Advent: Longing for a Different Kind of King.

“… just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Matt. 25:40

For those who attend liturgical churches, Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday in the liturgical year, is over. But Christians keep talking or singing about Christ as our king. The Advent hymn “Soon and Very Soon” is a good example – “Soon and very soon we are going to see the King.” Yet, in reality, we should be singing: “Soon and very soon we are going to see a baby.” Of course, to Christians the baby is the king! I always find the church’s usage of the image of king to describe Jesus interesting. What kind of image of king do you have?

I grew up in Hong Kong at a time when I had a very fuzzy understanding of kings. I grew up in a British colony, not a country. I sang the national anthem of another country, a country I couldn’t claim to be my own, nor did the British want me to be one of their desirable citizens. As a child, the king I knew of was the King of England. England was not my country. The king seldom came to Hong Kong. I didn’t know very much of what he did. The king may be a generous person but he lived in a place very far away from me. The king to me was someone who lived in magnificent stone castles with an endless supply of food and wine. The king could be a kind man, but I had no knowledge of him.

What image we choose to describe our relationship with God is no small business. Like the image of God as father, mother, or shepherd, the usefulness of these images largely depends on how we have experienced those figures on earth. Imagine, if one has an abusive earthly father or an irresponsible mother, the idea of God the Father or Mother could potentially be damaging to the formation of one’s faith. For this matter, a reflection on Christ’s kingship and how one understands what it means in daily living is arguably significant.

Another worthy consideration is that we who live in western democratic societies are no longer ruled by kings. We are so far away from those days when the king decided everything for his people. I guess I am not the only one who has a fuzzy feeling about kings, but most of us have very little knowledge about what it means to have kings.

Does Jesus want to me our King? If Jesus lived bodily on earth right now, would he rather be our friend?

Would Jesus be found among those who occupied major cities in the world demanding a fair distribution of wealth and resources? Would Jesus be speaking on behalf of the poor? Would Jesus be found in prison behind bars because he protested against government policies? Would Jesus endorse a budget that promised billions of dollars to making bombs? Would Jesus be found as one of those skinny refugees in Africa? Would Jesus who reportedly said nothing against loving homosexual individuals in the four Gospels come to us today be labeled as heretic by some pious Christians, the same way the pious people of his days found him problematic because he ate with sinners and tax collectors?

If Jesus is a king, based on Matthew 25, Jesus would be a different kind of king. Jesus is a king who doesn’t live in a hilltop castle that is far away from his people. Jesus wouldn’t live sumptuously where he consumes most of the resources of the world for himself. According to Matthew 25, Jesus is a king who is willing to identify himself as one of those who are naked, thirsty and as one who is being thrown into prison. This is an image of a king who needs help. That would be upsetting to most people’s understanding of a king. A king who needs to be fed, found thirty, is in prison or naked is no king at all.

Matthew 25 is an outrageous text. Matthew the gospel writer reinstates a major theme in the Jewish tradition - loving-kindness. Being a true pious person who follows God is someone who looks after the needy and the disenfranchised people. To love God with all our heart, soul and mind is not a concept that needs to be memorized but contains concrete items. For any of us who find ourselves not quite fitting into the common accepted definition of what good life is, we know a king when he lived on earth he was also disenfranchised, rejected and labeled.

The Christmas story, the birth of a king, is a story of hope and comfort. It empowers people everywhere who find hope and comfort in short supply. However, Matthew 25 is much larger than a personal quest for comfort; it has a special dimension that must be addressed. Matthew 25 functions like a subversive speech where it upsets not only our usual understanding of kings, but our assumed normalcy of society. We ask: Why are there hungry and thirsty people? Who made them hungry and naked? Who started that? Consider seriously the historical context of the text when imperial Rome ruled the day, we need to ask: How did their kings treat the poor, the naked, those in prison and the hungry? Matthew 25 challenges us to think again what is dear to God’s heart. Our state of blessedness is our opportunity to serve, to care, and to speak up.

Advent is the time for Christians to wait and to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ the King. It is a longing for a different kind of king, a different kind of society, and a different kind of community where hope, fairness, and generosity anchor the delicate fabric of life. While we long for God to visit us to bring us hope; God waits for us to do the wise and right things by exercising generosity, kindness and love in our society.