Many of the feast days of the church have been with us for centuries, some going back to the earliest years of the Church. But not Christ the King Sunday, which we celebrate this week. That was created in the wake of the First World War, when the world reckoned with the devastation that human empires could bring about with modern weaponry.
Christ the King was never about proclaiming a Christian nation or about worldly power: it was created to promote healing by setting our hearts on eternal reign of Christ. While the kingdoms of this world seem to know only war and destruction, as Christians we proclaim a King who reconciles, restores, forgives, and heals.
The nations of the world struggle mightily with what to do with their power and frequently turn oppressive or totalitarian when their power is unchecked. We speak of “kings,” but it hasn’t always mattered whether they were monarchies or not. Far too often, nations have chosen the path of self-aggrandizement and the accumulation of power, causing great suffering.
This is not the way of the cross. To be a citizen, a subject, of the way of Jesus, is to live and love with selfless abandon, forgiving freely and respecting the dignity of every human being.
Christ the King Sunday concludes our church year, turning us not merely to Advent but to the fullness of eternal life: we are “citizens” of a world without beginning or end, whose nature is not war and strife but ingathering and restoration.
When we sing of Christ the King, we are singing not of nationhood, but of peace, not of war, but of reconciliation, not of power, but of love.
Faithfully,
