11/23/2025
We were not able to live stream service today; so instead, here is Pastor Joseph's message.
Sermon – Christ the King Sunday (November 23, 2025)
Luke 23:35-43
Title: Power That Heals, Not Hurts
Today is Christ the King Sunday—the final Sunday of the church year. It’s a day meant to lift up the sovereignty of Christ, to celebrate that Jesus is Lord over all creation.
But let’s be honest: the word “king” doesn’t always sit comfortably with us anymore. It can sound outdated, hierarchical, or even oppressive. Our world has seen far too many rulers—political, corporate, even religious—who have used power to harm rather than heal, to dominate rather than serve.
And so maybe this Sunday isn’t about celebrating an old-fashioned title. Maybe it’s an opportunity to reimagine leadership itself. To ask what healthy, compassionate, life-giving power really looks like. To celebrate the kind of authority that builds people up instead of breaking them down.
The Gospel for today gives us a coronation scene—but it looks nothing like what we’d expect.
There is no throne room. No royal robes. No cheering crowds. Instead, Jesus hangs on a cross between two criminals.
Above his head is a sarcastic sign: “This is the King of the Jews.” He is mocked, jeered at, humiliated. If we were choosing a moment to reveal divine power, this would not be it. Yet this is the moment Luke gives us.
Why? Because this moment completely redefines what power is. In Jesus’ suffering, we see a “king” who refuses to save himself at the cost of abandoning love. We see authority that will not turn to violence or coercion—even when surrounded by it. On the cross, Jesus shows a form of kingship the world had never seen.
Throughout history, rulers have relied on force, fear, or a sense of superiority. Real authority, they say, comes from strength and dominance.
But Jesus does something astonishing:
He uses his final breaths not to threaten, not to accuse, but to forgive. “Father, forgive them.”
A sentence that shakes the foundation of every assumption about power.
This is not weakness.
This is courage without cruelty.
This is authority without intimidation.
True power—Jesus teaches us—is compassionate, not controlling. It liberates rather than limits. It heals rather than harms.
When we speak of the “kingdom of God,” we’re not talking about borders or crowns. It’s not about who’s in and who’s out. It’s not even about religion as much as it is about vision. Jesus paints a picture of a world ordered around dignity—every person’s God-given dignity.
This kingdom is shaped by:
• Mercy over vengeance
Not settling scores, but repairing relationships.
• Empathy over ego
Seeing others not as obstacles or threats, but as neighbors and siblings.
• Dignity for all
Especially those pushed aside, overlooked, or dismissed.
This is more than a spiritual idea. It is a blueprint for a healthier, more humane society.
In the crucifixion scene we witness three different ways people respond to power:
• Mocking – Power as performance
The leaders and soldiers treat power like a show. They believe a true king must “perform strength” on demand. They mock Jesus because he refuses to play that game.
• Desperation – Power as hope
One criminal turns to Jesus in desperation: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
He sees in Jesus not spectacle, but possibility—a hope that power can be different.
• Compassion from Jesus – Power as healing
Jesus responds with tenderness: “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
Even in agony, he uses his authority to comfort someone else.
And here is the heart of it:
Power is most authentic when it protects the vulnerable.
So what does this day mean for us—here, now, in a world hungry for integrity?
Christ the King Sunday isn’t about hierarchy or crowns. It is about naming the kind of leadership we want to follow and embody.
Leadership grounded in:
• Listening rather than talking over
• Integrity rather than image
• Healing rather than harming
• Non-cruelty rather than domination
In a world overwhelmed by loud voices, angry rhetoric, and power used as a weapon, Jesus offers something radically different:
A model of leadership rooted in compassion, courage, and truth.
This is the kind of authority our world desperately needs.
So we turn inward for a moment.
Each of us has power—maybe not the power of a king, but the power of influence, presence, decision, and relationship.
So Christ the King Sunday asks us:
• How do I use the power I have?
At home, at work, in conversations, online?
• Do I make life lighter or heavier for others?
Do people feel safe around me?
• Do I lead from fear or from dignity?
Do I respond out of love, or out of anxiety and ego?
Jesus’ form of kingship invites us to examine not whether we have power, but how we wield it.
The greatness Jesus reveals is not about the height of status but the depth of compassion.
The kingdom worth building—the kingdom Jesus dies to show us—is not built through conquest or control. It is built through everyday acts of mercy, justice, and courage. Through forgiveness that unclenches fists. Through respect that restores dignity. Through love that chooses healing over harm.
May we choose that kind of power.
May we use it well.
And may we help build that kind of world.
Amen.
