Christ The King

And the King will answer them: ‘Truly I tell you whatever you did for the least of these who are members of my family you did it to me’.

An American tourist spent a few days in Stockholm the capital of Sweden. Americans have a great deal of national pride especially about their freedom and their democratic system. Whilst travelling on a public transport bus this American got into a conversation with the person sitting next to him. "Do you know" he said, "in our country everybody has the right to go to the White House or to write to the president to bring their concerns to him?"

The Swede on the bus was suitably impressed. As the American tourist was getting off the bus he said to the man: "Oh by the way what's your name?" The man replied.  "I am Gustav, King of Sweden".

You will I am sure be familiar with stories about kings who disguise themselves as ordinary people or as paupers and live for a while amongst their poorest subjects as one of them. In Shakespeare’s Henry V King Harry disguises himself as one of his soldiers and wanders around the camp on the night before the Battle of Agincourt. He knows the prospect for victory and for the survival of his army is not good. So the men are down–hearted and afraid. It's October the night is cold and misty – conditions in the camp are poor. The king shares in the fear and the dismay and the discomfort of the least of his soldiers. He knows how they feel – and so from within that he can begin to encourage them and to put new courage and hope into their hearts.

Such stories thrill us because they suggest a model of authority and power that is not distant and aloof. Nor is this picture of Kingship removed from us above all human problems and difficulties and pains. Nor invulnerable from the suffering and the needs and the fears of the lives of ordinary people. But rather this is a King who alongside us knows life as we know it

Which King would you prefer? Do you like your kings to be kings? Or do you prefer a king that stands with you and shares your life with all its ups and downs?

Today is the beautiful feast of Christ the King. And today’s Gospel tells us of a king who speaks about this identification with the poor, the sick, the prisoners, the homeless – the little ones who are easily overlooked. Whatever you did to serve even the least of these my brothers and sister you did to me. The poor and the prisoners and the homeless are members of this King's royal family – he is one with them, closely related.

This is of course Jesus speaking about himself and giving his own understanding of his own Kingship, and of his role as Universal King. Jesus is not the distant and invulnerable ruler demanding honour and respect, but rather one with his people in their poverty and powerlessness. This is not mere rhetoric.

Throughout his ministry and indeed through his life from beginning to end Jesus had constantly shown what true kingship is in God's understanding. Throughout his ministry Jesus spent has time with the poor and the sick, with the outcasts the sinners and the strangers. He showed compassion for them of course. But more than that he identified himself with them, became one with them. This King was not born in a palace but in a stable. This king lived not in opulence and luxury but rather in poverty and homelessness. This king was not surrounded by servants sensitive to his every need, but came himself to serve the poor and the humble. He washed the feet of his friends. And gave of himself in humble self-giving and service. And with supreme divine irony he is finally revealed as the true king on the throne of the cross crowned with a crown of thorns. Stripped of all power and glory and indeed of all human dignity Jesus whilst remaining King yet identifies himself with weak sinful and desperate humanity.

As Tertullian put it: ‘The King reigns and rules from the tree’.

What are the implications for us of this Christ like view of Kingship which turns everything upside down? I think there are two major implications. First for our understanding about the nature of God. Second for our understanding of God's will and purposes for us. First then, our understanding of God.

Around the year 1000 BC King David captured the city of Jerusalem, made it the capital city of his Kingdom, built himself a palace and took to himself all the symbols and the power of royalty. His son Solomon did the same only more so and went even farther by building the Temple of the Lord on the hill above the city right next to the Kings palace. Forever associating God with earthly understandings and images of Kingship. Based upon power and authority. Listen to the Psalms:

The Lord is king let the peoples be quiet

The Lord is King let the whole earth tremble before him.

Now that is true of course. God is indeed the sovereign and the ruler of the world indeed the universe that he has created. At the beginning of the fourth century the Roman Emperor Constantine became Christian, in name at least, and Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Religion and palace were again united as in the days of David and Solomon. Those great Christian Basilicas were built which depicted in amazingly dramatic iconography the royal and imperial rule and Kingship if Christ as the Ruler of all. That is true also. But Jesus radically modifies our understanding of God as the creator and sovereign over all things. Jesus Christ has been enthroned as universal king and sits at the right hand of God. But only because in his life and ministry he had revealed something else to be true about the nature of God. That he is a king who washes feet and dies upon a cross. That he is a king who comes and shares the lives of all his people, especially the poor and those whom it is easy to forget or to overlook. That's the picture of God that Jesus presents to us. And so what of the implications for us?

If Jesus the king revealed his kingship in solidarity with his powerless and suffering people, both identifying with them and showing them his compassion as his brothers and sisters, members of his family. So will it be with his true disciples. It is not honour or riches or power or status that will identify us as followers of Jesus the King. But willingness to get alongside the poor. The marginalised, the prisoners, the homeless and serve them as he did. Jesus kingship is based upon the power of love not the love of power. It is seen most clearly as he washed the feet of his friends and poured out his life upon the cross. And the king is among us still as he says to us. ‘Whatever you did to the least of these my brothers and sisters you did to me’. May we both see him and be him and so serve him in the most unlikely situations and people.