During the recent family trip to England my sisters were very interested in the life of the royals. Because of Princess Di and Megan Markel they wanted to visit the palaces and castles and estates associated with the Windsors. We saw gold and jewels and furs and art and statues from the age of opulence. I was reminded of what one wag said on going through such a palace: This is what God would have done if he had only had the money. The image of kings and queens we have in our culture is of wealth and prestige. On the other hand, we are gathered here as disciples of Jesus, in the fellowship of believers, as the followers of our royal, of Christ the King. But as the Bible tells it Christ is a very different kind of king. For a throne, he has the cross. For a crown, he has thorns. Instead of royal robes, he is stripped bare. Christ the King has trials and troubles and aches and suffers the human condition. Instead of being a blue blood, someone who is above the rest of us, Christ our king bleeds red just like we do.
Here is the paradox we face as Christians. On the one hand, as St. Paul writes, Christ is the “image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth.” “He is the head.” Pretty kingly language. At the same time when he is on the cross he cannot respond to the challenge: “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” Jesus cannot save himself. Pretty human language. He is not the kind of king who saves himself with his great force and power. He is instead a king who relies on the love of God. He can’t save himself but he can join his salvation with others. “Today you will be with me in paradise,” he tells the good thief. Let’s think about how we respond to such a king.
To claim the Christ as our true King, our very selves to God we bring. Isn’t that what Israel did when they claimed David as their king? “Here we are, your bone and your flesh.” We must do likewise. Here we are, Lord, your bone and your flesh. These bones of ours, they ache sometimes. This flesh of ours acts up sometimes. But here we are: willing to trust your divine plan more than our own preference. Here we are: placing your desire for us ahead of our own desires. You shared bone and flesh with us. We place our flesh and bones into your hands. For we believe that your only desire for us is to share life, life to the full.
To claim the Christ as our true King, only to the cross will we need to cling. The good thief in the gospel today confessed that love can overcome even pain and suffering. He saw the truth of the inscription “This is the King of the Jews” when others only sought to mock. He clung to the ability of Jesus to transform the hell of pain into the paradise of joy. The cross teaches that no matter what we are going through, God can make a way out of no way.
To claim the Christ as our true King, away from us all darkness fling. We can get depressed because things aren’t working out the way we had planned. We are anxious because our children are going down a path which is stony and rough. We are distressed that despite our best efforts we are still full of faults and failings. But St. Paul says we are “worthy to share the lot of the saints in light.” God is with us in the present tense. Bring that depression, that anxiety, that distress into the light of Jesus and see God at work in the great task of making all things new since “all were created through him, and all were created for him.”
To claim the Christ as our true King, it’s with this community that we sing. Perhaps there is a church somewhere full of the perfect. But when we look around here we find people who have hurt us, people we have hurt, people we disagree with, people who are bossy, people who don’t do much — normal people, people just like me. But it pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in Jesus, and by means of him, to reconcile everything (and everyone) in his person. So this people, with all our gifts and with all our limits are exactly the people Jesus makes into one. We are blessed to share faith with one another and to see our fellowship as a foretaste and promise of the pascal feast of heaven.
To claim the Christ as our true King, we must share the news of God’s good thing. St. Paul tells us that Jesus is the first-born of all creatures; primacy is his in everything. In him everything continues in being. Our faith, therefore, requires more than clutching Jesus to our own bosom. Jesus is the first-born: we must help others to see him as their elder brother. Jesus has primacy: we must convey how every aspect of life makes sense in him. Jesus maintains everything in being: we must communicate to everyone how good news spills over to fill the whole world. Faith is like a magic penny — only by giving it away, by lending it and spending it, do you end up having more.
To claim the Christ as our true King we should work to make the heavens ring. Pope Francis tells us to let everyone know the joy of the gospel. No more sour Christians. Live in a way that shows how the mercy of God fills us with happiness. Glow with the awareness that our hopes our not limited to this world only. Dance with the divine partner who assures us that all will be well, all manner of things will be well. Christ is King of this world and of the next. Every person and every event is made for him. To Christ the King be the glory for ever and ever. AMEN!
