There’s only one King – Christ

Solemnity of Christ the King Year C

2 Samuel 5:1-3

Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5

Colossians 1:12-20

Luke 23:35-43

“This is the king of the Jews” (Lk 23:38). The Romans always indicated the reason for the executions. In Jesus’ case, it sounds as mockery.

The executioners show the pitiful image of the crucified, mocking with irony the nation – “behold, this is your king; you are desperately pathetic nation. Your king is helpless!”

The representatives of the nation, the high priests and members of the Sanhedrin, chose to stand with the Romans. They denied before Pilate that they had a king. “We don’t have a king, we have Caesar!” (cf. Jn 19:15)

The reality is that there is only one king in Israel and it is the Lord himself! God of Israel speaks to Isaiah the prophet, saying “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King” (Is 43:15). Isaiah already had the vision of the Lord as King seated on the majestic throne (Is 6: 1-6).

The earthly kings, Saul, David, Solomon and all the others, were representing the true king, and it was expected they would be the first to follow the God of Israel, to obey his laws and act with righteousness. This is what Moses handed on to Israel.

“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me, you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One of your brothers, you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother (…) When he sits on his royal throne, he must make a copy of this law on a scroll given to him by the Levitical priests. It must be with him constantly, and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom in Israel. (Dt 17:14-20)

The first highlighted verse shows the treachery of the high priests. They rejected the Lord and excepted a foreigner to reign over them, Caesar, the Roman emperor. They betrayed the very command they received at Sinai.

The historical context in the time of Jesus was shameful for Israel. No Davidic king but an Idumean, Herod the Great, ruling the subdued nation. His sons ruled portions of the land and were far away from the ideal described in Deuteronomy.

There was a widespread expectation that the Lord would “clean up” this mess and restore his kingdom. By the time of Jesus, it has already been centuries and centuries that Israel suffered under foreign rulers. The apocryphal book Psalms of Solomon expresses the longing for the Messiah King, who would free Israel and restore the kingly rule of the Lord.

Isaiah speaks of the Lord as king who once liberated Israel from the bondage of Egypt and again, he was about to free them from the Babylonian exile. The Lord announces new things, asking the nation not to remember the old ones but to pay attention to the new ones. “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is 43:19). The new thing is accomplished in Jesus, the Prince of Peace and Ruler on David’s throne (cf. Is 9:6-7), who will save his people from sins (Mt 1:21-23). With the second highlighted points from Deuteronomy, we recognize the faithfulness of Jesus in his mission to help his brethren, that is, to save them from the darkest bondage imaginable, from the bondage of sins.

His kingly rule consists in forgiving and freeing! The hymns of the Byzantine liturgy praise Christ as the true king: “Behold, o faithful, where Christ is reigning – on Golgotha he is pending from the cross and thus he overthrows the laws of nature (…) let us worship him as our King!” (Second seasonal hymn of the Feast of Christ the King). “Your kingly rule, Oh Christ, our God, freed us from the bondage of darkness and brought us to the kingdom of your mercy. Lord, you are everlasting. You always were, and you always shall be. Eternal praise to you, for you revealed yourself as our King!” (troparion hymn of the Matins of the Feast of Christ the King).

Let us give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light. 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 1:12-14)

This is our king!

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