CHRIST THE KING

 1.      As a little boy, I was told the fairy tale of a Prince who was looking out for a true blooded Princess for a bride. The girls claiming to the T.B Princesses came by the dozens. The test was to sleeping a Princess Room especially built across the Palace.  There was a large bed with seven of the softest mattresses placed on top of each other. The girls were dismissed when they failed the test. One said that she was too frightened to sleep so high, another that she slept like a log, a third that she was not used to softness. But finally a fair maiden came and she said that she did not sleep a wink because there was something under the mattress. Furthermore she was bruised all black and blue. She was a true princess, because only she would have felt a small pea placed below the Seven Mattresses.

2.       Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. What is the Seven Mattress test for being a King? Some of you might say: Who cares? We are not monarchists, we live in the Caribbean or the Americas or Ireland, and even those who live in Britain know that the Queen does not have executive powers that can affect their daily life. And yet  even though we may not be monarchists, we create our own Kings:

          Bill Gates, the King of Computers

          Tiger Woods the King of Golf

          Oscar Peterson for the Canadians, the King of Jazz

          And although he has been dead for so many years, the King of Rock and Roll, the one and only Elvis Presley.

And we have our own Seven Mattress test for our Kings. They have to be Rich and Famous, they have to deal with the High and Mighty, they have to maintain a constant dazzling smile - whether real or fake, usually the later. How can one not smile with all that money and fame?

3.       Christ, our King would certainly fail this test. He was not Rich or famous. He had told his apostles not to carry a wallet or money bag, no extra tunic or pair of shoes. Today, Christ would say no Cell Phone, Credit Card or Blackberry. The Apostles were to stay wherever people make them welcome. Jesus did not throw any party like Tiger Wood did a few weeks ago just blocks away from this Church at Sandy Lane Hotel.

          Quite the contrary, Jesus does not meet the High and the Mighty. Today’s Gospel finds him between two thieves as a common criminal. His throne is a cross, his crown one of thorns. His message is not come and bow before me and attend to everyone of my whims and fancies, but if you want to follow me, you must love one another as I have loved you. You must forgive each other, again and again and again.

4.       As Christians we claim Christ as our King above the Microsoft Millionaire, the Golf Guru, above the King of Rock and Role. However our acknowledgement of his Kingship does not consist in saying “Lord, Lord” Matthew 7:21. It does not consist in celebrating the feast of Christ the King once a year. It means something more substantial and it means we have to pay a price.

It means being part of a Kingdom that goes contrary to the ones set up by the Rich and Famous of our world today. It goes against the wave of globalization our world. The bottom line of Globalization is Profit and making everything succeed even at the cost of people, their well being and their standard of Living. It would be a world that will sacrifice the One for the sake of the Ninety Nine. It is a world in which there is no Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. That is pure folly and does not fit into the Philosophy - if some one lives and moves, he or she must justify its place and what one uses.

Belonging to the Kingdom of Christ must make one a Force that should be reckoned with. It is not meant to be just decorative as flowers, they are useful but inefficient. The World would like the Church to be like that - a little holy water at significant but pagan events in life: birth, marriage and death, but otherwise stay our of our way.

The Kingdom of Christ is already here, says St. Paul. Every knee in heaven and earth and under the earth will bow. Unfortunately even after 2000 years, the Kingdom still seems to be but a seed, but in embryonic stage.

The Kingdom of God unlike the Globalized mentality must feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit those in prison. The Globalization philosophy considers these as loosers and must be thoroughly cauterized from society lest they become a cancer. It is profit first and people second. Just the opposite of the Kingdom where Christ is King.

This is the bottom line when we celebrate this important feast of Christ the King. Nobody is coerced into following, it is a free invitation. The choice is yours !