Christ IS Our King

Each year we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King, and the Bible call says that we participate in the kingship of Christ.

I have been studying the Kingship of Christ and how it relates to us because we do in fact participate in it. My first thought was how the kings of the earth rule over those in their kingdom by issuing decrees and then they are to be obeyed. This is not how OUR kingship in Christ the King is to be lived out.

Listen to Jesus’ own words:
John 13:12-17 When he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

The example that Jesus leaves is this - if God can get on his hands and knees and wash your feet, no one has the right to say that he is better than God and thus doesn’t need to do such a thing.

The Kingship of Christ is really fulfilled in him serving us and pouring his live out for us.

Christ is King - from the cross. It is on the Cross that his Kingship is announced for the whole world - Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.

Now if we are in Christ, we are called to do the same - Luke 9:23-24 And he said to all, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.

Matthew 20:25-28 But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Who is the greatest servant if it is not Christ? God is giving us everything all the time.

What are some practical ways that we can live out our Kingly role?

The first thing that we must do is Make Jesus the King of our everything. It is from Him and his servants the bishops and priests that we receive our marching orders from. Jesus needs to be the King of our Eyes - do we guard what we watch? The King of our Tongue - Do we only say the things Jesus would have us say? The King of our wallet, our households and even our bedrooms. Through Christ we must first rule over ourselves.

The next thing that we must do is be imitators of King Jesus toward our neighbor. This is best expressed in
CCC 786 … [T]he People of God share[s] in the royal office of Christ. He exercises his kingship by drawing all men to himself - SO WE MUST EVANGELIZE - through his death and Resurrection. [Cf. Jn 12:32] Christ, King and Lord of the universe, made himself the servant of all, for he came "not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." [Mt 20:28] For the Christian, "to reign is to serve him," particularly when serving "the poor and the suffering, in whom the Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder." [LG 8; Cf. 36] The People of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve with Christ.

The sign of the cross makes kings of all those reborn in Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit consecrates them as priests, so that, apart from the particular service of our ministry, all spiritual and rational Christians are recognized as members of this royal race and sharers in Christ's priestly office. What, indeed, is as royal for a soul as to govern the body in obedience to God? And what is as priestly as to dedicate a pure conscience to the Lord and to offer the spotless offerings of devotion on the altar of the heart? [St. Leo the Great, Sermo 4, 1: PL 54, 149]

You might share this with your priest BEFORE his Homily on Sunday.