The Sunday before Advent, we celebrate Christ the King, which concludes the church year as we begin the Advent Season and the new church year the following Sunday.
Whilst one of the more recent festival days of the church, having been added to the church calendar in 1925, it is when we join together to give thanks to Christ our King and to be reminded that all nations fall under the reign of God’s Son, and to remind the world that we all live under this reign, whether or not we acknowledge it.
Jesus is our King and is the King of kings.
So, what kind of king is he?
In his epistle to the Colossians, Paul tells us that in Jesus, our King, all things in heaven and earth, both seen and unseen, have been created through Jesus and for Jesus. There is nothing, no nation, no government, no earthly ruler that has not been created through Jesus and for Jesus. He is the Lord over all. King of kings and Lord of lords.
Paul goes on to tell us that without Jesus being an active part of our world everything would fall apart. Jesus is the glue that holds all things together. The ultimate sticky back plastic.
Paul tells us that our Almighty and all powerful God rescued us from the power of darkness into Jesus’s kingdom, where there is love, forgiveness, grace and mercy. All ruled over by the gentle, loving hand of Jesus. An all – powerful king who chooses not to rule by force but by love.
In Luke chapter 23, Jesus is being crucified and mocked. Jesus, our all – powerful king, allows himself to be crucified – killed in a cruel, torturous, shaming way; choosing to reign from a cross, willingly dying for us.
Yet it is this that shows us what it means to have Jesus as our king and what kind of king He is.
A king who is literally dying to save us. A king who took our humiliation and punishment for us. A king who was tortured and died and refused to save himself. A king who gets what he does not deserve – death on a cross – so that we can have what we do not deserve – life in his kingdom. A king of overflowing love showing us God’s overflowing love for us.
And he does not stop there, as demonstrated when, even though he was dying, he still found the breath to forgive the repentant thief.
Jesus is a king who is always ready to forgive and to welcome a repentant sinner home.
Christ, our king of love has let us off the cross, giving us the opportunity to be his disciples and live each day for him.
I invite you to think about what that means for you.
We give thanks for Christ our King, the all-powerful, who chooses to reign by love. The king who died so that we might live.
So, let us live not for ourselves but for him. Let us make the most of the opportunity to live each day for the king who died to save us and continue to do so until that blessed day when his kingdom will come in all it’s fullness and glory.
Just because 