Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King 2025
2 Samuel 5:1-3 2 Colossians 1:12-20 Luke 23:35-4
The inscription read ‘This is the King of the Jews’. In former times the term ‘Universal King’ would have invoked respect and authority and power. In our times it has lost much of its meaning because so many so-called leaders are selfish, self-serving autocrats. The sign above the figure of Jesus on the Cross was meant to mock and belittle him. But we know that his Kingship and his Kingdom were ‘not of this world’. The Kingdom of which Jesus spoke during his ministry might even be the antithesis of what the world understands of ‘Kingdom’.
I keep thinking of the words of Saint Therese when she was speaking of Mary as Queen of Heaven: “It is true that our Lady is Queen of Heaven and earth, but at the same time, she is more Mother than queen”. Surely when we as disciples think of Jesus, we think of him more as brother than King. And when Jesus teaches us about the Kingdom of God doesn’t he speak of God more as Father than King? He teaches us to address Him as ‘Our Father’ and in that address, that prayer, all the elements of His Kingdom emphasise for us how different this Kingdom is to a worldly empire.
In this prayer the Lord gives us not just a prayer–formula to be recited by rote but a model of what our personal communication with the Father might be. Yes, Jesus joins the words ‘Father’ and ‘Kingdom’ to express for us what was the very basis of his mission on earth – to reveal God’s Love for us and establish the Kingdom of God on earth. When we pray for that kingdom we acknowledge our call and our commitment to be part of what Jesus came to do. The existence of any nation or kingdom relies on its laws and order.
When we proclaim ‘Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done’ we accept the law and order that is God’s Will. What Jesus established and preached about and worked for was something beyond the imagination of those who followed him through Galilee. He was seen as a King when he worked many miracles but, for his triumphant event, he came on the back of a lowly donkey. One who professed to serve rather than be served could be imitated more easily than a monarch and so, the Lord fed the multitudes and had compassion on the poor and the lowly and the sinners. These services were to be images of what the Kingdom of God is like.
The two great dreams for hope in the world are also expressed in that ‘prayer’ to the Father: bread for everybody (meaning all that we need will be given to us) and total forgiveness. These two dreams are not just gifts to us – in the Kingdom of Heaven we will reciprocate – we will share what we have and will forgive as readily as we have been forgiven.
The final part of our prayer to the Father is for perseverance in the ways of the Kingdom. We acknowledge our need of the Father’s protection to lead us and deliver us.
Jesus Christ is our King just as he was King to the repentant thief hanging on a cross beside him. Jesus promised the thief a place in the Kingdom of Heaven and he named it ‘Paradise’. May we define ‘Paradise’ the state where God reigns, where Love is real, where all are equal in God’s eyes and in each other’s and where evil is no more.