The last Sunday of the Catholic liturgical year brings to the fore, the celebration of Christ the King feast. It is celebrated all over the world by the Roman Catholic faithful who believe that, Christ’s kingship is anchored in the Church’s teaching on the incarnation. The feast, also known as Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus, King of the Universe is in honour of Christ as Lord over all creation. Since its establishment almost 100 years ago, precisely by Pope Pius Xl in 1925, the Church has continued to observe this solemn moment and will surely do so, for all times in human history. Christ’s kingship is the opposite of what we have in the world. Jesus said in the book of John Chapter 18 vs. 36; ”My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my Apostles would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But my kingdom is from above”. Throughout human history, the leaders of the world rather than improving on human existence, instead have made things worse; leading to wars, hunger and deprivations of unimaginable proportions. There are too many uncertainties everywhere. This means that leaders of the world which the adherents of the Christian faith are part of, have not really imitated from Jesus Christ who is the embodiment of what a true leader should represent.
His Grace, Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, Archbishop of Metropolitan See of Lagos, a fortnight ago in his column, Archbishopric, published in the Catholic Herald weekly newspaper, highlighted the qualities of a good leader. He said that a good leader must know that honour, integrity, vision, humility and simplicity are what makes a true leader and we agree, no less. With the acclaimed education, knowledge, discoveries, religion and sense of faith, the people of the world are still encumbered with myriads of challenges inflicted mostly by those in positions of authority simply because human beings have gone their own ways. For example, in our clime, we are burdened with a lot of things. The political leaders instead of serving the people, unfortunately take what belongs to everyone for themselves. The commentaries currently going on on radio and television and other means of mass broadcast ahead of the 2023 general elections are cases in point. There is too much anger in the land. Politicians who are supposed to be wary of this development are instead looking the other way. What we have now are arrays of men and women who have perfected the art of abusing one political party after the other for their own selfish reasons, especially at this season of campaigns. These people continue to divert the attentions of the people from real issues of economy, security among others that are of grave concern to everybody at present. The lesson of this solemn moment therefore is very important, and again because of what Christ says about the political realm.
We are all called to imitate Christ in all things and in all our ways, and not to be carried away by the razzmatazz of this fleeting world, no matter the position we occupy. Our eyes must be fixed on the things from above and not to use our positions to trample on the downtrodden as has become the order of the day in our society. The upcoming general elections demand that the right thing must be done by the leaders at all levels. While we celebrate this day, we should rest in the knowledge of Christ’s ultimate authority. Being Disciples of Christ calls for Christians to study how He leads and the characteristics of His kingship. We do not have a choice as Christians than to imitate Him in all that we do, and in every position we find ourselves.
