Power, in good hands, is still our problem.
About a century ago, the Roman Catholic Church named the last Sunday after Pentecost “Christ the King.”
Moved by the rise of both secularism and nationalism (a movement that would give rise to fascism), Pope Pious XI sought to celebrate the supremacy of Christ over the state as the church’s response.
We arrive ninety-five years later with a newly-minted King of England and global fears of rising nationalism and fascism. If there ever were a time to see Jesus’s rightful place above the earthly powers, it certainly would be now.
As we read throughout the gospels of a Jesus who avoids and rejects the crowns humans would put upon his head, however, I question the impulse. The problem isn’t one of hierarchy, but of power. And our own willingness to be seduced by it.