Look! He is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.

So it is to be. Amen (Rev 1:7)

On Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church reminds itself once again of God’s ultimate power over all. Our salvation comes not through military, economic, or physical strength, but through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

John in his vision of Christ the King and his addresses to the seven particular churches proclaims a central theological truth that resonates with our present turmoil and the power to confront them. The truth which gives encouragement and support in times of crisis points to God in Jesus Christ as supreme over all things. In such a time when the world and the church are caught up in the turmoil of this age, God in Jesus Christ the King is the Almighty. He is Supreme over all things, Supreme over all circumstances. Jesus Christ the King in his redemptive ministry ‘loved us and gave his life for us to free us from the bondage of sin, enabling us to be “kings and priests” (Exd 19:5-6). Jesus Christ the King is coming again, the end is near at hand.

The reflection is how does Jesus Christ’s supremacy and his coming again intersect with our troubles – decline in our churches, Boko Haram in Nigeria, Trump presidency in America, Brexit and European Union? In all our troubles and turmoil, nothing can frustrate the eternal will of Jesus Christ the King, the ONLY ONE who is the beginning and the end of all things. The thought and ultimate plan of Jesus Christ the King for us are good (Jn 3:16). Under the canopy of Jesus Christ the King, the troubles of this world including persecution of Christians, Boko Haram, Trump presidency, Brexit, and other challenges of life cannot frustrate God’s plans for us. Jesus Christ the King Sunday calls us to take our eyes of the trouble, off the shadows, and look to Jesus the source of truth and eternal life. The message is that, above all our present troubles, ‘the day is soon coming when Jesus will return to judge this age and its evil and so vindicate his people (Rev 1:7).

Jesus Christ the King Sunday raises this question: “How do you and I anticipate the coming of the Lord? Our anticipation affect our worship, our outreach, our lifestyle, and values. On Christ the King Sunday, the church is called to resist the same temptation that faced Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did not take the lies of Satan for the truth. Jesus Christ, born into the kingdom of Herod, did not take Herod as his mentor. The temptation and trouble of this world always want us to adopt the culture of this world. Jesus Christ the King represents a ruling ordered to the Truth, guiding the people and nations to the Truth, that is, toward God. Jesus Christ’s power as king is in his crucifixion thereby rejected the way of violence and greed. Christ’s power seems like foolishness to the world, mocked on the cross just as Christianity is mocked today. As followers of Jesus Christ the King, the book of Revelation summons us speak and act with promise, ‘with hope in the darkest and bleakest corners of the earth.’ Jesus Christ the King Sunday calls us to ‘follow our King by living in the light of the conviction that he really is King, and that one day, not through might but through resurrection, the world will be fully seen to be his, at peace and full of joy.’