Christ the King

This Sunday marks the final Sunday of Ordinary Time 2024-2025! Next Sunday marks the beginning of a new Liturgical Year as we fittingly turn ourselves to hope again in the return of Christ to make all things new. 

Ordinary Time concludes, however, with Christ the King Sunday, and for very good reason. It is the calendar’s answer to the question of Jesus: As the concluding Sunday of the Year, after all that has been said and done, who is do we say that he is? He is the King, now and forevermore. 

But he is a particular king, the king as such! All other kings are approximations of Christ, most of them poor ones. Christ defines what makes for a good king in what he says and does, and the thing that stands out most about what he says and does is summed up in a word used by St. Paul in Philippians 2: kenosis. It means “emptying,” and Paul suggests that it is paradigmatic for understanding who Jesus is. He is the one who empties himself for the life of the world. This rooted in God’s very nature, it’s not a fluke or a resentment-inducing response to sin. 

In Jesus, then, God shows himself to be the one king who lives up to the name: he uses his power (which is infinite) for the sake of others entirely. This is a king worth following, honoring, celebrating, and loving. 

Scripture to consider:

• Luke 19:28-44

• Rev. 7:9-17

  
  

Peace,

Danny+