Isn’t it quite amazing (At least it is to me!) that royalty in all its various manifestations can have such a fascination for us here in the United States, even though the whole concept is alien to our national ethos? What do we really know about royalty? What has our experience been? Nothing.... nothing.

I think it may be this very ignorance that allows us to embrace the notion of Christ as King because it allows us to expand and mold the concept of kingship to include what Jesus Himself claimed, a rule of truth, or as the liturgy today will proclaim, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.

What is the truth that Jesus claims to be at the very foundation of His kingdom? It is this: that He was sent by the Father to reveal the truth that God loves each one of us unconditionally, without exception. He claims that He is God’s revelation of Self, that in seeing Him, we see God; in hearing Him, we hear God; in living by His word, we are living by the word of God; and that it is this truth that is genuinely life-giving for us. He said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

All kingship is about power. The question that we have to ask ourselves is this: What power do we allow to shape and influence our lives? Is it the power of domination over others? The power that comes from believing that we are more worthy than anyone else? Is it the power that comes from money or position or prestige? Is it the power that movies and tv and advertising has over us? Is it the power that our celebrity culture exerts? Or, on the other hand, is it the power that we acknowledge that Jesus Christ has over us?

“My Kingdom is not of this world,” He said. Do we show, by our lives, that we are influenced by the ideals of a kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace? That’s the question. Truth and life, holiness and grace, they all go hand in hand. To be part of Christ’s kingdom means that there should be a real transparency about our lives, truth and life, holiness and grace. Such transparency is very, very rare, even amongst the most devoted of Christ’s followers. We have, all of us, a certain dark side to us that we are not very proud of, indeed that we are ashamed of, that we know in our hearts is not consistent with being a follower of Jesus Christ. And so, we are called to gradually remove that darkness, to live lives of truth, holiness and grace.

Jesus said, “Let your light shine before all, that seeing your good works, they may glorify the Father. A certain transparency about our lives, that people can see Christ Jesus working through us and in us.... a kingdom of justice, love, and peace. What a wonderful ideal! Peace.... peace that we all so dearly want for ourselves and for our world. It will never, never be actually achieved unless we actively promote justice and love. Justice, that God’s place in the world be openly acknowledged and that all people be treated fairly and compassionately simply because of their common humanity and the fact that they are members of the kingdom, that every single human being is loved by God, is a brother or sister of Christ our King.

We are all members of His Kingdom and He said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Since our parish has the great privilege of being named “Christ the King,” surely we have an even greater obligation to work together to make His kingdom visible amongst ourselves and in our immediate surroundings. Truth and life, holiness and grace, justice, love and peace may seem more urgent in other parts of the world, but let us not be victims of our own arrogance or spiritual pride, but rather, make every effort that we can to make these qualities visible in our own personal lives. And then, then we may hope that they will spread to the rest of Christ’s Kingdom. Amen.