Vigils Reading – 34th Sunday – Christ the King

THE KINGDOM OF

THE BELOVED SON

From a commentary by St Augustine1

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Banish the groundless fear that filled Herod the Great on hearing that

Christ was born. More cruel in his fear than in his anger, he put many children

to death, so that Christ also would die. But my kingdom is not of this world, says

Christ. What further reassurance do we seek? Come to the kingdom not of this

world. Be not enraged by fear, but come by faith. In a prophecy Christ also

said…God the Father has made me king on Zion his holy mountain. But that

kingdom and that mountain are not of this world.

What in fact is God’s kingdom? It is simply those who believe in him,

those to whom he said: You are not of this world, even as I am not of this

world. He willed, nevertheless, that they should be in the world, which is why

he prayed to the Father: I ask you not to take them out of the world, but to

protect them from the evil one. So here also he did not say my kingdom is not

in this world, but is not of this world. And when he went on to prove this by

declaring: If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought to

save me from being handed over… he concluded by saying…my kingdom is not

from here.

Indeed, his kingdom is here until the end of time, and until the harvest it

will contain weeds. The harvest is the end of the world, when the reapers who

are the angels, will come and gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin, and this

could not happen if his kingdom were not here. But even so, it is not from here

for it is in exile in the world. Christ says to his kingdom: You are not of the

world, but I have chosen you out of the world. They were indeed of the world

when they belonged to the prince of this world, before they became his

kingdom. Though created by the true God, everyone born of the corrupt and

accursed stock of Adam is of the world. On the other hand, everyone who is

reborn in Christ becomes the kingdom which is no longer of the world. For so

has God snatched us from the powers of darkness, and brought us into the

kingdom of his beloved Son: that kingdom of which he said My kingdom is not

of this world; my kingly power does not come from here