daniel’s words remind us.

Until that second coming, what is our role as Christians? The gospels tell us that Jesus proclaims the coming of the Kingdom of God in the world, but do we have a part to play in His sovereignty over the earth? It seems impossible that we would; we are more like the baby Jesus than the King who comes in glory!

The answer to this comes down to what Jesus did for us. In renewing the covenant between God and humanity, Jesus ensures we are all touched by the divine. Jesus shares in our humanity but, through grace, we partake of His divine nature and share in His kingship as children of God. Until He comes again, He has set us over the world to serve Him and to love each other as sacred, for we are made in His image. And we must serve in a manner emulating His humility and expressing our joyful hope of His return. Until the “clouds of heaven” open, we must follow His perfect example in the day-to-day running of the Kingdom on earth.

​Donna Davis

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