Towards Sunday, Nov 23, 2014 (Reign of Christ Sunday)

Scripture:  Ezekiel 34:11-24 and Matthew 25:31-46

Christ the King Sunday (the official name of the day) is a recent addition to the liturgical year.  It was established by decree of Pope Pius XI in 1925 as a day for the faithful to celebrate the lordship of Christ over all creation, and to commit themselves anew to the coming of God's kingdom of God on Earth, rather than to the rising tide of secularism and consumerism.

Makes one think we still need this day today! (Maybe the day can give us a kind of vaccination against the commercial and consumer excesses of the season ahead.)

But calling Christ the king is not an easy matter.  The difficulty is evident for me in two images or icons of Christ I came across this week.

 

This is the traditional image of Christus Pantocrator -- or Christ, Ruler of All.  It is majestic, awe-inspiring and expresses well the faith that Christ is above and before all, holds all things together in heaven and on earth, and ultimately is the One by whom all things are both judged and redeemed.

The problem we have today though, is that it's a very hierarchical image in a world that knows the danger and poison of hierarchy, a monarchical image in a world that values egalitarian and democratic authority, and an image of Christendom in a world that is consciously post-Christian.  If this is the leading image of the Christ we want to affirm as lord of all the world, are we really going to reach many people?  Are we really offering a constructive witness?  Are we really making a convincing case for committing anew to the way of Christ as the answer for the world's waywardness?

And then there is this -- Christ of the Margins, an icon by Brother Robert Lenz, OFM.  It's arresting in what it says -- like the place of Christ in the world, the reality of suffering, and even the ordinariness and weakness of Christ in the midst of it.  It's also thought-provoking in what it doesn't say -- like which side of the fence Christ is on, is he a victim or a rescuer, is it he or we who are imprisoned (or even both), and what is the hope?

I have a feeling that if we celebrate this One as lord whose way holds all things together, and by whose way the world is redeemed, we have something worth saying and celebrating that the world around us might just resonate with, and want to know more of.