Bound in Love

This is the third year in a row that the Deacons preach on the Feast of Christ the King. I wondered for a moment if I had any new material on this subject, but the Lord provided in prayer, so let us dwell on what it means to be king. What does a king do?

The Old Testament reading today gives us a taste of the time when the nation of Israel wanted to be like other nations and have a king instead of the religious judges that had led them in the past. The prophet Samuel warned them they might not like the reality of a king as much as the idea of a king. For a king could use his power to take their property and make their children work for him on his projects. Indeed, that’s exactly what Solomon did a generation later.

So a king can be a bad king who abuses his power and responsibilities. But what does a good king do? What are the proper duties of a king?

The King protects his people, and he does this by defending the kingdom from foreigners. That’s certainly a theme we have heard a lot about in the American media these past few years. The King also leads his people in their cultural and religious practices. He is not the priest offering the sacrifices, but he is publicly leading the faithful in the rituals of the national religion. Thirdly, the King is the high court of justice in the realm. If the lower courts are not providing justice, you can appeal to the King for a hearing. St. Paul did exactly that towards the end of the Acts of the Apostles when he insisted on putting his case before Caesar. We also have the case of Solomon deciding between two women on who was truly the mother of the baby in dispute.

Each of us by virtue of our baptism is a king. We have a realm to protect. We have cultural and religious rites to participate in and to lead our families. We have justice to dispense.

Each of us by virtue of our faith has a true High King. That is Jesus Christ. Today’s feast insists that he is your King even if you refuse to acknowledge him as such. We claim him as Creator of all things when we profess the Creed at Mass. We profess his coming in judgment in the Creed. We hope to be received as members of his kingdom when we die, and we try to manifest his kingdom here on earth on a daily basis before our own death.

Jesus is the true king because he never abuses his power. While other kings rule by force, Jesus rules by love and sacrifice. The Holy Cross was also the Holy Throne. It sounds crazy to modern ears to call the cross a throne, but it was upon a cross that the good thief asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Through prayer practices like a Holy Hour and Eucharistic Adoration, we can gain eyes that see as the Good Thief saw, and we will recognize a King even when enthroned upon a Cross.

While kings like Solomon took things from their subjects, our King only gives. He gave everything for us, and he gave us the Holy Spirit to comfort us and protect us when he ascended to his Heavenly throne. He gives himself to us in the Eucharistic species at every Mass, and we hold what we cannot contain when we consume him at Holy Communion.

When we go to him in the Confessional for justice, we receive mercy instead. Our King forgives our sins and makes us as innocent as a little child. When we show up yet again for the same sin or something similar, he continues to offer love instead of judgment. He never beats us; he only encourages us to love him as he loves us.

Jesus is the king who should be the king of our lives and king of our hearts. His kingship is not of this world, and so must ours be. When tempted to use our ruling power to satisfy our pride or our anger, we can look to Jesus for the way to use it for love and mercy. When we suffer deeply from bad health or bad finances or bad personal relationships, we can look to Jesus for the way to ennoble our suffering by offering it on our little Cross to be a participation in his offering on the True Cross.

Here in the kingdom of the fallen world, we can defend the borders of the true kingdom. When the agents of evil assault our borders through direct action or indirect scheming, we can refuse to go along with their programs and remain within the realm of the True King. When the passions are running wild, we can turn to our King for peace and patience and endurance and love. Our King on the Cross was the Everlasting Martyr – the eternal witness – and we can be in our own small way a witness to the faith and to the King.

There is no such thing as a morally neutral human action. Everything we do is done either to God’s glory or to his denigration. He told us He is the Way. He is the fork in the road. He is either our King or he is not even when we are making the bed or doing the laundry. We seek his kingdom in the small and everyday actions just as much as the big public ones.

There were two thieves on crosses that day. Like Jesus, they were all alone and about to die. They seemed to have nothing. But like each of us, they still had the free will God gave them at their conception. One thief in his free will mocked Jesus. One thief claimed him as his king. That good thief was promised eternity with Jesus, what he called Paradise. This world will pass away. Because of our immortal souls, we will survive it and remain. Let us turn and follow the True King in this world so we can remain with him in his Eternal Kingdom.