The Kingship of Jesus Christ

Homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King

The liturgy of this day is rather ruthless in confronting us with the character of Christ’s Kingship. Both the passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians and the excerpt from the Gospel of Saint Luke link the celebration of the Kingship of Christ directly to his death by crucifixion.

However, the first reading also throws a special light upon it. According to this passage from the Second Book of Samuel, David enters into a covenant of kingship with the people of Israel in the presence of God. It is a kingship modeled on God’s own relationship to the people as their shepherd. It is, therefore, a ministry to their needs. There is one more aspect of this brief passage which is important: David has already been anointed King of Judah, so that his anointing as King of the separated Northern Kingdom of Israel effects a reconciliation in his person between the two halves of God’s people.

The passage from Colossians also speaks of a reconciliation. It is here a reconciliation in the person of Jesus between God and the human community, not between Jew and Gentile, as is usually the case in St. Paul’s writings. The hymn which is quoted links the kingship and primacy of Jesus through his reconciling death with his role in the plan of creation in which all things are integrated or held together by their relationship to him. As an image of the invisible God and firstborn of the dead, he has the fullness of divinity dwelling in him. Consequently, in him are now reflected all the divine attributes, which are otherwise reflected only severally and in scattered fashion in various spiritual beings. As Paul has written before, the whole universe suffers from its estrangement from God and from its consequent disintegration. In the death and resurrection of Jesus, all is drawn back into proper focus. It is this which constitutes the kingship of Jesus, exercised more intimately in his body, the church, but also universally in creation.

The passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke, full of allusions to Psalms 22 and 69, presents the kingship of Jesus and a contrast between mockery and deep reverence. Both Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 speak of mockery and jeering by the crowd as Jesus hangs on the cross. Given these allusions, the scene in the Gospel of Saint Luke seems to be a kind of debate whether Jesus is indeed the chosen, the Messiah, the anointed King of Israel. The argument on the side of those who mock is that the one who cannot even save himself from an ignominious and terrible death cannot be respected as a Savior-King for others. The argument on the other side, in the mouth of the second criminal, seems to rest on nothing more than the sheer innocence of Jesus, but expresses confidence in his coming into his royal power. The evangelist ends the exchange with the promise of Jesus that the other is to enter paradise immediately in company with Jesus. That sentence says more than at first appears to modern readers and listeners. A non-biblical tradition had it that the priestly Messiah would open the sealed gates of the enclosed Garden of Eden which was God’s promise to the faithful.

This argument is really not so different from the one that goes on constantly in our own times and continues throughout history. On the one hand, those who mock, discreetly or blatantly, point out that the crucified is hardly a key to the conduct of affairs in the “real world.” On the other hand, there are those who are convinced that because of his innocent death, Jesus comes into the royal power to open the gates of the sealed the Garden of Eden, and that it happens now, not in some ethereal future. That is the Kingship of Christ, and it is a different kind of kingship, a different mode of government from that to which we are accustomed. It is the messianic rule of a Savior-King who truly has the power to change oppressive structures.

As is the case in any kingdom, there must be a relationship between the sovereign and the people. God’s part in this relationship has been revealed to us through both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. Our part in this relationship is initiated by our baptism and confirmation. Jesus has given us his body and his blood in the sacrifice on Mount Calvary. However, he has also left us his body and blood in the Eucharist we celebrate as an act of worship and adoration for our King. As we bring yet another liturgical year to a close, we are reminded of the relationship that exists between us and our God, a relationship that has been formed through the Incarnation of Jesus. Those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus benefit from his sacrificial death and are promised that we too will rise from the dead to live with God forever.