Christ the King

I speak in the name of the one, true and living God: Creator and ruler of the kingdom of heaven. Amen.


Today we celebrate The Reign of Christ or Christ the King.

What is Christ the king of?


How is this different than other kings?


How is Christ different than King David?


King David is the chosen one, the favoured of the God of Jacob. … Both Matthew and Luke talk about Christ being the Chosen one, chosen directly by God.

King David is the anointed of the God of Jacob. … Christ is the Messiah which means the anointed.

King David is the king of all Israel and of Zion, God’s holy city. … Christ is the King of the Jews and the ruler of the kingdom of God. Christ is the king in the new Jerusalem or Zion.

You would almost think that King David and Jesus Christ were kings in exactly the same way. The same words are used to describe them both. They are even in the same royal line. Jesus is a son of the house of David, a member of David’s royal line. Jesus is a direct descendant of David.


Can anyone think of ways in which King David and King Jesus are different?


King David had a palace. … Did Jesus? … Not on Earth anyway.

King David had at least nine wives. Two of which he took from their husbands. Michal was promised to David (essentially married) and then given to Pelti as wife and taken back by David. Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, David took as his mistress and when she became pregnant he set Uriah up to be killed and took Bathsheba as his wife. David’s wife Abigail was the widow of one of David’s enemies. David also married Ahinoam, who may have been Saul’s wife. Finally, David married Maacah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, Bath-shua, . We know very little about these wives except that they bore sons for David. David also had concubines. We don’t know how many. David was busy. Who his wives were and how he came to have them was clearly an issue.

The Bible says absolutely nothing about Jesus’ love life. In Jesus’ time it would have been very strange for a Jewish man of his age to be single. It was absolutely expected that a man would marry and have children to carry on his name. Usually when something is unusual or out of the ordinary, the Bible tells us. … Since the Bible doesn’t tell us, I’ll leave it up to you to make your own decisions and to think about what differences those decisions make in how we see and understand Jesus. … It is clear that there were usually women around him. There were often children there. Jesus was obviously comfortable with both. Jesus treated all whom he met and all who travelled with him as his own family. Even those who follow him after his death are his family.

King David had many subjects. These subjects had to obey his decrees or they would be punished. King David had his enemies killed or killed them himself. All of King David’s subjects lived in the boundaries of his kingdom. When King David died, he stopped having subjects. His kingdom passed to his heir.

King Jesus has many subjects. These subjects are asked to obey his teachings and his example. These subjects are asked to love him and to love one another. These subjects are asked to love their enemies. King Jesus died so that we no longer need to be punished. King Jesus’ kingdom has no boundaries in either space or time. Jesus shares his kingdom with his heirs. All of creation shares in the kingdom of Jesus.


Okay, does anyone remember the key similarities between the kingdom of David and the kingdom of Christ?

Both are chosen by God.
Both are the anointed.
Both are king of God’s people.
Both are king of Israel and of Zion.


How are they different?

David’s kingdom is very physical.
Christ’s kingdom is spiritual.

David is very concerned with the continuation of his line (lots of wives and children).
Jesus is also very concerned with the continuation of his line but in a very different way. Jesus’ ‘son’ is the Gospel. Jesus sired a message of forgiveness and hope for all.

David’s kingdom was limited in time and space.
Christ’s kingdom is the Kingdom of God. It is eternal. It is everywhere. It is for everyone.