Kings and queens are out of place in our American
culture and way of life. For us, kings are
little more than a social curiosity with celebrity status. We value independence, self reliance and democracy
far too much than to allow a serious role for a king in our society.
For this reason, the feast of Christ the King
presents us with a challenge. Because this
feast reminds us that Jesus Christ is the true King of heaven and earth, the
challenge is how to acknowledge and honor Jesus as the king of our lives.
This feast also presents us with a paradigm. Through his life and mission, Jesus shows us what
HE means by king, and how we can participate in the kingdom of God. The paradigm that Jesus offers as a guide is
the very opposite image of an ordinary understanding of royalty.
The challenge and paradigm both begin with
the birth of Jesus, who was born into poverty rather than wealth. His birthplace was a stable for animals
rather than a castle for monarchs. Soon
after his birth, he becomes a political fugitive rather than ruler of an
empire. With no royal army for
protection, he flees with his family to Egypt out of fear. At the age of 12, with no palace guard to watch
over him, he gets left behind in the temple, and when found, makes the odd claim
that he is about his father’s business.
As an adult, he lives as a hermit for forty
days in a desert. Afterward, he visits a
social outcast named John and asks John to baptize him. Jesus then travels the countryside as a
homeless person with no place to sleep, let alone a country estate. He preaches the good news of salvation. Some of his followers see him as a political
warrior who will save them from Roman oppression, not from the slavery of sin
and death. He eats with tax collectors
and sinners, and enlists the aid of women to lead his mission. He even treats
women as equals—hardly the mark of royalty in his day. Indeed, a woman anoints his feet with tears
and oil, rather than his head as the high priest would anoint a king of this
world.
In fact, Jesus promotes a kingdom not of this
world, where membership is freely granted to faithful servants, not earned by
loyal subjects, and where love rules supreme, not power and wealth. Those who
listen do not understand nor do they accept his message that love of God and love
of neighbor go hand in hand. Serving others
as the way to love God is not in their vocabulary.
And yet, this is the message that Jesus
delivers over and over. He informs his
followers that the Son of Man came to serve, not to be served. He tells them that they must not lord it over
others. That the greatest among them
must be the least, the one who washes the feet of the others.
Jesus demonstrates though word and deed what being
a king means and what participation in the kingdom of God entails. He heals the sick; he cares for the poor, the
vulnerable, the marginalized; he challenges injustice; he insists that mercy
and compassion overrule custom and ritual; he sums up the entire Mosaic Law
with the dual command to love God and to love neighbor as self.
Jesus is no one’s fool, however. He warns his disciples that following in his
footsteps is also risky. He makes clear
that those who challenge injustice and go against the grain to oppose greed and
extravagant accumulation can expect the same fate that he will soon endure. The only assistance Jesus offers is a sure promise
to send his Spirit to guide the way and provide the necessary defense. At first, the disciples don’t understand what
fate he has in mind. But before long,
they witness firsthand what awaits their beloved teacher, only to catch a
glimpse of their own futures—and they run.
The disciples watch from a safe distance as Jesus
is treated as an enemy of the state rather than a beloved king. He is arrested in the middle of the night,
stripped of his own garments, and given a purple cloak and a crown of thorns
rather than a bejeweled crown of gold. He
suffers a most egregious beating and torturous death, and the public disgrace
of a sign overhead that mocks his kingship.
Only after his humiliating death of sacrifice is Jesus able to claim his
throne of love. Only then does Jesus
come into his kingdom to rule the hearts of those who follow him in the way of love.
Soon, we begin our Advent preparation for the
coming of our great King, Jesus Christ.
We do this with full awareness of what participation in his kingdom really
means. Following Christ means picking up
the cross of self denial, rather than a royal scepter of power and wealth. It means having an active regard for others
and ourselves out of love for God. It
means developing and nurturing an ambition for that which has everlasting value. As St. Paul reminds us, following Jesus means
living a life worthy of the gift and calling that we have received—living in
peace and unity, with patience and humility, bearing with one another through
love—living in the Spirit of Christ our King (Eph 4:1-6; cf. 2 Pt 1:10-11).
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