Today is Christ the King Sunday. Our readings — particularly those from Colossians and Luke’s gospel — are all offering us images of Christ as our king. Like any good American, I have mixed feelings about monarchy. There is a romanticism about the monarchy. I love the stories of princes and princesses, kings and queens. While those make nice stories, when it comes down to it, I will also admit to a patriotism that can tend to a bit of self-aggrandizement. Remarkably, for over two centuries we have managed a peaceful transfer of power every few years between civilians who were frequently at opposite ends of the political spectrum. The liberty and freedoms we all enjoy, the fact that so many still seek to immigrate to this country, are a testament to the tremendous benefits of our democratic government. We do have a government by the people and for the people. I love that my vote counts — that each of our votes count, and we get to have a say in our government. History has certainly shown us that when all the power is in the hands of a single person, tragedy results. Think of Hitler and Mussolini or any of the numerous dictatorships in Africa and South America in recent decades. Millions died and bloody wars were often required to bring a return of peace and stability.

But does it always have to be that way? I am not sure that it does. I have to say that as a parent a more totalitarian regime is appealing. If we allowed the egalitarian democracy of American society to rule in our house, we would probably be eating macaroni and cheese on an almost daily basis and Thomas the Train would be running on repeat on our DVD player. Not to mention that the entire contents of the toy cupboard would take up permanent residence on our living room floor. There is something to be said for the fact parents know better than kids what is good for them. It would be risky and downright dangerous to allow children to literally govern themselves. A visit to any Juvenile Detention Center would remind us that if some kids are not taught the difference between right and wrong. If they are not given structure and self-esteem, they can be capable of terribly destructive behavior. And there are other institutions, like the military, where a more dictatorial form of governance works well. In the military following orders can often mean the difference between life and death. In many cases we need structure and strong governance.

Humans do not seem to be able to govern ourselves perfectly. Even our American democracy works because it isn’t pure democracy. Power is not equally shared among all the people. We choose to invest the majority of power in three branches of government with checks and balances. We have a system designed to safe-guard against individual temptations or tendencies to sin. We spread the power out so that no one can monopolize it.

This balanced form of government, with all the rights and freedoms it provides, can make us a bit skeptical of all the talk of monarchy in our readings today. Do we really want a leader who is lord over all of us? Might we prefer our readings to talk of a “democratically elected president” rather than a “king”? We might. But I think it is worth noting how different a king Jesus is than any of the human examples we have.

This is where the parenting image can help. A system of governance that trends toward the totalitarian works in a family because there is a vast knowledge gap between parents and children. Parents know what is best — their vision and understanding is much broader and more far reaching than that of a child. They know that good things will come of eating broccoli and cleaning up one’s room no matter how distasteful these actions may be for the child at the present moment.

The parenting image can be problematic, also for we all sadly know stories of parents who abused their power, whose totalitarian tendencies resulted in physical and emotional scars that their children bore for the rest of their lives. Again we have to remind ourselves that Christ is not like us. His kingship is not subject to the worst of human tendencies. It only has the best of what humanity has to offer. Christ does not fall into temptation and sin as we do. Christ is the perfect parent. His vision is so much bigger and broader than ours. He knows what we need before we do. He has our best interests at heart and is seeking to help us to mature into the beautiful, gifted people he has called us to be.

In a true monarchy, subjects are required to swear an oath of faithfulness and obedience to the king. We do this too — we do it in the vows we say (or our parents and godparents say on our behalf) at baptism. We promise to follow Christ as our Lord and Savior — repenting and returning to that path whenever we fall into sin. We promise to do good works, to worship, and to pray. We promise to respect the dignity of all and to strive to make the world a better place — to transform this earthly world into a kingdom that better reflects the kingship of Christ.

Just as in a monarchy, Christ asks us to give our all, to be faithful and obedient. While we may tempted by the allure of worldly power or the desire for self-control, we are called to trust. We are called to trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are called to turn our lives over and give ourselves to the building up of God’s kingdom. If all that we believe about God is true — and I believe it is — that Christ is the loving and merciful Lord he has shown himself to be, then there is nothing lost in turning our lives over. In fact, if we can have the courage to let go and give ourselves to God’s guidance, our lives are only bound to be more blessed than they already are. Amen.