2025-11-23 Christ the King

Scripture Readings

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!

Welcome to the end! The end of the church year, that is. We now call it “Christ the King” Sunday, the last Sunday in the church’s liturgical year, with the season of Advent right on our heels. But did you know that this concept of “Christ the King” is a very new thing in the church year. In fact, it will be exactly 100 years old this year. It’s only been around for 5% of the church’s history. So that’s really quite new in the grand scheme of things. In 1925, Roman Catholic Pope Pius XI instituted Christ the King Sunday for the first time. It later trickled on down into the Protestant world too.

But like anything, the real question is why the Pope did this. Think about the time frame. 1925. Just a few years after WW1. You had the rise of totalitarian regimes. Mussolini took power in Italy and was moving towards dictatorship. The government of Mexico was actively persecuting the church of Rome there. Communism was just established in Russia in 1922 on the heels of the Russian revolution, with Vladimir Lenin dying in 1924 leading to a power struggle. On top of all this, secularism was growing. Many governments and intellectuals were openly preaching that the state, science or politicians were the highest authority rather than God and His church. And so, in 1925 Pope Pius reasserted the universal Kingship of Christ over every person, nation and sphere of life. “We have no King but Jesus Christ” became the rally cry.

Lutherans adopted Christ the King as our final Sunday in the church year as well because proclaiming the universal Kingship of Jesus is never a bad thing. It is a day set apart to draw attention to the fact that Christ is indeed our King. The Scriptures speak at length of Jesus being our “King of ages” (1Tim 1:17), the “King of Israel” (JN 1:49), the “King of the Jews” (LK 23:38), the “King of Kings” (1Tim 6:15) and “King of the Nations” (Rev. 15:3). But what does this mean? Canada, being a commonwealth country led by a King, we aren’t unfamiliar with the royal concept. But I would argue, especially in Saskatchewan and Western Canada, we often don’t think much about him or see his rule as making any kind of impact on our day to day lives.

Perhaps we fall into the same kind of thinking about Jesus in this way too. We talk about Him more often as our Savior, Redeemer and Lord. Maybe Messiah or the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world. But the Scriptures do teach us plainly that He is indeed our King. As such, it is appropriate for us to worship and bow down before this King. For He is a King like no other. Most Kings get their authority and prowess by beating the tar out of the competition. Think about movies like Robin Hood or Braveheart you’ve got all these poor, dirty and often stinky peasants living in thatched roofed cottages that get burned and plundered by evil Kings seeking to crush rebellious dissent and hold onto power! It’s not really a glorifying view of the Monarchy and certainly not the view we ought to have of Jesus the King!

One of the most important and influential theologians and bishops of the early Church, St. Cyril of Alexandria, said “Christ has dominion over all creatures, a dominion not seized by violence nor usurped, but His by essence and by nature.” This is to say that Christ our Lord has power and authority because of Who He is. He doesn’t have to steal power or enforce it. It’s His because of who He is. It’s much like parents and kids. Parents have power and authority over their kids because they are the parents. That’s what the 4th Commandment is all about. Parents do not ask for the OK from kids and they don’t bargain for authority. They already have it. It is theirs by God’s design for their nurture and upbringing in the faith. Jesus in much the same way is our King because of Who He is, God in the flesh.

Think about what Kings did back in the day before we had parliaments and other more modern governance systems. They were supposed to protect their people, right? Keep them alive so they could be the good tax-slaves they were born to be! When you look at how old castles were built, what were the features? You had high walls made of thick stone for protection against barbarians and other warring rebels. In the days before we had machine guns and nuclear bombs you had moats with alligators in them and big ol’ high walls and towers to defend and protect the people. The Psalms reference this too. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (46:7). That was the Psalm that sparked Luther’s most well known hymn “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” It’s everybody’s favourite Reformation hymn because it invokes these strong and mighty images of Who God is and what He does for us and our salvation. This is what Jesus our King does for us too. He protects and defends us from the evil one and all Satan’s minions. Christ our King protects us through our Baptism, delivering us from sin and the power of death, much like those stone castle walls did for the people many years ago.

The fortress walls were built strong to withstand the attacks from usurpers. It’s a bold visual, an indication that there is indeed war and conflict as sin and sinful people ravage and ransack the earth. Christ our King has the power and authority by nature, but others always want to steal it by force. They continuously attack the King of Kings to try and take the glory, laud and honour. Satan, of course, is the puppet master pulling the strings. He poisoned the mind of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus our Lord. He convinced even Peter to deny Christ three times. He operates through all the same avenues that Pope Pius recognized back in 1925. Godless governments, authoritarian dictators, science and computers and AI above all else. Sinful people, saying, thinking and doing sinful stuff. None of this is new under the sun.

But thanks be to God we have a King! A good and righteous and holy King Who will defend and protect His people. A King of the Jews Who would not save Himself from the pain and suffering of the cross, but rather endured it all willingly to bring about your salvation and eternal protection in the joys of paradise. This is the King who defends you. This is the King who protects you with His grace. This is the King who welcomes you into His Kingdom through Baptism. This is the King who invites you to His table to eat His body and drink His blood. This is the King who throws the gates wide open in His compassion and mercy to His eternal wedding banquet without end.

One of the most epic battles of the ancient world was the Battle of Thermopylae. It’s the story that the movie ‘300’ is based on. Way back in 480BC the Persians were on the war path, seeking to invade Greece. The Persians had a truly massive military force with estimates of a couple million down to 300,000. The Greeks by contrast had only about 7,000 soldiers and only the 300 professional Spartan warriors by the end. The Greeks took away the military advantage by fighting in the midst of the narrow pass of Thermopylae. The Persians attacked in waves but the Spartans lead by Leonidas defended and slaughtered them because only a few could fight at once. The assault on the “Hot Gates” continued as the Greeks stood strong. Any kind of attack like this from the outside is difficult. It’s far easier if there is a traitor on the inside, working against the leadership for treacherous reasons! This is precisely what happened when a Greek named Ephialtes, whose name means “nightmare,” betrayed his people and told the Persians about a secret pathway around the gates. They were able to sneak by the main combat area and flank the Greeks. This betrayal caused Leonidas and the 300 to fight to the death, buying more time for the rest of Greece to prepare.

A spy, an insidious marauder who could attack the Kingdom from within. That’s the person to be on the lookout for. Someone who selfishly wants to usurp the power and authority from the King. And who is this secret combatant, working in clandestine ways from inside the mighty fortress? The answer is in the mirror. It’s us. It’s our own sinful nightmare that we must always strive to keep in check with repentance. Every person wants to be God by nature. Everyone wants to be the King of Kings. But there is only one King. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). It is only in repentance and humility that we behold our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And this is what it means when we boldly confess: We have no King but Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, power, might and dominion forever and ever. Amen!