"…For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to God's self all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of the cross."

(Colossians 1:20)

It was rather odd, but royalty tended to be rather in issue in my family. At age 10 or 11, I was enthralled with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. I kept a scrapbook of the pictures found in Life Magazine of the crown jewels and the coronation itself. I arose very early the morning of the coronation to watch the event on black and white TV!

My sister, who shall be nameless per her request when I arrived here, had a different take on royalty. After we saw the movie "Anastasia," she became convinced that she was the real Anastasia. She had always believed that her membership in our family was suspect, and this gave her the opportunity to dismiss all of us as being basically irrelevant. She hadn't computed that Anastasia would have been far older than she. This did not cramp her royal style.

For both of us, being royal meant having everything one wanted: homes, clothing, jewels, and minions to wait upon us. Royalty seemed all powerful and in control with no parents or others to dictate what they thought, did or cared about.

Today is Christ the King Sunday. Frequently, Christ as the King is depicted as if Jesus were royalty like Elizabeth and Anastasia. Nothing could be further from the truth. When Elizabeth was in Africa and learned that her father had died, the cry went up: "The King is dead, long live the Queen!" Jesus, as Christ the King, would have had a far different cry. It would have been more on the line of: "The King is dead; the King lives! Long live the King!" We end the church year on this note as a reminder. Since Easter we have been hearing about what Jesus did on earth. As a culmination of that, we are reminded of who Christ was: Our invisible God made visible…fully divine and fully human.

Pope John Paul II said:

"Jesus Christ is a 'King who loves.' He loves us humans by the shedding of his blood. Because he loves, he has liberated us from sin, because only love is capable of freeing us from sin. By liberating us from sin, he made from us the Kingdom of God. His reign 'never fades.' 'The Kingdom' of truth, of love, of grace and of pardon knows no sunset. His reign does not pass away…"

(Prayers and Devotions from Pope John Paul II (Chicago: Regnery Gateway, 1984) pp. 457-458.)

The Kingdom of God was visible in Christ's words to the thief who hung next to him on the cross. The thief did not ask forgiveness, but was given the ultimate forgiveness. Christ did not gain power and wealth and stature in the ways of the world. By way of contrast he has been known down through the centuries by his radical humiliation and self-giving on the cross. If we wish to bring about the Kingdom in all of its fullness, we are commanded to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. We are charged to love those who are considered unlovable in the world. We are called to eschew the power of the world for the power of God. Most especially, we are to follow Christ's model in forgiving one another, even as we are courageous enough to ask for the forgiveness of others. "It has been said that love, mercy and forgiveness are the bridge to reconciliation." (Copied) It is a bridge we must cross if we would follow him.

As we read in Colossians and in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus was the first born of creation and, hence all things were created through him. God dwelt fully in him, and, through Christ's blood on the cross, reconciled all creation to God. The ultimate result of this reconciliation is peace; a peace that could only come through a total self-emptying, a total self-giving, of a love that surpasses all bounds.

As we continue to give thanks to God this weekend, let us remember the gift that has been given us and pledge to learn to be God's people in the world. Jesus gave us a model that is possible, in part, for those of us who are human, to follow. Let us begin. Amen