Who is your King?

IT ONLY remains now to speak of ecclesiastical principalities, touching which all difficulties are prior to getting possession, because they are acquired either by capacity or good fortune, and they can be held without either; for they are sustained by the ordinances of religion, which are so all-powerful, and of such a character that the principalities may be held no matter how their princes behave and live. These princes alone have states and do not defend them, they have subjects and do not rule them; and the states, although unguarded, are not taken from them, and the subjects, although not ruled, do not care, and they have neither the desire nor the ability to alienate themselves. Such principalities only are secure and happy. But being upheld by powers, to which the human mind cannot reach, I shall speak no more of them, because, being exalted and maintained by God, it would be the act of a presumptuous and rash man to discuss them. The Prince Nicolo Machiavelli CHAPTER XI Concerning Ecclesiastical Principalities

When my friend Nicolo wrote the second-best book ever, most of his readers knew what it meant to have a Prince or King who ruled them.

Actually “owned them” is closer to the truth. Feudal vassalage is more akin to the practice of debt-slavery as it is still practiced today in south Asia than it is to any form of government we would recognize from civics class. In debt-slavery the debtor, and their children, work off a debt by direct service instead of by payment in money.

In the feudal system King owns the Land – all of it, and the rivers, and the sea. Everyone from the farmer to the mill owner to the Lord of the Manor holds “their” land or rights by a contract with the King. The Vassal pays rent in the form of service. Farmers pay in crops, Fishermen in a part of the catch, Lords pay Knight-Service: the obligation to raise, equip and field a set number of warriors in the cause of the King. These warriors are drawn from… you guessed it… those same farmers and fishermen.

See what I meant by “owned?’

Now would it surprise you, after our trek back to olden-times, to learn that The Feast of Christ the King goes all the way back to… 1925?

Yep. Oh the title of Jesus as King and King of Kings is biblical. But we didn’t need a Sunday dedicated to teaching the concept of Christ the King until the time came where most of us have no day to day experience of human kingship.

You owe the King because the King has given you everything you have. Your job, your house, the food on the table, and the peace you have to enjoy it. In return the King may call on you to deliver up any or all of those, even your life in his cause.

For us, we have received everything, literally everything, from our King. Light, gravity, life, and our salvation from sin and death, all these we have as the gift of Christ our King.

What do we owe in return?