Reflection for the Feast of Christ the King

11-24-2019Weekly ReflectionFr. Julius Kundi

The lamb who was slain is worthy to receive strength and divinity, wisdom and power and honor: to him be glory and power forever and ever. Indeed Christ is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. Who was, who is and who is to come. We began the liturgical year with Him and today we end it with this special Feast of His: Christ the King. Next Sunday we begin a new one with the first Sunday of Advent.

Most of the feasts of the liturgical year celebrate EVENTS in the life of Christ. This feast however celebrates an IDEA: Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The book of Revelation 1: 5,6 revealed that He is ‘The Ruler of the Kings of the earth’ but then added that we too share in His Kingship for he has made us ‘ a line of kings, priests to serve His God and Father’. Yes, Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and today we celebrate that kingship.

Although the Feast of today goes back only to its institution by Pope Pius XI in 1925, but the idea of Jesus’ kingship goes back to the earliest days of Christianity. It had its origin in the works, the signs, Jesus performed and the authority with which he proclaimed the kingdom of God. However, we need to remind ourselves that Christ’s kingship does not imply domination or oppression. It is rather a kingship or Lordship that is creative in those who acknowledge it. The Divine Lordship of Christ brings a person into a new dimension of being and of life. As Fr. Eugene Maly will say, ‘the person is brought into the liberating sphere of the non-world, the divine’. More fascinating, Father Maly goes on to say that if Jesus is Lord and King for a person, he has a claim on the person to listen to his words and respond to them: listen and respond , not with pious thoughts, but with deeds. And l can say one's happiness in this world and in the next depends on this kind of response.

The Gospel tells us how to respond to Christ’s lordship over us. The key idea is that Jesus will never be king of our hearts unless we serve our deprived sisters and brothers as he did. St. Luke in today's gospel reveal this, that if we want to think of Christ as a king, we must allow Jesus' own actions to define the meaning of His kingship.

The Pope explains this gospel clearer by maintaining that in today’s gospel we have the demanding responsibility of making God’s kingdom known in the world – not a kingdom of political power obtained through weapons and violence, but a kingdom of truth, love and service.

For St. Paul, the ideal kingdom is not something merely hoped for as a future gift, but something being worked for by Christians in the present time. By this he means we should let our allegiances and cooperation to His will be authentic to enable Him reveal His kingdom here on earth as it is in Heaven.

The word of God in scriptures also help us to understand that loyalty and cooperation with the sovereign power to the Kingship of Christ come with rewards. Principally, believers experience the glorious freedom of the sons and daughters of God. Under the sovereignty of Christ the King , we can no longer be ruled or consumed by principalities and powers of this world. With Christ as our Exalted King, we celebrate our new identity and citizenships in the everlasting Kingdom of God.

Fr. Julius

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