SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY #545
Pilate therefore went into the hall again and called Jesus and said to him: "Art thou the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered: "Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or have others told it thee of me?" Pilate answered: "Am I a Jew? Thy own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee up to me. What hast thou done?" Jesus answered: "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence." Pilate therefore said to him: "Art thou a king then?" Jesus answered: "Thou sayest that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." Pilate saith to him: "What is truth?" And when he said this, he went out again to the Jews and saith to them: "I find no cause in him." (John 18:33-38)
THE KINGDOM AND ROYAL DIGNITY OF JESUS CHRIST: Jesus, the humbled and suffering captive, spoke truly when He said to the representative of the emperor of world-wide Rome: "I am a king!" His kingdom is a priestly kingdom, of which He is both Priest and King, and which He governs by offering Himself up, and conquering the hearts of men. He who had not where to rest His Head declared: "I have a kingdom, but it is not of this world!" This kingdom of Jesus Christ is His holy Church. She is in the world, and for the world, but not of the world; she comes from heaven, and is the kingdom of divine truth and grace. When our Lord Jesus Christ stood before Pilate this kingdom was very small, but, since then, He has conquered to Himself lands and nations over the whole face of the earth, not by force of arms, but by the power of the Cross, on which the God-Man offered Himself, and which is the sceptre with which He, as King, rules over His Church. Still the Church is a kingdom not of this world, for her object is no worldly or natural one, but one entirely supernatural, namely the salvation and sanctification of souls.
[From 'A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture' by Bishop Knecht, D.D.]
(1899 Douay-Rheims Bible)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please no anonymous comments. I require at least some way for people to address each other personally and courteously. Having some name or handle helps.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.