The feast of Christ the King is one of the most challenging feasts in the year. In times that are, often justifiably, suspicious of authority figures we have to really think about what Christ the King can mean to us today.
We can no longer align that title to any earthly understanding of leadership. Maybe that was always a mistake because throughout the gospel the leadership Jesus shows us is different to any other leadership we have known.
This is highlighted in today’s gospel. It doesn’t show us a king enjoying power and ruling in majesty. Instead, it shows us a man, undeservedly dying a painful and humiliating death mocked by his enemies and abandoned by his friends.
Throughout the gospel Jesus has been telling his disciples that his kingdom is like no earthly kingdom. He makes it clear to them that kingship in the kingdom is to be based on loving service of others, especially of the poor, the needy and the outcast.
Even as he is dying on the cross the question that has followed him throughout his ministry is still ringing in the air with its notes of uncertainty, disbelief, surprise and now mockery: “Are you the Christ?”
Yet even here Jesus lives up to his own model of leadership. When the thief, dying alongside him glimpses something of who he really is, saying:
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom…”
Jesus welcomes him with his whole heart, promising that:
“Today you will be with me in Paradise.”
As we move towards the end of this liturgical year where do you need to know that Christ the King remembers you in his heart?