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The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
November 23, 2025
In those days, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said:
"Here we are, your bone and your flesh.
In days past, when Saul was our king,
it was you who led the Israelites out and brought them back.
And the Lord said to you,
'You shall shepherd my people Israel
and shall be commander of Israel.'"
When all the elders of Israel came to David in Hebron,
King David made an agreement with them there before the Lord,
and they anointed him king of Israel.
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
"We will go up to the house of the Lord."
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David.
Brothers and sisters:
Let us give thanks to the Father,
who has made you fit to share
in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.
He delivered us from the power of darkness
and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of his cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.
The rulers sneered at Jesus and said,
"He saved others, let him save himself
if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God."
Even the soldiers jeered at him.
As they approached to offer him wine they called out,
"If you are King of the Jews, save yourself."
Above him there was an inscription that read,
"This is the King of the Jews."
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying,
"Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us."
The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply,
"Have you no fear of God,
for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal."
Then he said,
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
He replied to him,
"Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise."
What image comes to mind on the Feast of Christ the King? Is it an image of a stately king dressed in royal robes and wearing a crown of gold and diamonds? Or is it the figure of a beaten man, his face disfigured, bleeding and dirty, his head crowned with a rough bundle of thorns, a red cloak, discarded from a soldier's kit, draped roughly over his shoulders, a reed in his hand as a royal sceptre.
Do we skate too lightly over these words to Pilate:"NOT OF THIS WORLD"? What comparison is being made here? It is not that leadership in this world is a bad thing. That would be ridiculous. No, but it could be that the drivers energising our political and business leaders are not the drivers behind Jeshua's kingship.
Competition seems to be the main driver in this world. Not that a healthy competitive spirit is not a good thing. When it is used well it is the force behind our greatest achievements in every field, communal and personal. But when it takes the bit between its teeth and bolts a spirit of competition carries us into all manner of evil. The worst is the competition to be top dog among the nations when envy, greed and jealously march us into combat, urged on by petty patriotism and a voracious arms industry anxious to sell their wares.
I sit quietly wondering what there is left to say about the thorn-crowned king. It is a cold November day in the Yarra Valley, the eleventh of the eleventh, Memorial Day, with its minute's stillness at the eleventh hour. Watching the civic liturgy broadcast from the national capital, I am wracked with sorrow for the futile waste and pointless suffering of it all. Children lay poppies one by one around the Memorial Stone while a lone voice backed softly by the army band sings "In Flanders Fields", plaintiff, heart-rending, mystical.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Christ, King of Peace, can you teach us how to avoid war? We are currently galloping helter skelter towards conflict - again. When the keynote address on Memorial Day is delivered by a bemedalled army general (ret'd) calling for more preparedness we know we are doomed to repeat all those errors of the ages again and again and again. Blinded by ambition, national leaders resist the lessons history gives us as stubbornly as they resist the message of self-giving love.
Forgiveness is the only way, along with responsible decisions taken at the personal level. I have the impression that when someone gets to be leader of a nation they feel obliged to allow the "national interest" to dictate to their conscience. Can we do better as a nation than to do whatever it takes to defend the national interests should someone attack them? Is there a better way than to hit back in blind and sometimes futile resistance.
When I forgive a wrong done to me I absorb into myself the hurt, the pain and the injustice. It hurts me, but if I do not return evil for evil, the affair ends with me, with my forgiveness. To inflict pain in return for pain only creates a never-ending chain of pain. But will there ever be a leader who can convince the people to follow this example of Christ?
When it comes to the national interest we find Jeshua's example too hard to follow or, worse still, irrelevant. So we pray to him for victory and we ask mercy on those who die in the anger of battle. In ancient times this was seen as the noblest way to die. "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori." We have come a long way, but there is a long, long way to go if we are ever to practise forgiveness and accept the healing power of love.
And so the question arises: Should we, this year, for honesty's sake, bypass the celebration of Christ as King? Can we as a nation - allied to a partner hell-bent of being the strongest who is leading us into another fight for supremacy - can we sincerely ask the Prince of Peace to save us? Do we want to be saved? What price are we prepared to pay for peace? Could we accept some economic subservience to a stronger one if they are determined to master us? They will destroy our privileged way of life and reduce us to poverty and hard labour for a time but, as history shows, after many generations we will all be one happy and prosperous people - until someone else throws down the challenge and it all starts over again.
But perhaps in this experience humankind will have taken another small step towards responsible stewardship of our lives and our planet's life.
No, we would rather die than surrender, so we take up arms to kill as many as we can before we die, confident that our cause is the right and just one and the others be damned for their malicious greed. The code of patriotism is an evil thing.
*****
This is scary stuff? How much is it the truth? How much am I stressed when I try to align necessary preparations for war with the gospel of forgiveness and still call myself a loving follower of the King of Peace? If there is another way, would someone kindly show me, please.
There is a curious fact about the gospels you might like to think about. In not one of the four gospels, and indeed nowhere in the New Testament, is there any condemnation of war or any call for peace at any price. It must be hard for Christian pacifists to refuse to take up arms to defend their family from an attacker. The example of Jeshua, of course, is to take whatever comes, to absorb it into your self, to turn the other cheek; if someone wants your coat give them your shirt too; if they want a piece of your land, give them double, and for free. Love your enemy, says Jeshua and this is the greatest love, to lay down your life for them when you could justifiably kill them in self-defense. If my kingdom were of this world, my disciples would put up a good fight and make you pay in blood for your insolence, but my kingdom is not of that kind.
As Chesterton famously said: "Pity it's never been tried!"
Is there any reason to believe this could ever be accepted by the people at large? Is it even conceivable that one day a national leader would guide his people to negotiations with a view to maintaining peace and avoiding war, paying whatever price can be agreed upon but avoiding the unacceptable price of mutual killing?
How true would such a leader need to be! How fair dinkum! It seems it is beyond us, but nothing is impossible for God.