Christ is King

“We tell the Lord that he is king except for our sexuality. We tell the Lord that His kingdom of order and peace does not extend to the media we consume or to what we watch on the internet. We tell Christ the King that his empire encompasses all except for our corporate life and moneymaking.

“To the King who died for us, we tell him what His precious blood does not cover—what is exempt from His rule and reign.”

By Deacon Garlick @HarrisonGarlic1 on Twitter

THE DOMINION OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

A homily:

Today is the feast of Christ the King which was instituted to remind us to labor and pray for the “restoration of the Empire of Our Lord.” 

For by His Blood, Jesus Christ purchased all mankind and has full dominion over their minds, hearts, and passions. Christ is the firstborn from among the dead and nothing within all of Creation is exempted from His authority. His reign is full, and His power absolute.

Yet, when we say, “Christ is king,” what do we mean? 

In the Old Testament, God promised King David that his throne would be eternal, it would endure like the sun, and that someone from his bloodline would reign forever. Isaiah prophesied of the coming of this future king, the messiah, when he wrote:

"For a child is born to us and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God the mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace. He shall sit upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and forever.”

Notice that Isaiah says the future king will “sit upon the throne of David… forever.” Other Old Testament figures, like Jeremiah and Daniel, write similar things of the coming of the king.

In the New Testament, this prophecy was fulfilled at the Annunciation. For Gabriel the Archangel tells the Blessed Virgin Mary that to her Son: “the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” 

The Annunciation is the proclamation that the king has come—that the Christ-child, the eternal king, is made flesh. This is why throughout the New Testament people cry out to Jesus under the title: “Son of David”—an acknowledgement of His royal bloodline.

Finally, in the book of Hebrews, we learn that the eternal king, Jesus Christ, is also our eternal high priest. He is both the priest and sacrifice—the lamb that is slain. He is the king who sheds His blood for His people and purchases them for His dominion of peace and charity. For the Father has given him all of Creation, and all things are subject to His empire.

Yet, to the power and might of Jesus Christ, we, his subjects, tell Him the limits of His domain. We place restrictions on His authority and mark off the boundaries of His kingdom. We tell Christ the King, who purchased us by the cross, where His blood does not flow.

We tell the Lord that he is king except for our sexuality. We tell the Lord that His kingdom of order and peace does not extend to the media we consume or to what we watch on the internet. We tell Christ the King that his empire encompasses all except for our corporate life and moneymaking.

To the King who died for us, we tell him what His precious blood does not cover—what is exempt from His rule and reign.

No more is this more true with modern man than in politics. 

We have set aside the reality of the Kingdom of Christ and tell Our Lord that His precious blood did not purchase the public square. This error is not new. In 1925, Pope Pius XI instituted the feast of the “Kingship of Jesus Christ” to remind man that Our Lord held dominion over all men, families, and nations. 

Politics is not exempt from the Precious Blood of Jesus.

Pope Pius XI writes: “It would be a grave error… to say that Christ has no authority whatever in civil affairs, since, by virtue of the absolute empire over all creatures committed to him by the Father, all things are in His power.”

Yet, we have rejected the Kingship of Christ extends to politics. And, as Pope Pius XI notes, by attempting to set boundaries to the kingdom of Jesus Christ “human society is tottering to its fall, because it has no longer a secure and solid foundation.”

We have been told not to proclaim Christ in the public square. We have been told the reality of the empire of our Lord has no claim on politics. We were told that secularism is neutral. That the absence of true religion makes things fair for all. 

This is a lie. There is no neutral.

The evidence is all around us. An absence of Christ does not create neutrality but a vacuum—and in its place new gods have arisen with their own civic religions, anthropologies, definitions, and rituals.

There are no exemptions to the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. All is within His reign and rule. And we, His subjects, have no power to limit His authority or to hold anything back from His dominion.

We are subjects of an empire of charity. We serve the God of Love. We do not turn to the world to understand what love is—we turn to our King, Jesus Christ. 

We do not attempt to hold back His Precious Blood; rather, we embrace it, we pray for its covering protection. For under the dominion of His blood is true freedom, peace, and happiness.

We should not be ashamed of the Kingdom of Christ. We should not be shamed into silence. 

Who has the authority to tell Christ the limits of His rule? What celebrity, media personality, or politician can tell Jesus, King of the Universe, where the boundary of his authority lies?

Let us make Christ the king of our hearts, of our families, and of our society. His kingdom has no bounds and neither should our faith in Him. Let us offer every aspect of our lives to the dominion of the Precious Blood. Hold nothing back.

Let us pray and labor for the restoration of the empire of our Lord Jesus Christ.