Christ The King
(A King who wears a Crown of Thorns)
Ezek 34: 11-12, 15-17; 1 Cor 15: 20-26, 28; Mat 25: 31-46
Fr. Nelson Lobo OFM Cap
On this last Sunday in the Liturgical Year, we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. It is a good time to reflect on this most unusual king and his kingdom. One of the earliest forms of Christian proclamation was “Jesus is Lord.” This was meant to be provocative, since Caesar was customarily described as Lord of the world. The first Christians were saying that Jesus is the one who must in every sense command, direct, and order our lives. Hail Caesar shouted the Romans. Hail Jesus shouted the First Christians. Is Jesus truly the King of our lives? That’s the hard question we need to reflect on this feast day.
The proclamation of the coming of the Kingdom dominated the preaching and teaching of Jesus. “To the other towns also I must proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God because for this purpose I have been sent.” (Luke 4:44) He taught his disciples to pray, “Thy Kingdom come.” (Mt 6:10) He told them to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be given to you besides.” (Mt 6:33) He handed on this purpose to the apostles, “Jesus said to his apostles: ‘As you go make this proclamation: The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Mt 10:7)
Since this Kingdom of God is not of this world Jesus describes it in worldly images, in parables. Since we know spiritual things indirectly through our knowledge of material things the parable goes from the known to the unknown, from the material to the spiritual. In other words, a parable is an “earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” It is this heavenly ending which is the real meaning which Jesus intended. Some parables of the Kingdom: The Sower and the seed (Mt.13:3-23) the mustard seed (Mt. 13:31-32) the growing seed (Mk 4:26-29) the wheat and the weeds (Mt. 13:24-30) the pearl of great price (Mt. 13:45-46) the unforgiving servant (Mt. 18:23-35) the workers in the vineyard (Mt. 20:1-16) the wedding feast (Mt. 22:2-14) the rich fool (Lk 12:16-21) the prodigal son. (Lk 15:11-30)
Jesus is the king, but his kingdom is not of this world. It was because nations and states were abusing their power that Pope Pius XI introduced this feast in 1925. So, this is only a recent feast in the Church, and abuse of power is what led to its introduction. Jesus did not abuse power, so he is our role model. Jesus, the humble king, is an example to those who abuse power. There is no envy or greed or lust for power in Jesus. In many ways we see that Jesus’ kingdom is totally at odds with any display of power in this world. Jesus kept company with tax-collectors, sinners and prostitutes, so much so that the authorities described Jesus as “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners.” (Luke 7:34) You would expect kings to receive important people and dignitaries, but Jesus received the lowly and rejected people of his time. Jesus was not the kingly type according to our understanding of king; Kings wear a crown. What sort of crown did Jesus wear? It was a crown of thorns. So why do we call Christ the king of kings?
Eight Biblical Reasons why we can confidently call Jesus the king.
- A king must have a throne- Jesus has a throne. (Rev 3:21)
- A King must have a crown – Jesus has a crown. (Rev 6:2).
- A king must have a scepter-the staff of authority. He has it (Heb 1:8)
- A king must have an instrument to defend his people. He has it (Rev 17:14)
- A King must have power. Jesus has it (Eccl 8:4; Mt 28:18; I Pt 2:9)
- He has dominion just like in Daniel 7.
- His subjects are also kings. (Rev 1:6)
- He shall rule with a rod of iron. (Prov 8:15; Rev 1:5, Eph 1:21)
One Law & One Banquet only
In the Kingdom of God there is only one law, the law of love. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend of these two commandments.” (Matt 22: 37-40) Jesus identified the neighbour as the one in need and said that we love the neighbour by doing to him what we would wish him to do for us. Whatever we do for the neighbour he takes as having been done to himself.
In the Kingdom of God there is only one banquet, the Eucharist, which is a foretaste of the feast we will share in the next life. The King said that we are to do this in memory of him. It reminds us that this life is not the ultimate value. Paul said, “If our hope is only in this life, we are the most miserable of all.” (1 Cor 15:19). We are waiting in joyful hope for the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ. We do not hold on to this life too tightly. We take it as a gift. We enjoy it and cherish it while we have it and we let go gracefully and thankfully when the time comes. The gift of life is great, but the Giver of life is greater still and in Him is a life that never ends.
So, has Jesus the giver of life truly become the King of our lives? Are we truly the worthy subjects of his kingdom? Do we bow to “Caesar” like the Romas did or do we bow to Jesus as the first Christians did?