Christ The King Homily

In Genesis we read that God kicked Adam out of the garden. But, there is way of reading the ancient text which renders an alternative meaning. Several Jewish scholars would suggest that it is in fact Adam who pushes God out of the Garden! Having eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Adam gains knowledge previously hidden from him: this breaks his unity with God… his ability to see and understand everything only as God does. He begins to see and understand through himself. He detaches himself from God and a separation takes place. This separation is Adam pushing God away. Adam puts himself in place of God as king. He becomes the king of his own little world. He becomes self-preoccupied, selfish, inward looking, timid and afraid. Fear enters the world for the first time. So does greed, envy and ignorance. It is only in unity with God that Adam can truly look outwards with love and without fear.

Many mystics mention an experience where God is asking to be let back into their hearts. ‘I stand as a beggar at your heart waiting to be let back in’. And it raises a question for all of us… who is King in our world and in our heart. What, in our lives, claims pride of place; what motivates us; what is it that we desire. Humanity as a collective, as a group of nations, does not seem to be doing very well. It ridicules God and religion relegating it to myth, legend and the bin. Yet the material gods it has put in its place, science, media, IT, corporations, governments and so on do not seem to be doing very well. They demand that we serve them but offer very little in return so that 1% of the world’s population owns over half the world’s wealth…. Surely there has to be something wrong here. But, many say, ‘what can I do I’m only a little cog in a big machine.

There is a story of a village holding a feast. The mayor asks everyone to come at night and put food into the communal pot. Each comes at night and puts something in. On the day of the feast the mayor opens the long simmering pot and begins ladling out the stew… and all they get is a bowl of water. Selfishly everyone left it to someone else to put some food in while putting only water in themselves. We cannot leave it to others. Each of us has to put something in. If the church is declining, if our moral compass is spinning, if society is confused then perhaps we are not putting enough into the communal pot.  

The only true correction for a broken world is to recognise that Christ is King of the Universe and the rightful King of our hearts. He is the cure for self-preoccupation, selfishness, greed, timidness and fear. We cannot leave Christ to be king of someone else’s heart; He must be King of our heart and we must invite Him in.

How this is done some ask. The answer has to be… go and find out. It is a truly personal journey through prayer, meditation, devotion and practice. No one can do it for you just as they cannot eat, breathe or think for you.

But, scripture tells us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and our neighbour as our self. When we attempt to love others by preferring what they want instead of what we want we will discern Christ in them: as others assume a place in our hearts, Christ will be felt in our hearts too, because He is in them; as we get to recognise Him and know Him He will then occupy the only place He can in our heart… that of King.

If we have not already done so let us invite Him in today.