Christ the king: A Personal Reflections on Its Implication for Us as Christians.

By Ogiri John Ogiri.

Today, the Church universally celebrates Christ the King. It is interesting that this celebration ushers us into the new calendar year of the Church as we hopefully look forward to the season of advent. 

The implication of this feast is heavy on us. Even though, we tend to be carried away by the angelic processions that characterize the celebration as many of us hardly ever think beyond this ephemeral display of piety, yet, we should understand that the feast of Christ the King goes deeper than the fanfare we witness and celebrate. It places on us heavy burdens of responsibilities in a world in need like ours. We have the needy to feed, clothe and shelter. When we do this, they realize that Christ too is their King.

Can we live out our faith in Christ's Kingship in a way that people should see and want to have a reason to go to Jesus Christ as one who holds the message of eternal life? This is a moral burden we have all been called to bear by virtue of our baptism in Christ Jesus. Whether or not God will be brought alive in our actions towards others remains a fundamental implication of this celebration.

It is disturbing that many have, today, abandoned the true message of christianity for a counter-productive theology which continues to threaten to strip true Christianity of its fundamental essence. James 1:27 and Micah 6:8-10 among others, outline what God expects most in our religiosity.

Yet, a new form of christianity seems to have evolved from our love for convenience. It is a christianity devoid of the Cross. The Cross no longer makes sense to us because we have been told it is not our portion. Yet, as someone contended " the Cross of Christ is the crux of christianity" 

Christ could not have become the universal King without first undergoing the Cross.

Remember, he was rejected, despised, condemned and crucified before he rose to triumphant glory.

In the Gospel of John, it is recorded that, after he had fed the great crowd that followed, Jesus Christ went to the other side of the lake. The people set out to look for him, going as far as Capernaum by boats. 

On the other side of the lake, they found him, asking him when he got there.

Here, Jesus gave a teaching that was considered by many of those disciples of his to be too hard to be accepted.

" I'm the bread of life" he declared.

Because they didn't understand, because they didn't want to accept that he is the bread that came down from heaven, many of them, his followers, turned back and refused to follow him any further. 

So he asked the twelve disciples, "And you, would you also like to leave?"

Peter, in a resignated response typical of a religious professing a final vow, answered by declaring 

" Lord, to whom would we go? You have the message of eternal life, and now we believe and know that you're the Holy one who has come from God" (cf John 6:1-68).

This same Jesus Christ, the bread of life, the Holy one that came down from heaven, is now Christ the King of the universe. Can we still willingly go to him and profess him to the world in need by becoming and practising all that he came to teach?  The Josephite Congregation has a touching advert for vocation which reads " I heard that our pastor died yesterday and there's no one to take his place. Would you go?" 

Can we, as St Francis of Assisi prayed, willingly sow love where there's hate, virtue where there's a vice, forgiveness where unforgiveness reigns; hope where there's despair etc?

This is hard but it remains the way to God. Yes, the ways of love, charity and mercy for the world in need are the ways to God. There are people languishing and dying in poverty, sickness and lack. They have no home, no cloths, no job, no hope in this cold winter of life. They have no where to go and no one to go to.  Like Michael Jackson sang in his "Man in the Mirror", "who are we to be blind, pretending not to see their needs." We should bring Christ's Kingship alive in their lives by showing them love, charity and mercy so they can be hopeful and happy again.

That is how best to bring him down to the needy. That is how best to remain with Christ the universal King. This way, Christ himself would be convinced that truly we believe that he came down from heaven. 

Saviour, saviour, hear my humble cry,

And while others thou art calling,

Do not pass me by.

In deed, you have the message of eternal life.

Happy feast day of Christ the King.