The Monarch of Heaven and Earth

Today is Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday of the liturgical year.  Next Sunday we start advent and prepare for the birth of Jesus.

In the first reading today David talks about the coming of the Son of Man, coming in glory and kingship.  Pilate than asks Jesus in the Gospel if Jesus is a King?  

Jesus replies: "My Kingdom does not belong to this world. If my Kingdom did belong to this world, ay attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews.  But as it is my kingdom is not here."

I have grown up in the United States where I am conditioned to think that the best form of government is a democracy (although the US does not really have a democracy), and all other forms of government are inferior.  No dictatorships.  No aristocracies.  No monarchies.

But it seems to me that the problem isn't the type of government, but it is the people who run that government.  We could have a kind dictator, who cared about his people just as easy as we could have a bad leader in a democracy.  The only advantage is we can vote out a bad leader in our system.

The short of it is monarchies can be good.  I am a member of God's Kingdom.  It's bigger than everything on this Earth.  Jesus is my King.  And he is a good King.  Good enough to suffer on the cross and give his life for his people.