Tantum Ergo

This is quickly becoming one of my favourite service. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction. Thanks to my placement in St Michael and All Angels. Truly wonderful.

Christ the King!

Vespers and Benediction, Sunday 20^th November 2011

CHRIST THE KING

+ In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today, as you know, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. This particular Sunday marks the end of the church’s year, and is, I think, a fitting culmination to all that has gone before throughout the year. It is a reminder that ultimately Christ is sovereign over not only humankind, but all of creation!

We have journeyed with Christ over the year as we celebrated with joy his coming amongst us in the Incarnation. We have listened to the familiar stories of his ministry amongst the poor and oppressed. We have walked with him during Holy Week as the terrible events that were to happen unfolded. And we have wept and mourned with his mother and his disciples as he suffered his execution upon a cross. So far, it is not really looking very promising is it? This isn’t what is supposed to happen to a great King!

Yet, with his resurrection from the dead a few days later everything was changed! No longer did the power of death have any hold over him! Forty days later he ascended into heaven where, as we recall each week in the creed, he “sits at the right hand of the Father”. “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end”. Quite a contrast to say the least, from the seemingly ignominious ending of his earthly life.

The history of the world is full of leaders who have ruled over their people in many different ways. From those who are relatively obscure and almost forgotten right through to those who through their deeds have become infamous, and whose names and actions are still recalled centuries later. Schoolchildren are taught (or at least they were when I was at school) about historic rulers such as Napoleon, Caesar, King Henry the Eighth......the list can go on, and I’m sure we can think of examples even today. Sometimes those who ruled over their subjects were relatively benign, history however tends to remember more those who ruled through tyranny and coercion, fear and intimidation.

Most people around the world no longer live under the rule of a King (or Queen), and even fewer live under an absolute monarchy, where the Monarch exercises complete power over the people and their lives. Certainly here in Britain, much of the monarchs power is limited and of a symbolic nature, and none of us live in fear of a tyrannical ruler. Yet it wasn’t always so. In centuries gone by the King’s word was law and the repercussions for disobedience could be very serious indeed. If the King wanted for himself the land on which you lived he was quite easily able to simply take it and woe betides anyone who was to stand in his way.

Kingdoms were so often built up by military might and conquest. It could be something as obvious as a naked grab for more land, or an attempt to subdue and conquer a group of people and put them under the iron grip of the so-called “victor”.

So very different from the picture we have of Christ the King in the readings set for today. Far from being one who sought glory and power, in his ministry he had none of the trappings that would usually go along with being born to rule. He was born in a stable. He seemed to have no permanent home. His followers were few, and the authorities viewed him with suspicion at best and downright hatred at worst. His earthly life was one of servant-hood and obedience to the will of his Father. In becoming man he entered fully into human experience. In assuming human nature he emptied himself and came down to our level, yet at all times he remained fully receptive to the will of his Father. He knew what it was like to walk in the footsteps of those he lived amongst. Not too many kings are known for living life actually amongst their subjects. Too often they are put up on pedestals of untouchability and seem completely out of reach of ordinary people.

 In Saint Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians we read of him having been exalted to the very presence of the Father and having a place that is far above anything that could be imagined by any earthly ruler as the head over all things (Eph 1:20-23). This is the position that was his simply on account of his shared divinity with the Father, yet it was something that unlike earthly rulers he did not ever use for his own advantage.

Jesus himself describes in Matthew’s gospel the scene that will take place upon his return (Matt 25:31-44). In highly symbolic and graphic language we hear of him holding all the nations of the world in judgement according to their deeds. In words which echo the Beatitudes he invites into his kingdom all who fed the hungry, cared for the sick and welcomed the stranger. His kingdom is one that had its beginnings in his ministry on earth. It is not one which cares much for position or prestige. It is a kingdom that is based upon love, compassion and justice. A world away from the rulings of those who depend on military might or brute force. 

In the words of St Teresa of Avila,

“ Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.”

We kneel and adore Christ in a few moments in the Blessed Sacrament. We come to worship the servant-king who gave so completely of himself and invites us each to be partakers of his divinity.  May we each be the ones who as part of his body reach out to others and help bring them into the presence of the King whom we adore.

AMEN