Kings and queens are out of place in our culture and way of life in the U.S. For us, they are little more than a media curiosity with celebrity status. We value independence, autonomy, and the right to self-determination far too much to allow a serious role for a king in our society. For this reason, celebrating Christ as King of the universe as we do today is a bit contrary to our values and way of life, especially in light of his crucifixion. One hardly expects a powerful king to be treated in such a cruel and shameful manner. The contradiction is even more dramatic considering the royal treatment Jesus had just received a short time before this shameful death.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on his donkey, his followers threw their cloaks on the road before him and proclaimed him a king sent from God: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” they shouted. The people adore Jesus as a king sent by God one day, and the next, demand his execution as a common criminal who threatens Caesar and the Roman Empire. Proof positive of how fickle people are, perhaps, but how else to explain this golden calf reaction to the apparent failure of Jesus to meet their expectations. When God fails our expectations, we look for another god with more promise.
Our relationship with Jesus today is no less dramatic, and the feast of Christ the King presents us with a challenge no less real. The challenge is how to acknowledge and honor Jesus as the king of our lives. The challenge intensifies with the paradigm offered by Jesus, the very opposite model of royalty as ordinarily understood today.
The challenge and the paradigm presented by this feast begin with the birth of Jesus, who was born into poverty rather than wealth. His birthplace was a stable for animals rather than a lavish castle for monarchs. Soon after birth, he becomes a refugee rather than ruler of an empire. With no royal army for protection, his family whisks him away to Egypt out of fear for his life. 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 was simply going about his father’s business.
As an adult, Jesus lives as a hermit for forty days in a desert. Afterwards, he visits a social outcast named John and asks John to baptize him, a truly strange request for the king. Yet, the only explanation Jesus offers is that for now it will fulfill all righteousness (Mt 3:15). Jesus then travels the countryside as a homeless person with no place to sleep, no country estate to take his rest. He preaches the good news of salvation and claims that love of enemy and prayers for those who persecute is the better choice. Even so, many of his followers see him as a political warrior who will save them from Roman oppression.
Jesus, on the other hand, wants to save them from the oppression 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 a king in his day. Indeed, a woman anoints his feet with tears and oil, rather than his head as the high priest would anoint a worldly king.
In fact, that is the whole point. Jesus promotes a kingdom not of this world, where membership is freely offered to everyone, not earned by loyal subjects. In his kingdom, 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 with peace and mercy. Serving others as the way to love God is simply not in their vocabulary.
This is the message of kingship 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. The last shall be first and the first shall be last is just not the way a king talks. 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 demonstrates what being a king means and what participation in the kingdom of God entails. Jesus is the obedient Son who is one with the father and claims that we too can one with him and the father. Jesus does the Father’s will, rather than build lavish castles, and tells his followers to conduct their own lives in the same manner. His steadfast motto is “Seek the lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near” (Is 55:6). Those who love Jesus will do the same. They will keep his commandments in union with him. Their treasure is not silver or gold, but an everlasting life of joy in an intimate relationship with God.
Jesus plays no one for a fool, however. He warns his disciples that following in his footsteps is dangerous business. So risky in fact that it may even cost them their lives. His own fate makes clear that those who challenge greed and injustice may face a similar fate. More frightful perhaps is the only assistance offered by Jesus—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 and king, 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. His enemies arrest him in the middle of the night, strip off his garments, and mock him with purple cloak and a crown of thorns rather than a bejeweled crown of gold. Jesus suffers a most egregious beating and torturous death, and the public disgrace of a sign overhead that ridicules his kingship. Only after his humiliating death does Jesus claim his throne of love. Only then does he come into his kingdom to rule the hearts of those who follow him in the way of peace and love.
Soon, we begin our Advent preparation for the coming of our great King, Jesus Christ. We do so with full awareness of the real challenge that participation in his kingdom brings to bear. Following Christ literally takes courage to pick up a daily cross of self-denial, rather than a royal scepter of power, wealth, and self-absorption. It means rejecting the lure of apparent value and nurturing an ambition for that which has lasting value. In the words of St. Paul, 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—in other words, living in the Spirit of Christ our King (Eph 4:1-6; cf. 2 Pt 1:10-11).
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