If You Are the KIng...

Luke 23:33-43

Reign of Christ, November 23, 2025

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“If You are the King…”

What rules your life?  Fear or faith?  It depends on who Jesus Christ is for you.  When a new Christian accepts Jesus as personal Lord and Saviour, God takes centre place.  That doesn’t shield us from difficult decisions and the dangers and temptations of this world.  But we do have the assurance of mercy in the One who died for our sins and rises to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  However, if the language of Christ as heavenly King is problematic that’s most likely because our history of earthly rulers has been so tragic.  To trust God, to be faithful to God, to be willing to serve God: that is what the reign of Christ is all about. 

In recent times, there have been marches in cities across the United States protesting “no kings”.  The rejection is of those individuals in power who have ceased to care for the people they were elected to serve and who have put their own benefit first above all.  Many times humanity has faced the twin dangers that claims to power present.  Firstly, there is the arrogance of the ones who think they are completely right and do not need to listen to others.  And conversely, there is the naiveté of the majority who persist in believing that those in power are right and therefore they do not need to think more deeply on the decisions.  Just because modern authorities don’t use the term “king” doesn’t lessen the temptation to fall into this trap.  Even if presidents or prime ministers or C.E.O.’s or bishops don’t have supreme and final decision-making ability, the pressures of the institutions and structures around them can lead them into selfish and destructive paths.  Humans are sinful, and actions that privilege some over others have hurtful consequences.  Even inaction speaks loudly, as in the story of the good Samaritan, when the priest and the lawyer walked by on the other side of the road so as not to get involved with the injured victim.  To do nothing in the face of abuse is to condone the wrong. 

Those who are courageous enough to challenge the understanding of kingship do invite trouble.  In the time of Jesus, just as today, there were repercussions to pushing back at corruption, injustice, and oppression.  King Herod Antipas, along with his brothers Herod Archelaus and Philip, had control over the Jewish population in Judea and Syria.  But the three sons of Herod the Great were really only puppets- client kings under the thumb of the Roman empire. They had wealth and connections, especially amongst the aristocratic elite in the Temple and the Council.  They could do what they liked, up to a point, and they got away with a lot.  but although their role was to point to the God of Israel as the true king, they didn’t represent the moral values of Judaism by their words or actions.  The threat of a prophet and teacher who demonstrated servant leadership was real.  Jesus didn’t follow their earthly pattern.  Instead he invited people into God’s kingdom with an authority that the teachers of the law couldn’t emulate.  Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, not worldly values.  He didn’t look much like the kings that people had lived under up until then.

No wonder then, that he was brought to trial and condemned to crucifixion for his proclamation of God’s Kingdom.  The Jewish governors were threatened by his lineage and claims to a throne to they were clinging precariously.  The Temple authorities considered it blasphemy to compare himself with God the King.  The Romans, including Pilate, became convinced he was trying to overthrow the empire.  Even the soldiers, who knew no king but Caesar, mocked him on the cross for being so unlike a powerful ruler.  “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself” (Luke 23:37).  They had seen others rise in and fall from the emperor’s approval and Jesus wasn’t showing any miraculous recovery in coming down from the cross.  The Jews and Romans didn’t get the concept of kingship right at all. 

Neither did the two individuals who were crucified with Jesus.  The sentence of death by this means was reserved for insurrectionists: political terrorists conspiring against the Roman Emperor.  The first criminal is concerned for his physical life and curses Jesus for not providing an escape from death, even if he is the Messiah.  The second, while mistakenly believing that Jesus is innocent, asks for mercy in the hope that the promise of a kingdom beyond this world is true. He is concerned for the afterlife, even if he does not recognize Jesus as king in the present. In resurrection, Jesus will be revealed as salvation for both present and the future. 

The questions of those gathered around the cross mirror our own questions.  We want to believe in a power that transcends what human beings have demonstrated.  We want to be able to trust and be faithful to a power higher than our hearts.  We know that we cannot save ourselves.  We want to know who Jesus really is.  Thanks be to God, Jesus stays true to his identity from the beginning of his ministry on earth to his death on the cross.  After he was baptised by his cousin John in the Jordan River, Jesus was led into the wilderness where he was challenged by the Devil.  Satan kept saying to him, “if you are …, then…” but Jesus was steadfast to his purpose to serve God, not to claim earthly power.  Even at the cost of his very life, he would not allow the temptations of security or wealth or status subvert his mission.  He did not allow the sin of the world to crush his spirit.  As Servant King, he magnifies the love of God that is willing to suffer all hurt in order to win our hearts.  We now are free to choose to follow him or not as king. Not as the world sees, but as the Word reveals. 

Sometimes Jesus is portrayed on the cross as the triumphant, risen Christ.  Instead of stripped and suffering, he is shown clothed in the robes of the Eucharist, his hands and feet displaying the healed wounds of the nails and his head adorned with a king’s crown.  His gaze meets ours and his arms are stretched in love to embrace all who come to the kingdom hall.  This is Christus Rex, or Christ the King- the host at the table and the One who longs to be the Lord of our hearts.  God’s kingdom began with the creation of the world, was made known in Jesus’ death on the cross, and will be completed with the coming again of our heavenly King.  May we make room for his rule in our bodies, our wills, and our hearts.  One day soon, the kingdom will come fully  on earth as it is in heaven.Let us pray,

Take my will and make it thine,

It shall be no longer mine;

Take my heart, it is thine own-

It shall be thy royal throne.  Amen.