[Sermon] A Kingdom Not of This Chaos

Pastor Hector Garfias-Toledo

November 23, 2025 + Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King

On the last Sunday of the church year, Pastor Hector explores how Christ’s kingship stands apart from the political systems and power struggles that shape our world. He reflects on how human authority—whether historical revolutions, modern monarchies, or partisan agendas—often distorts the meaning of kingship. In contrast, Christ’s reign is relational, rooted in compassion rather than coercion. The cross reveals a King whose power is not domination, but self-giving love. As citizens of Christ’s kingdom, believers are called to stand firm amid division and resist attempts to co-opt faith for political gain. The promise of paradise reminds us that God’s reign brings life, unity, and hope beyond the systems that seek to claim us.

Sermon Transcript

From YouTube's automatic captions, lightly edited by AI for readability.

Grace to you and peace from Abba—Father, Mother, Creator—and the Lord Jesus Christ: our Savior, our Lord, our friend, and our King. And we said, amen.

As we have been hearing for the past few minutes, we are coming to the end of the year. We have been at the end of the year, the church year, but also the end of the season of Pentecost. During the season of Pentecost, we have been learning together, reflecting together on the life of the church. We have walked with Jesus and his teachings, his example. Jesus has been—he has been—telling us through the season of Pentecost about the growth, the challenges, but also the possibilities of the ministry of his church. So Jesus tells us that Jesus is with us all the time, everywhere. And I want to show you something that confirms that Jesus is with us all the time, everywhere. So let's look at the slides that I brought for you.

And you can see, in the beginning Jesus was there when there were monsters and new creatures, all kinds of creatures. Then in the next one we have Jesus, who brings the good—the good time for everybody—where everybody was rejoicing with Jesus. Jesus himself was tested, as you are tested when you get into the office here at church, when you get those candies. And then Jesus defeated even the devil ham that is here. And then Jesus is the door, or the gate—yeah—that Jesus is inside there in the office. You can see on top of the door. And Jesus is the bearer of all of our pains. And then, in the next one, Jesus is watching us, over us, is cleansing us, and—yeah—is searching us.

And yet, yes, Christ is the King, and his reign is with us. There is a story behind all these little Jesuses that we have at church. I didn't plan this. I didn't spend the whole week doing this. I just took pictures for a long period of time where I found Jesus. And I told you Jesus is everywhere with us.

Christ the King. Jesus just stole—no, Jesus… David… well, very close.

Sorry, David. I never—I didn't—plan that. Okay. Either way, David just reminded us of how this celebration of Christ the King came to be. A few months ago, Jade and I went to Victoria, Canada, and we went to visit the government office, the government buildings, and we got to this point where the tourist guide is telling us—and surprised me; I never thought about this—that Canada has a king. I think I knew; I just never think of it. But King Charles is the king of Canada. And then as I was reading about kings, I came across this news from November, about this time actually in 2016, where the people, the church, and the government of Poland declared that Jesus is King of Poland. I mean this is serious. I mean this is all the people.

So as of 2025, we have 43 sovereign states in the world that have a monarch as the head of a state. Forty-three. So this business about kings and queens is still going on. There must be a reason for that. But this term of “kings,” and the idea of kings, I think that each one of us reacts or responds differently. Personally, I can tell you that as I go back in the history of Mexico—and I shared this with a few groups throughout the week—in the 1920s, when the revolution in Mexico (and this is different from the revolution here in the U.S.; here in the U.S. we call the Revolution the Independence War, but in Mexico we have an Independence War and we have a revolution, a socialist revolution in Mexico)… after the revolution, the government found out—realized—that the church, at that time the Roman Catholic Church, basically a state church, had more wealth than the government. In fact, the church could run the country without the government.

When the government decided that there needed to be a redistribution of wealth in Mexico, one of the things that they did was to start expropriating the properties and the wealth of the church and give it back to the people in Mexico. Guess what? The church didn’t like it. And the church rose against the government and put together an army. A holy army, I guess. And the name of this army was called the Cristo, which means the Cristeros—those for Christ. And the war slogan was—guess what?—what are we celebrating today? That was “Cristo Rey.” That was their war slogan to fight against the government.

So with that background, with that history in the country where I was raised, the whole idea of Christ the King has never sat well within me—or at least for a period of time—as it is for many in this country, as this country was founded fighting the authority of the King of England. So kings are not—or at least the concept of kingship is not—well-received. And as you, as I did, many reject that term. But if we are faithful to the stories that we are reading today, in the ancient time, in the Middle East, kings were seen differently. Kings ensured the well-being of the people. They were paternal figures that provided guidance and protection for the people. Another image is that they were shepherds; they were the caretakers of the people, and they were the moral leaders of their people. So we need to keep this in mind as we celebrate Christ the King.

In fact, if you remember the story—and we have been reading this with the class of Zoe—we have been talking about kings, and we continue with kings actually, because we were talking about Joshua, and then the judges, and then the judges were miserable leaders; and then after the judges comes Samuel. And when Samuel the prophet was leading the people of Israel, the people of Israel told Samuel, “We want a king.” And God said, “Well, I don’t think that’s a good idea, but okay, I will give them a king.” And the king was King Saul. And then you can read the rest of the Old Testament and you can tell me the rest of the story.

But the stories in the Bible about kings are numerous. And we have kings that have been good—or at least in the beginning good—and then they turn really bad, and then turn good again. We can talk about David—this, in this case, is David—and Solomon, and many others.

So what is the reason for us to reject this term of kingship or “king” in the church? Or what is the reason that many have appropriated the kingship of Jesus to misuse it? The truth is, this is a complex reality. And the worst thing is, it’s a complex reality in our time of faith and politics, which are not mutually exclusive, but I believe they are not the same. Faith is not politics—and I have shared this with you, and this is how I understand it. Faith is not politics, but faith influences how we live and how we practice politics. And this is as old as humanity. Because again, if you read the story of humanity, their beliefs—our beliefs as humans—influence how we organize ourselves and how we try to bring the well-being to the community through the political processes in our communities.

Where things get a little bit murky is when both faith—our faith—aligns with partisan politics, and when politics holds faith hostage for its own sake. See what I’m saying? When faith aligns with one of the political parties, I believe that we run into trouble. Currently, authority is used to force us to live according to what we are told to believe, on both sides of the political spectrum. We cannot escape. We live in this environment, and in many cases we are victims of the political games that seek power and control, disregarding anyone and everybody.

The co-opting of faith by both sides of the spectrum is the root of the increasing political polarization that you and I are experiencing in societies, in communities, in churches, and even in our families. As much as the conservative side of the political spectrum—and we accuse them, and we see them as taking our faith as a way for political gains: power, control, oppression, exclusion—in the same way, the more progressive practices are a form of faith-informed activism rooted in a moral or divine law that supersedes secular law, aligned with an ideology. I’m not saying either one is bad. I’m just saying both sides use faith as the basis for their programs and their agendas. We cannot escape it.

It seems like that is why I propose—and I have been thinking during this week—that it is very important that we as Christians understand that the King or kingdom, and the reign of Christ (which is another way this festival has been named, trying to avoid the word “Christ the King,” now we call it “the Reign of Christ”)… I think that both terms are important, and they are complementary. Because in order for us to be able to survive—not survive, I would say to be able to stand firm and assertive in this divisive political environment—is that we understand that you and I are part of a kingdom that is above this mess.

Christ is our King. The kingdom of Christ is here. It’s a unifying force, and it’s an authority. We repulse it because we use it in our context. When we read “kingdom of God,” the first thing that we think is political positions, rather than the faith understanding of what Christ the King means in our lives. And the reign of Christ is the relational aspect of it. It doesn’t rely on authority to lead and command, but on a relational dimension. You and I are not only vessels or subjects, but we are partners and co-workers with Jesus. Authority and relationship. Both aspects are important. Neither one excludes the other. We are part of a kingdom in the reign of Christ that relates to us as our brother, friend, and Savior. Christ the King and the Reign of Christ, again, give us a broader view of how God in Jesus relates, connects, and interacts with us daily.

So as we end the ordinary season—the season of Pentecost—as we reflect on the life of the church, the acts of the Spirit through the church, we end with Jesus on the cross. And we heard a little bit of that in the Young Worshippers’ Message. But the question for us is: What does that tell us? That the King dies on the cross.

If you look at the cover page of your bulletin, you may think that I’m going to tell you something really profound here, but I was telling Megan that I just cannot get over the face of the thief next to Jesus. I am wondering what he is telling Jesus. “What are you talking about, Jesus? You will be with me in paradise?” His power is demonstrated not in violence, division, and hate, but in a reckless love and forgiveness. His words are an indictment of the leaders of Israel and the leaders of our time who have abused power. While Jesus promises the thief—and you and me—that he will be… that he and I will be in paradise, and not leaving or trying to survive just in this political system.

And this is not a way to escape, but it is a way to give us hope that this is not the end. That this is not going to hold us hostage or push us to take sides, or make us slaves of a system to oppress, to exclude, to point, to disregard others.

May it be possible that today’s passage tells us that in Jesus, God is both authority and divine compassion, and that Christ as a King is not to be feared but to be embraced as the sole source of provision, care, and—at the end—an eternal relationship that cannot be broken, cannot be severed, even by our brokenness.

“Forgive them, because they do not know what they do.” And yet, “Remember that you all will be with me in paradise.”

This is the type of power that our system cannot stand, that our system fears the most, that our system rejects—and will continue to reject—because this is the kind of reign that brings life and does not take life for the sake of a few.

Our calling, my siblings in Christ, is to live in the tension, in the paradox. We are called to navigate the complex reality where we honor a King whose authority transcends the world, while participating as partners in his reign of service, love, and justice—always critiquing earthly powers from the perspective of the cross.

“The time is coming when I will establish a truly righteous David branch, a ruler who knows how to rule justly. He’ll make sure of justice and keep people united.” And in that promise we find life.

Thanks be to God. Amen.