The feast of Christ The King is a relatively new invention, introduced by pope Pius 11th in 1929, it’s adoption into Anglicanism is even more recent. In 1970 the feast was moved from October to the last Sunday of the church year- just before we enter Advent.
In the gospel we see Jesus before Pilate. Pilate was Governor of Judea for ten years; it wasn’t a prestigious appointment so he’s only remembered through his encounter with Jesus. Pilate has a very Roman, very worldly, notion of what power is, of what a King is. All he wants to know is whether Jesus is a threat to his power and the power of the empire. Pilate can’t see past the importance placed on earthly power and authority, he has no interest in Jesus wielding a different kind of power. At the end of this interaction, just after our reading ends, Pilate asks “what is truth?”. The truth is not his concern.
In Pilate and the Roman Empire we see the embodiment of how worldly power is perceived- in money and politics, in wielding control over others, exploiting those who are weaker and on the margins. Jesus tells us he’s not that sort of King. His Kingdom isn’t about its location but its character and at the heart of this is God’s power which comes in truth and love. Jesus’ kingship is characterised by mercy, justice and peace.
This is the kingdom that we’re called to emulate and build upon, this is the kingdom God wants us to bring to our lives in the here and now.
We haven’t always got that right in the church, our notions of worldly and heavenly power have become muddled, we’ve used the notion of God’s rule to impose our own; religion is at its absolute worst when used as a means of control, and it’s not entirely a thing of the past as we see political groups claiming Christian values both here and in other parts of the world, even if those groups are far from demonstrating those indicators of God’s kingdom; truth, mercy, justice and peace.
The concept of truth has become somewhat muddied in recent times with “fake news” and “alternative facts” becoming buzz words, we’ve become a suspicious society, not knowing what to believe and who and what is truthful.
Our job is always to search for the kingdom of truth, to actively seek it and promote it. This gospel reading is the very model of speaking truth to power. God’s kingdom has no party politics, no notions of individual nations, we’re one people of God’s kingdom.
‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come. Jesus is before all things and after all things, earthly authority isn’t and never will be the last word. As we enter Advent next week, let’s look for the signs of God’s kingdom of truth in our world.
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