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CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY
by Peter Cook
The Sunday that preceeds the four Sundays of Advent is often known as "Christ the King" Sunday. A reading from Daniel chapter seven pictures God as the Ancient of Days taking his seat on a throne of fiery flames as the heavenly court meets to sit in judgment. The embodiment of evil is being slain, when on the clouds of heaven appears one like a son of man. He is presented to God in order to inherit the kingdom in which all peoples and nations are to serve him, a dominion or kingdom that will never be destroyed.
When Jesus appeared before Pilate he was interrogated as to the title people were already ascribing to him: "King of the Jews." After assuring Pilate that his kingdom was not the same as earthly kingdoms, Jesus accepts the title, King. He does so in words that always confuse those like Pilate who think only in terms of power politics, but bring enlightenment to all who are born of the Spirit. "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."
We live in a world where truth has lost its wholeness. It lies fractured and broken amidst us. Despite the best efforts of all the king's horses and all the king's men, no one assumes that Truth can ever, like humpty dumpty's fall from the wall, be put back together again.
Thus, the assumption is that all religions or philosophies are but differing perspectives, different sketch maps pointing a way to climb the mysterious mountain that might be Truth. For us standing at different points around the mountain, our view of truth is always limited, partial, relative. What seems a true vision of the mountain as you see it, is not the same vision seen by me.
The spiritual claim Jesus makes as King is the claim that only his Kingdom is the true Kingdom. Its truth is THE TRUTH. Its truth is absolute. In Christ truth in its wholeness is restored. It is fully and finally revealed. The Good News of the Kingdom brings with it absolute truth claims that are sorely needed in a world that is lost, confused, alienated from itself, alienated and in denial of its Creator.
If you want a checklist, here are some of the incontrovertible truths of heaven's Kingdom.
(1) God is the Alpha and the Omega (the A to Z), the first truth (Creator) and the last (Judgment).
(2) One day the two heavenly books, the one giving an accountancy of sin, and the other as book of life with names of those whose sin is covered by the blood of the Lamb, both these books will be opened. In other words we truly are accountable.
(3) On that day, the power of evil will be destroyed.
(4) On that day, Christ will appear and accept dominion of a kingdom never to be destroyed. He will be seen as King of kings and Lord of lords. He will indeed be recognized as the only mediator between God and man, the only truth and way to the Father, one whose resurrected form embodies the new humanity.
(5) Only those clothed in the righteous robes of Christ's new humanity are citizens of this heavenly kingdom, and called to be "a kingdom of priests to his God and Father...glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (Rev.1:6).
---The Very Rev. Dr. Peter J.A. Cook, M.A. is Rector of St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, in Lake Charles , Diocese of Western Louisiana .
