Loyal Subjects of the King

When I was a kid, I loved board games. One of my favorites was RISK. Did you ever play that? The object of the game was pretty simple – world domination. You started by placing your armies in a particular corner of the world – North America, Europe, Australia, etc. – and then through careful deployment of resources and skillful execution, you tried to defeat your opponents and conquer the world.

In real life though, it’s not nearly as nice of an idea. History unfortunately has known no shortage of those who have tried to conquer the world. Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, and many more who aimed to subjugate the world to his power through the sheer force of will. And while each of them fell short of his ultimate goal, they wreaked devastation and death upon untold numbers in their quest for power. The very concept of a ruler for all people should rightly appall us.

And yet, on this last Sunday of the Church’s year, that idea is something we are here to celebrate – that there is someone who is ruler of all: Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. It’s sort of a strange idea to our modern, American mentality – that all power is given to one, one to whom all glory and honor is due. And yet, as Christians, we proclaim precisely that – that Christ is the Lord of all things, of all peoples, of all times.

What does it mean for us practically to say that Jesus is king? First and foremost, Jesus is not a King in the ways that we are used to thinking about power. We see that clearly in the Gospel today. Hanging upon a cross, crucified as a criminal – Jesus's authority is far from tyrannical. Instead, he shows his power by subjugating our greatest enemy – the sin that divides us from God. In the Preface for today's Eucharistic Prayer, the text of the Mass says that Jesus conquered that sin by means of his Cross and brought all created things under his rule.

Second, if Jesus is the King of all things – heaven and earth, life and death – then he has the right to rule all things within us as well. Just as we look ahead to the day when all creation will be under his authority, so too we must also see within our own lives what we might be holding back from his grasp, and how we might bring those things back under his authority. We do this especially in the sacraments: at the Sunday Mass, when we gather humbly to worship the King; at the sacrament of reconciliation, when we allow him to remove whatever keeps us from being devoted to him. We don’t lose anything by letting Jesus be Lord of our lives. Rather, the more we devote ourselves to him – the more we let go of earthly ideas and persons and causes and devout ourselves instead to Christ the King – then the more we become worthy even now of his heavenly kingdom.

Titian, Christ and the Good Thief (c. 1566)

Lastly, the kingship of Jesus is one that we also must proclaim. We proclaim it especially by virtue of our own forgiveness. This King that we worship possessed nothing in the final moments of his earthly life – no crown apart from his thorns, no throne apart from the Cross – and yet he was still infinitely rich in one thing: his mercy. Notice how easily Jesus forgives the good thief on the cross. It takes only the smallest recognition of the latter’s sin for Jesus to freely share eternal life with him. Imagine how that man’s despair changed to overwhelming joy with just the few words, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” While we can’t as easily share the promise of heaven with others, we can readily share the healing power of mercy by our own words and actions. When we are merciful, we are in that moment like Jesus on the Cross, releasing someone else from the burden and debt of sin, sharing with them the joy of being forgiven. When we forgive, we demonstrate to someone else that their offense or grievance or wrong done toward us pales in comparison to the King who rules our heart. If Christ who is King of the Universe offers mercy so freely to sinners, what excuse could we possibly have to not do the same?

Friends, unlike the rulers of this world, Jesus’s reign is not one of destruction and domination but rather of justice, love, and peace. We serve him well when we work for the building of that kingdom on this earth – through works of mercy and service to our neighbor – even as we eagerly await the eternal kingdom of the life to come. Let us choose again today, in a purposeful way, to answer the call of our king, to respond to the grace he gives to us by choosing to be again his loyal subjects. With Jesus as our king, now and in the life to come, then he will surely remember us and bring us to reign with him in Paradise.