This past October, millions of U.S. folks participated in “No Kings” rallies. Our country, born when our colonists protested against their perceived unfair treatment by King George III, associates the idea of a king with oppression and elitism. Our British friends, however, see their royal leader (king or queen) as more of a symbol, a symbol of their cultural heritage, tradition and unity. In Hebrew history (1 Samuel 8), the Hebrews asked God for a king to give them social stability and protection from foes, and to serve as the instrument of God’s own justice. David and his son Solomon began the Hebrew monarchy, but it ended in 586 B.C. After that, the Hebrews lived under a succession of foreign rulers. No wonder they longed for an ideal kingdom, and an ideal king. Jesus refused to let people call him “king.” But as we hear in our second reading (Col. 1:12-20), first century Christian writers saw the universe under the authority of the Father and with the kingdom of his beloved Son. Fast-forward to 1925, when Pius XI established today’s feast. This pope led the Church just after the Marxist Soviet Union was established (1917), after bloody World War I had ended (1919, with a problematic treaty), and when anti-clericalism was suppressing religion in Europe and Mexico. It seemed to him that Jesus and the ethics flowing from the Gospels had been discarded from public life and the hearts of people. So this feast was meant to call people back to remembering that there is an authority to which we bow that is greater than any earthly authority, and that there is a kingdom not of this world to which we all belong (Matt 27:11; John 18:36). “Christ the King” symbolizes these two beliefs. Today we also long for unity, stability and ethical leadership at all levels, as people have so longed throughout history. Our second reading ends with a poetic hymn to the Risen Christ which says, in part: “He is the image of the invisible God … He is before all things, and in him all things hold together … For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell … making peace by the blood of his cross… .” This is a king we can rally around.
— Blog entry by Sister Mary Garascia
The post November 23, Christ the King, No King? A Sunday Scriptures blog first appeared on Sisters of the Precious Blood.