Weekly Reading, Sunday, November 25, 2012

Reading 1 Dn 7:13-14

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,
the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship;
all peoples, nations, and languages serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
His kingship shall not be destroyed.
(Daniel, centuries before the coming of Christ, saw Him be presented to The Loving Programmer and receive “dominion, glory, and kingship;  all peoples, nations, and languages serve Him.”  It was made clear to Daniel that Christ’s kingship would last forever.  Daniel passed on that vision so that the elect of the ages would understand.)

Responsorial Psalm Ps 93:1, 1-2, 5

R. (1a) The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.
R. The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD.
R. The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed;
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days.
R. The LORD is king; he is robed in majesty.
(The Kingdom of God, as in the first reading, will stand firmly forever.)

Reading 2 Rv 1:5-8

Jesus Christ is the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father,
to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will lament him.
Yes. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, ” says the Lord God,
“the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.”

(Jesus is coming.  All will see Him, even those who, in every age, did what they could to destroy Him.)

Gospel Jn 18:33b-37

Pilate said to Jesus,
“Are you the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own
or have others told you about me?”
Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I?
Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me.
What have you done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.
If my kingdom did belong to this world,
my attendants would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.
But as it is, my kingdom is not here.”
So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say 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.”

(Jesus, at the point of being crucified, explained to the very manifestation of Government/Rome/Babylon that He was born and came into the world to testify to a higher truth than Pilate knew.  He was going to His Kingdom, where the earlier readings make plain, He rules forever.  Jesus rules forever, with dominion over all.)

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