The reason some people deride Jesus and fail woefully to visualize and recognize Him as king is chiefly because they do not understand His initial claim to kingship. To be fair to them, it’s kind of unseemly to perceive as king, one standing before another king in handcuffs, defending His kingship: with bruises all over His body, and thorns as crown. We’ll agree that such a king would be a weak and effeminate one. And if you’re his subject, then you’ll be no better than the wretched of the earth. Yet, such a person is the One we are celebrating His kingship today. Aren’t we insane? Aren’t we as wretched as our king?
America is not ruled by kings and do not really understand that concept. Yet, we’re fascinated to hear about royalty in England and other places. For us, though, we are content with leaders to whom we can yell when we feel our demands are not met; and until very recently, we just don’t appreciate people outside our borders yelling at our president. Even with horrible approval ratings, we didn’t use to think that way, because every four years we have the chance to send them packing. But the king we speak about today is one you can mock and even deny, yet expect his benevolence. Who’s this king?
Jesus’ answer is, at best, shocking: “My kingdom is not of this world; my kingdom is not that kind.” So, He still claims to be king. Pilate put a question to Him the intent of which was to amuse the hearers: “So, you are a king, then?” Jesus didn’t hesitate to let Pilate and all know that He truly is King and the greatest of kings, because He exercises dominion over our hearts, minds, thoughts and consciences. It is at the center of our being, in our consciences that He set up His State House, His Congress and Supreme Court—not at Pennsylvania Avenue, at Capitol Hill or our Supreme Court. And He truly rules.
Christ’s mission was to bear witness to the truth imprinted in our consciences. This explains why the conscience is the greatest weapon against the self, because it’s not of our making; otherwise we could induce it always to testify in our defense, as alienists may sometimes testify in court for any side that hires them (Sheen). Beat it down as you may, the conscience would tell you—”you are that murderer, that adulterer, that liar”—even as you try to deny the act and shut your conscience up. Shakespeare had Lady Macbeth say: “Infected minds to their deaf pillows must discharge their secrets.” It’s extremely hard to lie to or against one’s conscience, which is God’s judgment seat right inside us.
Let me tell you why the world hates the Catholic Church and would be happy to see her demise. The Church does not intrude into our personal lives, as some claim, nor does she send any police to our homes to monitor our moral lives. The Church will never send Fr. Jo or any Church official to your homes to monitor who obeys their parents, who respects and loves their spouses, who prays and teaches their children to pray, whether you binge pornography, whether or not you use artificial contraceptives in your marriage beds, or whether the man or woman you slept with last night or sometime ago was your true spouse. Yet, your stomach turns when I talk about these. People would want to shut the Church up when she teaches these values because they touch their consciences and are based on truth. That is the true meaning of kingship.
At Calvary, we see a defeated Man who ultimately became a conqueror because He died for the truth. Jesus is our king in the true sense of the word and it is His prerogative to reign over us. Like it or not, He will rule. If our world recognized this, there would have been no murders, hatred, divorces, no terrorists, no blackmail, no wars, greed, and oppression. These have come to be part of our everyday experience because many chose as king, an enemy, the Devil, rather than Jesus, our true Friend, Lord, and King.
Fr. Chukwudi Jo Okonkwo