Are You a King?

We arrive at the culmination of the liturgical year with the celebration of the Feast of Christ the King. Many people might question the purpse of this feast, since kings aren't rulers of nations any longer. How can modern people understand the meaning of the title if we do not have kings any longer. However, the readings for the day present us with a complete picture of what the Church means in ascribing this title to Jesus, a title that can be understood in any time and place.

The first reading from Daniel is an expectation of a future Messiah. Daniel is writing to a community of Jews oppressed by foreign kings, and they find themselves in this situation due to the unfaithfulness of Israel's kings. Daniel sets his sights on a future king who possesses ultimate power, whose rule is not just for Jews but for all people, and whose rule shall never end. This hope is that of the entire people of Israel in Daniel's time, a desire that grows over the years until the coming of Jesus, in whom Christians see as the fulfillment of this hope.

In the second reading from the book of Revelation, we encounter a description similar to that in Daniel. The author deliberately makes this connection for his audience, who are experiencing the trials of the Roman persecution. The Roman Empire claimed to have ultimate power, universal rule over all peoples, and boasted that their rule would never end. This passage from Revelation is a direct challenge to the claims of the empire and a profession of faith in Jesus, in whom we find our hope and strength against the powers of the world.

The Venerable Bede, the early Church father, points out that in rejecting the earthly kingdom and establishing the kingdom of God on earth as a foretaste of the kingdom to come, Jesus anoints the subjects of his kingdom as priests who must offer themselves as a sacrifice for others just as Christ did for us: "Since the King of Kings and the celestial Priest united us to his own body by offering himself up for us, there is no one of the saints who is spiritually deprived of the office of the priesthood, since everyone is a member of the eternal Priest" (Bede, Explanation of the Apocalypse, 1.6).

The kingship of Christ is something Pilate cannot possibly comprehend, as we see in today's Gospel. The kingdom of Jesus does not belong to this world, it is not about fighting military wars with earthly rulers. Instead, the kingship of Christ is one of truth, and the subjects of Jesus' kingdom are those who belong to the truth. The kingdom of Jesus will indeed face violence and opposition from worldly kingdoms because they are built upon falsehood. The kingdsoms of the world in every age claim to save us from war, poverty, and the like, but those claims are always and everywhere lies designed to enslave human beings. Again, it is only Jesus who can bring salvation and truth to our lives: that is the fundamental message of this feast day. We await the fulness of Jesus' kingdom that exists on earth as a promise of the one for which we pray: thy kingdom come!

Jesus proclaims his kingship right before mounting the cross, the throne from which he reigns. If we wish to be his subjects, we must be crucified as well. Let us close our meditation with a reflection from a famous theologian of the 20th century who offered this thought and prayer for this feast day thus: "We must bear witness to this truth by what we sacrifice and what we venture. We must want to be witnesses to Christ and subjects of his kingdom, and have the courage to accept abasement. Right and truth are not necessarily what seems noble and glorious, what the world will accept and heartily applaud. No, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not comprehended it. In us too there is darkness. That shrinking from the light is part of our own heart, and so Jesus the man of sorrows stands before us and says to us: 'Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.' Without making pronouncements about the Church and her power, without thinking of the Church in terms of party politics, could we not make room in our hearts and say: Disperse the darkness of my heart and allow your truth - which is humility, faithfulness, hoping against hope, blessed truth - to be in me, so that your power may triumph by drawing everything to you, as you hang there, lifted up upon the cross, even my poor heart" (Karl Rahner S.J., Biblical Homilies, "There Stands Truth", Feast of Christ the King 1958).