Daniel 7:9-14

Psalm 93

Revelation 1:1-8

John 18:33-37

The Feast of Christ the King (November 26, 2006)

The Feast of Christ the King…. I had never heard of this….

You may not know I am not a cradle Episcopalian. I first became a Christian in another denomination fifteen years ago when I began High School. The church I came from, where my mother had grown up, and which my wife and nearly my entire extended family are still members of, is what you might call the lowest of the low-church churches. On the whole, that tradition is not very fond of Christian feasts and holidays. You’re more likely to hear a Mother’s Day sermon than a Christmas sermon. Even Easter often goes uncelebrated. Instead of “Christ is Risen,” you might hear the phrase “Every Sunday is Easter.” Needless to say, I had never even heard of Advent or Epiphany, let alone the Feast of Christ the King.

It was only in seminary that I first discovered the richness of the liturgical year, and began to appreciate the formative significance of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, the major seasons and days of the church year. So when I recently chose to preach on the Feast of Christ the King, I realized that I had no idea of its liturgical or theological significance. So where better to turn than our Book of Common Prayer; I was quickly disappointed, however, when I couldn’t find a mention of Christ the King anywhere. Instead, the Book of Common Prayer merely calls today “The Last Sunday after Pentecost.”

So we might just think of today as the last Sunday of the liturgical year. We have followed this year through Christ’s birth, death, resurrection, exaltation, and most recently a long period of ordinary or what some people call “green” time, reflected in the predominate liturgical color of our vestments and hangings. We may be tempted to think of this green time that we’ve been in for more than half the entire year as being devoid of theological meaning, for there is no particular feast capturing our attention. We might think that the business of the church really gets done mostly during the holy and high holy days. But in fact, Jesus’ life of thirty years (as well as our own) was a majority of green time. Green time symbolizes time of growth. This is when most Christian formation happens, through the everyday events of normal life. So we might think of today merely as the last day in a long period of time, just before the exciting part of the Church Year begins. But we would be wrong.

Through a little research I learned that this holy day was in fact instituted in 1925 in the Catholic Church by Pope Pius XI, and later placed as the last Sunday of the liturgical year. As described in his encyclical, the Pope intended the feast to be an antidote to secularism. He sought to emphasize Christ’s sovereignty as a way to combat a secularizing culture. So, historically, this holy day has roots in a view of Christ as the King who can conquer culture and bring it under his dominion. Christ is seen as having an absolute empire, even extending to civil affairs.

This research left me feeling unsatisfied about the meaning of the Feast of Christ the King for us today. In particular, this did not seem to square with the gospel text for today. So what does the first resource for our faith—Holy Scripture—and particularly the gospel for the day have to say to us about Christ the King?

There is no denying that Scripture uses the image of King as one of the many images to help us understand exactly who Jesus is. Jesus is said to come from the royal line of King David and he is called by some “The King of Israel.” One of his followers anoints him with oil, a symbolic action that the Jews used to “crown” their kings. Jesus rides on a colt into Jerusalem near the end of his life, as, according to Luke, his followers shout: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” Jesus is portrayed by the later apostles and theologians as a king reigning over the kingdom of heaven.

Today’s gospel text from John is taken from the passion narrative—the last week of Jesus’ life, but here today Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus’ identity is highlighted. Pilate asks “Are you the King of the Jews?” Not being a Jew himself, but a gentile, Pilate wonders why Jesus has been brought before him, since some honor Jesus as King, while others want him dead. Jesus could have said: “Yes, of course I am a king; now can you please release me so I can go tend to my kingdom, or do I have to send forth my great army of disciples to smite you?” Instead, while Jesus does hint at something about his kingdom, he doesn’t answer a straightforward “yes” or “no.” Jesus dodges the question. So Pilate repeats: “So you are a king!?” But Jesus dodges again, answering: “You say that I am king.”

Why doesn’t Jesus respond straightforwardly? This is, perhaps, frustrating to us. One can imagine that maybe Pope Pius XI found it frustrating; surely it would have been easier to establish a Feast for a Christ who actually claimed the title “King.” On this day when we celebrate and proclaim Christ’s kingship, the gospel text forces us to ask, why didn’t he claim it himself?

Jesus doesn’t deny he is a king but he knows that saying “yes” won’t communicate the truth of his kingship either. He’s not that kind of king. Part of Jesus’ evasive answer is helpful here. Jesus says: “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over…. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Ironically, we have here in this story a representative governor of the secular king—the Roman Emperor Tiberius—interrogating a figure whom we today celebrate as the more significant King. These Roman leaders have a history of using force and abusing power, which they will shortly unleash against a peaceful Jesus. And Jesus isn’t interested in going head-to-head with this secular authority. So Jesus’ answer is careful not to confuse Pilate that he is a violent king. His kingship is not like that of Tiberius’ and his power is not like that of Pilate’s. Jesus won’t turn his disciples into an army to defeat his enemies. Jesus is neither a Conqueror nor an imperial power.

Pilate’s question was “Are you a king?” a better question for us might be “What kind of king is Jesus?” This is a question Jesus might actually have answered. Even in his response to Pilate, Jesus is clear that he is not preoccupied with victory through force. His kingship is something other. Pope Pius XI’s intent was to establish Christ as King as a challenge to secular power. Jesus does, indeed, pose a challenge to secular power; but it comes in an odd form. Jesus’ challenge to the ruling power of the world does not come in the form of setting himself up as an opposing King. Instead, his challenge comes from underneath, from a position he takes with the powerless.

For it is with and among the powerless that Christ chooses to make his kingdom, a kingdom very different from Pilate’s province or Tiberius’ empire. Through his teachings in the gospel we can piece together an image of what this other kind of kingship and kingdom looks like. Christ’s kingdom is a place that is near us, among us, but something that is also beyond us, hoped for, and expected. It is a place where diseases are cured and injustices righted. It is a place where money doesn’t equal power and authority. It is a place that is for everyone, but especially for the poor and weak and people on the fringes of society. It is a place of repentance and humility. A place centered around the gospel of transformation and reconciliation. It is a place where God’s will is done.

Jesus is the kind of King who will foster these realities. The kingship of Jesus is not so much his authority over, but his relation to his kingdom. So in some sense, while Jesus might be thought of as a Conqueror over the systemic evils that plague this world, he does not Conquer by force, but by love and example. Jesus encourages rather than enforces. Jesus inspires rather than imposes. Jesus becomes an example for us through his unselfish deeds and actions. He calls us to participate in and further the work of his kingdom. He leads us by getting his hands dirty, rather than sitting upon his throne. Jesus is not a Conquering King.

And so Christ the King’s challenge to secular power comes in an odd form indeed: a challenge to the habits and assumptions of the mighty, in the form of a King who chooses not even to claim the title, a King for the powerless, with no throne but with dirty hands, with no army but with a message of peace.

Jesus as king is not a leader who rallies us to fight violently or radically against culture or the forces we fear. Instead, he motivates us to imagine an alternate king and kingdom of peace and love that will energize ourselves and others in the everyday green time that characterizes our lives. Not just to imagine, but he motivates us to have the faith to create it through the work of our own hands, which are Christ’s hands on earth. To feed, clothe, educate, and assist the poor. To protect, support, and empower women and children at risk. To participate in dialogue and action that will help end inequality and draw together people divided by race and class. To refuse to believe that power lies only within force and wealth. Christ is King wherever we work to create these realities for ordinary people, in the details of daily life, with God’s help.

Just as Christmas is the culmination of Advent, the feast of Christ the King, “The Last Sunday after Pentecost,” is the culmination of green time. As we, together, strive to bring Christ’s kingdom into the everyday reality in which we live, we find that yes, Christ is indeed King.

Brent Bates

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church,
Monmouth Junction, NJ