The Kind Of King Our Lord Jesus Is

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

On the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Dayton, MN

Sunday, November 21, 2021

At the end of the liturgical year, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. Some people have argued that this feast is considerably anachronistic. By that they mean it belongs to the past, that since we no longer have much to do with kings nowadays, it is no longer fitting in the present time. They suggested may be we should change metaphors and celebrate the feast of Christ the President. Although the notion of kingship is alien to many of us, and history books show that a lot of human kings, up and down the centuries were cruel, bloodthirsty, and corrupt, nevertheless, the metaphor should remain. Why? The whole idea is that Christ must become the Lord of our lives. He is the one to whom an absolute submission is due. Presidents serve at our pleasure. We vote them in and we vote them out. But when it comes to Christ, it cannot be that way. That’s why the metaphor of kingship, even though it is politically awkward for us, is theologically right. We don’t vote him in and out. We submit completely to him. He must be the Lord of every aspect of our lives— private, public, physical, intellectual, spiritual, our friendships and relationships. Christ must be the center and the Lord of everything we do. So, he is in deed the King. 

But what kind of King is Jesus Christ? The salient point is this: we are not dealing with another Louis XIV, or Napoleon, or Caesar Augustus. Just the contrary. We are dealing with the one who rightly reigns over all those earthly kings and who does not resemble them in any way. Jesus is King of every aspect of our lives. He is a different kind of King. The first clue to the kind of King he is comes from today’s Gospel (John 18:33b-37) which is John’s account of Jesus’ conversation with the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. After summoning Jesus before him, Pilate asks him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus famously responds, “My kingdom does not belong to this world.” By that he is implying that he is a King, but not a worldly king, not a head of a worldly kingdom. As we know, from the very beginning of his preaching and ministry, Jesus is all about a kingdom. He is proclaiming the kingdom of God. His kingdom does not belong to the power structure of this world that relies upon violence, cruelty, and domination to gain power and to persists in power. A good example of this kind of power structure is the one that Pontius Pilate represented. Romans did not send nice and gentle people to be governors of their provinces, particularly the province of Judea, which is famously restive. Pilate is a very tough man; he knew how to play the game of dirty and tough politics. Aside that, Pilate also knew how to deal bluntly and brutally with any political unrest. He carried out mass crucifixions to respond to rebellion. So, he is a prime example of a worldly king. 

So, what differentiates Jesus from cruel kings? The Lord says, “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Worldly kingship has to do with power, self-aggrandizement, and violence. This is true for Caesar, for Machiavelli, to Hitler, to Stallion, to Idi Amin and to present day dictators and wanna be kings. But the kingship that Jesus represents is ordered to the truth. Its purpose is to guide people to the truth, which is another way of saying, guiding them toward God. Pope Benedict XVI speaks about what he called “dictatorship of relativism,” which is unfortunately the attitude that governs much of the life of many people today. Relativism says that truth does not matter; that as an individual, you can decide what you want to believe. It says you don’t need to be purposeful or focused. The danger with this culture is that it produces tyrants who oftentimes use this ideology of relativism to emerge and cease control. When you relativize the truth, when truth does not matter, when each person can decide what they want to believe, when there is no objective truth, when truth becomes personal both intellectually and morally, when you say, it is up to a person to decide what the truth is, when moral absolutes fall, tyrants walk into that space and then impose their will. Everyone— political leaders, religious leaders, public servants, private citizens etc should serve the truth. Everyone should be conditioned by the truth. Jesus tells Pilate that he has come to testify to the truth and anyone who loves the truth hears his voice. By implication, anyone who loves the truth follows him. In response to Jesus, Pontius Pilate who himself is a prime example of worldly power says, “What is truth?” For power person, truth is relative or subjective. Truth is whatever works, whatever that helps you maintain power and dominion. It’s just that sort of man who would blithely send an innocent man to be crucified. It’s because Pilate is indifferent to the truth, that’s why he sanctioned the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

So, to say that Jesus is our King is to say that we have surrendered our lives utterly to the truth that he represents and embodies. We are not under the aegis of this worldly power brokers. True kingship has to do with the truth. It has to do with great encounter with God who is truth. This is what the feast of Christ the King is about. Are we willing to give ourselves utterly to this King?