Hello my friends,

Today is, all over the world, Christians will gather to acknowledge "Christ The King Sunday." In our world today, where phrases like "Christ Is King" have been co-opted by political movements, it is important to stop and consider what the gospel writers and the church has long meant when it calls Christ "king." So let's look at this together.

Recommended Resources.

Advent begins next Sunday and I have written a new daily devotional for that season that concludes on Christmas Day. You can read more about it through the link below.

$20.00 Solace: The Birth of Hope in a Time of Longing This devotional is an ebook, crafted as a daily scripture readings and reflections that begin on the First Sunday of... Read more Get it now!

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​-Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies By N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird I've recommended this before here but thought I would do so again as its message is very timely for today's newsletter and our world today.

​-Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor By Caleb E. Campbell My friend and fellow pastor wrote this wonderful book, which you might find helpful.

​-Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy By Katherine Stewart If you haven't had a chance to read this book, I highly recommend doing so.

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The Upside Down Reign of Christ.

Luke 23:33-43

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

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 in your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

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​A Cross, Not A Throne

This passage sits at the heart of a profound and unsettling mystery: Jesus reigns not from a throne, but from a cross. This Sunday, all over the world, Christians gather to acknowledge Christ The King Sunday, a longstanding feast day in the church. This passage will be read aloud for them all. Reading about the place called “The Skull,” where empire and heaven meet and only one walks away still in control. In the ancient world, crucifixion was not simply execution, it was public humiliation, a political billboard carried out along busy highways, that announced Rome’s power and mocked those who challenged it. And yet, here hangs Jesus, the true King, disarmed, exposed, rejected, and vulnerable. The rulers of the world, then and now, assume kingship is displayed in dominance, in the ability to command bodies and silence dissent. But Luke shows us a King who rules by refusing to participate in the world’s economy of intimidation. From the cross, Jesus speaks not condemnation, but intercession: “Father, forgive them.” His reign is exercised not in crushing enemies, but in loving them. The kingdom of God could not be more inverted from the kingdoms of the earth.

In its historical and linguistic context, this passage is even more striking. The inscription over Jesus’ head, “King of the Jews”, was written in three imperial languages of the empire, meant as mockery, a warning to all who passed by. Rome believed it could define reality with the languages of administration and power. Yet, in Jesus’ dying words, another truth is spoken. The criminal who turns to him does not see a failed Messiah, he sees a King whose authority comes from solidarity with suffering, being with sinners, not over them. And Jesus responds with language that no empire can replicate or manufacture: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” In that word, the future breaks into the present. The reign of God does not wait until the tomb is empty, it begins with the world still in darkness. This is power the way heaven understands it, relational, merciful, unhoarded, and offered freely.

What Kind of King Is Christ?

This is a word we need in our moment. We are living in a season where many wield the name of Christ like a weapon—demanding allegiance, punishing dissent, baptizing cruelty in the language of righteousness. Too many leaders preach a gospel of dominance rather than humility, as though the Church’s task were to seize political control rather than embody cruciform love. But in Luke’s account, Jesus does not ascend into earthly power; he descends into our pain. He does not threaten, he forgives. He does not secure his position, he lays down his life. Anyone who claims the power of Christ while refusing the posture of Christ is following a different king.

And this gospel comes to us on the doorstep of Advent, where we prepare again to celebrate a different kind of coronation. The child born in Bethlehem does not arrive in imperial marble but in a feeding trough. He is not surrounded by senators, but by field laborers. His birth, like his death, reveals a kingdom that grows from the underside of history, that honors the forgotten, and restores the shame-bearing to dignity. Advent reminds us that the throne of Jesus has always been built from wood, first a manger, then a cross. We sing of a newborn King who upends every definition of sovereignty the world treasures. In Luke 23, that baby grown to adulthood remains consistent: he reigns by giving himself away.

One of the criminals crucified next to him becomes the first witness to the truth. In that final hour, he does what every disciple must learn to do, he asks not for status, not for vengeance, not for victory, but simply: “Remember me.” And Jesus assures him of a kingdom where nobody is forgotten, excluded, or written off. In the reign of Christ, mercy is not the exception, it is the governance.

Craig Loya, the bishop of Episcopal Church in Minnesota posted this a few years ago on Christ The King Sunday.

This Sunday is the feast of Christ the King. It was first added to the Christian calendar by Pope Pius XI in 1925, in the bitterly divided aftermath of World War I, when nationalism and fascism were alarmingly ascendant across Europe. He conceived of it as a way to remind Christians that our primary allegiance is not to any earthly ruler or nation, but to Jesus Christ.

Using word “king” to describe Jesus, or “kingdom” to describe his coming reign, can make us uncomfortable. The word carries a connotation of tyrannical, authoritarian rule, that seems very unlike how Jesus used and described his authority. But Jesus, the New Testament, and the church through the ages knew exactly what they were doing - engaging the subversive act of turning the concepts of king and kingdom on their heads. The point is that Jesus is unlike any and all political and institutional powers in the world. Instead of privileging one tribe, language, or nation, Jesus builds the Beloved Community gathered around God’s feast of love. Instead of making himself big in order to win, Jesus comes to us small and humble. Instead of clinging to his identity with entitlement, Jesus leads by serving. Instead of putting himself first, he lives by dying. That is how the God of all creation presides over the whole cosmos.

As we find ourselves in a moment when Christian Nationalism—that abomination that equates the dominance of a racially narrow understanding of America with the kingdom of God, is again ascendant, this feast is as important as it has ever been. I, for one, am unwilling to cede the language of God’s kingdom that is given to us in the scripture to such a gross distortion. We cannot allow those who would corrupt the gospel of Jesus to steal from us the way that very gospel speaks of the savior. We are invited in these days, and all days, to follow our spiritual ancestors in pointing to Christ the King of peace. We point to that kingdom by sowing God’s reckless generosity wherever we go, by meeting the hatred and vitriol all around with God’s love, by standing with those the world’s kingdoms constantly push aside, and by walking day by day the way of the cross of Jesus, which alone can bring true life, true liberation, true peace, and true joy.

As we gather around our diverse and varied altars this Sunday, proclaim Jesus as king loudly, boldly, without apology or fear, and may we tether our lives to God’s reign of love and justice, until it is gloriously and finally done, on earth as it is in heaven.

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A Prayer

Holy Christ, King who reigns from the cross,
teach us again what true power looks like.
Break the grip of pride, fear, and domination in our hearts,
in our churches, and in every place where your name has been used to injure rather than heal.

As we approach the season of Advent,
let your birth in lowliness
and your death in love
reshape our imaginations.
Make us people who lead with compassion,
who answer hatred with mercy,
who remember the forgotten,
and who trust that your kingdom comes
not through force, but through self-giving love.

Remember us, Jesus and make us remember others in your name.
Amen.

Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A 30 Day Devotional: I recently wrote a 30 day devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus in our world today. You can read more about it here: $20.00 Following Jesus In A World Obsessed With Empires: 30 Days of reclaiming the hope, compassion, and justice of Jesus. Today, our world can often feel overwhelmed by darkness, division, and despair. I created this 30-day devotional to... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

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