Jesus-Land

 Luke 23: 33-42

November 23, 2025 

Calvary
Octavio Ocampo

Christ the King

Today is Christ the King Sunday,

the day we celebrate and proclaim

that Christ is the true King

not any earthly ruler, politician, religion, or ideology.

 

Did you know that this is the 100th anniversary

of Christ the King. Most people don’t realize that

Christ the King Sunday is relatively new feast day.

Pope Pius the 11th established it in 1925,

right between two world wars,

at a time when authoritarian leaders gaining power,

fascism and nationalism was intensifying,

and many Christians were confusing

political power with God’s power.

 

In other words, the world was dealing

with some of the same issues we still face today.

 

To be honest, I’ve always been pretty uncomfortable

with the language of Christ being “King.”

I don’t think the title of King has much to do

with Jesus, especially with some of the horrible

things that people with that title have done.

 

And a lot of people have misconstrued Christ the King

to mean that their religion or interpretation of the bible

is King and should have absolute rule and not be questioned.

And we have enough trouble currently

with Christian Nationalism trying to force

a narrow, authoritarian version of Christianity

onto an entire country to confuse the issue with

Christ seen as another King.

 

But Christ the King Sunday doesn’t ask us

to imagine Jesus as just another ruler

sitting on a throne issuing commands.

It invites us to ask a much deeper question:

What would it look like if Jesus truly ruled our lives?

What would it look like if our values, our communities,

our choices what if our politics and policies and behaviors

were shaped by the actual teachings of Jesus?

 

Christ the King is also the last Sunday of the church year,

and the last Sunday of our year reading from Luke.

So before we start Advent and begin again

and start reading from another Gospel,

let’s look back over Luke’s gospel

and ask the question:

 

If Jesus were really our King,

what would THAT “country” look like?

What would it mean to be citizens of Jesus-land?

 

In Luke 4, Jesus begins his ministry with an inaugural address.

He sets out his mission statement in his hometown

synagogue and says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…

to bring good news to the poor.”

 

If Jesus were King, that would be good news for the poor.

Not red tape, not suspicion, not judgments about laziness,

or accusations about grifting or bad planning.

No suspended food assistance, or policies that make

life harder for those already on the edge.

In Jesus-land, people who struggle would not be shamed

or taken advantage of, or manipulated for profits,

The poor would be blessed.

They would have what they need to live with dignity,

including fair wages and a chance to thrive.

 

In Luke 5 the Pharisees ask Jesus,

“Why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus is constantly sharing meals

with the people no one wants to be seen with—

the undeserving, the questionable,

the outsiders, the ones society pushes away.

 

Most other countries celebrate the powerful

and impressive and the rich.

But in Jesus-land, we like honor the people

that others move away from.

 

We celebrate people of different races and cultures.

We celebrate different genders, sexualities, and family structures.

We celebrate the differently-abled

and we protect their rights.

 

In Jesus-land we remember that Jesus’ family

were once refugees fleeing political violence.

And we remember the command in Exodus

to welcome the stranger and immigrant.

In Jesus-land, we do not criminalize

or dehumanize people for any reason.

We do not rip families apart or imprison the desperate.

The citizens of Jesus-land invite the outcast to the table

and are not ashamed to be seen with them.

 

In Luke 6, Jesus tells us to: “love our enemies

and pray for those who hurt us.”

In Jesus-land, we don’t solve our problems with,

hatred, threats, or revenge, or with guns, missiles, or bombs

We solve them with listening, with mercy, with forgiveness,

with understanding, with courage that refuses violence

even when violence feels easier.

In Luke 9, Jesus feeds 5000 people.

In Jesus-land, we feed people because they’re hungry.

We don’t ask if they’re working hard enough,

We don’t ask if they’re worthy,

We don’t make them pass a drug test,

We don’t worry that they’re going to be dependent on the food.

In Jesus-land, hungry people get fed.

 

And in the Gospel of Luke there are 13 times

when Jesus heals someone—

sometimes physically, sometimes spiritually,

and he restores them to community.

 In Jesus-land, healthcare is not a privilege for the wealthy.

We don’t raise premiums or deny care

so that corporations can profit.

We do not withhold help because someone

has the “wrong” insurance.

In Jesus-land, when someone is sick—

in body, mind, or spirit— we heal.

in body, spirit, and mind.

 

Of course, there are a thousand reasons why

Jesus-land can’t exist in our world.

But this vision of Jesus-land should influence

how we live and lead in reality.

And the best we can hope for is to be citizens

of both places, with one foot in this world as it is,

and one foot in Jesus-land as it should be.

 

But the primary reason there is no place

where Jesus is King is because at the beginning

of Luke’s gospel, Jesus was tempted by the devil

with all the glory and authority over all the kingdoms

of the world, and Jesus refused to accept it,

Jesus didn’t give into that temptation like other Kings have.

Jesus knows that God’s reign

does not come through coercion,

intimidation, or mandated obedience.

God’s reign comes through changed hearts—

and through grace, mercy, and love.

 

Jesus knew that we would only become

citizens of Jesus-land through seeing and following his

example of selfless giving and love and forgiveness.

 

And that is what Jesus did.

We never met Jesus on a throne,

We’ve only met Jesus on a cross.

 

And he was hung there because he

brought good news to the poor

because he welcomed the wrong people,

because he healed the sick,

because he challenged the powerful,

fed the hungry, and he refused to uphold

laws and traditions that excluded and harmed.

Jesus showed his true power when he hung

between two thieves and promised them paradise.

And when he forgave those that would harm him.

 

And the cross reveals both who God is

and what humanity so often does with power.

The world mostly uses power to control, punish, and dominate.

To secure wealth at the expense of the vulnerable.

To protect privilege even when others suffer.

But God uses power to lift up, to heal, to free, to forgive.

 

The crucifixion is not an isolated event in this world.

It is what happens here whenever

compassion confronts cruelty,

when truth confronts falsehood,

when love confronts systems built on fear and division.

Whenever Jesus-land confronts our realities.

And God needed us to see him, up on the cross

to save us, and to save this world that he so loves.

 

On the cross in Jesus, God shows us what true power is:

True power is not measured the ability to get whatever you want.

True power is not measured in money or influence.

True power is not measured in our control over people.

True power is the capacity to give yourself

for the sake of others.

To use whatever strength you have not for

self-preservation but for the salvation of others.

 

That’s why the one true King

is only found on a cross.