Christ the King

I gazed into the visions of the night.  And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man.  He came to the one of great age and was led into his presence.  On him was conferred sovereignty, glory, and kingship, and men of all peoples, nations and languages became his servants.  His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty which shall never pass away, nor will his empire ever be destroyed.  Daniel 7:13-14

 

On Sunday the 25th of November, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast "Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe," or "Christ the King" for short.  This celebration occurs on the final Sunday before the begining of Advent.  It is the end of the Church's liturgical year.

 

Kingship

 

The system of government known as monarchy- that is, kings and queens - has for the most part gone from the world.  For all of the pomp and pageantry surrounding the British royal family, the Queen of England really has no power. 

Perhaps that's a good thing.  Contemporary wisdom has it that democracy is the best form of government. 

In Republic, Plato says that tyranny arises, as a rule, from democracy.  There are various reasons for this.  The main reason is due to a lack of equality among people.  The "have nots" increasingly vote to seize and redistribute the wealth of the "haves."  This requires a larger government bureaucracy with its attendant rules and regulations.  The great mass of people tend to prefer security over liberty and we end up with a nanny state that guides and manages a greater part of our lives.

It's interesting when reading the histories of the times of monarchies to see how little a role national governments played in people's daily lives.  Most of the rules and obligations people faced were at the local level.  Taxes were much lower under those systems as well.  The American colonists payed much less in taxes under King George than Americans pay in taxes today.  Hmm . . .

Christ the Judge, from Michelangelo's Final Judgement, Sistine Chapel

The End of Time

I can't imagine Jesus Christ being referred to as Christ the President, or Christ the Governor, or the CEO or mayor.  As Creator of all that is visible and invisible (Colossians 1:16), all power and authority are His.  Satan is allowed time to prowl the earth, "seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).  But Jesus promised to return at the end of time and put a final end to sin and death.

During these final 2 weeks of the Church's liturgical calendar, we get a healthy dose of daily mass readings from the books of Daniel and Revelations concerning the end of time.  We are asked to reflect on the Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Hell and Heaven.

Traditionally, human kings were lawgivers as well as final arbiters of justice.  In that sense, Jesus Christ is the perfect and ultimate King.

This anticipation of the return of Jesus Christ will carry over into the season of Advent.  Advent means "arrival" and during that season we will not only prepare to celebrate Jesus' birth, or arrival, at Bethlehem, but we look to his second and final coming at the end of time.

There's a lot of chatter about the end of the world occuring on December 21st 2012.  Apparently that date marks the end of the Mayan long calendar which signals the end of an age.  People should know that serious Mayan scholars dispute this.  (Also remember two things: the Mayans practised human sacrifice where their priests cut open the victim's chest and tore his heart out; and the Mayan civilisation collapsed.  How much authority should we credit them with?)  There's quite a bit of new age stuff about "galactic realignment" and "timewave zero" that also focus on the date December 21st.  Go to Wikipedia and take a wild ride through all that.

I think since Jesus Christ is the Universal King, He should have the final word on this: Jesus said, "In those days, after the time of distress, the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will come falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory; then too he will send the angels to gather his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the world to the ends of heaven.  Take the fig tree as a parable: as soon as its twigs grow supple and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.  So with you when you see these things happening: know that he is near, at the very gates.  I tell you solemnly, before this generation has passed away all these things will have taken place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.  But as for that day and hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son; no one but the Father."  Mark 13:24-32