Christ the King Year B [Dan 7:9-10 & 13-14, Rev 1:4b-8, Jn 18:33-37]

The Feast of Christ the King is a fairly recent addition to the liturgical calendar. It was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925, but the ideas which lie behind it are much older. To stress the idea that Christ is the King of Heaven and Earth is to acknowledge the fact that there is an authority which is higher than any human authority. Christ, as king, unites humanity and points to the Peace of the Kingdom of God rather than the divisions of class and nationalism which lie at the root of the traumatic events of the last one hundred years. 

‘For Jesus Christ reigns over the minds of individuals by His teachings, in their hearts by His love, in each one’s life by the living according to His law and the imitating of His example.’

Pope Pius XI Ubi Arcana Dei Consilio 48 (23.xi.1923) [http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19221223_ubi-arcano-dei-consilio.html] 

This is a great claim to make, and a necessary one for Christians: to acknowledge Christ before all things, even before our family and friends. More than being Welsh, or British, or anything else, we belong to Christ, and acknowledge Him as our Lord and God. Our faith affects who we are and what we do. Nowhere is this more clear than in understanding where our primary allegiance lies. To say that, ‘Jesus is Lord’ is at one level to say that, ‘Caesar is not’. When faced with a religious cult where the Roman Emperor was worshipped as divine, our forebears made a choice. While they would pray for the Emperor as a temporal ruler they would not honour him as a god. They bore witness to their faith at the cost of their lives, because some things are more important, namely our relationship with the God who loves us and saves us.

In our readings this morning we hear in the prophecy of Daniel, that God will come to be our judge, and that the Son of Man — who is Jesus — is given dominion, glory, and a kingdom. All peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him, His dominion is everlasting and will not pass away. Christ the Word made Flesh is the fulfilment of Scripture, in Him, prophecy is fulfilled, and made real. 

We see Christ’s kingship most strikingly in the interaction between Jesus and Pontius Pilate in this morning’s Gospel. Picture the scene: Jesus has been arrested and is being questioned. His disciples have deserted him, and He stands alone in the governor’s palace. Pilate says to Him, ‘You are the King of the Jews?’ Pilate doesn’t understand, it doesn’t make sense. The Jews have handed Jesus over to be crucified under Roman Law, rather than the usual punishment of being stoned as a blasphemer. To claim to be a king is to stand in opposition to the authority of the Emperor, but how does this man do this? He doesn’t look like a king, or act like one. 

Pilate explains that Jesus has been handed over by the Jews and their chief priests, and asks Him, ‘What have you done?’(18:35) Jesus does not answer, instead He states, ‘My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world.’ (Jn 18:36) Jesus’ kingship is not of this world. Then from where is it? The answer is surely the heavenly realm. Christ is a Divine King, and whereas the emperor may claim to be DIVI FILIVS, son of a god, Jesus Christ is King because He is the Son of God. 

Jesus goes on to say, ‘For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.’ (Jn 18:37) This is what Christ was born to do, to bear witness to the truth. He is ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life’ (Jn 14:6). In His Passion, Christ bears witness to the truth, namely that, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.’ (Jn 3:16-17) This is what real kingship looks like, selfless love and sacrifice. It is not about acquiring and displaying wealth, power, or privilege. To add insult to injury, after Jesus has been flogged, the Roman soldiers put a purple robe on Him and place a crown of thorns on His head, to mock him (Jn 19:2-3) with the trappings of a king. Their mockery is self-defeating, as it proclaims Christ’s kingship. The true King of the Jews is the Suffering Servant, bruised for our iniquities. Christ displays His royal power when he reigns, not on a throne, but from the Cross. God’s kingdom is about healing, forgiveness of sins, and the restoration of humanity, to give us the hope of Heaven. 

Christ, risen, ascended, and glorified, will come to be our judge. Images of the Risen Christ still bear the marks of nails in His Hands and Feet, and the mark of the spear in His Side, because they are the wounds of LOVE. This is the love God has for each and every one of us. We may not deserve it, we cannot earn it, but God gives it to us, who believe in His Son, Our Saviour Jesus Christ. We are challenged to live lives which proclaim that love to the whole world.

Before they were martyred in Mexico and Spain, by regimes opposed to our faith, Christians would cry ‘¡Viva Christo Rey!’ ‘Long live Christ the King!’ just before they faced a firing squad or the hangman’s noose. To acknowledge Christ’s kingship is to do something radical. It is to say to those with worldly power, ‘We acknowledge something greater and more powerful than you!’ It is a radical political act, which terrifies those who are insecure. As Christians we are different. We have built the house of our faith on the rock which is Christ, and not the shifting sands of this world. 

The world around us may look dangerous and uncertain. Whatever we face, we can be assured of the simple fact that God loves us, and that we are part of a kingdom of love. Let us live this out in our lives, so that others may come to believe and give glory to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, to whom be ascribed as is most right and just, all might, majesty, glory dominion, and power, now and forever. Amen. 

 

Christ the King Year C

The death of Our Lord on the Cross reveals that we are meant to be perpetually dissatisfied here below. If earth were meant to be a Paradise, then He Who made it would never have taken leave of it on Good Friday. The commending of the Spirit to the Father was at the same time the refusal to commend it to earth. The completion or fulfilment of life is in heaven, not on earth.

Fulton Sheen, Victory over Vice, 1939: 99

Today the Church celebrates the last Sunday before Advent as the Solemnity of Christ the King, as a feast it is both old and new, while a relatively recent addition to the calendar, what it represents is something ancient and profound: as Christians we recognise the sovereignty of God over the world, and we ask that Christ may rule in our hearts and lives, so that we may live lives of love, so that our faith is proclaimed by word and deed.

Before we start Advent, the beginning of the Church’s year, the season of preparation for our yearly remembrance of Our Lord’s birth in Bethlehem; we stop for a moment to ponder Christ’s majesty, His kingship, and what this means for us and for the world. As someone of the House of David, it is good to start by looking back. Just as the Lord said to David ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel’ (2Sam 5:2) this also looks forward to Christ who is the the Good Shepherd, the one who lays down His life for His sheep. In him we see the meaning of true kingship, and true sacrifice.

In this morning’s epistle, St Paul praises his Lord and Saviour as ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.’ (Col. 1: 15–20). It places Christ before and above everything, it sets the scene for our worship of him.

Jesus Christ shows the world His kingship when He reigns on the Cross. It bears the title ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’ it proclaims His kingship, but those who are standing by cannot understand – if he is the Messiah, who saved others, why isn’t he saving himself? His kingship is not marked by self-interest, he rules for the sake of others, or as St Paul puts it ‘making peace by the blood of his cross’. Thankfully in Luke’s Gospel the penitent thief can say to him ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’ (Lk 23:42). The thief recognises Jesus’ kingly power, he acknowledges it, and puts himself under it. We need to be like him. We need to acknowledge Christ as our Lord and King; we need to recognise both who he is and what he does. We need to, the whole world needs to, acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

Jesus’ kingship is not the ruthless exercise of power by a dictator; it is rather shown by sacrificial self-giving love, to reconcile God to all things. It is costly, and His Body still bears the wounds of love, which heal our wounds of sin and division. But He is also transfigured and glorious, so that we can have confidence in whom we worship. As He gives himself for us on the Cross, He gives himself to us under the forms of bread and wine; he feeds us with himself, so that our nature may transformed, and we may be given a foretaste of heaven.

So let us worship Him, let us adore Him, let us acknowledge His universal kingship, the Lord and Redeemer of all. What looks to the world like defeat is God’s triumph, it opens the gates of heaven, it inaugurates God’s kingdom of peace and love, into which all may enter. So let us enter, and encourage others to do so, so that the world is transformed one soul at a time, let us invite people to enter into the joy of the Lord, that they may believe and to sing the praise of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to whom be ascribed as is most right and just all might, majesty, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever.

Christ the King

The question of Pilate was that of all dictators who presume that the power of government is final and absolute. Our Lord reads to the arrogant Roman the lesson which he and all of his tribe in all ages and all lands need — that their power is derived from God, therefore it is in its foundation legitimate, and in its exercise it is to be guided by His will and used for His purposes

Fulton Sheen Thinking Life Through 1955: 202

We, all of us, have a fairly well defined idea of kingship in our heads: from the benevolent saintliness of Edward the Confessor, to the tyrannical corpulent Henry VIII. Human kingship can be something of a mixed bag: depending upon an accident of birth, and sadly while one may have power, without the knowledge and humility to use it well and in the service of others. Thus, we would seriously err were we to extrapolate divine kinship from its flawed human counterpart. If I were to ask you the question, ‘what does a king look like?’, you may well reply that he wears a crown of gold, and a cloak of red or purple velvet. He looks impressive and dignified; everything about him makes you go ‘Wow!’ It’s quite understandable – it’s how we expect a king to look, it’s what we’ve grown up to expect: whenever we see pictures of kings they look like this.

In this morning’s gospel we are given an entirely different picture of kingship. Our Lord will soon receive the outward trappings and will be hailed as a King. And in the mockery people will not realise that the joke is really on them. Christ is truly a King, but not in a way that the world can easily understand. His kingdom is not of this world; the way of God is not to use threats, mockery, or violence. Instead, Christ becomes incarnate, becomes a human being, to bear witness to the truth. He who is the way, the truth, and the life, comes that we might know the truth and that the truth might set us free. As those who follow him, we as Christians are to be free, to stand against this world and its power, to show it another way: where weakness can triumph in the face of anger, where love can overcome bitterness. The world around us cannot understand this, it could not at the time of our Lord's passion, and it cannot even today. One needs to experience it before one can begin to understand it. Christ shows the world his reign of glory by being nailed to a cross and now exalted in glory and coming to be our judge he bears in his body the wounds of nail and spear, the wounds of love, wounds which heal and reconcile humanity.

In his dealings with Pilate, Christ foreshadows the church and its dealings with secular power. Just as Pilate could not wait for an answer, so the world around us can only treat the church with impatience and contempt: neither then nor now can we hope to be understood, we are instead to be threatened to capitulate to a secular power – for the Romans and their power, read the whim of politicians and the tyranny of so-called ‘equality legislation’. As the body of Christ, we exist to love and to serve God and one another, and call the world to repent and to believe and to be healed by God. We have bishops to be our Chief shepherds, as successors of the apostles, those called and set apart by Christ to be shepherds and not hirelings, laying down their lives like Christ and for Christ, and not solely to sit in the High Court of Parliament. We then may advise the state, for its own good, but primarily so that the church may continue to preach the gospel and make disciples of this nation and every nation. The world may not understand us, it may not listen to us, or like whom we are and what we do or do not do on, but we cannot allow ourselves to be conformed to the world and its ways. In loving and serving God we call the world to conform itself to his will.

Only then can we bring about that radical transformation envisaged in the Gospels: living as a community of love and not fear. It is through living it out in our lives and as the church that we can show the world a better way of being, a way which acknowledges Jesus Christ as King of all the universe, where his way of love washes away our sins with his blood, reconciles us to God and each other, and forgiving others as we ourselves are forgiven. Where the world wants blame we have to live out the love and forgiveness, which we ourselves have received from God in Christ Jesus. This then can truly be a kingdom and not of this world.

So as we prepare to enter the season of Advent, where we will prepare ourselves to greet the King of the Universe born in a stable in Bethlehem, let us acknowledge Christ as our King, whose Sacred Heart burns with love for us, whose wounds still pour out that love upon the world, and let us live as people loved, healed, restored and forgiven, that the world may believe and all creation acknowledge God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to whom be ascribed as is most right and just, all might, majesty, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever.