Abbot Columba McCann OSB.
Elections are in the air! Getting elected President of the USA is quite a feat for anybody. Think of the power and influence it brings! But it only lasts for four years. Then you have the Irish elections. Who will win seats? What kind of government? How long will it last? People in political office either retire while they are still ahead, or else they eventually get pushed out by their opponents.
By way of contrast the book of Daniel describes this mysterious figure called the Son of Man, on whom is conferred kingship, and an eternal sovereignty, a sovereignty that will never pass away. And the gospels apply this to Jesus himself.
It doesn’t look that way when we see him in the gospel story, the prisoner standing there bound hand and foot in front of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Not much of a king. Unless his way of ruling is quite different, and that is in fact what Jesus himself says.
It reminds me of another election, not so long ago. When one of the recent popes was elected, he appeared, as usual, on the balcony of St Peter’s in Rome. One of the cardinals standing beside him was looking off into the distance. Later on, someone asked him what was going through his mind as he stared off into the distance. He replied, ‘I was looking across the city of Rome to the Palatine Hill, at the ruins of the palace of the Roman emperors. I thought to myself: their day is long over, but here am I standing beside the successor of Peter, the fisherman from Galilee… Jesus has a sovereignty that shall not pass away.
We have to admit that, over the centuries, some of his followers have departed from his methods, with disastrous results, using physical force to promote his message. But that is not the Jesus does things. And he gave the same advice to his disciples when he sent them out on mission: if they don’t accept you in one village, just go on to the next. When some disciples walk out on Jesus, he says to Peter, do you want to go too? Jesus doesn’t rule by force.
But the real question right here is not about Pontius Pilate, the Roman Empire, or world history. The real question here and now is: does the sovereignty of Jesus extend to me life? Is he my mentor? Is he the main influencer in my life? Jesus says, ‘All who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’ He won’t force his message on me. But he offers me something that won’t topple the way everything else does.
Mentoring, life-coaching is recognised today as so valuable. What if my life-coach, my mentor were the Son of Man, whose sovereignty is eternal, who isn’t fazed by failure or setback. What would it be like if my daily decisions were formed by him, referred to him, guided by him? I might begin to experience some of his freedom, the kind of freedom he showed even as he stood there before the Roman governor. Prefer nothing whatsoever to Christ, St Benedict says. Listen to his voice, St Benedict says.
Jesus says ‘All who are on the side of truth listen to my voice.’ Elsewhere he says ‘The truth will make you free.’