Kingship of Christ

Pilate, a Roman governor asking a man standing wounded and naked in humiliation, “are you the king of the jews?” was a paradox. It is clear in Jesus’ answer to Pilate that the kingdom is strange to Pilate. It is not a kingdom that orders slavish submission. Jesus’ power is to give life, and only one who can give life has true authority. Without him nothing exists. It is through him everything is created, he is the wisdom, in him all flesh (creation) shall see the salvation of our God.

Pope Pius XI instituted the solemnity of Christ the king in 1925 in the context of the growing nationalism and secularization around the world which would potentially disrupt peace. Christ has sovereignty over all creation, including human history. It is to keep in our heart that Christ leads and guides history. That is our confidence even when strange things happen. There are things we need to learn from history.

Christ guides the history by dwelling in our hearts, making in us hunger and thirst after justice, peace and love. It demands the path of self-denial and sacrifice. It may appear both as agreement and resistance, it may be found both within ourselves and outside of ourselves and our community. We need to be conscious that our focus is Christ, not ‘my ways and traditions.’ What we long for is truth, life, holiness, grace, justice, love and peace.

Christ reigns in our hearts by guiding the lowly and especially the young generation by truth. He gives strength to the disheartened, and vision for the young. As a shepherd Christ gathers us all. Only when we understand in Christ, the wisdom through whom everything is created, the self-emptying sacrifice through which he gave life to all, the truth that directs history and strengthens the weak, the shepherd gathering us all together, can we really understand what it means by the kingship of Christ. once we recognize it both in private and in public life, society will receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.

If the nationalist and secularist challenges were of ideological and political context, today we can see religious nationalism growing in an alarming way in the name of every religion. Unfortunately their claim is to be original and traditional form of religion and faith. Secular and consumerist patterns have entered religion very cunning way. Economics and corporate market decide the policies and vision for the future. Problems lie in ideologies politicised because of arrogance and pride. They do not sustain neither humanity nor creation.

Within religion, accepting the authority of Christ we need to realise what was religion and God that Christ introduced to us. If we cannot follow that, our religion and God are mere ideological frameworks. The sovereignty of Christ is not a war-cry. The reign of Christ is not when Christians are ruling the world. The kingship of Christ teaches us more of tenderness and gentleness. We are almost recovering from a pandemic. Climate change is going to make devastating effects in the future. In the midst of death and suffering the rule of Christ gives us hope and confidence to stand together in solidarity, fraternity, compassion, and peace. Christ reigns in our heart. To experience the kingdom, we need to act. Christ wants to be king here, not king ruling in the clouds.