Feast of Christ the King

A Feast called Christ the King might make us a bit wary. Kingship is about authority and power, two things that we have every reason to be a little uncomfortable with. We don’t have to look too far to be reminded that power and authority are things which can be easily abused. I’m sure all of us have had some personal experience of this. The workplace, the home and the religious community can easily become battlegrounds where people jostle for position. But Kingship is essential to understanding Jesus, and we need to bite the bullet, be brave and ask what it’s all about.

To start, we might wonder why the exercise of power and authority can go so wrong. I suppose power is a difficult thing to manage. If we have a sense of power over someone else, it can change our behaviour towards them. If we aren’t careful, power can be used as a way to manipulate others so they do what we want them to do, so we can get to where we want to be in life. It’s no surprise that when we do this, we rarely pick on someone our own size, because a person who is a match for us is not going to give in easily. Power struggles are often a denial of our own weakness: No-one wants to be at the bottom of the pile, because that’s the place of the nobody. So we compare ourselves to others, and find some weakness in them. Perhaps they are not as clever or popular or normal as us. If we can find a weakness in someone else that we don’t have, then we can feel better about ourselves. Then we have somewhere comfortable to stand, a rung or two away from the bottom of the ladder. But this kind of power over others is simply bullying, and the bully’s hold over someone is just a way of masking doubts, fears and insecurities.

One of the ways which power over others can be kept in check is through proper authority. But authority is not a simple matter either. We can’t just decide for ourselves that we are in charge of others. If we do this, we will quickly be asked; ‘Who are you to tell me what to do’- the answer is usually ‘nobody!’ Proper authority is something which is given. And it usually comes with a long list of duties and responsibilities for building up the common good. Authority is never simply a show of power and strength for its own sake.

In today’s Gospel we have a stark contrast between Jesus and Pilate. Pilate is the Governor of Judea, given the authority and power to act for the good of the Roman Empire, something which was often at odds with the good of the majority. And we can see that he exercises that office with little concern for justice or for the importance of truth. He finds no fault with Jesus, yet he will not save his life, even though he should. He is insecure, weak, and unjust.

When he’s questioned by Pilate, Jesus doesn’t deny his kingship. But he wants to make something very clear. He says that his kingship is not ‘of the world’ or ‘from the world’. It’s not ‘of the world’ because it is not about territory and politics. And it is not from the world, because Jesus’ kingship has real authority which comes from the Father. He has a heavenly mandate. And throughout the whole Gospel, we can see the thread of this kingship revealed by what he says and what he does. He doesn’t rule by oppression and tyranny, or provide a macho show of strength. What he does is bear witness to the truth. And this is the truth: that God is love, that God reaches out to save us: save us from our pettiness, our insecurities, our divisiveness and our wrongdoing.

The King’s throne is always a symbol of his authority and power. But in this too Jesus turns the normal world order on its head. His enthronement is on Calvary, when he’s lifted up on the throne of the Cross. In his pain, his nakedness and his vulnerability, he reveals the depth of God’s love. He’s shown as a king who doesn’t exploit the weakness and frailty that weighs us down. Instead, he makes these things his own: he shares in our vulnerability, and then lifts us up through it. His enthronement and death on the Cross is the highpoint of history, a highpoint which is not announced with great fanfares or show, but with the simple words - ‘it is finished’.

Christ’s kingship is a crucial doctrine. It reveals to us who Jesus is and what he achieves for us. And it helps us to realise that we don’t stand over and above others, but with others. We all have our frailties and our failings. And when we recognise this, we can stop playing our exhausting little games. Through Christ, we can accept our vulnerability, and in that vulnerability ask him to transform us through the love which only he has the power to give.