Homily for the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Today, on this last day of Ordinary Time for this liturgical year, we celebrate the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ. As baptized Christians, Our Lord Jesus Christ is our King, but He is unlike any earthly king we might be familiar with. Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, humbled Himself to become human and die on the Cross for our salvation.

To see how far He allowed Himself to be humiliated, look at St. Paul’s words of praise in his letter to the Colossians and compare them with the heckling Our Lord received while He hung on the Cross from the Jewish leaders, Roman soldiers and one of the criminals. St. Paul writes, “For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him.” (Col 1:16) Compare this with the leaders of the people, who said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God,” (Lk 23:35) or the Roman soldiers who said, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.” (Lk 23:37)

These leaders mock the person who is responsible for their very existence. The authority they exercise which led to Jesus’ death came from Him. Jesus is higher than any created thing on Earth, in the Heavens, or anywhere else in creation. Despite His position, the Son of God and Word of God humbled Himself to become human, then even more humbly accepted the most humiliating form of death by being crucified. By giving His life, he opened the way of salvation to each of us.

This great sacrifice by Our Lord is not something we should take lightly, yet we often do. We might call Jesus “Lord”, a proper title for a king, but we don’t allow that kingship to rule our lives. How often are we more concerned about earthly rulers and politics over our Heavenly ruler? Do we take our allegiance to Our Lord for granted, or ignore it completely? Do we allow earthly values and ideals to rule or lives, or do we allow Our Lord to rule our lives?

We do have an allegiance to Jesus that we should not take lightly. When we were baptized, we entered into service of Christ the King to follow Him as He commands. St. Paul tells us, “He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:13-14) Most United States citizens take their allegiance to our country very seriously, many serving in the military to aid in defense of the nation, some even giving their lives as part of that defense. Are we willing to take our allegiance to Christ as seriously as our allegiance to the earthly government of the United States?

This solemnity of Christ the King should be a reminder for us that our allegiance to Christ must be higher than our allegiance to any earthly power, as Christ is the King above all kings and ruler over all rulers. He is the Heavenly King who fulfills the earthly kingship of King David. Just as King David was king over the earthly nation of Israel, Our Lord is King over the new Israel, established through His blood on the Cross.

We who have been baptized into Christ are part of that new Israel. Just as the Israelite people accepted King David as their king, may we who are members of the new Israel daily accept and give our allegiance to Our King, Jesus Christ the Lord.