Christ is King

This Sunday ends the long liturgical season of Pentecost, often called Ordinary Time. It's a day when the Bible readings all reflect the theme of Christ's rule, God's Kingdom. But, even though there is plenty of kingly language in the Bible, Christians have celebrated the reign of Christ for less than a hundred years.

This feast was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. Europe and the United States had just been involved in the most atrocious war humanity had known, the first World War. It was a war that saw a new level of brutality – brutality brought on by technology like the machine gun and warplanes and poison gas that crept unseen across battle fields. Responding to the rise of secularism and nationalism, in a time when fascism was on the rise, Pope Pius sought to remind Christians that we do not owe our allegiance to any political leader – no Kaiser or Prince or Czar or President has any right to demand our worship and structure our lives. Only Jesus is our true ruler.

Pope Pius said, “[Christ] must reign in our wills, which should obey the laws and precepts of God. [Christ] must reign in our hearts, which should spurn natural desires and love God above all things, and cleave to [God] alone. [Christ] must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls …”

When we celebrate the feast of Christ the King, we should be acknowledging and celebrating the fact the Jesus Christ is Lord of our lives. But… is he?

Many of us serve other Kings: we are ruled by pride of nation – putting being an American over being a Christian. We are ruled by love of money – worshiping wealth and accumulation of possessions over serving the poor. We are ruled by our anger – letting fear and sadness and pain be in charge of how we respond to people in our family, in our community, in our world. We are ruled by power – gravitating towards people who have status and social might, hoping that their glamour may rub off onto us.

If Jesus is our King then we must be ruled by other things, attributes viewed as soft in our world today. Following Jesus means welcoming all to share our table, sharing in the abundance and security of our community. Jesus as King means that we should never turn away one child, one immigrant, one prisoner from welcome into that Kingdom. Following Jesus means offering forgiveness to those who have hurt you, not letting the pain of betrayal or grudges be your ruler. Jesus as King means freedom from the pulls and powers of this world that seek to draw us into a chaotic madness.

May all your actions proclaim that Jesus is your King.

Blessings,

Rev Jill