Some Troubled Thoughts about Christ the King Sunday, with a nod to Aotearoa Sunday.

This Sunday is Christ the King or the Reign of Christ Sunday. Which means we are at the end of another church year and are finishing our time in Luke’s Gospel. Advent beckons.

To be honest I struggle with this Sunday. It was instituted in 1925 by Pope Pius XI in response to rising anticlericalism and nationalism across Europe. The image of king is very male and quite European – not helpful when talking about God. It was intended to make the reign of God the means by which we understand the purpose of government, but I wonder how many of our preconceived ideas about “king” shape how we understand Christ as king. Too easily we forget Jeremiah’s words of condemnation to those who in the name of God sought power and wealth for themselves and left the poor even more impoverished, the widows and orphans unprotected, and the community broken with division.

In contrast Luke offers the image of a crucified king – an image of powerful powerlessness.  The temptation is to jump away from this scene and to look elsewhere for what Christ’s kingship looks like. The New Testament scholar NT Wright comments: ‘At the heart of Luke’s picture of the cross is the mocking of Jesus as king of the Jews … Jesus has stood on its head the meaning of kingship, the meaning of the kingdom itself. He has celebrated with the wrong people, offered peace and hope to the wrong people, and warned the wrong people of God’s coming judgment’ (Luke for Everyone, p.284). This is not the power of influence and control, but love that flows with reconciling compassion and grace. This is a deeply subversive image of kingship.

Interestingly in our church here in Aotearoa – New Zealand this Sunday is also Aotearoa Sunday – a day to remember the long and shameful story of the creation of Te Pihopatanga o Aotearoa. A solemn note to finish the year as we reflect on how our Eurocentric notions of what it means to be Christian got in our way of living with compassion and generosity among nga iwi o Aotearoa. We have played king, and made Christ the king in our image.

So, what does Christ the King mean for us today? As we enter Advent, what does this image of the crucified king invite us to hold and look for?

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