Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe

In the Rite of Baptism for Children, just after the child has been baptized, he or she is anointed with Sacred Chrism, accompanied with these words: “As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.”

At baptism we take on these three identities of Jesus: his priestly identity, in that we stand on behalf of others and make a sacrifice of ourselves, of our lives for others; his prophetic identity, in that we are to be a mouthpiece for God’s truths; but also, his kingly identity, in that we are to exercise dominion over the things God entrusts to us. Kingship infers dominion.

A textbook definition of the word dominion says it’s “the power or right of governing and controlling; sovereign authority…rule; control; domination“. These tend to be things we are not attractive to as people of our culture. As a people of this nation we hold as a value, freedom from these very things. But this notion of kingship (or queenship) and dominion are not what God intended for us.

When we think of kings, particularly in association with our Judeo-Christian identity, the figure that most comes to mind is King David. But kingship and dominion go much further back. God gave it to Adam, giving him dominion over the Garden—Paradise, as we sometimes refer to it—its creatures its living elements, to care for them and cultivate them. In it was harmony that existed as God intended it. But it didn’t last. What was beautiful in the beginning became tainted.

But God never gave up on what He had intended from the beginning. Even in the compromised state they had put themselves, He stayed with His beloved children, and the generations that followed. It wasn’t until so much time had passed—as described in the Book of Judges and First Samuel—that the Jewish people saw the societies around them organized around an earthly ruler, a king. They began to want it for themselves, but God warned them. He knew that an earthly king could be a dangerous thing for them. The people persisted in asking and eventually God gave them what they wanted. With few exceptions, the kings were exactly what God warned they would be: more trouble than good. And all the while, God never gave up on the His notion of dominion that He had first given to Adam.

So, what’s the difference between this good notion of kingship and dominion, versus the bad? What God intended is not just harmony, but that His love, His place in our lives that would flow through the kingship and dominion of kings. Time and again, the kings exercised their own kingship and dominion, rather than Gods’.

So, what was to be the solution, the response? God Himself entered into the midst of our dilemma, that He might change it from within, so that He could again remind us that He was to be our King and to show us what kingship was to look like for us. It was not what people expected from a king and so many just didn’t see it for what it was, because it was exactly the opposite of how worldly kings rule. It was not associated with triumphalism or an imposed rule. His way of ruling was to let go of worldly power and instead to find strength in humility and self-emptying.

And because it called others into this way of living, his way of ruling received rejection, so much that they put this odd King on a cross, between two criminals. In mockery, they dressed him in purple, the color associated with royalty, and crowned him with thorns, finally mounting a sign over his head in mocking accusation: “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum”. This King showed his greatest power in surrendering on the cross, demonstrating where his kingship found its power: he placed it all in the Father’s hands. That was a definitive start to restoring the kingship God had intended for Adam.

From the cross, after receiving insult from one of the criminals, the other saw Jesus for who he really was. "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." As an interesting aside: way back, about 300 years before Jesus’ birth, when the Hebrew Scriptures were translated from Hebrew into Greek, the common language of the day, the translators used a Persian word, in reference to the Garden of Eden: paradise. And so, to the repentant sinner Jesus responded: “…today you will be with me in Paradise." Said another way: Today, we’re going back to the Garden, to the beginning.

In a world and culture in which we constantly seek progress, our Christian faith tells us that progress comes in going backward—way back. And the unorthodox way that Jesus ruled is what takes us there. It is by living like our King—in humility, in building up what’s broken with love, it’s by always pointing the way to the Father, it’s by self-emptying, letting go of anything and everything that gets between us and the Father. Christ our King did that and so must we. And furthermore, in that is found true freedom.

So, what of your dominion over the things that God began entrusting to you at your baptism—principally your own soul, and eventually your home, and your family? If we are to find our way back to where we began—if we are to live in the Kingdom he won by virtue of his death, Resurrection and his glorious Ascension—Christ our King must be at the very center: in our homes, our families, our very hearts. It is in laying down our lives for these that his rule flow through us, that his Kingdom will come to be.