Readings:
Daniel 7: 9-10, 13-14;
Psalm 93;
Revelation 1: 4b-8;
John 18: 33-37

Collect:
God the Father,
help us to hear the call of Christ the King
and to follow in his service,
whose kingdom has no end;
for he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, one glory. Amen.

Reflection - The Reign of Christ

This Sunday is known as Christ the King Sunday when we will be celebrating the feast of the reign of Christ. The feast brings the liturgical year to a close and heralds the season of Advent. Over the past months we have celebrated the mysteries of the life of the Lord through the seasons of Epiphany, Easter and Ascension. But now, we contemplate Christ in his glorified state as King of all Creation and of our souls.

The Gospel reading for this Sunday is from John 18:33-37, when Pilate was speaking to Jesus Christ after his arrest and asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” – an answer that confounded Pilate as he could not get his head around someone under arrested declaring himself a king. The kingdom and the reign of Christ is something that we continue to grapple with even to the present time and it is no surprise that discussions. concerning the kingdom of God often raise questions such as “is there an afterlife?” or “what will the new heavens and the new earth look like?” Although they importantly enquire into eternity, but solely focusing on these questions may draw our attention away from a crucial reality: The kingdom of God is among us, right here and right now. It exists and is experienced within the body of Christ, giving us a foretaste of heaven which we shall experience in full when our flesh gives way and we dwell in the immediate presence of God forever.

The centrality of the kingdom of God is often overlooked, yet critical in maintaining a holistic scope of the word of God as written in the bible. The Kingdom of God concerns the present and future life. The way of his kingdom is transforming us from the inside out.  Its essence is revealed in the relationships among believers and engagement with the world at large. To God’s kingdom we are citizens but to this world we are ambassadors, however the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world are antithetical, unfortunately the distinction between the two has become increasingly blurred, reflecting a failure of the citizens of God’s kingdom to live out its values as a collective.

One key thing to bear in mind is the Kingdom of God is infinite unlike the kingdoms of this world. Russia is such a vast country that it spreads across twelve time zones. At certain times of the year, the sun rises in Moscow at almost the same time it sets in Magadan, in the far east near Alaska. Yet the borders of Russia are limited. Similarly, in 1829 the author Christopher North referred to the empire of King George IV as “His Majesty’s dominions, on which the sun never sets.” Yet the vast British Empire, easily the largest and the most cosmopolitan empire the world had ever seen, disintegrated into almost nothing in the decades following World War II.

By contrast, Isaiah saw that Jesus’ kingdom has no limits in space or time when he declared “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign...from that time on and forever.” For believers this is wonderful: there is no time or place where his rule will not determine all things. This strengthens the faith of believers and calls everyone to bow to his rule and to take their place as obedient and much loved subjects in his kingdom. Thus, Jesus calls every person to himself with these words: “The time has come, the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15).  

Adedayo Adebiyi