When in the world, the Monarchic rule is almost done with, excepting a few countries, the term “King” has become a thing of history. We, Christians worldwide, however, who’re not divided by land and sea but united by Faith, do still recognize a King. As Christians, we subject ourselves and our families to the rule of this King.
It is always a beautiful sight to behold the image of Christ the King – hung on the walls of our houses – seated in throne, holding the sceptre and adorned with a crown. It is this Christ the King we are awaiting!
But it is this same Christ the King, when he came down to earth, adopted the manger as the throne, thorns as the crown and Cross as the sceptre. Christ chose the path of poverty and suffering to show each one of us that he does not lord over us, that he does not exercise kingly authority over us but that he loves us and that he wants to save us. Jesus who walked on this earth therefore was a King different from what the world usually knows as King. He is a King with a difference!
This King does not wield power but love. This King does not treat his people as subjects but as his friends. This King sets his life in the line of fire for the sake of his beloved people.His Kingdom is of truth and life. His kingdom is of holiness and grace. His kingdom is of peace and justice.
The Church today invites us to celebrate Christ as our King – the King of the Universe. At the same time, this Feast reminds us that everyone of us is a Soldier of this Great King. In accepting and honouring Christ as our King, we swear loyalty to Jesus’ teachings, we swear obedience to the Holy Gospel and we swear faithfulness to our call as Christians.
If Christ bears the title “King”, then every Christian bears the title “soldier” and each of us swear allegiance to Christ the Kings as his soldiers.
What does a good soldier do? A good solider is loyal, faithful, selfless, disciplined, truthful and courageous. A good soldier of Christ is the same – loyal, faithful, selfless, disciplined, truthful and courageous. Lack of any of these values in my life is a sign that I am not up to what I should be – A Soldier of Christ and a failure in loyalty to Christ and a betrayal of trust that Jesus has placed on me!
Jesus begins his public ministry of preaching with these words: “The Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the Gospel.” The purpose of Jesus on earth was to establish God’s Kingdom, to spread God’s Kingdom and to bring everyone into God’s Kingdom. In this sense, Jesus was spearheading a movement to ensure God’s rule prevailed on this earth. To succeed in bringing God’s rule and God’s kingdom on earth, Jesus had to wage a war– war against the Sin, Sin that showed itself in all evils. Jesus fought this battle with a weapon – weapon of holiness, holiness in every aspect of life.
As soldiers of Christ the King, we have a battle to fight in this world just as Christ as our King did then and does still now. Each one of us is at war, not just in a metaphorical sense but in the real sense!
- Aren’t we constantly fighting against the forces of evil that drive us away from being faithful to Christ?
- Aren’t we constantly fighting against the tendency to compromise the essentials of our faith because the world today thinks differently?
- Aren’t we constantly fighting against the attitude of diluting the message of Christ saying that the times have Changed?
- Aren’t we constantly fighting against the ways of the world that go directly against the ways of God’s Kingdom that Jesus so desired to set it on the earth?
The war that we fight is preserve the Kingdom of God that is within us in the first place by remaining faithful Christians. We also fight a war with the ways of the world to establish God’s Kingdom on the earth, spread its boundaries and protect it from all evils. In these kinds of war within and without, Christ leads us from the Front.
Yes. We are at war! The Church is at war! This war is not of our time alone. Jesus had to fight the war in His time against those who watered down the Word of God to suit their selfish interests and against those who portrayed a god of rituals than the God of love and mercy. It is through this battle, Jesus preached the new world order and set the Kingdom of God. The saints through the successive centuries fought the evil forces of their time and persevered in their faithfulness to God to rise as victorious soldiers of Christ bearing witness to God’s Kingdom.
Jesus says, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” The origin for God’s Kingdom is not here. It is from above – God. Jesus came from God. He belongs up there. His Kingdom is up there too. In this declaration, there is an invitation for each of us, i.e., even though we may be from this world, we actually belong up there, we are actually members of God’s Kingdom – so should we live our lives here. Jesus says in John 17: 16 “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” St. Paul says in Col 3;1-2, “Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Let us have eyes fixed on the things of God!
Christ as our King leas us in the front in fighting a battle to build God’s Kingdom on this earth. He is our King and Master and we follow him. We are not deserters of this war, we don’t abandon this battle and we don’t run away from it. We need to face this battle with head on. St. Paul suggests in Ephesians 6, what protective armour we should wear so that we can win this battle together with Jesus our King – “let truth be a belt around your waist, God’s justice be shoes, faith be like a shield, God’s power be a helmet and God’s word a sword.” With this sort of defending gear, none can beat us! We will no let God’s Kingdom fall!
We pray to God our Father daily, “Your Kingdom Come” but let us not stop just with our lip-service. We should do our part of working towards it and fighting to establish it. It is a privilege that Christ is our King and we are His Soldiers but are we Soldiers who are ready to stand in the line of fire and bravely fight every tendency, every attitude, every temptation to walk away from Jesus and stick to Jesus in all faithfulness.
johnsekarofm 