Christ the King

Knowing some history helps a lot.  All my life, I thought the Feast of Christ the King (last Sunday of November) was just a great, symbolic way of closing out the church year, acknowledging Christ as the King of history, before we began the next cycle of advent. 

Learning the history of when and why this feast was established has made a huge difference in my understanding.  In 1917, the Russian Revolution had established the first of what would be several attempts in Europe at a totalitarian regime, where the individual life would be subsumed by the state.  In 1922, Mussolini marched on Rome to establish his dictatorship over Italy, and the movement toward the same end was beginning to stir in Germany.  In 1925, Pius XI established the Feast of Christ the King to resist the claims of a totalitarian state on human beings, claiming instead the Lordship of Jesus Christ as the only Lordship.

Anyone who has ever watched a movie or read a book about Japanese domination and cruelty during World War II knows the price of resisting an empire bent on subjecting every individual to its rule.  I have not been able to read most accounts of Japanese cruelty -- even toward their own people.  (When Elephants Dance is the account of the American-Japanese conflict in the Philippines.)  But any regime that seeks total control over individual lives must be opposed to the kingdom of Christ.  He, too, seeks to rule individual lives -- but not by cruelty and conquest, only by the willing surrender of love.

The rule of Christ as King is the only anti-dote to terrorism, to the quest to conquer and rule by fear.  In the day of Al-qaida, when men are determined to rule by terror, our only hope is the conversion of terrorists to the kingdom of God.  They seek to establish the kingdom of Allah by fear and force -- a mistake the church itself made centuries ago.  But Jesus -- how did we miss it? -- had already said, "My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, my followers would be fighting that I not be handed over." 

Because we take up arms to defend ourselves against terrorists does not mean we want to establish our own rule or kingdom.  Rather, we want only to establish the freedom for each man and woman and child to find the kingdom of God as he or she is led by the Holy Spirit.  This is the only kingship we seek---the rule of Christ, Who Himself is meek and humble of heart and who does not conquer by cruelty and fear, but only by love.