CHRIST THE KING: LORD OF HISTORY AND SAVIOUR OF SOULS
The Solemnity of Christ Our Universal King is a celebration, where we proclaim Him as the Lord of our human history and Saviour of our spiritual souls. This implies Christ must be King, Lord and Saviour of our hearts and lives.
HISTORY OF CHRIST THE KING
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, commonly referred to as the Feast of Christ the King, Christ the King Sunday, or Reign of Christ Sunday is a feast in the liturgical year that emphasises Christ’s true kingship in our lives.
The Feast of Christ the King, also known as the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925.
BACKGROUND
Pope Pius XI created the feast to respond to the growing secularism and atheism in the world. He believed that removing Jesus Christ and his law from public life would lead to continued discord among people and nations.
It was obvious, rulers and kings of the earth have failed to sustain world peace. There were constant conflicts and wars, he decided to establish the solemnity to point to a king “of whose kingdom there shall be no end.”
King of peace whose kingdom is love, peace, joy and tranquillity and installing Him in the heart of men will bring about lasting peace.
ORIGINAL DATE
The title of the feast was Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Regis: Our Lord Jesus Christ the King), and the date was established as “the last Sunday of October – the Sunday, that is, which immediately precedes the Feast of All Saints.”
CURRENT DATE
In his encyclical “motu proprio Mysterii Paschalis” of 1969, Pope Paul VI amended the title of the Feast to “Domini Nostri Iesu Christi universorum Regis” (Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe).
He also moved it to the new date of the final Sunday of the liturgical year. Through this choice of date, “the eschatological importance of this Sunday is made clearer”.
The feast was assigned the highest rank of solemnity. The liturgical vestments for the day are white.
CELEBRATION
The feast is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as, in Lutheran, Anglican, and other Protestant churches.
OUR THEME
This Sunday’s readings describe Christ’s enthronement as the Victorious King of heaven and earth in glory. They tell us about the everlasting kingship of power, authority, dominion and glory.
The biblical texts also tell about the kingship and kingdom of Christ. It is one of grace, majesty, love, service, and glory. It is a kingdom that begins and ends with Christ Jesus.
It is a kingdom of truth, justice and peace and there is no pretence, cowardice and falsehood. In other words, it is a kingdom of truthful testimony without fear or favour of anyone.
Fundamentally, the readings answer, the question of why Jesus Christ is our King.
WHY CHRIST IS OUR KING
(1) Christ is God, the Creator of the universe. Hence, he wields supreme power over all things; All things were created through Him.
(2) Christ is our Redeemer. He purchased us by His precious Blood and made us His property and possession.
(3) Christ is the Head of the Church. He holds above all things the primacy place of power and authority.
(4) God bestowed upon Christ the nations of the world as His special possession and dominion.
FIRST READING: DANIEL 7:13-14
The vision of old in the prophecy of Daniel prefigures the kingship of Christ. It demonstrates Christ as our Universal King with a kingdom, dominion, and glory of Christ. The glorious vision of the Son of Man is the prefiguration of Christ as King of all ages.
In other words, the prophet Daniel testified to the everlasting kingship of Christ with its dominion and glory. It is a kingship of a kingdom where for all ages, all the peoples, nations, and languages will serve him forever.
PSALM 93
The response to today’s psalm is: the Lord is our King, robed in majesty. It invites us to establish our stronghold or firmness in God.
It demonstrates the Lord’s permanence over all the earth and his glory, splendour, and might as Lord forever.
The psalmist proclaims The Lord is King shows us how Israel celebrates God as the King of all creation.
SECOND READING: REVELATION 1:5-8
The Book of Revelation 1:5-8 declares praises, glory and power to the firstborn of creation and the ruler of all kings and kingdoms: Jesus Christ. He is the Servant King who sets us free from our sins at the cost of his blood. Christ’s passion and death on the Cross is one availing act in time which is an expression of the love of God.
He is the Alpha and the Omega. The one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty. He is the King of all ages, histories, times and space forever.
He is the one who loved us, freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father.
BY THE ACT OF SACRIFICE, JESUS HAS DONE TWO THINGS FOR US
(b) He made us priests. The point is this: Under the old way, only the priest had the right of access to God. When a Jewish male adult entered the Temple, he could pass through the Courts of the Gentiles, women, and Israelites–but there, he must stop.
No Israelites, who are not of the Levitical priesthood line can enter the Court of the Priests. Nor could he go nearer the Holy of Holies.
This is what Christ did for us in him, and through him, access to the presence of God is now open to every man. There is a priesthood of all believers. We can come boldly to the throne of grace (Heb.4:16) because there is a new and living way into the presence of God (Heb.10:19-22).
THE COMING GLORY REVELATION 1:7
This biblical text reinforces the central theme or motto of the Book of Revelation. Confidence in Christ’s triumphant return would rescue Christians in distress from the cruelty of their enemies.
(a) He has given us royalty. Through him, we may become the true sons of God. If we are sons of the King of kings, then we are of the lineage and heritage of kingship or royalty.
(i) To Christians, the return of Christ is a promise on which to feed the soul. The end-time biblical revelations left us with the unchanging truth that the day will come when Jesus Christ will be Lord of all.
In that hope, there is strength and comfort for Christians for whom life was difficult and for whom faith meant death.
(ii) To the enemies of Christ, the return of Christ is a threat. The fundamental fact is that men crucified Christ, but the day will come when they look at him again. This time, he will not be a broken figure on a cross but a regal figure to whom universal dominion has been given.
THE GOD IN WHOM WE TRUST REVELATION 1:8
I am alpha and omega, says the Lord God, he who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. This is one of the most tremendous descriptions of the God we trust and adore.
He is alpha and omega. Alpha is the first letter, and omega is the last of the Greek alphabet, the phrase alpha indicates God’s completeness. This expression tells us that God is complete. He has in himself what is called the bountiful and boundless life, which embraces all and transcends all.
God is he who is, who was and who is to come, that is to say, a God who is the Eternal. He existed before time began. He is now. And he will be when time ends. In God, with God and through God, all things came to being. Nothing in time, space or history comes into existence without God.
God is the Almighty. In Greek, the word for Almighty is “Pantokrator” which describes the one who has dominion over all things.
The kingship and dominion of Christ are the first and last of all created and existing things.
THE GOSPEL: JOHN 18:33-37
The Gospel text presents the drama between Pilate and Jesus Christ at his passion. With an air of superiority, authority and arrogance, Pilate questioned Christ’s kingship. However, resiliently and humbly, Jesus affirmed and testified to his kingdom of peace, justice, truth and love.
Indeed, the Gospel of John testifies to what a King Christ is. Affirmatively, Jesus answered: “You say I am a king and for this, I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to God listens to my voice”. Equally, he acknowledged that “My kingdom does not belong to this world”.
Consequently, Christ is a suffering king, a servant king, a truthful king, a powerful but humble king, the king of kings, and the first among equals. Christ is a known king and an eternal and heavenly king. Equally, his kingdom is one of authority, power, longevity, love, peace, truth, reconciliation, justice, grace and heavenly.
JESUS AND PILATE
This is the most dramatic account of the trial of Jesus in the New Testament. The Jews hated Christ, and to do away with him, they forgot all mercy, all sense of proportion, all justice, all their principles, even God. Never in history was the insanity of hatred so vividly shown.
Therefore, the Jews, from start to finish, were seeking to use Pilate for their purposes. They could not kill Jesus themselves. So, they were determined that the Romans would kill him for them.
On the part of Pilate was the Roman governor over Idumaea, Judaea and Samaria. And he was bound by duty to maintain peace by law and order. Though, he would have loved to set an innocent man free. He was caught in the net of conspiracy of the Jewish religious authority that there was no escape from it.
In the end, Pilate admitted defeat. He abandoned Jesus to the mob because he had no courage to make the right decision and do the right thing.
THE CHARACTER OF PILATE
Pilate has an ingrained attitude of contempt. He asked Jesus if he was a king. Jesus asked whether he asked this based on what he had discovered. Or based on information indirectly received. Pilate answered: “Am I a Jew?
How do you expect me to know anything about Jewish affairs?” He was too proud to involve himself in what he regarded as Jewish squabbles and superstitions. And that pride was what made him a bad governor exactly. No one can govern a people if he does not attempt to understand them and enter into their frame of thought and mind.
There is a kind of superstitious curiosity about Pilate. Pilate was superstitious rather than religious, fearing that there might be something in it. He was afraid to decide in favour of Jesus because of the Jews. Equally, he was scared to make or take a pronouncement against Jesus because he had the lurking suspicion that God might be in this.
At the heart of Pilate was a wistful longing. When Jesus said that he had come to witness to the truth. Pilate wanted to know “What is truth?” cynically and sardonically.
In Pilate, we see the failure of leadership with a lack of courage, sincerity and double standards diplomacy. A true leader speaks without fear or favour of anyone.
THE MAJESTY OF JESUS AS KING
In the dramatic trial of Christ, one could not help to note that it was Christ who was on trial but the Jews and Pilate.
First, Jesus speaks with utter directness to us of his kingdom; it is not, he says, of this earth. Second, Jesus declares why he came into the world. Jesus came to bear witness to the truth. That is, he came to tell men the truth about God, the truth about themselves, and the truth about life.
Fundamentally, Christ came to tell men the truth. That is one of the great reasons why we must either accept or refuse Christ. There is no halfway measure about the truth man either accepts the truth or rejects it. And Christ is the truth.
The physical courage of Jesus is worthy of emulation by Christians. Even when Pilate had him scourged, and he looked bruised, wretched and crushed, Jesus was never damned in the spirit. He stood high to speak out for the truth, dignity and resilience.
Christ is not only a heavenly man but also the ideal man and the pattern of manhood. It is always true that whatever else we say or do not say about Jesus, his sheer heroism is without parallel. Here indeed is a man of character.
PURPOSE OF THE FEAST OF CHRIST THE UNIVERSE KING.
- When he proclaimed: Pax Christi in Regno Christi (the peace of Christ in the reign of Christ) he meant we live in the peace of Christ.
- When we surrender our lives to Him, accept Him as our God, Lord, Saviour, and King and allow Him to reign over and in our lives.
- In all, this great Solemnity of today wants us to choose the Lord Jesus as our King, Lord and Saviour amidst the loyalties we profess or follow in life.
- The feast is meant to give the faithful hope and the assurance that Christ will reign forever.
- It is also intended, to proclaim Christ’s royalty over individuals, families, societies, governments, and nations.
- It invites and challenges us to enthrone Christ in our hearts, lives, histories and situations as King, Lord and Saviour.
- It will bring about the reign of peace and end to terrors, conflicts, wars, and hatred.
- The Feast of Christ the King has an eschatological dimension, pointing to the end of time when the kingdom of Jesus will be established in all its fullness to the ends of the earth.
CHRIST KINGSHIP AND KINGDOM
These are the implications of the celebration for Christians and the world:
a. Christ is a suffering king,
b. A servant king,
c. A truthful king,
d. A powerful but humble king,
e. He is the King of kings,
f. Lord of all lords.
g. Saviour of the world visible and invisible.
h. The first among all creatures and things,
i. A known king.
j. As well as an eternal and heavenly king.
k. Equally, Christ’s kingdom is one of authority, power, longevity, love, peace, truth, reconciliation, justice, grace and heavenly oriented.
CHRIST THE KING AND US
The irony of our faith and this celebration is that If Christ and his kingdom are not in us or do not reign over us. Then it is prettily insignificant if we shout him out to all.
Hence, today’s feast is timely. It calls us to renew our loyalty to Jesus, our Saviour and King and commit our love for him the way we love others.
We must accept Christ the King as our God, Lord, King, and Saviour and surrender our lives to him.
Christ should be acclaimed as our Lord and King. And this should not only be with our lips but also with our bodies, thoughts, hearts and will.
We must be humble and serve the disciples of Christ. A mighty yet humble and serving King.
We must allow Christ’s kingdom of Peace, Love, Mercy, Joy, Light, and Justice to reign through us to the world without peace, love, mercy, joy and full of darkness and injustice.
THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST OUR KING IN MODERN DAYS
Today, it is hard to find among the leaders of the world, the Church, and the family, the spirit of sacrifice and self-giving for others. The qualities of love, mercy, peace, truth and justice are gone, especially among religious leaders. And we are left with tyrants who acclaim Christ as Lord and King but only with lips-praises or a simple eye service. Their hearts, actions and lifestyles are contrary to the kingship, kingdom and personality of Christ.
FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS
Is Christ enthroned in your life as Lord, Saviour and King?
Is following Christ just mere lips praise or sheer eye services for you?
What does this universal feast of Christ the King mean to you?
An annual liturgical or ritualistic celebration? Or a genuine moment to pledge your allegiance and commitment to Christ, King, Saviour and Lord of our hearts and will?
Are you aware that the kingdom and kingship of Christ is one of truth and life, holiness and grace, justice, love and peace?
TODAY’S SOLEMNITY
Christ must also reign in our families, marriages, businesses, schools, workplaces, societies and churches. It is not enough to acclaim Him, King by words, songs, banners, symbols or rites. We must enthrone over our existence and affairs.
OUR PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, Our King, Lord and Saviour of all time and place. There is no exception to your rule among and within us. Let your grace help us be subjects of a kingdom that transforms death into life, fear into courage, darkness into light, and falsehood into truth. People whose testimony turns war into peace, sadness to joy, blindness to seeing and self-importance to service of our brothers and sisters by the quality of their Christian living as priests, prophets and kings to the glory of God the Father. Amen
