On the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church draws our attention to Jesus Christ, the King of the universe. It presupposes the Kingdom of God is here but not yet in its fullness. It recognizes that Christ rules an eternal and universal Kingdom. A Kingdom of truth and life, a Kingdom of holiness and grace, a Kingdom of justice, love, and peace. It is a Kingdom that is imperfect on earth but perfect in heaven. If we live by His Gospel, we will be brought to the joy of His Kingdom.
The feast of Christ the King is predicated upon the reality that sin separated humanity from the Kingdom of God. Sin created an insurmountable gulf between heaven and earth, making it impossible for people to participate in God’s goodness until Jesus reversed the paradigm.
Jesus’ mission was to offer the Kingdom of God to his creatures again. Everything he did on earth was at the service of this unification. God chose to transform his creation in his infinite wisdom instead of abandoning it. The transformation could only occur by manifesting his love through His only begotten Son, who became like us in all things but sin.
The offer began when Jesus, born through a Virgin, came into the world not as a conquering figure but first in poverty. His low birth symbolized the spiritual poverty of all humanity, cut off from the power of goodness because of sin. Assuming our condition, the return of the Kingdom became a reality.
Through the person of Jesus, the resurgence of truth and life, justice, peace, and love would be the foundational stones that begin to build the Kingdom of God on earth. The kingdom became a reality when Jesus broke the bond of death by obeying the Father by dying on the cross and being raised on the third day. Now, the Kingdom of God in heaven is accessible here on earth. At this point, however, humanity is still outsiders looking into the Kingdom.
The plan of salvation includes something greater than observers of the Kingdom; it desires actual participation. The vehicle needed is a way in which a person can be united with Christ in passion, death, and resurrection to become a member of the kingdom instead of an onlooker. Jesus’ death and resurrection broke the division between heaven and earth and offered a real and lasting relationship with God in his Kingdom, primarily through baptism.
When we are baptized, we conform to Christ, the King of the Universe, by being plunged into the waters of rebirth. St. Paul reminds us that our self was crucified with him so our sinful body may be done away with, that we might no longer be slaves to sin.
In essence, the sacrament of baptism reveals Christ’s kingship and our participation in it by making us members of His body, which he is the head of. By following the dictates of the Gospel and remaining in his grace, we are already living in the Kingdom of God while still living on earth. Recognizing Jesus as the King of the Universe does nothing to his greatness, but it reminds us of the great gift he has given us by being members of the Kingdom now and for all eternity. He has raised us from the poverty of sin to the richness of truth, life, goodness, justice, peace, and love.
As members of his royal court, our lives should reflect our rise from the poverty of sin to richness or righteousness in how we work to bring about His Kingdom on earth by treating family and neighbors through our Christian charity toward them.