Christ is King

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen (Mark 16:19-20).

With these words, St. Mark ended his telling of the Gospel of Christ. He and the other Gospel writers make a major point that permeates through their books: Christ is king. Indeed, he is. But does Christ agree? What do we mean when we say “Christ is king”? If we want to crown Christ king over our lives because of his divine power over nature, and therefore his ability to remove our difficulties in life, he’ll withdraw “to the hills by himself” as he withdrew from the crowd when they tried to take him by force to make him king after he multiplied the loaves (John 6:15). Christ’s kingdom, as he himself said, “is not of this world” (John 18:36). He explicitly rejected rulership over this world in the ordinary sense when he rebuked Satan who offered him all the kingdoms of the earth in the third temptation (Matthew 4:9-10).

Yet, right before his ascension into glory, the Lord said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). He even encouraged the disciples with these words: “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have conquered the world” (John 16:33). So, which is it? Is Jesus the Victorious One who has ushered in God’s kingdom which has conquered all kingdoms, or has he rejected kingship over the world altogether? Both.

The Ascension of Christ is the final act in Jesus’ work of saving the world. From the “right hand of God” (Mark 16:20) Jesus has formed a new kingdom which rules over the world from on high. That kingdom is taking shape in our midst by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why Christ made it a point to say: “it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). And, of course, this promise would be fulfilled on Pentecost, ten days after Christ “went away,” ascending into heaven (Acts 2). But the kingdom of God, which Jesus says is “in your midst” (Luke 17:21), is a different kind of kingdom. Jesus rejected the earthly kingship that Satan offered him and the crowd tried to impose on him, and maybe the kingdom we also want from him, because earthly kingdoms rule by raw power, by the sword, wielded against the human heart’s yearning to live for something more than this world.

Earthly kings have to keep their subjects in check lest those subjects bypass them for Someone greater, emptying the earthly king of his power to use his people for his own personal glory. Our heavenly King is different, for “the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). His kingdom is not exercised by the power of the sword, for “all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). Christ’s kingdom is marked by self-giving love, the love which neither Satan nor the world will accept, but punish by crucifixion. But it is the kingdom of God, and God vindicated his Son’s true kingship by his Resurrection from the dead, and in his Ascension at the right hand of the Father, has seated him on the throne which is breaking all other thrones and which, at the second coming of the King, will definitively conquer.

Christ reigns from on high, and his kingdom is at work in the hearts of believers who take his path. We, then, are invited into the kingdom of God by sharing in Christ’s self-giving love, by our obedience to God and service of one another. Rather than taking advantage of others as earthly kings, let us imitate our heavenly King who “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7).

The Cross will prevail over the sword. Christ is King - glory to him, forever.