Christ the King, Me the King | SMYA Bible Study in Absentia

This Sunday, the Solemnity of Christ the King, we will gather at Mass to adore, worship, and praise our God as King of Creation. As King, we owe Christ unwavering allegiance. As baptized Christians, we are gifted a share in Christ’s three-fold ministry as priest, prophet, and king. That’s right – we get to share in Christ’s kingship.

So… what is kingship?

Every one of us has a notion of what it means to be a king. We live in a world structured by governments, each one ruling a nation. Some of these governments are more corrupt than others, some of them are in the midst of a sort of civil war *cough*US*cough*, but all of them have this ideology behind them: each one is intended to be a united governing body that directs, maintains, and develops the community in its purview. One type of government finds its whole structure in one individual; this monarch of a nation is the man we call 'King.'

“Oh, yay!,” you say to yourself. “If I have a share in Christ’s kingship… life is going to be great!” When we picture a king, we picture a court. There are banners in rich colors, elaborate tapestries, pomp and circumstance, huge tables covered in exotic foods, and attitudes of great awe and reverence are shown toward the monarch. A king, as he presents himself to our Disney-influenced imaginations, is one who receives many gifts from his subjects. He is granted food for his table, grateful service, and gold. Lots and lots of gold. Every day is packed to the gills with presents and fawning adorations from the people of the nation. In return for their worship of him, he grants tax breaks and arranges marriages between his distantly related royal relatives.

So that’s our king.

But that’s not God’s king. 

God's king is something quite different. Let's take a look at the first reading and Gospel for this Sunday. 

The first reading is from the prophet Ezekiel. (I've included a bit more of chapter 34 than what will be read on Sunday because it's illustrative to the point here). Chapter 34 starts off upending that Disney notion of comfort-centric kingship:

Thus says the Lord GOD: Ho, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?

Your kingship is not an ornament. The job is not to affirm yourself. The job is to care for others...

The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. [...] my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

The throne-room is not the place for a king. The king is a caretaker. He serves the people. His place is everywhere besides the throne-room, even when that king is God Himself...

For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Humanity has misused its power, its rule over creation. The people of God have been scattered... the shepherd lost his sheep, the king has lost subjects... but they don't care to find them again. But God, who is the Great Shepherd and King has come to our rescue. He Himself will seek us out and gather us home safely. 

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice.

God, out of love and only love, created us in His image. He gifted us with our existence, our essence, our everything. He gave us free will so that we might choose Him for ourselves. We use that same free will to walk away from Him... but that doesn't stop Him from coming down Himself to find us and bring us back.

Those who were lost, He takes them by the hand and brings them back.

Those who are injured and in pain, he heals them.

Those who are weak, hopeless, and alone, he gifts them the strength of His grace.  

He is our everything.

So this King, who is Most High, Most Wonderful, and Most Beneficent, He has saved us. We wish to serve him now. We see that He is good and holy. So we follow Him. We see Him as worthy of our adoration and obedience. We are baptized into His Death and thereby, into His Resurrection. We worship Him as our King by participating in His Kingship. Yes, we are granted a share of His Kingship, but we must be careful to remember what that means. We find this startling reality of kingship once again in Scripture, proclaimed to us in the Gospel account of St. Matthew (emphasis mine):

"When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'

Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?' Then he will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' 

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Our King shall come to judge us, He shall separate the sheep from the goats, the good from the bad. They are redeemed or condemned in accordance with their service to their King. This seems right and just in concept; a servant who best serves his master is considered to be the best servant. 

Where this startling kingship of God appears, once again, is not that the king should be served, but where the king is to be found. True service to the King is not found in a throne room, comfortably seated, well-fed and educated, warmly clothed, and protected from all harm.

True service to the King? That is found in the street, given to the poorest of the poor, the crippled, the societal outcasts and rejects, the ones that no one reveres or respects. They hold no position, no title, not even a place to call home. They have no wealth, no food, not even health to call their own. Those we are called to serve are so far from that throne room that those who have chosen residence therein will miss them entirely. 

Our God, our King, our Lord came to serve us and save us. 

That saving demands our unfailing, obedient service.

That is where we find our share in His Kingship. Not in pomp, not in riches, not in comfort, but in service. 

And we don't serve God in the high places, the palaces full of riches. 

No. That isn't where we'll serve Him. Nothing residing in a throne room actually needs any serving... there isn't anything there that requires rescuing, nothing there requires saving.

Christ's Kingship is the reaching down of His Divinity to take on and sanctify our humanity so that it might be capable of aspiring to Heaven.

Our share in His kingship must also be our share in that reaching down. Because the farther down we reach into the sorrow, pain, and sickness of this world, the closer we are brought to the face of God.

The farther away we are from earthly glory, the closer we are to Heavenly glory.

The chapter of Ezekiel continues, God addressing the flock He shepherds...

As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, rams and he-goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must foul the rest with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet? Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will save my flock, they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

He will judge between the sheep and the sheep. The fat and the lean. Those who serve themselves in their comfort and those who serve others in their pain. 

Rejoice in your share of His Kingship! Just think: if God, the Ruler of the Universe, the King over all Creation, deigned to serve us, who are we to walk away from such service?