“I am not the King. Jesus Christ is the King. I’m just an entertainer.”
— Elvis Presley
I remember when I was in third grade, my teacher, Mrs. Jordan, said the most important virtue to acquire in life is self-control. She believed that self-mastery, self-possession, self-governance and self-discipline were the hallmarks to a successful life.
As we reach into our very being, our personality, our choices and our very self, we find that the key to life is within ourselves rather than outside. We must accept or refuse this invitation to grow into greater intimacy with God and with ourselves through the cooperation of the Spirit, who calls us to heights of maturity and the fullness of life.
As Jesus grew and aged in grace and wisdom, so too, we must grow through life’s school of experience. Today’s feast of Christ the King is the climax of the liturgical year. This solemnity was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925. Jesus is the Son of God, the King of the universe, the Lord of history and salvation — the Alpha and the Omega who has overcome life’s deadliest foes of sin, Satan, and death. His rule is redemption.
The central message of Jesus is announcing and proclaiming the Kingdom of God, an interior kingdom of truth and life, holiness and grace, justice, love and peace. By continuing to know ourselves we allow Christ’s living presence to come into our hearts. Christ must reign in our heart in order to love; in our mind in order to know truth; in our will in order to yield and surrender to a higher power; in our soul in order to know peace; in our body in order to be pure; in our conscience in order to be blameless and in our actions in order to be called Christian.
God uses suffering to help us know ourselves as suffering’s penetrating light will unmask us, exposing the falsities, lies and deceptions that we sometimes use to camouflage ourselves. God the Father did not exempt, save or rescue His Son from suffering. Jesus did not rescue or exempt his closest friends from suffering as they, too, were to endure in His passion and death. The prophets remind us that God is the Divine Potter who continually reshapes, refines and remolds us in order that we may be purified through our sins, wounds, truths, lies, miseries, sufferings and trials in our lives.
There are many kings in our world. Let us look at some of the dynasties, tyrants and false-selves that we use as substitutes for Christ, the King. Let us do an inventory of our own lives to see whose rule and reign is over us. Webster’s New World Dictionary lists 170 definitions of “self,” both positive and negatively described. Here are a few...
1. Self-Will (Persistent carrying out of one’s own will or wishes especially when in conflict with others): Do we surrender to God’s plan or do we impose our will, our way and our agenda?
2. Self-Indulgence (Indulgences of one’s own desires and impulses): The world says eat, drink and be merry! Indulge yourself! But when pleasures are over-satiated and over-sensitized it leads to self-gratification which minimizes moderation, temperance and self-control.
3. Self-Complacency (Self-satisfied, especially in a smug way): When one gets into a rut in life, and never seeks to move to a new growth or challenge, one’s life is “stuck in neutral” and may even head backwards in reverse. This leads to stagnation, status quo and fails to go beyond comfort zones which allow growth, challenge and change.
4. Self-Glorifying (Being self-centered and selfish; one’s conception of one’s self and ability or worth): One can have a “big head” that becomes inflated, grandiose and proud, while at the same time possessing a shriveled heart. We’re not here for the adulation of others, but for the glory of God.
5. Self-Importance (Having an exaggerated opinion of one’s importance): Sometimes the compass of life - North, South, East, West - can revolve around one’s own image, idealism, needs and wants, where one feels they must be the center stage act. We must de-throne our self-centered, selfish attitudes and enthrone and praise the Lord and King.
6. Self-Criticism (Being your own worst enemy): One can “run oneself down” feeling inferior, less-than, comparing oneself with others, seeking approval, being insecure, having low self-esteem, looking at what one cannot do rather than accepting what one can do.
7. Self-Righteousness/Self-Opinionated (Showing a conviction of being morally superior; smugly virtuous; stubbornly holding to one’s own opinion): One can become arrogant, smug and proud, looking with disdain at others, becoming hypocritical, phony, judgmental and condemnatory.
8. Self-Sufficiency: Sometimes we pride ourselves in our autonomy, in being able to “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.” However we must see that we need one another in order to grow, support and sustain us. Our lives are inter-connected and we are interdependent. No one is strong enough to carry life’s burdens alone.
9. Self-Deception (The deceiving of oneself as to one’s true feelings, motives and circumstances; to deceive, to trick, to be unreal): It is a lie to lie. A primary work of the devil is deception and the devil’s work is to split, fracture or divide us within ourselves and away from God.
10. Self-Justifying (Justifying, excusing or rationalizing one’s actions, beliefs, and motives): One can find loopholes even in the law in order not to be accountable for one’s actions.
As people of faith, Christ must reign and rule our hearts so we must choose loving rather than hating, forgiving rather than revenge, faith rather than fear, persevering rather than quitting, praising rather than criticizing, acting rather than delaying, building rather than destroying, giving over taking, smiling rather than frowning and community rather than isolation. “The Lord is our King” (Isaiah 33:22)
Christ’s desire is eternal life for all people. By His death and resurrection, He has fulfilled that desire. Whenever Jesus is the center of our desires and longings we conquer sin and overcome self-centeredness. May Christ teach us, heal us, strengthen us with supernatural vision of faith in all things.
