Sermon Illustrations for Christ the King (Proper 29) (2025)
Illustration
Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Luke 1:68-79
Vernon Kemplin shares this story on Guideposts webpage. Kemplin talks about a time when he and his wife had bought a 1905 farmhouse just outside of Mansfield, Illinois. They moved in during the summer of 1970 and began making repairs to the old house. When fall came and the weather turned cold, they realized they’d forgotten to check something…the furnace! It just wouldn’t work. It was an old furnace. When Kemplin called around, no one could fix it. It was simply obsolete. As Kemplin looked at it one last time, he noticed a card on the joist above the furnace. On the card was the date of installation and a name: Mr. Doss. It was a small town, and he’d heard of some “Doss” family members, so he took a chance and called. Mr. Doss answered. He told Kemplin that he was retired but he’d come and have a look. Turns out he was the right man for the job. He still had parts around his home that would work, and he had the furnace firing in a matter of minutes.
Mr. Doss was just the right guy for the job. That phrase in the story struck me. In our text for today, God has raised up just the right one to redeem his people and reign over them. He “has raised up a mighty Savior for us in the house of his child David” (Luke 1:69). Jesus’ coming to usher in God’s kingdom was no accident. He was sent for that purpose.
Bill T.
* * *
Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Luke 1:68-79
We seem to be easy targets now, but woe! says Jeremiah, (and Jesus in Luke’s gospel says Wwoe! a lot too) An easy target now, but woe! Luke has woes. Woe to the false shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep off God’s flock. It’s God’s sheep, God’s pasture. Who died and made them God? The new David will be revealed. He will reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness. Maybe not just yet. But soon.
This is paired with the Magnificat, about God’s plan to vindicate the low and marginalized. This is the warning to all the bad shepherds who are scattering the sheep. God will draw us back together in one flock, and you who are on top now may not be there when the final score is tallied.
Frank R.
* * *
Colossians 1:11-20
Commenting on v. 17 on how Christ holds all things together, John Wesley writes:
The original expression [that in Christ all things hold together] not only implies that he sustains all things in being, but more directly all things were and are compacted in him into one system. He is the cement as well as support of the universe. (Commentary On the Bible, p.546)
Famed Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards provides interesting insight regarding God’s (and so Christ’s) kingly rule:
He [God] is everywhere present with his all-seeing eye. He is in heaven and hell, and in and through every part of creation. He is where every devil is; and where every damned soul is. He is present by his knowledge and his essence. He not only knows as well as those in heaven who sees at a distance; but he knows as perfectly as those who feel the misery. He seeth into the innermost recesses of the hearts of those miserable spirits. He seeth all the sorrow and anguish that are there; for he upholds them in being. (Works, Vol.2, p.69)
Famed modern theologian Karl Barth provides insights about Christ’s kingly rule (he refers to Christ as “the royal man’) and what the Kingdom looks like. He writes:
The starting-point here is the first and final fact that the being of this royal man Jesus was not only identical with the glory of God in the highest… but also identical on earth with peace among men as of the divine good-pleasure. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/2, p.151)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 23:33-43
John Hess-Yoder, a missionary, shares this story…
While serving as a missionary in Laos, I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of God. Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border areas. Those who ate short-grain rice, built their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style serpents were considered Laotians.
Those who ate long-grain rice, built their houses on the ground, and decorated them with Chinese-style dragons were considered Vietnamese. The exact location of a person's home was not what determined his or her nationality. Instead, each person belonged to the kingdom whose cultural values he or she demonstrated.
A crucified thief demonstrated, on his last day, what values he shared. When his compatriot derided Jesus, he pushed back. Then he made the request that was the most important of his life. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” With that statement he showed his values and his heart. Upon that statement Jesus promised him paradise. What do your values show with respect to the kingdom you belong to?
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 23:33-43
Martin Luther offered a remark about this text and Pilate’s comment in it which painfully and concisely paints the picture of our present ethos. As he observed:
The word of Pilate, “What is truth?” accurately paints our age. For the way things are going, people are wondering, what is truth? What do faithfulness and faith amount to anymore in the world? What is integrity? After they take your coat, next it’s your shirt. The one who has a concern for truth is already lost. The one, however, who wants to climb the ladder of success needs to lie, deceive, dissemble, and betray. (Complete Sermons, Vol.5, p.412)
The first reformer also comments on why God in Christ hides his power:
Because men misused the knowledge of God through works, God wished again to be recognized in suffering and to condemn wisdom… Now if it is not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the cross.
Thus, God destroys the wisdom of the wise… It is impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his good works unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God’s (Luther’s Works, vol.31, pp. 52-53)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 23:33-43
Don’t pass by these words about those who jeered at Jesus during his agony on the cross. We’re so used to the words we don’t think about how horrifying it is, how callous the hearts must be for those who stop to make fun of helpless people tortured to death in full view of passersby. It’s just as easy to ignore those who are suffering in plain sight as we go about our daily business. Certainly, we see this happening talk shows, social media, easy targets. Low hanging fruit. Sharing in the cross of Christ has never been so easy.
The Lord is mocked when we spray the venom of our words against the outcast, the marginalized, the weak, and the suffering. Yet this is the passage we read this year on the Reign of Christ Sunday. Ours is a king who suffers. Behold the king!
And that king, even while he himself suffers, not only from the cross two thousand years ago, but gazing at the way we treat each other today, has mercy on us in our suffering. Just as the king promised the thief who defended him that they would be together in paradise that very day, so all of us who suffer (remember Luke’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus) are saved and served with Christ. Julian of Norwich, the first woman to write a book in English, was lying on her deathbed when the cross which was lowered to her face by clergy came to life to her in a vision, and she beheld a suffering Jesus on the cross whose greatest concern was for her, and for all people. That’s the king we have. Not one who is distant and aloof. One who bleeds like us.
One of the thieves was saved. Hold on to that.
Frank R.
Vernon Kemplin shares this story on Guideposts webpage. Kemplin talks about a time when he and his wife had bought a 1905 farmhouse just outside of Mansfield, Illinois. They moved in during the summer of 1970 and began making repairs to the old house. When fall came and the weather turned cold, they realized they’d forgotten to check something…the furnace! It just wouldn’t work. It was an old furnace. When Kemplin called around, no one could fix it. It was simply obsolete. As Kemplin looked at it one last time, he noticed a card on the joist above the furnace. On the card was the date of installation and a name: Mr. Doss. It was a small town, and he’d heard of some “Doss” family members, so he took a chance and called. Mr. Doss answered. He told Kemplin that he was retired but he’d come and have a look. Turns out he was the right man for the job. He still had parts around his home that would work, and he had the furnace firing in a matter of minutes.
Mr. Doss was just the right guy for the job. That phrase in the story struck me. In our text for today, God has raised up just the right one to redeem his people and reign over them. He “has raised up a mighty Savior for us in the house of his child David” (Luke 1:69). Jesus’ coming to usher in God’s kingdom was no accident. He was sent for that purpose.
Bill T.
* * *
Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Luke 1:68-79
We seem to be easy targets now, but woe! says Jeremiah, (and Jesus in Luke’s gospel says Wwoe! a lot too) An easy target now, but woe! Luke has woes. Woe to the false shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep off God’s flock. It’s God’s sheep, God’s pasture. Who died and made them God? The new David will be revealed. He will reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness. Maybe not just yet. But soon.
This is paired with the Magnificat, about God’s plan to vindicate the low and marginalized. This is the warning to all the bad shepherds who are scattering the sheep. God will draw us back together in one flock, and you who are on top now may not be there when the final score is tallied.
Frank R.
* * *
Colossians 1:11-20
Commenting on v. 17 on how Christ holds all things together, John Wesley writes:
The original expression [that in Christ all things hold together] not only implies that he sustains all things in being, but more directly all things were and are compacted in him into one system. He is the cement as well as support of the universe. (Commentary On the Bible, p.546)
Famed Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards provides interesting insight regarding God’s (and so Christ’s) kingly rule:
He [God] is everywhere present with his all-seeing eye. He is in heaven and hell, and in and through every part of creation. He is where every devil is; and where every damned soul is. He is present by his knowledge and his essence. He not only knows as well as those in heaven who sees at a distance; but he knows as perfectly as those who feel the misery. He seeth into the innermost recesses of the hearts of those miserable spirits. He seeth all the sorrow and anguish that are there; for he upholds them in being. (Works, Vol.2, p.69)
Famed modern theologian Karl Barth provides insights about Christ’s kingly rule (he refers to Christ as “the royal man’) and what the Kingdom looks like. He writes:
The starting-point here is the first and final fact that the being of this royal man Jesus was not only identical with the glory of God in the highest… but also identical on earth with peace among men as of the divine good-pleasure. (Church Dogmatics, Vol.IV/2, p.151)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 23:33-43
John Hess-Yoder, a missionary, shares this story…
While serving as a missionary in Laos, I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of God. Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border areas. Those who ate short-grain rice, built their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style serpents were considered Laotians.
Those who ate long-grain rice, built their houses on the ground, and decorated them with Chinese-style dragons were considered Vietnamese. The exact location of a person's home was not what determined his or her nationality. Instead, each person belonged to the kingdom whose cultural values he or she demonstrated.
A crucified thief demonstrated, on his last day, what values he shared. When his compatriot derided Jesus, he pushed back. Then he made the request that was the most important of his life. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” With that statement he showed his values and his heart. Upon that statement Jesus promised him paradise. What do your values show with respect to the kingdom you belong to?
Bill T.
* * *
Luke 23:33-43
Martin Luther offered a remark about this text and Pilate’s comment in it which painfully and concisely paints the picture of our present ethos. As he observed:
The word of Pilate, “What is truth?” accurately paints our age. For the way things are going, people are wondering, what is truth? What do faithfulness and faith amount to anymore in the world? What is integrity? After they take your coat, next it’s your shirt. The one who has a concern for truth is already lost. The one, however, who wants to climb the ladder of success needs to lie, deceive, dissemble, and betray. (Complete Sermons, Vol.5, p.412)
The first reformer also comments on why God in Christ hides his power:
Because men misused the knowledge of God through works, God wished again to be recognized in suffering and to condemn wisdom… Now if it is not sufficient for anyone, and it does him no good to recognize God in his glory and majesty unless he recognizes him in the humility and shame of the cross.
Thus, God destroys the wisdom of the wise… It is impossible for a person not to be puffed up by his good works unless he has first been deflated and destroyed by suffering and evil until he knows that he is worthless and that his works are not his but God’s (Luther’s Works, vol.31, pp. 52-53)
Mark E.
* * *
Luke 23:33-43
Don’t pass by these words about those who jeered at Jesus during his agony on the cross. We’re so used to the words we don’t think about how horrifying it is, how callous the hearts must be for those who stop to make fun of helpless people tortured to death in full view of passersby. It’s just as easy to ignore those who are suffering in plain sight as we go about our daily business. Certainly, we see this happening talk shows, social media, easy targets. Low hanging fruit. Sharing in the cross of Christ has never been so easy.
The Lord is mocked when we spray the venom of our words against the outcast, the marginalized, the weak, and the suffering. Yet this is the passage we read this year on the Reign of Christ Sunday. Ours is a king who suffers. Behold the king!
And that king, even while he himself suffers, not only from the cross two thousand years ago, but gazing at the way we treat each other today, has mercy on us in our suffering. Just as the king promised the thief who defended him that they would be together in paradise that very day, so all of us who suffer (remember Luke’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus) are saved and served with Christ. Julian of Norwich, the first woman to write a book in English, was lying on her deathbed when the cross which was lowered to her face by clergy came to life to her in a vision, and she beheld a suffering Jesus on the cross whose greatest concern was for her, and for all people. That’s the king we have. Not one who is distant and aloof. One who bleeds like us.
One of the thieves was saved. Hold on to that.
Frank R.
