Here is my homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King, celebrated on 22 November 2009:

On this great feast the Church proclaims throughout the world that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, and the sacred liturgy offers a glorious hymn of thanks to God the Father in the Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer:

Father “You anointed Jesus Christ, your only Son, with the oil of gladness, as the eternal priest and universal king. As priest he offered his life on the altar of the cross and redeemed the human race by this one perfect sacrifice of peace. As king he claims dominion over all creation, that he may present to you, his almighty Father, an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.”

Even in the midst of this joyful celebration, though, we know that the dominion of the Lord Jesus is a disputed sovereignty. The world is filled with manifestations of evil, and we can see all around us the plain evidence that we do not yet live fully in a kingdom of holiness and grace. Instead, we live in a world filled all too often with rape and murder, with theft and lies, with betrayals and infidelities, with injustice and violence. How, then, in the face of evidence contrary to what we profess about Christ’s kingdom of justice, love, and peace are we to understand the Church’s faith that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords?

In the Gospel this morning, we find the answer. Pilate said to Jesus, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not is not from the world.”

Now, to understand what our Lord means here by these words we must remember that in the Gospel of John, the expression “the world” always means simply that part of creation which is in rebellion against the Creator. So, the Lord Jesus is not saying that he has a kingdom on Mars, but not on Earth, or in a different corner of the universe but not here. No, Jesus is teaching Pilate, and us, that his kingship is unlike that of earthly kings who rule by force in a fallen world, a world in rebellion against the Creator. Instead, we must look for his kingdom in a different way, and so the dialogue continues.

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world -- to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

That’s a curious phrase, everyone who belongs to the truth, but now we get to the heart of the question: How do we find the kingdom of Christ among us? Elsewhere in John’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus gives us the answer: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” In other words, living in the kingdom of Christ requires belonging to the truth, and that is possible only when we abide in the word of God, only when we become disciples or students of the Lord Jesus and let him teach us how to live and how to love, how to think and how to choose, according to the freedom of the children of God -- the freedom from sin and death.

Now notice, when Jesus says to Pilate “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice,” Pilate has an answer ready at hand: “What is truth?” But this is not the sincere question of a pupil seeking the instruction of a master; it is the cynical refusal of a hardened heart to hear the words of truth and life, the words of holiness and grace that alone can deliver us from the death of rebellion to the perfect freedom of the obedience of faith. But Pilate is not the only one to reject Jesus with such cynicism. We ask exactly this same question, What is truth?, every time we sin and then try to justify our sins or, even worse, say that our sins aren’t sins. That is the condition of the world in rebellion against the Creator, and those who live in that condition and will not repent of it can have no place in the eternal and universal kingdom of justice, love, and peace.

So, if we want to be converted from our rebellion and forgiven of our sins to live in Christ’s kingdom as free children of God, what are we to do? The Book of Revelation sings a great hymn of glory: “Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom of priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.”

Here’s our answer: He has made us into a kingdom of priests for his God and Father. Friends, this is the Church, which is on earth the seed and beginning of the Kingdom of God, and in the Church we find all the means of grace to live even now, not in rebellion, but in the obedience of faith, hope and love. By our Baptism we are made part of the royal priesthood of Christ, and through Word and Sacrament we can live the life of the new creation even now by cooperating with God’s grace to free us from sin. Every time we go to Confession, the grace of our Baptism is renewed; every time we worthily receive the Most Holy Eucharist, the gift of new life in nourished in us. Every day the Church prays, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” These words, taught to us by the Savior, reveal how we can live ever more perfectly in the kingdom of truth and life for which we all long: by doing God’s will, by abiding in his word, by belonging to the truth, by allowing the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, to teach us how to order everything in our lives: at home and at work, in the bedroom and the boardroom, at play and in the ballot box. That is how we hasten the coming of the kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love, and peace.

And that is how we give glory to our victorious king, the Alpha and the Omega, the One who is, who was, and who is to come. Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!