Feast of Christ the King

Fr. Leo Pabayo .

THE idea of a king did not occur in the mind of the Israelites in the beginning of their history. Moses their founding Father did not call himself a king. He ruled over them as a prophet and he ruled according to the word that God inspired him to speak to them.

It was part of the culture of the time of Moses that the relationship between the most powerful king and his vassals was spoken of in terms of covenant and commandments or laws. Thus the word of God was spoken by Moses in terms of covenant and commandments or laws.

The word of God however has a richer meaning. While Moses understood the relationships between God and the people in terms of covenant and commandments or laws, it would become evident later that the word of God is more than laws.

Christ would reveal later that the relationship between God and man is far greater than the relationship between king and subjects or master and servants or slaves. The words covenant and commandments would assume a new meaning. Christ would speak of this new relationship between him and the apostles and disciples in terms of a relationship of love and friendship. This was meant to be proclaimed by them to other peoples.

“You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father… This I command you: love one another.” ” (15:14-15, 17)

Our understanding therefore of Christ as King who is Lord of the universe should be understood first and foremost as God’s love for man. It was out of love that he created the world to give it to us as his children whom he created in his image and likeness.

Because of our sin we have lost our understanding of the relationship between God and us. Man’s understanding of this relationship became not only fuzzy. It became totally distorted giving rise to all kinds of idolatry. It would take a long time for us to begin to have some correct understanding of this relationship.

A new understanding began with Abraham. It would develop further in the time of Moses and the subsequent generation of Israelites.

It was late in the history of Israel that the concept of God as ruler and king came to be. It seems that this started around the time of the prophet Samuel and developed during the time of King David. The concept of a king was at first anathema to the prophet Samuel. During this time the Israelites clamored to also have a king like their neighboring nations. The people wanted this presumably for practical reasons. Samuel resisted the idea. He and the other prophets always thought that they the Chosen people of God were directly ruled by God. Samuel also resisted the idea of king it because of what he observed of the kings in their neighboring nations. The kings of these countries were known for their political ambitions, their corruption, their violence and their ambition to conquer and subjugate other people and enslaving them.

“This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.   He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.   He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.   He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.  Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle* and donkeys he will take for his own use.   He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.  When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.” (1Samuel 8:11-18)

Later on, however, Samuel however realized that he could not hold back the people’s demand for a king. He realized that there is some value in having a king if the king would be guided by the word of God. Samuel consented to anoint a king for Israel.

The first king that Samuel anointed was Saul. Saul behaved very badly just as Samuel feared a king would behave.  His power as king got into his head. Saul fell into the sin of the other kings. He became envious of David who was his most and faithful lieutenant. He became jealous of his hold on power and became paranoid toward David. He wanted David killed.

Eventually, David succeeded Saul. He became for the people the ideal king. It was perhaps because of David that the idea of king and kingdom became dominant in the minds of the Chosen people. But David himself was flawed. When he fell in love with Bathsheba he had his commander send Bathsheba’s husband in the front line during a battle so that he would be killed.

David however, deeply repented of what he had done. Some of the prayers of repentance in the Bible are attributed to the repentant David. David also came to be known for his just and godly conduct as a king. He was for the Jews the ideal king.

After David, the people pined for the day that a descendant of David will be born who would realize for them everything that they aspired for as a people. This descendant of David would be for them the king of all kings, the Messiah, who will be truly be the greatest one anointed by God who would rule not only over Israel but the whole world. The history of Israel was seen by the prophets as a preparation for the coming of the Messiah. He was meant by God to definitively establish Israel as the greatest kingdom and nation on earth. The prophets understood the nature of the Messiah but the people at large and their earthly kings that ruled after David totally missed the point of the prophecies. (to be continued)