Thread by @dianabutlerbass

A #SundayMorning thread:

Today is the final Sunday in the Christian year. Liturgical churches have adopted the custom of calling this day the Feast of Christ the King.

But "Christ the King" is a recent addition to the calendar -- not an ancient tradition -- added in 1925.

It was instituted by Pope Pius XI.

Wait: Pius XI? Wasn't he the pope when the Nazis rose to power?

Yes. Pius XI.

Christ the King was largely a political idea. Worried about the political "isms" of the early 20th cent -- communism, socialism, nationalism -- Pius set out this holy day to counter those ideologies. CTK was "over" all worldly political systems. Jesus has dominion above them all.

Pius was also in a continuing tension with the Kingdom of Italy about Vatican political power and geographical authority that began in the 1870s; CTK was proclaimed in 1925. The political argument btwn the Vatican & Italy was resolved in 1929.

When churches publish bulletins of CTK, they often have pictures like this on the cover:

Are you uncomfortable yet?

I am.

While the historical point is a good one -- that the dominions of the this world are subject to God -- it can easily be misused. The whole business hinges on what kind of "king" you think Christ is.

And frankly, Christians have screwed this up for a long, long time.

Originally, the title "Lord and Savior" was used for Caesar. It wasn't a Xian thing. It was an imperial title. When Xians stole it, they intended to subvert it. Caesar may be an imperial king, but Jesus was a "king" of humility and love.

Jesus's kingship wouldn't be "over" anything. It would be "among" us, "within" us, "with" us.

Not a throne, but a table. Like this:

The early church actually fought over this. Should the Lord's Supper be celebrated like an imperial banquet or a communal meal? Should churches be modeled after imperial basilicas or in the round?

It seems pretty clear that the Bible -- Jesus's own teaching -- is about a sort of "ironic" kingship -- Jesus is a "king" who undoes the idea of kings. Jesus reserves everything, taking down the idea of hierarchical rule forever.

Blessed are the poor; blessed are those who mourn; blessed are the broken-hearted.

Did you know that the word "blessed" was, in Jesus's day, a word that was reserved for the rich? The 1%? Then, the blessed were those on top.

Jesus said no. Those at the bottom are blessed.

Jesus preached a "kingdom" that looked like this:

Jesus' vision is, of course, against the "isms" of the 20th century. So, in a sense Pius was correct.

But Jesus also decried "over" and "under." He taught that ALL hierarchies would be taken down in "The Age to Come" (that's often translated "The Kingdom of God")

He did not set up a new hierarchy in which he would replace Caesar. A new pyramid with him the top guy. He envisioned a remade world -- a community established in abundance, a table set in the wilderness, a world free of debt, where all find a seat and all are fed.

Jesus teaches the arrival of God's endless sabbath, an eternal jubilee, the time when the Age to Come has come and is dwelling among us.

Immanuel. God with us.

It is way seriously more radical that crowning Jesus as Caesar and putting him on a throne.

*than, not "that" (twitter edit, please!)

Because this "dominion," a dominion of the table, of hospitality and gratitude, is something we do with God. We aren't its "subjects," we are its co-creators.

It is very clear that the first Christians understood that this whole imperial kingship dominion "over" thing was about subversion. It was a big middle finger to all kings, all Caesars. Even churches that would make Jesus Caesar. Read the entire Book of Acts. They got it.

If your church teaches Jesus is Caesar, RUN.

If your church teaches that Jesus ends the possibility of all Caesars forever, even himself as Caesar, listen well and learn.

Recognize theological subversion and irony. Know the context. Understand that the second and third generations of Christians messed this up from their own fear and their own desires for political power.

But the whole arc of the biblical narrative takes down hierarchical power, and insists on that table.

So, set tables wherever you are today. Embody the "kingship" of host and guest. Blessed are you who doubt, mourn, cry, suffer, fume, ache, and care for the least of these.

The "kingdom" of God is among you.

(Please forgive thread typos, etc. I do my best. But my small tweet-sermons are extemporaneous. So typing, spelling, grammar mistake do happen.)

And it is really worth examining whether or not we should hold onto this custom. The history is really pretty spurious -- an elevation of Christian dominion by a Pope with seriously questionable political motives. I don't think this one should be on the calendar IMHO.