The Crown No One Expected
Solemnity of Christ the King
The hands of a king are the hands of a healer. I am no expert in The Lord of the Rings, but my favorite scene probably differs from most people. After the battle of the Pelennor Fields, Aragorn reveals himself as king by healing men struck down in battle. Most people probably remember the epic battles and his lonely watches as Strider. Perhaps few expected that he could be the king. I love how he arrives as a king and healer.
People love talking about kings and accusing people of trying to be kings and saying that no one should be a king. So much of our national identity as Americans comes from the fact that our founding fathers threw off the rule of a king, George III of England. I think that it affects us in the way that we worship God, because we have the sense that no one can tell us what to do, not even Jesus. So much of our experience of kings and political leadership is tainted by evil men and women. We forget that all authority comes from God and is meant to help people, not to control them. Only when we surrender to Christ do we discover who we truly are. Jesus is a different type of king.
Everything that we would imagine and expect of a king, we fail to see in Jesus. A king should have been born in a fancy palace, instead of in a cave. A king should have entered Jerusalem with an army and thrown out Pilate. Instead, the Gospel shows us Jesus meekly submitting to the earthly power of Pilate and being crucified. We would have expected a crown of gold, yet he received a crown of thorns.
Reflecting on Jesus as king in today’s liturgy, the Gospel feels shocking and off-putting. It opens with a sneer:
He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God (Lk. 23:35).
They call him out and want to kick him while he is down. They could not accept a savior who was not a military leader. They were sick of oppression under the Romans and wanted freedom from earthly troubles, not spiritual ones. When fascism was sweeping across Europe with the rise of new regimes, Pope Pius XI responded with the encyclical Quas Primas, proclaiming Christ as king. When there is social unrest, it is easy for someone to centralize power in himself, as in the case of Hitler and Mussolini. Although we cannot always control the political atmosphere, we can always trust Jesus.
We call Jesus king because his high degree of perfection excels all creatures. We would like to look up to our leaders and admire their moral virtue. Many of us have become cynical after so many poor experiences. But with Jesus, it is true. He is true God and true man. In his humanity, he is perfect. Finally, we have someone we can look up to and one who never disappoints. We have to be careful how we understand his title as king. The soldiers at the foot of the cross could see it as nothing other than an earthly king, and so they mocked him.
If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself (Lk. 23:48).
Jesus was not a military commander. His reign is not one of sitting at a desk and signing orders. Rather, he reigns in our hearts because of his superior intelligence and because he knows so much. Even in his humanity, he is one who has a penetrating gaze and he knows us for who we truly are. He “did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well” (Jn. 2:25).
Beyond the intellect, he also has a divine and human will. He reigns “in the wills of men, for in him the human will was perfectly and entirely obedient to the Holy Will of God” (Pius XI, Quas Primas, 7). Our wills resist God’s Will often, but Jesus is always entirely obedient, as we see throughout the Gospel. He is fully human and has the title of King as a man
for it is only as man that he may be said to have received from the Father ‘power and glory and a kingdom,’ since the Word of God, as consubstantial with the Father, has all things in common with him, and therefore has necessarily supreme and absolute dominion over all things created (Pius XI, Quas Primas, 7).
He is crowned with every human excellence, yet he reigns from the cross with a crown of thorns. More than merely to rule, Jesus came to earth to heal the rift between God and man that is caused by sin.
Why is it important to recognize that Jesus has the right to tell us what to do? Being truly human and truly divine, Jesus understands our situation better than anybody else. In our society that emphasizes personal choice so much, we can feel like we declare independence even from God. But rather than gaining freedom, we lose our anchor and can be wrapped up in an overwhelming and unforgiving world. When we surrender our lives to Christ, we gain a new freedom. Jesus has the right to tell us what to do. By obeying him, we become more authentically ourselves. Take some time this week and pray to Jesus as Christ the King. Christ knows us and leads us – let him reign in your mind, in your will, and in your heart.