CHRIST THE KING 23 11 2025
FIRST READING: Jeremiah 23.1-6
NEW TESTAMENT READING: Colossians 1.11-20
GOSPEL Luke 23.33-43
Today is the last Sunday of our liturgical year and we conclude the liturgical year by affirming that Jesus Christ is our king. He has ascended into heaven and sits in the right hand of God as Lord and King.
This Sunday gives us an opportunity that we affirm that we belong to the kingship of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the king promised by the prophets of the Old Testament. We heard in the first reading the promise of a messiah who will establish a just rule.
‘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. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
Paul tells us that God has transferred us to kingdom of his son Jesus Christ, ‘He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’
Paul in his letter to the church in Colossae tells us about the glory of Jesus, ‘He 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.’
He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
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.
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ 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.’
He is the king of love, compassion and mercy. The power of this king is love, a king who accepted a crown of thorns and was willing to lay down his life on the cross for the salvation of the whole world.
Jesus our king is a companion of the suffering people and to all the people who are living in deprived situations. He is our king who is our shepherd and their saviour, we worship him, obey him and adore him. To him be glory for ever and ever.