Not Our Kind Of King - Sermon for Christ the King Sunday (November 23, 2025)

Scripture Readings: Jeremiah 23:1–6 | Psalm 46 | Colossians 1:11–20 | ​Luke 23:33–43

“Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’” (Luke 23:42-43).
 
If you could create your own custom head of government, what would they be like? What kinds of qualities do you think are essential for those who are chosen to rule?
 
Is a good leader someone who has the power and the wisdom to get things done? Is it someone who cares, and seeks to protect and provide for their people? Is it someone who is not afraid to confront the evil at work in our world… who’s willing to sort out injustices, and put wrongdoers in their proper place?
 
We could go on and on. But the question remains: What’s our kind of King or Queen?
 
With Christians around the world, this morning we celebrate Christ the King Sunday… proclaiming that Jesus Christ the Risen Lord really is the ruler of all Creation… coming together to bow before Him, to lift Him up in our hearts and in our lives… to receive the gifts of His Good Kingdom, and to seek to serve Him faithfully not just today, but throughout our lives. To offer Him our full allegiance, and following Him into God’s New Life.
 
We celebrate Christ the King, knowing full well that there are still plenty of unfit rulers in positions of great influence and power in our world. And that this sad reality is nothing new.
 
For instance, in our first Scripture reading this morning from the Prophet Jeremiah, we heard that God has some harsh words for the many unfaithful shepherds… the unfaithful rulers of His people, who misused their power to take advantage of those they were supposed to be serving, and who paved the way for their whole nation to abandon the Lord’s holy ways, and to embrace instead the path of wickedness that was leading them straight into Exile.
 
Jeremiah 23:1-2, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord.”
 
That’s a frightening message. But alongside these words of correction and discipline, the Lord did not leave His wayward people… His sheep without hope. Jeremiah 23:5, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”
 
These words harken back to God’s covenant with King David, a sacred promise the LORD had made that one of David’s descendants would reign forever as His Messiah… God’s chosen anointed King. And although by Jeremiah’s time the line of David had seemed to turn into one wicked king after another, the prophet speaks of a future hope arising like a new branch sprouting up from the roots of an old tree that’s been felled. God renews His promises to His people that despite all their failures, a righteous ruler will arise from among them who will be wise, and bring about true justice, and set things right once and for all.
 
And this Chosen One from the line of David… God’s Messiah, is our great Saviour King Jesus Christ, whose eternal Kingdom and goodly reign we celebrate today. He is the One who came to rescue the lost sheep… who rules all Creation with wisdom, justice, and righteousness… and who calls us to take part in the work of His Kingdom here and now.
 
But as we celebrate the rule of Christ as God’s great King, this day also calls us to slow down and reflect upon the kind of King that Jesus really is… what His Kingdom actually looks like… and what it means for you and I to share in it today.
 
And as is so often the case when we are trying to get a sense of our bearings: where we begin really matters. And sadly, when it comes to thinking about God’s great King, and His Kingdom, we’re often tempted to begin with our own ideas and expectations about what makes a King good or not… holding fast to our own preconceived images that we then want Jesus to conform to… which more often than not fully aligns with our own desires and values.

In other words, we want Jesus to be our kind of King.

And when we think about effective and excellent kings and queens and leaders throughout history, what comes to mind? Those who managed to go from success to success, and victory to victory… getting a lot of good things done by not letting anything or anyone stand in their way? 
 
Do we think about those rulers who were able to keep their followers happy and safe from harm? Those who were able to bring about prosperity and a stable status quo?
 
Do we think about those who were bold enough and strong enough to confront and overcome their enemies by force? Those who could raise armies, and rally their people around important causes?
 
For better or worse, these are the kinds of things that our society looks for when it comes to those who might lead us. We want our leaders to be winners… those who can keep us on top of the world.
 
But in so many ways Jesus embodies the exact opposite of all this… completely defying our expectations about what a good King should be and do.

Looking at Jesus, we see that the path to glory doesn’t come as a string of successes… it actually lies first in facing great humility, and even experiencing defeat. We see Him enduring many serious temptations, trials, and incredible suffering, staying true to the very end, at the cost of His own life. We see Jesus embracing the shame and curse of the cross for us all, entrusting His fate not to the opinions of others, seeking their approval… but instead, we see Him look to His own Father in Heaven who alone has the final word over everyone’s fate.
 
And looking at Jesus, we see that the path towards justice is not a matter of handing out retribution and wreaking vengeance… rather it looks like Him pleading on behalf of His enemies for their forgiveness. Betrayed, beaten down, and brutally abused, Jesus stood strong against hatred and fear, and with a love that cannot be captured in words, as He hung from the cross in agony… He prayed for His persecutors… longing for them to be set free, and transformed by the great embrace of the Living God… as His wayward but still beloved children.  
 
And looking at Jesus , we see that, even though His love for us is beyond doubt… the path to our prosperity and peace does not mean calling us away from all danger… but to face our own challenges along with Him … to expect to experience all sorts of pains and losses… and to prepare to pick up our own crosses and join Him… losing our lives for His sake, and with Him finding the fullness of God’s New Life now and forever.
 
Instead of beginning with our own ideas about what makes a great King… Christians are called to start off with looking closely and consistently at Jesus Himself… with the One who is Himself the very image of the Living God… perfectly reflecting God’s own goodness, and wisdom, and justice, and righteousness… even though He will end up challenging our preconceptions about what kind of King, and what kind of Kingdom our world really needs.
 
After all, Jesus is not our kind of King. But that’s a good thing! Because He’s God’s kind of King… the only One qualified and able to lead us into God’s everlasting life. 
 
As we heard in our reading from Colossians Chapter 1:15-16, Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.”
 
And Jesus is the only One with the power to lay down His life… broken for us all at the cross… in order to put our broken world back together again… and to bring us back into full fellowship with our Heavenly Father through His blood shed on our behalf. 
 
Colossians 1:19-20, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
 
And this same Jesus asks us to set aside our own ideas of greatness, and glory, and instead calls us to embrace the ways of God’s self-giving love… offering us far more than mere momentary happiness, but rather an eternal joy… and asking us not to simply serve our own temporary interest, but to take part in His everlasting Kingdom.
 
The Good News is Jesus is not our kind of King. He is God’s kind of King. And the question for you and I today then becomes: will we seek to be His kind of servants? 
 
The Gospel of Luke leads us to ask ourselves this question again and again at the foot of the cross… where all of our choices and stories are finally summed up in the responses of those two criminals crucified by Jesus’ side. One looked at Jesus, sharing in their agony, and saw only another failed would-be leader. The other looked at the same Jesus, hanging by his side, and saw in Him God’s Saviour King.
 
Which one of these two do we want to be?
 
We can demand that Christ conform to our expectations… and rescue us on our own terms, but end up rejecting the salvation that He brings to us through the agony of the cross.
 
Or we can reach out to Him in faith… and even in our times of deepest distress, choose to place our hope in Him alone… To receive Him, not as we want Him to be, but as He is: the crucified and Risen Saviour King of all Creation, who said to the one who still suffered but trusted in Him: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43).
 
So today, this Christ the King Sunday, and every day until He returns in glory, this is our choice: will we deny Him in our words and deeds, and turn our backs on His saving love? Or will we open our hearts and our lives up to Him, and own Him as our Saviour King? Amen.