Many churches observe the last Sunday of the church year as Christ the King Sunday. Although the title "king" is a problem for some people, the concept of Christ as King is founded on many Scriptures. In fact, the term “Christ” means “anointed” and refers to the Savior’s kingship. An early and basic Christian affirmation of faith is “Jesus is Lord.” Among the meanings of this affirmation, one of them is that Jesus is the divine king, not Caesar, not some other monarch, not a prime minister, not a president. Although the concept of Christ’s Kingship is ancient, the Feast of Christ the King is a fairly new observance. It was first developed in 1925 and then applied to the Sunday before Advent by many denominations since the 1970s.
The three-year lectionary for the last Sunday after Pentecost this year includes these verses from St. Luke 23.36-38: "And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, This Is The King of The Jews" (KJV). These verses remind us that the kingship of Christ is different from the expectations of the world. Jesus is the Christ, and He is king in a real and powerful sense. However, He does not always manifest His rule in popular ways. In this world, His throne is a cross. As king of God's people, His vocation is to suffer and save people from sin. Although He deserves the greatest glory and honor, and although He shares the Father's authority and power, He comes as a humble crucified Redeemer, From the beginning of the church year to the end, believers need to see this truth about our King and accept it in faith.
