The recent feast of Christ the King presents two fundamental questions to us that need to be answered honestly. For indeed, many Christians willingly pay Christ lip service, and return expected answers. But how real, how truthful are those answers? That is a different matter. Let’s consider both questions in turn.

In the Gospel from John 18 Jesus is on trial before Pilate, but he deftly turns the tables and suddenly it is Pilate that is on trial. But, by extension, it is you and I who are also on trial, and the question Jesus asks Pilate is a question we must also answer. Then, when Pilate asks, “Are you a King?” Jesus answers with a question:

Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me? (Jn 18:34)

This is a question you and I must answer. For it is too often the case that, when it comes to the truths of faith, we are content merely to supply formulaic answers we have heard from others. And thus, to take up Jesus’ language, we do not say things on our own but are merely repeating what others have told us about Jesus.

In one sense this is good. Faith comes from hearing. And the faith we have today must necessarily be based on what has been revealed to the Church and proclaimed by others (parents, priests, catechists et al) to us. Don’t invent your own religion, it is a bad idea and is akin to idolatry.

But that said, there comes a time when, having heard the faith that the Church proclaims, we begin to live and experience it our own lives. Our lives are like a laboratory wherein we test the Word of God and find it to be true. As such we go from being merely hearers of the Word to witnesses of its truth to others. As witnesses we are able to personally attest:

“In the laboratory of my own life I have tested God’s word and found it to be true. The faith with the Church has announced, and handed down for millennia is faithful and true and I am a witness of this because it is changing my life. I am seeing sins put to death and graces come alive. Yes everything that the Church proclaims as revealed by God is true, and I am a witness.”

Can you really say this? Or to quote Jesus again, “Do you say this on your own, or have others told you about me?” Honestly, how do you answer Jesus? Is he your king or are you just reciting expected formulas? Are you saying what you know to be true, or are you just repeating what your mother, or pastor said to you?

At some point we have to go beyond mere recitations of formulae and become personal witnesses who can attest that these truths are something we have personally come to know and experience as true.

So here is question 1: Are you a firsthand witness of Christ, or more of a reciter of formulas? Do you say what you say of Jesus merely because you repeat what you heard others say, or do you personally know that these teachings are true out of your experience?

It is the difference between being a witness and a mere wonk. Can you say, Jesus Christ is the King of my life, he is ruling me and leading me, and my life is changing? Are you able to say this on your own or are you just repeating formulae? "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?" (Jn 18:34).

The second question is more implicit, but rooted in Jesus' own description of the essence of his kingship. For indeed, there is a danger that “king” can be a mere abstraction. But honestly a king is no abstraction. A king has authority in my life, he calls the shots, he sets the standards, he establishes law, etc. Jesus thus brings kingship in for a landing when he says to Pilate (and us),

"You say I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." (Jn 18:26-37).

Here then is a very clear connection that Jesus makes between his kingship and our obedience to his teachings. In effect he says, “If you say I am King then you must come to acknowledge that my teachings are to have the sole authority in your life and that all other contrary or compromised views have to go.

Now this really brings kingship in for a landing. His kingship is no mere singing of hymns or faint praise. His kingship in our lives is about obedience to the truth he proclaims and is (For Jesus says, I am the truth).

We must each answer: Is this true for you? Are you obedient to his truth in every regard? Does he really call the shots when it comes to your views on the crucial morals issues of our day? Are you in conformity with the truth he proclaims in Scripture and through his Church about issues like abortion, contraception, euthanasia, fornication, divorce, homosexual acts, so-called same-sex “marriage?” 

Do you stand with Christ and his truth as revealed in the Scriptures and his Church? Do you allow him to form your views on issues such as poverty, immigration, and the care of the poor? Have you ever really even read these sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church? Do you even factor these teachings into your prudential judgments about these matters? Or do you just follow your own political and economic theories? Have you ever studied principles like the universal destination of goods, or solidarity and subsidiarity? What does the catechism say about property rights, communism, free markets, healthcare, etc.?

Too many Catholics, too many Christians in general sing “Crown Him with many Crowns” but Christ is not really on the throne in their lives. They are less conformed to his truth, and more conformed to the world on the key moral issues of our time. It is really the views of the political party, or the culture or their worldview that are on the throne. And if anything of the faith does not conform to these, guess what gives? It’s usually the truth of the faith that loses to politics, worldview and culture. The politicians, the party, the Supreme Court judges, and pop culture stars carry more authority in the lives of many than does Jesus Christ.

But in the statement quoted above Jesus links a listening obedience to his truth directly to his kingship. This is what makes him King, not singing hymns and shouting Viva Cristo Rey. Lip service is not the indicator of having him as our King. Listening to his witness to the truth and obeying it is.

And so the rather pointed questions for us to ponder are these: Is Jesus Christ really your king in way He describes it? Are you worthy of Jesus Christ, or just the political party? Are you worthy of Jesus the King, or just of pop culture? Who or what really occupies the throne in your life?