Long Live the King!

Our Lord Jesus Christ is king. The Gospel for the feast this year as it is celebrated in the Novus Ordo as well as the other readings, emphasize that He is the king who comes to judge the world at the end. This is undeniably true, He will come in his glory with his angels, He will come to judge the world as its’ king. It is true, but it is not the whole truth. He is not only the end-time king who is to come sometime in an undetermined future, He is king now. Born of the Virgin Mary and recognized by St. Joseph as his child, Jesus was a descendant of David and arguably at least by that fact heir to the thrones of Israel and the Kingdom of Judea. For this reason, there were Jews who, after He had fed five thousand men, wanted to take Him by force and make Him king (John 6:15). However, as Jesus himself says to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36), He is not a king in the same way as earthly rulers are; His kingdom is not limited to the territory of Israel. Christ is king, but he is greater than what we imagine when we hear the word 'king', especially when we hear it today and think of the kingdoms, which we have around us, for example, in England or the Nordic countries. The power and authority of ordinary kings was and is always limited in various ways, their power is not eternal nor does it extend to all times and places. Christ, by contrast, is the king of the universe, "for in him were created all things in


the heavens and on earth ... all things were created through Him and for Him." (Kol 1:16) "He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth" (Matt28: 18). Where the kings of this world have inherited their kingdom by right of succession or going further back in history, won it with weapons, Christ has conquered on the cross. By His death, He defeated the devil, death, and all His adversaries. 

Christ's kingdom is not of this world, He is king from the beginning of creation.  By His cross and resurrection, He takes final possession of the kingdom that already is His by divine right. When it comes to Christ there is no problem about the 'Divine rights of kings' He is Lord of lords and King of kings (Revelation 17:14), this means that he has the right to rule over everything and everyone; all nations have a solemn obligation to recognize Him as their king. Therefore, there is no nation or country that, before God, has the right to refuse to recognize the kingdom of Christ and choose not to follow His laws and bend to His rule, nor do they really, if you stop to think about it, have the right to follow any religion other than that which the Lord Himself has revealed, 'God has exalted him above all else ... that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... whether in the heavens or on the earth, and ... every tongue should confess that "Jesus Christ is Lord '" (Philippians 2: 9-11). Every tongue means every tongue and every knee means every knee. That is regardless if those body parts happen to belong to someone living in a deeply Catholic village in Croatia or be attached to someone riding over the sands of the Arabian peninsula. The first commandment applies to everyone and Christ is king over all peoples.

We know, however, that most states do not even nominally recognize the kingdom of our Lord who says, "He that is not with me is against me" (Matt12: 30). As if that is not enough the majority of nations pass laws which are blatantly contrary to His commandments. It follows that almost all nations are in a state of open revolution against Him who is their sovereign.  It is not surprising that He should withhold His blessing from a country or nation that does not bless Him; we see this happening to Israel over and over again in the Old Testament. This is very interesting if we read St. Paul in his letter to the Romans as well. According to the apostle, homosexuality and other gravely sinful acts like avarice, fornication, murder, detraction etc., are the result of God withholding His blessing because of the idolatry practiced by the peoples that really should have been able to know Him through nature and a bit of philosophy (Rom 1:18-32). The immorality of the age, as well as in any age, comes from idolatry, from rebellion. In the context of what we hear out of different synods and territories Romans 1:32 becomes quite scary /saddening; highly placed churchmen that, while they [I hope and pray] might not practice the things listed by St. Paul, applaud them by supporting cohabitation, "divorce", serial-polygamy, homosexual unions of various sorts and much else. Treachery and revolt by those who should be the most loyal servants of their Divine king..

Revolutions or revolts do tend to be organized and run by fairly small groups that manage to get just enough people to go along for their coup to work. The October revolution in Russia is as good an example as any, a relatively small band when compared to to the population at large yet the revolutionaries managed to take over and radically change an empire steeped in Orthodoxy into a communist state. Throughout the Old Testament God seems to show a predilection for faithful remnants, if a small group can change the world for the worse through revolution, why should not a similarily sized counter-revolutionary remnant -or leaven to use the New Testament term- be able to change the world for the better, to restore the sway of the rightful king? 

[Adapted and expanded from homily]