The Solemnity of Christ the King

"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

He replied to him,
"Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise."

Pope Pius XI instituted the Solemnity of Christ the King in 1925, reminding Christians and Catholics throughout the world of the authority that rightfully belongs to Jesus. Even as monarchies were being dismantled – often by dictators – the Church recalled the spiritual foundations of kingship. In effect, the Church gathered to itself and now treasures what the world no longer needs.

Kingship is the sole prerogative of Jesus. It is like the priesthood which belongs solely to Christ as he stands alone in the heavenly temple offering his own body and blood for our salvation. If other men are called priests, it is only in reference to the priesthood of Jesus. If other men have been called kings, they had only as much authority as He gave them. 

In the eleventh century before Christ, Israelites reluctantly adopted monarchy. Up to that time their religious leaders were judges and their secular leaders were tribal chiefs. The judges were charismatic individuals, gifted with Moses’ talent for mediation and discerning God’s will. They also had authority to call the tribes together to resist a common enemy. But the Israelites found safety in the poverty of their hills and mountains and, more often than not, were ignored by the prosperous Canaanites. Only when the Canaanites and, later, the Philistines threatened their mountain homes did the Hebrews unite and fight back.

But when the times changed and the enemy became more oppressive, the Hebrews demanded that the judge Samuel appoint a king. He relented, against his better judgment but with God's consent, and anointed a heroic young man, Saul. You remember that Saul was replaced by his protégé and rival David, whose kingdom, according to the Prophet Eli, would never end. That was the beginning of kingship. 

In the last two centuries we saw the age of kings come to an end and, with today’s feast, the title restored to its rightful owner.

I’m sure that many secular philosophers regard the Kingdom of Christ as similar to the galactic empires of Star Trek or the quaint provinces of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. It’s a harmless fantasy for people who need that sort of thing. And they may well be right in many cases; a lot of people pay lip service to their Christian religion but live under an entirely different regime.

They do not recognize that all men and women are children of God with equal rights to education, health care and opportunity. They cannot imagine that the King might live among the world’s refugees or America’s “illegal aliens.” Enchanted with royal images of orbs, scepters, crowns and thrones they cannot see him living in the filth and squalor of our broken cities. But the royal trappings never belonged to real kings; they were the world’s honors, used to co-opt befuddled rulers in their castles of sand.

Our gospel today dispels that myth. Jesus once again appears on the only throne he will claim, wearing the only crown he will choose, receiving the only homage this world can afford. In today’s gospel he most graciously welcomes his true subjects, those who stay with him in his agony and plead, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”